Okee. Everyone wondering what's up with To Take A Wife. I'm working on that Epilogue, I swear. It's half written. This just came out during an allnighter.
This was born at the tail end of a feverish study fest at four in the morning and I think it's the favorite thing I've ever done. I honestly didn't expect it to be funny after I'd caught up on sleep. But I read and edited it two days later and I made myself laugh. Maybe I should write more at four in the morning.
Excursion into Labyrinth: Part 2!
Out of all the things that came out of the post-exam insanity, the Goblin King was what Sarah had least expected.
Three all-nighters, an average of six cups of coffee a day, and one adrenaline filled week of exams had left her feeling like she had been hit by a truck. Then dragged behind said truck through a ravine. The evening after her last exam she had collapsed into bed, dreaming of her receiving her double degree in teaching and literature.
She'd hoped to sleep way late into Sunday, possibly into Monday, but then the door started banging. Loudly, incessantly, with much passion.
Sarah jumped awake at the sudden noise and groaned, pulling her pillow over her head. If only she wasn't so darn private, then she would have gotten a roommate and a bigger apartment with an actual bedroom to block out the knocking, instead of having a living room that also functioned as a kitchen, office and bedroom. Having a roommate to answer the door would have also been nice, but as Sarah liked to imagine said imaginary roommate mysteriously off in Europe most of the year, such an event was unlikely to happen, even in her dreams.
More pounding.
"I'm coming, I'm coming!" She shouted and rolled out from her bed onto the shag rug she'd gotten for seven fifty nine in a second hand store.
Slowly she pushed herself up on her hands, then to her feet. She managed not to trip over her stacks of books and papers that she still hadn't cleaned up after her frantic studying.
Sarah fumbled with the lock on the door for a few seconds, then grasped the doorknob and pulled open the door.
And was met face to face with what her dramatic self liked to call her arch-nemesis: Jareth.
Her more practical side said he'd only taken Toby because she'd said the words (Admittedly, was a total jerk about it, but still.), and that things were a bit more grey than that. Her dramatic side protested and was shoved into a corner of her brain to sulk, because she'd learned to reign it in after the Labyrinth.
Said arch-nemesis/whatever was saying Very Loud Things, which Sarah didn't like very much in her current state. She promptly decided she needed coffee to deal with whatever was happening.
So she closed the door.
She closed her eyes in relief too, the Very Loud Things had stopped, and for a moment there was blessed peace.
Until the beating redoubled, the door shaking on its hinges. There were more Very Loud Things being said, but Sarah decided to ignore that and acquire said coffee that would allow her to find sense in the situation. It had to be there somewhere.
Her well loved coffee machine hummed merrily as Sarah ate a bowl of cereal, waiting for it to finish. The pounding on the door and Very Loud Things did not stop, to her mild surprise.
After she was equipped with a cup of coffee and had drained it half empty, pessimistic thing she was, she went over to her door and opened it again.
Jareth froze, his fist hovering over his head where he no doubt intended to continue his assault on her innocent, albeit cheap, door.
His arm dropped. He said more Very Loud Things. A lot of them, so fast that even with the coffee Sarah couldn't decide what he was saying.
This was also the moment when the hormonal part of Sarah, which hadn't had a moment since high school, decided to revive itself from the human interaction starved part of her brain.
Sarah realized suddenly that Jareth was super hot. She was pretty sure she'd noticed in the Labyrinth, but the excitement of everything had made her forget. Noticing hotness had not been high on her list of priorities then. It was a lot higher now.
Dang girl, how did you ever turn him down?
She then decided that she could probably best function around Jareth if she didn't look like she'd slept in her clothes, which she had. And had another cup of coffee.
So she closed the door again.
This time the silence lasted a little longer, only to be broken by more pounding and shouting that was surely double from last time again. Sarah was impressed.
She drained her cup and opened her wardrobe and pulled out a comfortable pair of jeans and a blouse that was probably clean.
After working her way into these, she had that second cup of coffee. It was around that second cup of coffee that Sarah realized Jareth was still banging on her door. And if he was, it was probably serious. In fact, all the Very Loud Things were probably important things she should be paying attention to.
