Option #10: Sarah/Jareth eventually, Sarah is kidnapped by a member of the Sidhe royalty and made into his servant. Jareth discovers this eventually and comes to the rescue. Semi-evil Jareth. This one is M right from the start (you haven't seen what I have written for ch. 2 yet!)
"How is your food?" Sarah Williams asked of the man in booth fifteen as she made her rounds through the diner.
"My eggs are overcooked."
Sarah glanced down at the eggs in question. They looked the same as always. "Well you did ask for the yolks to be hard, sir," she said still smiling.
"Oh, my apologies. I should have asked for them to be cooked well then. I didn't realize hard yolks meant overcooked!" the elderly man squinted up at Sarah, his red face frowning and his grey comb-over sticking up slightly.
Sarah frowned a bit, but kept her composure. "I'm sorry, sir. I'll take them back and have them re-do the plate."
"Never mind! I'm late as it is!" he grabbed his coat and hat from the seat beside him and scooted out of the booth. "Keep your damn eggs!"
Sarah stood back to let him out. "Don't let the door hit you on the way out," she muttered under her breath.
Despite the man's age, he apparently heard her because he turned back sharply and scowled. "I'll be calling your manager, young lady! Better start packing up your things because I'll be insisting you be fired!"
With that, he let out a huff and marched off, his cane swinging in one hand. Sarah watched him go with a bit of remorse. She should have kept her temper, but the old man was a frequent complainer. He came in probably once a week and always complained about the service or the food. She wondered why he kept coming back if he hated it so much here?
Let out a sigh, she marched back into the kitchen where Andy was standing by the dishwasher, chuckling. "What's wrong with you?" she asked gathering up her next order to go out.
"You got off easy," he replied.
She turned back to him, bewildered. "That was easy? He's threatening to have me fired!"
"Yeah, and he threatened to have Ashley arrested last month, and yet she's still here."
Sarah rolled her eyes and turned back to grab the last plate. However it was scalding hot and she yelped as it crashed to the floor after burning her arm. "Son of a bitch!" she cursed. "Nate! Can I get another number six, ASAP!"
"You got it, sugar!" Nate called back waving his flipper.
Sarah set the rest of the plates down and went over to the sink by Andy. Without a word, he turned on the cold water and sprayed it on her arm over the burn. "Bad day, huh?" he asked.
She rolled her eyes. "You have no idea, Andy. I am educated and well brought-up, I am not meant to be doing this job!"
Andy dried off her arm for her, simply smiling as she grabbed the plates up again. "Fight the good fight, precious," he said as she walked out the door with the food and the new plate of eggs and bacon.
Sarah halted for a moment, eyes wide. Did he just say what she thought he'd said? Shaking it off, she glared at him and walked out the door. The rest of the day went okay, until her boss approached her right before she was going to punch out. "Sarah?" he called out to her. "Can I have a word in my office after you punch out?"
Sarah gulped and nodded. She turned back to the time clock, waited for it to turn four 'o clock, then slid her card. Walking back to Mr. Kent's office, her stomach was tying itself in knots. "What's up?" she asked her boss as she entered.
"Have a seat and tell me what happened this morning." He looked up at her expectantly from behind his desk.
Sarah sighed as she sat in the uncomfortable wooden chair. She was convinced they made these types of chairs just so your boss could watch you squirm all the more. "It was nothing. Mr. Van Hale was particularly grumpy this morning."
"Still, tell me your version of events," he insisted.
Sarah nodded and folded her hands in front of her as she told him what had happened. She kept it short and sweet and tried not to just slam on Mr. Van Hale, even if he deserved every word. When she was done, she looked up at Mr. Kent and waited. He was observing her carefully, his hands folded in front of him, helping to support his head. His hands fell to the desk though as he began to speak. "Sarah, I've noticed that you don't seem to like working here very much."
Sarah's eyes widened. This sounded like the beginning of a we're-letting-you-go speech. "Sir, I can try harder," she interrupted.
Mr. Kent smiled sympathetically. "That's not what I'm asking for, Sarah." He paused for a second and tension filled the room as Sarah wondered what he was trying to say. "I know you need this job. I know you have bills to pay and that you're trying to save for grad school. But I've also noticed that you don't want to be here. Now, I'm not letting you go, but I want you to take the rest of the week off. I'll even give you paid vacation for two of the days.
"Think about things. Maybe try to get a job in a field that's closer to what you want to go into? I don't want to get rid of you, Sarah. You're good with the customers, well… except for Mr. Van Hale, but I don't think anybody could please him." He smiled genuinely this time, and Sarah nodded. "You're a good worker, but I don't like seeing you miserable. Do you understand what I'm saying?"
