Chapter Eight: Those Hidden, Dark Fantasies
The two leaned up against the smooth wooden walls, gazing upwards, and
wondering how they would manage to cover all those stairs. A path that had seemed easy
any other day, now appeared a straining treck up a horrendous mountain of obstacles.
Gabrielle brushed a hand across her forehead and allowed a sigh to escape her lips.
"I'm so sore. I never thought that I had some of the muscles I managed to pull,"
she moaned as she dared another step closer to the second floor.
Sarah rubbed at her shoulder, cringing at the dull pain from the tightened muscle.
Still, strenuous work was better than nothing, especially better than the horrid alternative
of quitting. She simply shivered at the thought and managed to follow Gabby upwards a
few more strides before her calves screamed to stop again.
Surprisingly her sutured lacerations had offered little, if not any trouble at all. She
had nearly convinced herself that they were gone, when noticing the gauzy bandages upon
rolling up her sleeves. Sarah had quickly pulled the cover back over her wounds, having
felt self-conscious about the rumors which surrounded the cuts.
"I thought they hired a backstage crew for stuff like this," Sarah complained.
Gabby scoffed at such an idea. Crews were for the more elite productions. Peter
had simply wanted a play and actors, but had given no thought about who would put the
background together, help with make-up, even quick changes between acts would be more
difficult without more assistance. It was quite a haphazard performance.
"I wish. You've only just begun to experience the strains of this weekly chore.
Building the damn set!" Gabrielle stated and then struggled the rest of the way up the
steep staircase, gripping the railing for extra support.
"Yeah, great," Sarah replied, taking a deep breath as she managed to follow her
friend, walking a bit slower than Gabby had.
They continued on in silence, for as Gabrielle had mentioned earlier, they were the
only residents on that particular wing of the mansion. They passed by Gabby's room,
without a side glance, and flung open the broad door leading into Sarah's chambers. Both
nearly collapsed, but managed to fall into the velveteen chairs just within the doorway.
Sarah laid her head back, against the softness of the lovely chair and allowed
herself to enjoy the rest. Night had already fallen, meaning that they had worked for
nearly six hours, nailing and hammering, and pulling, pushing, lifting, dropping, running,
nearly everything that the body could sustain, they had done during the day.
"Have you been feeling better?" Gabrielle questioned, suddenly breaking the silent
atmosphere that had surrounded them.
Sarah balked at the question, finding herself unable to answer. She had been
feeling perfect, in top condition for the first time in a long time. Though, if she said that,
would Gabby merely believe that it was stated for the means to cover something else that
was hidden deeper? Sarah nodded briefly, forgoing any response at the time.
"It's just... you seemed happy today," the other girl finally explained, and then rose
a bit to look at Sarah, "With Peter that is."
Sarah smiled briefly, at last understanding what the reason was for this turn of the
conversation. Gabby had been completely beside herself with thousands of undying
questions about the stroll Sarah had taken with Peter in the early morning. Now, with
only the two of them in company, the answers would be forced out, no matter what.
"He's really nice," Sarah responded, carefully eluding the answers that Gabby
wanted. A smile covered her face and she at last looked at her miffed friend.
Gabrielle crossed her arms over her chest, a look of utter contempt scrawled
across her generally friendly face. However, such a scornful appearance quickly dissipated
and Gabby grabbed the arm of Sarah's chair for emphasis. She bared her teeth and then
giggled a bit, despite her portrayal of anger.
"And that means? Answers, Sarah, answers!" Gabby demanded.
Sarah rose from the chair, her muscles throbbing relentlessly from the manual
labor, but still she wished to draw out the wait a while longer. She fell atop her downy
bed, her mass of brunette hair framing her pale skin as if a halo. Gabrielle, on the other
hand, remained seated, but still persistent about her interrogation.
"What sort of answers do you want, Gabby?" Sarah retorted and glanced towards
her angered friend with another playful grin.
Gabby fixed Sarah with an icy glare and she straightened her mouth into a thin line.
This time there was no laughter to go along with the seriousness. Sarah relented at last,
understanding that there was a point when one could go too far with teasing. She sighed
deeply and uttered a lovestruck moan.
"I don't know what to say about him. Peter is just, sweet, kind, gentle, caring. I
never thought that anyone would think about me the way he does. Not after...," Sarah
promptly cut herself off. She had come to close to mentioning the Labyrinth, and the king
who had briefly won over her young heart.
