* Thanks for all the lovely reviews. I don't own the Labyrinth. If I did, there would have been a sequel. Aww thanks aserene. That was a very Labyrinth like wording there. Lol. Appropriate though.
Sarah stumbled in the dark for ten minutes until at last her hands felt a wall.
She shivered.
This was not what she expected.
From far away the Labyrinth looked forbidding but doable. Sarah had been heartened by the fact that she could see the Castle. Dimly, although she knew it was impossible, she even thought she heard Toby crying. Her goal had seemed so close!
Now, when she was actually in the Labyrinth, everything seemed impossible.
Sarah shook her head and continued to follow the wall. Why was it so dark? The book never mentioned any of this!
"There has to be light somewhere" she thought. If she didn't find light soon, Sarah thought that she would go mad. Already her mind was playing tricks on her, making her see moving shadows. Several times Sarah put her hand in front of her, trying to touch the black wisps that moved inside the dark but each time she felt nothing.
"Oh why was I so stupid to wish a baby away! Deep inside I knew what was possible. Deep inside I knew this would happen!"
The inch by inch discovery of this place was maddening. Several times, Sarah had to crawl on her hands and knees when she felt a corner. Several times she was on her hands and knees anyways because she fell.
Exhausted and afraid of getting an injury from the walls, Sarah carefully felt the wall for spiders . Deciding there were none in the near vicinity, she sat down and leaned against the wall.
"This is impossible. I can never make it through the dark. This is so unfair!"
Sarah's head ached and she wondered when was the last time she had eaten. It must have been hours before she had given Toby his first bottle.
"I'll never make it through. I''ll never eat another peanut butter sandwich again."
From the far end of the wall, Sarah heard a noise. She pulled her legs closer to her and listened hard.
"Hello?" she called out. A gust of wind blew into her face and Sarah could hear pieces of rocks moving on the ground. Sarah got up.
"Hello?" she asked again. "Is somebody there?"
Knowing that what she did was stupid, Sarah moved towards the noise. The noise increased. Sarah's tennis shoes inched forward.
"Hello? Is anybody there? If someone is there, could you please help me? I am looking for the way to the Castle."
Sarah heard burbling. It sounded like a language. If only she could be sure it was English! No use in getting near something that was possibly dangerous if she couldn't even understand it.
"Hello?" Sarah felt her voice getting hollow. "Dear Lord, I hope that's not a hole that I'm walking towards."
Sarah walked as far as she thought was safe and then with her sneaker, she scrapped the ground, shoving dirt and gravel towards the hole.
Not hearing anything she walked a little further.
"Hello? Is anybody there?"
Deciding already that she was a complete idiot and her day couldn't possibly get any worse,
Sarah knelt and then continued to crawl towards the hole. She blindly clutched at the ground in front of her, hoping to avoid falling headfirst into whatever it was the noise was coming from.
"Hello?" Sarah called again.
Taking a deep breath, Sarah craned her neck further. She thought she heard a whisper of language coming from the ground.
"Hello? Please, I'm looking for the..." Sarah shrieked as someone came up from behind her and pushed her forward. Sarah tried to land with her palms faced flat on the ground but something changed. The ground or the hole had moved closer and now Sarah was falling in it.
"Help!" She managed to get out as she felt the speed of her descent increase.
Suddenly Sarah felt something grab hold of her. The breath went out of her. Whatever was holding onto her was strong!
"I can't breath" she thought frantically.
She tried twisting back and forth in an effort to loosen herself from the grip of whatever was holding her.
"Help me! Somebody please!"
"We ARE helping you" a choir of voices cried.
"You are hurting me!" Sarah yelled.
"Do you want us to let you go?" the voiced jeered. Without waiting for an answer, Sarah was released and she continued her fall downward.
"Help!" Sarah screamed.
Again, Sarah was caught. She winced and cried out as what felt like several hands crawled all over her body.
"Stop!"
A hand that felt like marble slapped Sarah hard in the face.
"Let me go down! I don't care. I just want to go down!" Sarah cried.
"She said down!" a voice croaked.
"She said down" another roared.
"Let me the fuck down!" Sarah shouted.
Sarah fell downward.
And it was not a graceful free for all swan dive.
Sarah tried to catch herself on some stray rocks and protruding walls, but it was a futile attempt. Instead the sharp edges caught at her, tearing through jeans and skin.
At last Sarah reached the ground.
She fell with a loud thump onto a dirt covered ground. Luckily, she had delayed her fall by clutching at the shoulder of a large boulder. It didn't stop her, but it slowed her down some.
Groaning Sarah slowly raised herself up. A searing pain shot through her shoulder making her cry out with each movement. Gritting her teeth, Sarah stood up.
Sarah guessed that she had dislocated it when she fell.
Cradling her arm, Sarah shuffled forward, blinking in the sudden light.
Focusing her eyes, Sarah looked around her.
"I'm in an oubliette, or something really close to it"
She was in some kind of cave. There were lighted torches on sconces in the walls. Wherever, she was, it appeared to be empty, making Sarah alone.
"How am I suppose to get to the castle with my shoulder like this?"
The pain was intensifying with each second. Sarah carefully lowered herself to the ground. She couldn't go on.
Staring at the dirt floor, Sarah dimly realized that it sparkled. At least the place that she came to die in was vaguely pretty, she reflected before she went on to ponder her failure to get Toby back home.
Just as she was about to cry Sarah thought she heard a sound. Sniffling quickly, Sarah glanced around the room.
There was an opening!
"That wasn't here before" she thought.
Sarah saw the torches sputter and flicker as the echo of footfalls approached her. Sarah bit her lip and tried to think of what to do.
Without a doubt she was out of options.
Sarah looked in the direction of the footsteps.
Click, Click Click
Sarah waited listlessly to meet her fate.
It was Jareth.
"Are you a complete and utter idiot?" he snarled, striding forward. He leaned down and snatched a chunk of Sarah's hair and pulled.
"Do you think this is a game?"
Sarah whimpered and tried to pull away.
"Well, DO YOU?"
"No..I..."
"What happened to your arm?" Jareth let go of Sarah's hair and stepped back. His already pale face was pallid with anger. Sarah was reminded of the marble hand. Inwardly she shivered.
"I think it's dislocated" she offered softly. Jareth's eye's hardened.
"I should let you rot in here for your disobedience!"
"But you said I had options!" Sarah cried before stopping to clutch in her arm in agony.
"You are a fool" Jareth said. Breathing hard for a moment, he willed his hand to his side. Sarah's eye's followed his movements.
"Come" he said.
"I can't " Sarah whimpered. "My arm and shoulder. I can't walk."
Jareth walked forward and in a swift motion lifted Sarah into his arms. Sarah's eyes welled up with tears. The pain was worsened by the movement.
"Can you hold on?" He asked her. She shook her head.
"Don't fall" he told her.