Chapter Eleven: Dreams of Reality

"Tonight then, amidst the illumination of the crystal moon, we shall chose our role
eternally as...," the large wooden door swung open, cutting off the voice that had spoken
since then.

Sarah peered into the theatre and offered a friendly smile. She was quite shocked
to see only five others in there, practicing from the most recent lines that Peter had handed
out. A woman, with thick blonde hair and magnificently sculpted features let out a
disturbed moan and promptly snapped her leather-bound folder closed on the script.

The others included a man, with light tawny hair, but he was at least ten years her
elder. To his right sat a younger boy, perhaps eighteen, if he was lucky. He was terribly
thin, almost emaciated, with nearly black hair that contrasted entirely with his pale
complexion. Near the blonde woman reclined yet another man, his hair cropped short and
the same remarkable blonde shade, this one her same age, with such a handsome face, that
it almost took Sarah's breath as she looked at them. Standing near the stage was the final
actor, who seemed the eldest of the others. He was perhaps forty, with a slight weight
problem, and spectacles resting on the end of his broad nose. He looked up at Sarah and
then ignored her completely.

She allowed the door to swing closed behind herself and then walked silently
inside. Still, only the older man continued in his rehearsal, reading the lines aloud to
himself as he tried several movements to accentuate the feelings. He seemed quite pleased
with his progress. Yet, all other eyes remained fixed on her.

"Sorry for disturbing you," Sarah stated, pausing before the four who remained on
the leather couches, near the stage.

The woman offered Sarah a truly icy grin, if there ever was one. She tapped her
manicured fingernails atop the folder and then turned to look at the attractive man beside
her. He looked quite disillusioned with life at that moment, and instead had chosen to
catch up on sleep.

"We're glad to see you up and feeling better, Sarah," the brunette man responded,
trying his best to sound truthful. After all, they were actors.

She fixed the man with her most pleasant smile and nodded in thanks. However,
he knew as well as she, that what had been said was utterly false. Most simply wanted her
gone, well or not. Nonetheless, if she wanted to make any sort of a good impression then
it was helpful to be a bit understanding of others shortcomings.

She flipped back the first page, entirely blank, which was rather strange. Sarah
had come to realize just how different this play was. In fact, she did not believe that it
even had a title. Sarah sighed and looked at the cast list, and wondered once again who
she would be playing.

"Excuse me?" Sarah asked gently, turning her attention to the bearable man who
had spoken to her earlier.

He muttered something under his breath, but turned to look at her despite
whatever was said. Sarah motioned to the page that laid open upon her lap and he looked,
as she had directed. She was glad that someone was at least willing to help her, if only a
slight bit.

"I'm terribly sorry to bother you, but I still am not quite sure about my part,"
Sarah spoke with even tones.

The man turned his light, cornflower eyes towards hers and reached out with one
large hand. Without a word, and acting rather snide at the same time, he pointed to the
fifth name down and then leaned back into the black leather sofa, so as to study lines once
more. Sarah nearly thanked him, but decided against it at the last moment. He would not
want to speak to her anymore.

She was excited, to say the least. After all, this would be her first part, in a play
that was not involved with the school in some way. Sarah closed her eyes for a short time,
anticipating the joy of what she would portray and then snapped them open, filled with
wild anticipation.

At once her spirit fell, crashing to the rocky cliffs of reality. Her entire mood
dissipated, and clouds drifted over her face, darkening everything from her eyes to her lost
smile. Her face remained set, stern almost, but one could easily see the crushed hopes and
dashed dreams floating about in her blurry chestnut eyes. At once, Sarah knew that
everyone else in the room had seen her dismay and she faced away from the prying eyes,
yearning to be alone, but knowing to leave at that time would be like throwing away any
last grain of self-esteem to which she still clung.

"Maid?" she thought bitterly to herself.

She had seen herself as so much more. Of course, Sarah had not expected to be
the star, but could not deny the fact that she had thought about it occasionally. With a
sigh she read through the setting, already trying to lift her spirits again.

There are no small parts, only small actors. The phrase immediately became her
mantra as she realized her lines were anything but plentiful. Although, she had only
skimmed to see where she happened into the scene, clothed in frumpy, boring gray
dresses, and a pristine white apron. Sarah cringed inwardly at the thought and then
focused once more on the start of the play.

"Should I wait and darkness comes to steal away the soothing light of day, how
will I know it is thee who has come for me?" the blonde woman's voice drifted into
Sarah's concentration and drove away any chance for her to study.

Now, the man who had appeared asleep, and still laid with his eyes closed off from
the world, raised a hand in mock dramatics. His face, however, remained dead serious as
lines that had only been presented that day, poured forth from a perfect memory.

"Then I shall sing, and let it be known that it is I, your true love come. All around
the air will say, my lady soon will stir this way...," the man ended in a lovely tenor voice,
that rose throughout the entire theatre.

Sarah sat, utterly silent as the song drifted into her memory, tantalizing events out
of the dark mists that had set over her mind that morning. That song, that bit of melody
that had sounded so sweet from this actor's lips, had been heard by her before. Sarah
gasped in shock, realized exactly where she had heard the tune before. It had been in her
dreams.