"After?" Gabrielle prodded, but noted Sarah's broken expression and promptly
ceased her questioning.
Even after all she had been through, thoughts of Jareth produced such an array of
emotions that Sarah found herself unable to handle or understand. His taunting,
overpowering demeanor was the figment of her most painful nightmares, while the Goblin
King inhabited her most...dark dreams. Sarah found that she could not forget him, nor
cease lustful feelings which arose in her soul.
Then there was Peter, whom made her feel wonderful and normal again. There
were, however, the mild occurances of odd mannerisms, that Sarah merely overlooked,
taking them to be such minute flaws in his entire personality, that they deserved little
concern. He was, after all, kind, understanding, real! Although, Jareth was very real as
well. Sarah shivered at the thought of him and forced such images from her mind. She
finally was in a healthy relationship, and found herself recalling a Goblin King?! Sarah
could have easily slapped herself at the thought.
"I mean, since what happened to me when I got here," Sarah quickly recovered,
averting the attention from her flustered appearance.
Gabrielle remained silent for a short time, fiddling with the corner of a knit blanket,
which draped across the back of the velveteen chair. She straightened it, folded it, and
then fixed it once more, then at last turned to look at her friend. Gabby was obviously still
very interested in what had gone on between Sarah and Peter.
"So...?" Gabby urged Sarah to continued on with the juicy details.
"He's great, Gabrielle, what else is there to know?" Sarah inquired, now realizing
just how sleepy she actually was.
Gabrielle rose from the chair, yawning and stretching in the process. The work
had been quite grueling, and only after resting did the sleepiness hit full force. Sarah was
granted with an easy way out of the endless questions, offered another day to figure out
some more acceptable answers. She managed a small smile directed towards her friend as
she thought about the tales she could form.
"You'll tell me tomorrow, right?" Gabby demanded, placing her hands firmly on
the edge of the comfortable bed.
Sarah nodded and then crossed her heart with her index finger. Her expression
portrayed entire innocence to an extreme, and Gabby threw her hands up in mock
frustration. However, both soon allowed exhausted laughter to break apart their phony
acts.
Gabrielle grabbed hold of one of the many pillows which adorned Sarah's large
bed and tossed it playfully on her friend's face. Sarah threw it back towards Gabby, but
missed by quite a distance. She was far too tired to try hard enough to hit anything.
"See you tomorrow then, Sarah. Sleep well," Gabrielle called as she walked out
the door, shutting it gently behind herself.
"Night!" Sarah called back, though the door had already been closed between the
two of them.
She was certain that Gabby had heard, and so contented herself to ponder what
had entered her mind a bit earlier. It was dangerous, she knew, to think about a certain
King, but it was something that had to be done. Sarah could not make him disappear, for
Jareth seemed to be overly prevalent in her life, even with the recent move to England.
There would always be a small part of her that longed for the fantasy of the
Underground, and all that Jareth offered. He was utterly breathtaking, suave, a king, just
like a prince charming from a storybook. However, the similarities ended there, and his
contrasting personality (of cruelty and passionate romanticism) took control.
With the sudden appearance of Jareth out of her dreams, she was forced to face
him and his strange alluring qualities. The only difference was the fact that she had Peter,
a man whom she was beginning to almost love, and was no longer a coy, naive teen. She
had priorities, and could not be tempted by the magic that Jareth had to offer.
"Then why is it so hard to convince yourself that you no longer want him?" Sarah
asked herself.
She rolled on her side, gazing forlornly towards the window. That was where he
had tried to kill her. Jareth had thrown the shards of glass at her fragile body, merely to
evoke those memories of nights spent under supervision constantly. The time when she
had been coded and carefully filed away under patient records, one of thousands of others.
It was then, in the dark, with the red glow of the call button shining against her closed
eyelid, and the constant whir of a video camera overhead, combined with the restraints
which were not fastened, but present nonetheless, when she thought about suicide most
often, and about him as well.
Every passing moment spent at night, unable to sleep nor relax, had been
consumed with thoughts about Jareth. His presence leaked into her mind as if some all
possessing potion. She recalled his demeanor, his handsome looks, the way her heart had
skipped upon first seeing him and realizing just what she had gotten herself into. All of
that made up her past, and one that would not remain where it was supposed to.
