AN: This was written for a challenge at the LFFL for the 35th Anniversary of Labyrinth. The challenge: To write the movie from Toby's POV. So, here's my attempt, with the approval from my 10 and 4 year old nephews. Thanks as always goes to Greenchimes for tidying up my creations. She is a great help.

Toby's Not So Very Good Day

My day started off all wrong.

Mommy's clock didn't ring at the right time to wake us up. She was very fussy, and when she's fussy, I feel bad too. At breakfast, she made me eat really quick. She kept giving me the next spoonful of mushed nanas before I was ready. Eating so fast made my tummy hurt. I cried. I couldn't help it. Even in the car to see Miss April, I cried. My tummy was rumbly since I didn't get to finish eating. Then, I missed snack time because my mouth started hurting. More pointy things are growing in my mouth. Why aren't there bandaids for that? Mommy usually gives me something cold to chew on that makes it feel better. Miss April must not know about those things. It isn't a booboo she can see. She wasn't listening right to know what I need.

Miss April wasn't happy. She sighed and rolled her eyes and she just changed my diaper. I cried even more because it wasn't my diaper that was wrong. Miss April just put me down and handed me a ball. Then, she walked away to go change Abigail. I tried to get Miss April to come back, but she ignored me. It made me really sad that she was mad at me.

Crying made me tired, so I thought maybe I should have a nap and found a blanket and curled up on the floor.

I was asleep when Daddy picked me up. I cried again as he strapped me into my car seat. Couldn't he do it without waking me up? He just patted my head before he sat down and started the car.

How could he not tell I wasn't having a very good day?

At home, Mommy finally noticed I wasn't feeling good. She tried to give me nasty medicine. She then gave me my favorite thing, my big sister Sarah's teddy bear. I liked it because it made me think of her warm hugs. That always made me feel better. I hugged the bear tightly as I was put in my crib.

Mommy and Daddy got ready for another night where they left the house. That meant I would stay home with my sister. Where was Sarah? Did she not want to spend time with me? It used to be fun being alone with Sarah, but lately she didn't smile or play with me much. The last few times she stayed with me she just sat reading a red book. She took that book everywhere.

Daddy put on lots of layers and wore a tie, kind of like he did every morning when he left the house. Mommy put on a skirt and flowy pink top. She liked to wear pink. She also put a necklace on that looked like round white teeth. I tried to put them in my mouth when she held me once but it made her mad. She doesn't hold me when she wears it. Mommy then looked into the mirror to make sure everything was just right as she fixed her hair and put color on her lips. She huffed often, looking at the metal timer on her wrist every few minutes.

After a while, Mommy and Daddy started talking loudly at each other. I think they were worried about Sarah. They were saying her name a lot. She still wasn't home.

Rain started to pound on the roof, then lights flashed and the sound afterward scared me, it was so loud! I couldn't help whimpering. I don't like storms. Daddy tried to feed me dinner, but the storm made me too nervous. I didn't eat very much. He then made a bottle with warm milk and carried me around. I didn't want it either and tried to push it away. Daddy started bouncing me. Why does he and Mommy do that sometimes? It just makes me dizzy.

The tall timer in the hallway started ringing. Mommy moved to the front door. She huffed again. She must be worried about Sarah too.

I heard Mommy open the door. I could hear her and Sarah talking loudly, but I couldn't see anything. I tried to tell Daddy to move so I could see, but he just kept bouncing me near the kitchen. When Sarah came stomping inside, Daddy moved closer. She and Mommy were shouting. Sarah was all wet from the rain. They all started talking like they were mad, and then Sarah ran upstairs to get away. Daddy just sighed and followed her.

But instead of taking me with him, he put me in my crib. He put the bottle in my hands. I didn't want the bottle and let it go. Daddy left the room and I heard him talk to Sarah. Her muffled voice was angry as she talked back.

I waited a minute for Daddy to return, but he didn't come back! Mommy didn't come in either. It's still storming outside, I'm scared, and my ears are starting to hurt. Did they just leave me alone? The teddy is in my crib, maybe if I throw it someone will come pick it up, then they'd see me.

Oh, Sarah is home. I'm not alone! Maybe she can make my ears not hurt. Maybe she can change my diaper; Daddy forgot to check before he left. Sarah seems mad and she takes away the teddy bear mommy gave me. Sarah's voice is angry but she starts to tell a story. The storm is scary, my ears are still hurting, I'm tired and hungry, so I can't help but cry, even when Sarah picked me up. She held me in the air chanting something before huffing and laying me back in my crib and putting the covers over me. I tried to get up because she didn't finish her story, but the lights went out.

Why'd the lights go out? Who's touching me? Monsters! They're pulling me away! Let me go! Sarah, help!

Next thing I knew, I was in a place that smelled as bad as my diaper bin when Mommy forgets to clean it out for days. And the room was made from rocks, no carpet anywhere. Where am I? The goblins were all around me.

My teeth hurt. My ears hurt. My diaper still hadn't been changed. Could this day get any worse?

And then a man came into the room and sat on a strange chair. His hair was messy, like Mommy's when she woke up sometimes. The man just sat there tapping a gloved finger to his nose. Why was he wearing gloves inside? There was no snow. Did he even know I was there? I'm not sure he did. He never looked at me. He didn't move for hours.

After a while, I found the scary-looking monsters were actually pretty funny. They sang and danced with the funny-haired man. He's being silly too. He said a word Sarah said when she told me the story: Goblin. These weren't monsters, they were goblins!

