The knock was soft, Elle almost didn't hear it. She sat up in her bed, looking at the door in the darkness. "Am I hearing things?" She thought to herself. She looked over at Kaley in her crib, still sound asleep. Then another knock. She used a match to light the candle on her nightstand then carried the lit candle with her as she cautiously approached her bedroom door. "Hello?" She whispered against the door, trying to figure out who would be at her door at this hour.
"It's Asha." She spoke from the other side of the door quietly.
"Asha?" Elle unlocked and opened the door, "Is everything alright?" Elle asked as she held the candle a little higher to get a better look at Asha.
"Yes, everything is fine." Asha insisted as she slowly made her way into the room. "Put on a robe and go to the throne room, I'll stay here and watch after Kaley."
"The throne room, why?"
"Jareth is going to show you your family." Asha informed her. "Now go quick, he should be just now getting done with the preparations."
Elle felt a sense of excitement knot in her stomach. The idea of getting to see her brother and father, to know how they have been doing all this time, simply overjoyed her. Without another moment of hesitation, Elle handed the candle to Asha and swiftly moved to the armoire to retrieve a robe. As she wrapped it around her body she looked at Asha with an excited smile, "Thank you."
"Of course, now hurry." Asha prompted as she gestured towards the door while also handing the candle back to Elle.
Elle couldn't remember the last time she moved so quickly, basically sprinting through the castle. At a certain point she was running so fast the candle blew out. But Elle didn't mind the dark; she knew the castle so well now she could easily navigate it without any light. Finally, she reached the throne room and that's when her overwhelming excitement suddenly dropped into the pit of her stomach and she was then overcome with nerves.
The doors of the throne room were cracked ever so slightly, and from inside shined a dim blue light. Before entering, Elle placed her blown out candle on the floor and then stepped forward through the slight opening of doors. In the center of the throne room, where the pit was built before the throne, Jareth stood behind a large bowl on a tall golden stand. The bowl held some sort of strange blue liquid that was illuminating the room with a soft light. "It's ready." Jareth spoke to her softly.
Elle's bare feet felt cold on the stone floor, in fact the room seemed much colder than the entire castle often did at night. The chill was unsettling and made the hairs on her arms stand. "What does it do?" Elle asked as she moved closer, stepping down into the pit.
"It will show you whatever you want, you merely have to wish it." Jareth informed her. "Give me your hands," He instructed her once she stopped on the opposite side of the bowl from him. Without any objection, Elle held her hands up over the bowl and Jareth softly grasped them with his own hands; it was the first time they had ever touched, and his hands felt warm."Think of the ones you want to see then simply touch your fingers to the water."
Elle felt a slight sting on her fingertips just before Jareth let go of her hands. She looked down at the bowl and lowered her hands to hover over the water. Her heart was racing but her mind was focused. She thought of her father, and Eric. Then, just as Jareth had said, she touched a single finger to the water. The light coming from the liquid seemed to intensify as the water rippled, and then almost like a movie several scenes soon played out before Elle;
First.
Her father, Steven, came home the night Jareth was first called. He was drunk and it was late. Eric was still awake, wired from excitement. Eric told Steven what had happened but Steven was too drunk and simply went to bed, passing out on the couch. The next morning, Steven asked where the girls were and Eric told him again what had happened the night before. Steven thought it was a joke, but Eric kept insisting. Finally, Steven called the polite to report Elle and Kaley missing.
Second.
Steven watched from the double sided mirror as the police questioned Eric about his sisters. Eric still insisted that the Goblin King had taken them away. The officer standing outside with Steven said Eric's excitement over their disappearance was unsettling. Steven asked if the police thought Eric had anything to do with it, to which the officer replied yes.
Third.
Without enough evidence to fully support the theory that Eric somehow did something criminal, it was ultimately decided that Elle had taken Kaley and ran away. A massive state wide manhunt was then launched to find them.
Fourth.
A children's physiatrist speaks with Steven after having examined Eric, and suggests the story Eric continuously tells about a Goblin King taking the girls away is something he made up stemming from his otherwise dormant desire for them to leave the house. He also points out the fact that Eric having first read of the Goblin King from a story online could mean that Eric has no sense of reality and truly believes that the Goblin King is real. The doctor tells Steven that Eric is deeply disturbed and insists Eric receive weekly counseling.
Fifth.
During one of his counseling sessions, Eric goes into a fit of rage at the doctors suggestion that he made up the story about the Goblin King. He destroys the doctor's office and even attacks the doctor with a letter opener.
Sixth.
Steven sits behind Eric in a courtroom during a sentencing in which a judge determines after hearing from an expert physiatrist regarding the case that Eric shall serve his sentence in an institution that specializes in mentally unstable juveniles.
Seventh.
Alone, Steven throws out every bottle of alcohol from his home. He then gathers every picture of his children and places them in a box; he puts the box in the attic. His sister, Marianne, helps him clean out each of the kid's rooms. Marianne labels all the boxes once in the garage either, donate, sell, or keep. She then asks Steven what he's going to do now, to which Steven replies, "I just don't know."
And with that, it's over. Ripples pulse through the water once more and the light from the bowl dims drastically until dying out completely, casting the throne room in darkness; the only light now pouring in from the moonlit sky from the windows. The once blue liquid then appears merely as water. Elle stood there, dumbfounded. Her body felt heavy, her heart like it would explode. She couldn't move, it was as if her feet were glued to the floor. She literally had no idea how to react. Then an intense feeling of guilt crashed into her like a wave against a cliff. She took a step back as her heart began to pound inside her chest. The tears welted up in her eyes; she finally looked up, catching Jareth's sight and then the tears fell uncontrollably.
On the outside, Jareth remained very collected. He kept a stern face and proper posture, even as he watched Elle breakdown. On the inside, however, he was at war with himself. Every instinct in his body told him to comfort her, to take her in his arm and hold her as she cried. He wanted so desperately to tell her it was alright, to reassure her that she would be okay. He wasn't sure why he felt so strongly in that moment about it all; up until now he felt no particular way towards her as the time went on, but now he felt it was unbearable to see her cry. Then finally, without even realizing at first, he spoke her name softly, "Elle."
She looked back up at him; her eyes red from crying, her face burning as the tears rolled down her cheeks. As he looked at her, he felt such an intense feeling of heartbreak. He had never witnessed such intense sadness. His heart felt like it had dropped into his stomach as her pain and suffering seemed to come over him. In that moment he felt an odd connection with her, and without her explaining anything to him he felt as if he understood her every single emotion.
Jareth forgot the world around him. In this moment, there were no goblins. Magic didn't exist. And Sarah was buried deep in his mind where his thoughts did not dare touch. He was not the Goblin King in this moment and Elle was not his servant. He felt as if he was simply a man and she was a girl. A girl who stood before him in pain and he wished to comfort her through that pain.
He stepped around the bowl all the while his eyes never leaving her. She watched as he moved closer to her, closer than they had ever been to one another before. She felt no fear as she watched he lifted his arm before wrapping them gently around her. He pulled her closer to him, her face pressing against his chest, and brought one of his hands to rest against the back of her head. Instinctively, Elle moved her arms to wrap around him and returned his embrace. Silence fell between them, but a comforting silence. It was a moment that required no words, and in that moment there was no more feeling of pain.