Sarah, at last, forced herself out of her thoughts and rolled on to her back. If she
ever was going to sleep, then it was high time she turned off the lights and ceased the
infernal thoughts about her dismal past. Hadn't that been the major lesson learned in the
hospital? Not to dwell on things better left alone!
Sarah rose to a sitting position and then quickly crossed to the other side of the
room. Once there, she paused before switching off the lights and bathing the room in
complete darkness. Then, she promptly switched it off and gazed into the inky night.
"Why must you confuse me so, Jareth, even when you are not here," Sarah
whispered as she turned towards her dresser.
Of course, there was no answer and she pulled out her heavy sweats with a
deepened sigh. Even during the night, when things were so dark, and there was no one to
be seen, she could feel eyes on her back. Sarah shivered following the horrid thought, still
able to feel that awful sensation of being watched, and stripped off her dirtied work
clothes.
She pulled back her hair, feeling entirely helpless without her clothing. Sarah
shook the paranoid thoughts from her mind and straightened her sweatshirt. It was then,
as she began to pull the warm cloth over her arms, that she felt a presence behind her.
Hands, or at least a sensation resembling hands, graced the tender flesh around her neck,
sending goosebumps all up and down her spine.
Sarah spun around, clutching the sweatshirt over her chest, so as to hide her
obvious lack of clothing. However, there was nothing to be seen. Her breath came in
short gasps, trying to calm her frazzled nerves. She scanned the bedroom, her warm
brown eyes focusing intently on shadowed corners, which seemed a perfect place to hide.
Still, there was nothing, and Sarah shook her head, feeling the creeping flesh about
her back from the icy touch. She shivered instinctively and quickly pulled the sweatshirt
on. She looked around once more, just to be certain that nothing had sneaked out while
she had clothed herself, and then carefully tip-toed her way to her bed.
Sarah silently slipped beneath the covers, adoring the silken texture along her
hands, and rested her drowsy body against the cradling mattress and pillows. It was like
sleeping on a cloud, and shortly all her fears and anxieties had dissipated into nothingness.
She slept, drifting into a realm rich with dreams, those created by darkened areas
of her hidden fantasies. And dark fantasies came in abundance...
The two leaned up against the smooth wooden walls, gazing upwards, and
wondering how they would manage to cover all those stairs. A path that had seemed easy
any other day, now appeared a straining treck up a horrendous mountain of obstacles.
Gabrielle brushed a hand across her forehead and allowed a sigh to escape her lips.
"I'm so sore. I never thought that I had some of the muscles I managed to pull,"
she moaned as she dared another step closer to the second floor.
Sarah rubbed at her shoulder, cringing at the dull pain from the tightened muscle.
Still, strenuous work was better than nothing, especially better than the horrid alternative
of quitting. She simply shivered at the thought and managed to follow Gabby upwards a
few more strides before her calves screamed to stop again.
Surprisingly her sutured lacerations had offered little, if not any trouble at all. She
had nearly convinced herself that they were gone, when noticing the gauzy bandages upon
rolling up her sleeves. Sarah had quickly pulled the cover back over her wounds, having
felt self-conscious about the rumors which surrounded the cuts.
"I thought they hired a backstage crew for stuff like this," Sarah complained.
Gabby scoffed at such an idea. Crews were for the more elite productions. Peter
had simply wanted a play and actors, but had given no thought about who would put the
background together, help with make-up, even quick changes between acts would be more
difficult without more assistance. It was quite a haphazard performance.
"I wish. You've only just begun to experience the strains of this weekly chore.
Building the damn set!" Gabrielle stated and then struggled the rest of the way up the
steep staircase, gripping the railing for extra support.
"Yeah, great," Sarah replied, taking a deep breath as she managed to follow her
friend, walking a bit slower than Gabby had.
They continued on in silence, for as Gabrielle had mentioned earlier, they were the
only residents on that particular wing of the mansion. They passed by Gabby's room,
without a side glance, and flung open the broad door leading into Sarah's chambers. Both
nearly collapsed, but managed to fall into the velveteen chairs just within the doorway.
Sarah laid her head back, against the softness of the lovely chair and allowed
herself to enjoy the rest. Night had already fallen, meaning that they had worked for
nearly six hours, nailing and hammering, and pulling, pushing, lifting, dropping, running,
nearly everything that the body could sustain, they had done during the day.