Sarah nodded again and dropped her eyes. "I understand."
"Don't think I'm punishing you for today, Sarah. I just want you to seriously think about things. I don't want you to be unhappy."
The brunette looked back up and smiled a bit. "I will, Mr. Kent," she promised.
"Good, now go enjoy your long weekend," he smiled back at her, waving his hand to dismiss her.
Sarah nodded and stood, exiting the office with a mix of feelings. On the one hand, having a five-day weekend was going to be amazing! Especially since two of the days she would still be getting paid. On the other, she didn't know what she wanted to do. Her boss was obviously concerned about her, and wanted her to better herself, but where did she even start?
Sarah trudged up the stairs to her apartment. She lived in a four-story walk-up that was quite small, but since it was only her living there, it wasn't so bad. The deadbolt made a reassuring 'snick' as she unlocked, then relocked it after entering. Her purse and coat seemed to find their way to the hooks on the back of the door by themselves, her hands on autopilot. She wanted to just flop on her bed, but she still smelled like the diner, like grease and fried food. Instead she detoured to the bathroom. The hot water streaming down over her felt good and despite the fact that she knew the utilities bill would be up if she kept this up, she enjoyed the moment, simply basking in the heat.
Eventually, she got out and wrapped herself in a large fluffy towel. She towel dried her hair and left it loose to dry naturally. Shivering as she stepped out of the bathroom, Sarah walked the short distance to her bedroom and began rooting through her dresser for a clean pair of pajamas. She'd just grabbed a pair of lounge pants and a long sleeve loose cotton shirt when she heard a scuffle behind her.
The brunette whipped around, clenching tightly to her towel, but didn't see anything. Hazel eyes darted around the room for the source of the noise, but there was nothing in the dimly lit room. She glanced over at the light switch and debated turning on the overhead light, but then shook her head. She was imagining things. She'd locked the door and there was no one in her apartment.
Turning back to the dresser, she dropped her towel and threw it in the general direction of the hamper in her closet. Quickly to avoid the cold air as much as possible, she pulled on a pair of underwear and her pajamas. Her still damp hair was flipped out of her collar and she turned back toward her bed. Her heart stopped and her eyes widened when she saw what was sitting on the comforter.
A small furry goblin sat on the edge of the bed, its short legs dangling over the edge. It raised one small arm and waved, a menacing smile attached to its face. "What the hell?" She whispered.
Suddenly there were small hands gripping her legs, pulling and pushing. She looked down to see that a swarm of goblins had appeared and gathered around her. "What are you doing here?" she asked in a shrill voice. However the goblins' only answer was to push her and she screamed as the push sent her flying backwards. "Stop it!" she screamed as the swarmed over her, grabbing and pulling. Her arms reached out to bat at them, but a medium sized goblin moved with impressive speed to wrap a rope around her wrists.
"Let me go!" she shouted, twisting and turning to get away. She kicked out, but the goblins were too quick and merely moved out of the way.
A moment later, they were dragging her across the floor. "Stop! Please let me go!" she pleaded, tears forming in her eyes now.
The goblins only snickered and laughed as they continued to pull her towards her tall upright mirror. Her eyes widened as the ones closest simply hopped through the looking glass. Her struggles grew more significant, but they only locked down their grips with surprising strength and started to pull her through the mirror. She could feel it as her feet went through. It was like being pulled through a sheet of ice. Piercing cold radiated through her body, almost to the point where it hurt. "NO!" she screamed trying to turn on to her front to gain some leverage. "STOP IT!"
The goblins only laughed more as they pulled her through. Her eyes searched the room, looking for anything that might help. She half expected to see the Goblin Kin standing by her window, laughing as his goblins dragged her through the mirror, but he wasn't there. There was no dark shadow of a cloak. There was no menacing laugh. There was no wicked smile leering down at her. She thought that if he was behind this, he would be here to watch, but he was nowhere in sight.
A particularly harsh pull sent her hips through the mirror and the cold pain radiated down to her bones. "Please!" she pleaded, full on crying now. "Please just let me go!"
The goblins scratched at her and pulled and shoved. She knew she would have bruises when this was over. Her shoulders where now being pulled through the mirror and she sucked in a deep breath at the pain. "JARETH!" she screamed out, doing the one thing she'd vowed never to do eleven years ago.
However nobody came. Her chest heaved quick breaths, and she realized she was hyperventilating, but she couldn't find the energy to care. A sob left her throat as her head was finally pulled through and the last goblin hopped in after. The room was deadly quiet then. Had one walked in at that moment, there was no indication of the events that had just happened. However Sarah Williams had indeed been taken.