The man picked me up and danced me around the room. Whee! It was fun when he threw me into the air. Daddy never threw me this high.

When the singing was over, the man carried me to a goblin he called Beetlegum. The little goblin took my hand. He tried to pick me up but it was hard since he was not much bigger than me.

I watched the man's clothes change as he walked through the room. His shirt was now black. How'd he change his clothes so fast? He flicked his wrist and a ball of glass floated on his fingers from out of nowhere. He can do magic! Oh, is that my sister in that shiny glass ball? Did he take my sister too? He said something to the goblins that made them laugh. The glass ball with my sister disappeared. Then the magic man went away, leaving me with Beetlegum.

After a while, the man came back. He held me as he sat in the big chair. He talked to me, telling me a story about Sarah, I guess. He said her name. I wish I understood adult talk.

The man looked concerned, his brows scrunched when he saw Sarah dancing with funny red creatures that could play with fire on their fingers. Did one take off its arm? They all started taking apart their bodies. Sarah started to scream when one tried to take off her head. The magic man made the picture in the glass ball change to a wrinkly short old guy and said something. The short guy could hear it and talked back, then ran off in a hurry.

The glass then showed the short guy throwing a rope down to Sarah. He helped her get away from the weird creatures. When she kissed him, the man holding me snapped his fingers and the floor beneath Sarah crumbled. Oh no! But it showed she caught onto the side and didn't get hurt. She and the old guy clung to the edge of the wall. Oh no, it crumbled too! Don't fall, Sarah! She went tumbling down onto a big shaggy monster that kind of looked like a cow and a monkey had a baby. It called itself Ludo. Then Ludo and a small dog with clothes on had a fight. It was funny watching the bigger one try to smash the little one as it scurried around.

They stopped fighting pretty quickly when the big one smashed the tree the small one ran into. Was it hurt? Oh good, the little one looked okay when it came out. Their voices weren't mad any more.

Sarah tried to cross a bridge over the icky brown water, but the bridge broke! And the branch that she grabbed didn't hold her weight either. Why did everything break and crumble in this place Sarah was in? She isn't safe!

I looked to the magic man holding me and tried to ask him if he could help my sister, but like all adults, he wasn't listening.

But Ludo started calling loudly and suddenly big rocks appeared rising from the icky water. Sarah was able to land on one, safe again. Sarah has made new friends. The big shaggy monster and a dog wearing clothes riding...is that Merlin? The other dog looked just like my dog! Sarah and her new friends then began walking through a forest. I wonder where they are going?

The magic man spoke to the glass ball. The wrinkled man heard him! He jumped nervously.

The magic man then said something to me about Sarah, as if he were saying something important. But before I could understand, he made the glass ball go away. He handed me off to Beetlegum and left. I didn't like that. I wanted to watch my sister.

Being little wasn't fair. Adults always made you do things you didn't want to do and take you places you didn't want to go.

Beetlegum put me back in the stone room with the magic man's big chair. I didn't like this room. There were no toys and it smelled bad. But I was so sleepy. My bed time was hours ago. Even though it wasn't nighttime anymore since it looked bright and sunny out the windows in the rock room, I felt that it was a good time to take a nap.

I think the magic man liked holding me, for some reason. I woke up in his lap as he sat on the big chair. He was smuggly smiling at me, like Sarah does sometimes when she has a secret. But that smirk went away when one of the goblins came rushing into the room and told him something he didn't like. He jumped up and handed me off to another goblin and started yelling and waving his arms. A loud bell started to ring. It was very loud and kept ringing and ringing! All the goblins got up and left in a hurry. The goblin that held me started taking me up some stairs, away from the room of rocks. Where are they taking me now?

The goblin put me down in a new place and left. Somewhere outside I could hear lots of shouting and bells were still ringing. Sometimes there were even loud booms! It was so scary. Why was I all alone now?

There were lots of stairs in this new place, even upside down above my head! I like stairs. I just started climbing them at home. Mommy wasn't very happy when she found me. I was almost to the top when she shouted and picked me up. I'll show her, it's easy.

Climbing so many stairs was harder than I thought. I took a break and sat down. I heard a clinking sound and looked down. One of the glass balls came bouncing up the stairs, right into my hand. How did it do that!

"Toby!"

I look to see who's yelling my name. It's Sarah! She's not stuck in the glass ball anymore! How do I get to her? She keeps moving. Oh, and the magic man is following her. I can't tell if he's mad or sad.

Trying to get to Sarah was making me tired. I had to sit down again. I looked around. Where did Sarah go? She said my name. I looked up. Sarah was way far above me. How did she get there? Why did she close her eyes? She jumped. No! She will get hurt!

Sarah!

Wait, I'm in my crib again? How did that happen? Where did Sarah go? Mommy and Daddy aren't in their bed but the lights are out. Was the magic man and goblins just a dream?

I am so tired. I can't keep my eyes open. I'm going back to sleep. Maybe tomorrow will be a better day.

AN 2: Writing in first person is not my forte. Also, I lost this story and had to work with an older version. I wish that the copy I had made additions and changes to had been saved, but alas, it was not to be. Hopefully this version is satisfactory. This was created for the 2021 LFFL movie anniversary challenge to write the story from Toby's POV, in a somewhat "Look Who's Talking" manner. Since I have only seen LWT once and it was when it first came out, I don't remember much about it.