She opened the door, the last dregs of her second cup of coffee in hand.
This time she tried hard to pay attention. It still didn't make a lot of sense. Something about danger, and upserping and and broken protection and Sarah being kiddnapped and turned into a sex slave/hostage/prisoner.
Whatever it was, it sounded bad. Sarah leaned her doorway while listening, careful not to let any part of herself cross the threshold. She'd had that drilled into her head by fiction enough that she would have known that in her sleep.
Jareth finally finished his words, then held out his hand for her.
Sarah looked down at it blearily. He was wearing black leather gloves, and it had a cut that went through the leather into the skin. It was still bleeding. It struck her that she'd never seen Jareth injured.
In fact, now that she was looking at more than his face, he was significantly more scruffy than usual. His shirt was singed in a few places, and was sporting a few tears here and there. The usual trousers/tight thingies had one long tear down the side, revealing a bone white but well toned leg. His boots were scuffed and scratched, not perfectly polished like when she'd last seen him.
Jareth himself looked unharmed for the most part, aside from a few cuts here and there. Which was weird considering the state of his clothes, but Sarah decided that was the least of her problems.
She spoke dryly. "I suppose none of this can be solved by calling the police?"
The "are you stupid?" look Jareth gave made her sigh heavily. Just once, once, Sarah would have loved to have a problem the police could solve.
Jareth tried to speak again, but she held up her hand. "Listen- listen." She drained the last bits of her coffee. "This is happening at a bad time. Frankly, I'm half inclined to say you're lying and go back to bed out of spite."
The horror at his face at this made her quickly drop the lying theory.
"I would never lie to you." He breathed, his hair falling over his eyes in a most attractive way. "Not about this. Sarah-Love… please. Come."
Sarah raised an eyebrow. "Sarah-Love?"
"It is a term of endearment, is it not?" He stumbled over his words, explaining so fast Sarah could barely keep up. "I was-am, deeply, passionately, thoroughly in love with you. I wanted you by my side as my queen, my mate, my wife for all eternity. You were young, you were far too young, I see that now. I thought to wait until you were ready after your rejection. But now-"
Sarah interrupted. "Usurped, running for your life, protection over me is gone. Etc." She looked down at the bottom of her cup. "I need more coffee."
Jaerth gaped at her as if she were a half witted child. "We need to run. Sarah, you must come with me, let me protect you. He will not wait long, it is well known you are my greatest weakness- if he should take you-"
She closed the door.
The third cup of coffee finally made her feel somewhat normal again. Having established that, she dumped out her backpack on the floor and tossed the floppy fabric on her bed.
One spare set of pants was stuffed inside, along with two t-shirts, underwear, first aid kit, toiletries, a handful of granola bars, a reusable water bottle, her copy of Macbeth, a flashlight, and some batteries.
She pulled on a sweatshirt, her hiking boots and a belt. She combed and braided her hair. Finally, she attached a small bottle of pepper spray Irene had given her to the belt.
Slinging the backpack on, she gave a small "Oof!" at the weight, but it was better than it had been in her high school days.
Sarah realized that Jareth had once again taken up his new habit of trying to break down her door. It was accompanied by him screaming, almost sobbing in desperation.
"Sarah! Sarah my love- please," His voice broke. "I am telling you the truth. Please! We only have so much time-"
She opened it.
He had been crying, if the tears on his face were any indication. His eyes ravaged over her, as if he was terrified she somehow could have been kidnapped in the five minutes they'd been apart.
Sarah stepped over the doorway into the hallway. "Ready to go."
Jareth grasped her shoulders at once. The air twisted around them and they were plunged into a swirling dark world. As they traveled, Sarah somehow knew she would never get to use that degree she had slaved six years for.
Figured.
Is this the end? Yes. For now. Maybe. I'm not sure I could do the rest justice. Just imagine Sarah and Jareth running around, having adventures. Eventually they take back the goblin kingdom and reinstating Jareth as king. Stick a love story and a marriage in there somewhere and that's about what happened.
Also, Sarah is 1000% DONE with Jareth's shenanigans.
Reviews encourage authors and help them improve their writing. Please review! :)