"Have you been feeling better?" Gabrielle questioned, suddenly breaking the silent
atmosphere that had surrounded them.
Sarah balked at the question, finding herself unable to answer. She had been
feeling perfect, in top condition for the first time in a long time. Though, if she said that,
would Gabby merely believe that it was stated for the means to cover something else that
was hidden deeper? Sarah nodded briefly, forgoing any response at the time.
"It's just... you seemed happy today," the other girl finally explained, and then rose
a bit to look at Sarah, "With Peter that is."
Sarah smiled briefly, at last understanding what the reason was for this turn of the
conversation. Gabby had been completely beside herself with thousands of undying
questions about the stroll Sarah had taken with Peter in the early morning. Now, with
only the two of them in company, the answers would be forced out, no matter what.
"He's really nice," Sarah responded, carefully eluding the answers that Gabby
wanted. A smile covered her face and she at last looked at her miffed friend.
Gabrielle crossed her arms over her chest, a look of utter contempt scrawled
across her generally friendly face. However, such a scornful appearance quickly dissipated
and Gabby grabbed the arm of Sarah's chair for emphasis. She bared her teeth and then
giggled a bit, despite her portrayal of anger.
"And that means? Answers, Sarah, answers!" Gabby demanded.
Sarah rose from the chair, her muscles throbbing relentlessly from the manual
labor, but still she wished to draw out the wait a while longer. She fell atop her downy
bed, her mass of brunette hair framing her pale skin as if a halo. Gabrielle, on the other
hand, remained seated, but still persistent about her interrogation.
"What sort of answers do you want, Gabby?" Sarah retorted and glanced towards
her angered friend with another playful grin.
Gabby fixed Sarah with an icy glare and she straightened her mouth into a thin line.
This time there was no laughter to go along with the seriousness. Sarah relented at last,
understanding that there was a point when one could go too far with teasing. She sighed
deeply and uttered a lovestruck moan.
"I don't know what to say about him. Peter is just, sweet, kind, gentle, caring. I
never thought that anyone would think about me the way he does. Not after...," Sarah
promptly cut herself off. She had come to close to mentioning the Labyrinth, and the king
who had briefly won over her young heart.
"After?" Gabrielle prodded, but noted Sarah's broken expression and promptly
ceased her questioning.
Even after all she had been through, thoughts of Jareth produced such an array of
emotions that Sarah found herself unable to handle or understand. His taunting,
overpowering demeanor was the figment of her most painful nightmares, while the Goblin
King inhabited her most...dark dreams. Sarah found that she could not forget him, nor
cease lustful feelings which arose in her soul.
Then there was Peter, whom made her feel wonderful and normal again. There
were, however, the mild occurances of odd mannerisms, that Sarah merely overlooked,
taking them to be such minute flaws in his entire personality, that they deserved little
concern. He was, after all, kind, understanding, real! Although, Jareth was very real as
well. Sarah shivered at the thought of him and forced such images from her mind. She
finally was in a healthy relationship, and found herself recalling a Goblin King?! Sarah
could have easily slapped herself at the thought.
"I mean, since what happened to me when I got here," Sarah quickly recovered,
averting the attention from her flustered appearance.
Gabrielle remained silent for a short time, fiddling with the corner of a knit blanket,
which draped across the back of the velveteen chair. She straightened it, folded it, and
then fixed it once more, then at last turned to look at her friend. Gabby was obviously still
very interested in what had gone on between Sarah and Peter.
"So...?" Gabby urged Sarah to continued on with the juicy details.
"He's great, Gabrielle, what else is there to know?" Sarah inquired, now realizing
just how sleepy she actually was.
Gabrielle rose from the chair, yawning and stretching in the process. The work
had been quite grueling, and only after resting did the sleepiness hit full force. Sarah was
granted with an easy way out of the endless questions, offered another day to figure out
some more acceptable answers. She managed a small smile directed towards her friend as
she thought about the tales she could form.
"You'll tell me tomorrow, right?" Gabby demanded, placing her hands firmly on
the edge of the comfortable bed.
Sarah nodded and then crossed her heart with her index finger. Her expression
portrayed entire innocence to an extreme, and Gabby threw her hands up in mock
frustration. However, both soon allowed exhausted laughter to break apart their phony
acts.
Gabrielle grabbed hold of one of the many pillows which adorned Sarah's large
bed and tossed it playfully on her friend's face. Sarah threw it back towards Gabby, but
missed by quite a distance. She was far too tired to try hard enough to hit anything.
"See you tomorrow then, Sarah. Sleep well," Gabrielle called as she walked out
the door, shutting it gently behind herself.
"Night!" Sarah called back, though the door had already been closed between the
two of them.
She was certain that Gabby had heard, and so contented herself to ponder what
had entered her mind a bit earlier. It was dangerous, she knew, to think about a certain
King, but it was something that had to be done. Sarah could not make him disappear, for
Jareth seemed to be overly prevalent in her life, even with the recent move to England.
There would always be a small part of her that longed for the fantasy of the
Underground, and all that Jareth offered. He was utterly breathtaking, suave, a king, just
like a prince charming from a storybook. However, the similarities ended there, and his
contrasting personality (of cruelty and passionate romanticism) took control.
With the sudden appearance of Jareth out of her dreams, she was forced to face
him and his strange alluring qualities. The only difference was the fact that she had Peter,
a man whom she was beginning to almost love, and was no longer a coy, naive teen. She
had priorities, and could not be tempted by the magic that Jareth had to offer.
"Then why is it so hard to convince yourself that you no longer want him?" Sarah
asked herself.
She rolled on her side, gazing forlornly towards the window. That was where he
had tried to kill her. Jareth had thrown the shards of glass at her fragile body, merely to
evoke those memories of nights spent under supervision constantly. The time when she
had been coded and carefully filed away under patient records, one of thousands of others.
It was then, in the dark, with the red glow of the call button shining against her closed
eyelid, and the constant whir of a video camera overhead, combined with the restraints
which were not fastened, but present nonetheless, when she thought about suicide most
often, and about him as well.
Every passing moment spent at night, unable to sleep nor relax, had been
consumed with thoughts about Jareth. His presence leaked into her mind as if some all
possessing potion. She recalled his demeanor, his handsome looks, the way her heart had
skipped upon first seeing him and realizing just what she had gotten herself into. All of
that made up her past, and one that would not remain where it was supposed to.
Sarah, at last, forced herself out of her thoughts and rolled on to her back. If she
ever was going to sleep, then it was high time she turned off the lights and ceased the
infernal thoughts about her dismal past. Hadn't that been the major lesson learned in the
hospital? Not to dwell on things better left alone!
Sarah rose to a sitting position and then quickly crossed to the other side of the
room. Once there, she paused before switching off the lights and bathing the room in
complete darkness. Then, she promptly switched it off and gazed into the inky night.
"Why must you confuse me so, Jareth, even when you are not here," Sarah
whispered as she turned towards her dresser.
Of course, there was no answer and she pulled out her heavy sweats with a
deepened sigh. Even during the night, when things were so dark, and there was no one to
be seen, she could feel eyes on her back. Sarah shivered following the horrid thought, still
able to feel that awful sensation of being watched, and stripped off her dirtied work
clothes.
She pulled back her hair, feeling entirely helpless without her clothing. Sarah
shook the paranoid thoughts from her mind and straightened her sweatshirt. It was then,
as she began to pull the warm cloth over her arms, that she felt a presence behind her.
Hands, or at least a sensation resembling hands, graced the tender flesh around her neck,
sending goosebumps all up and down her spine.
Sarah spun around, clutching the sweatshirt over her chest, so as to hide her
obvious lack of clothing. However, there was nothing to be seen. Her breath came in
short gasps, trying to calm her frazzled nerves. She scanned the bedroom, her warm
brown eyes focusing intently on shadowed corners, which seemed a perfect place to hide.
Still, there was nothing, and Sarah shook her head, feeling the creeping flesh about
her back from the icy touch. She shivered instinctively and quickly pulled the sweatshirt
on. She looked around once more, just to be certain that nothing had sneaked out while
she had clothed herself, and then carefully tip-toed her way to her bed.
Sarah silently slipped beneath the covers, adoring the silken texture along her
hands, and rested her drowsy body against the cradling mattress and pillows. It was like
sleeping on a cloud, and shortly all her fears and anxieties had dissipated into nothingness.
She slept, drifting into a realm rich with dreams, those created by darkened areas
of her hidden fantasies. And dark fantasies came in abundance...