She rose with a start, the entire script very nearly plummeting to the floor. Sarah
snaked her hand out at the last moment and caught it, before embarrassing herself to no
extent. However, at that moment she could see only red, as her anger flared on and on. It
was not right to torture her so.

"Where did you hear that!? Why must you treat me this way?! What have I ever
done to you?!" She demanded, setting the script roughly upon the chair she had only just
left.

The blonde actor rose from his reclined position and finally opened his eyes, to
reveal...

Sarah gasped and backed into the chair, nearly tipping it over and tripping all at
once. She quickly corrected herself and gathered her balance. Yet, all she yearned to do
was put as much distance between Fontridge and herself as possible. Of course, she knew
that that would not happen.

"Something wrong with you? Having another "episode"," the man put a certain
emphasis on the final word, so that it grated against her ears.

Sarah rushed forward and stared at the man, fighting back any fear that his eyes
brought to her. This was not real, merely a joke someone had played on her, so as to
make her leave. If that was what everyone wanted then Sarah would certainly be the first
to disappoint them. She was still determined and stubborn, and knew that that would
never change.

The actor's eyes lacked any emotion. In fact, they appeared dead. The only
striking quality was the color. One was the shade of the ocean on a sunny summer day,
the other that of leaves in autumn, as they fell from the trees to the ground, forming lovely
chestnut hues. She was looking at eyes that had been apparent in only one other person
she had ever met, Jareth!

"How dare you," Sarah replied in a deadly whisper.

The man before her seemed to almost shudder, if not outwardly, then his entire
ego and bravery where certainly under massive strain. However, his false front and
obvious acting skills won over the fear that she implanted into his soul. He moved
forward, cutting the scant distance between their faces to a near nothing. The eyes drilled
into her mind, nagging at painful memories, almost drawing tears that would ruin
everything.

"What have I done to incite this rage?" he questioned, almost sarcastically.

Sarah snatched her script and laid it heavily upon his lap. He uttered a single
muffled cry of pain and then fixed Sarah with a truly icy glare. She crossed her arms over
her chest, and then gestured towards the play, as if he should have known all along what
he had done. However, Sarah was beginning to wonder if what he had done had not been
directed towards her. She wasn't quite as sure as she had once been.

"Why do you insist on mocking me? Where've you heard that song!?" Sarah
demanded.

At that the blonde actor allowed a fit of laughter to erupt from his vocal chords.
He tossed his handsome head back and fell against the comfortable leather sofa. At his
side the woman observed the antics with an air of disdain. She edged away from his
childish behavior and then continued to watch the battle between the two.

He turned to look at Sarah once more, his face dead serious after just experiencing
bouts of nearly overwhelming laughter. He took her script in hand and waved it about,
almost threatening to drop it all over the floor. At the last moment, just as Sarah made to
lunge for the fallen paper, he set it firmly atop the table near by.

"I pride myself on memorizing, Sarah. Read the play sometime, and maybe the
song will come to you as well," he scoffed and then turned to talk to the others that sat
beside him.

Sarah shivered at his words. She could not manage to begin to understand why
her dream song should be in the play. Her entire being felt cold, almost detached from the
world as if she were drifting into oblivion. However, how could she deny the fact?
Certainly the actor would not say such a thing and lie, since she could easily look and
prove him wrong in front of all who remained as spectators to the conflict.

"No! NO! What about those eyes? I've never seen anything like that!" Sarah
stated, grasping his shoulder and forcing the actor to acknowledge her presence once
again.

He turned and casually looked at the angered Sarah. Her cheeks had flushed quite
a bit in her rage and her eyes burned with fiery determination. It was obvious that she was
beautiful even while resting, but in her fury she was gorgeous. Sarah tightened her full lips
and waited for an answer.

With a single deft movement, that would have surely terrified Sarah, he placed a
single tip of his finger right above his eye. In the next instant, without so much as a tear
produced, he looked back at Sarah, both eyes normally chestnut in color. Upon the finger
rested a tiny blue disk, obviously a contact lens.

"If you have problems with the script, then I suggest that those be directed
towards Peter. However, my dear, I would be more than happy to point out other key
points that might have been ignored, while you.... weren't feeling yourself," he smiled a
predatory grin and then set the contact upon her script.

He watched Sarah for a brief moment and then turned away once again. Sarah
could only stand, shocked and paralyzed in that spot. It could not be that Peter had
known Jareth, or somehow witnessed her dreams. She shook her head in disagreement
with all that had been told to her. She couldn't allow these mind games to be plaid upon
her, and if they were, she would force herself to be strong and prevent them from sinking
in.

She fumbled with words for the briefest amount of time and then gave up entirely.
It was no use to appear totally frazzled before these self-obsessed actors. They were not
worth her time. Sarah turned with a flip of her shimmering chestnut hair and then scooped
her script into her arms, finally succeeding after several failed attempts to sweep the
colored contact to the ground, perhaps to be stepped on at a later time.

At the last moment, she hesitated, and then swung her head back around to glare
at the blonde actor, who had obviously decided to watch her walk away. His eyes trailed
noticeably lower than she liked, and she cleared her throat to gather up his attention. He
casually met her angered gaze and smiled once again.

"What do you want from me?" she asked, soft and filled with emotion.

A sly grin found its way to the man's handsome face, and he finally rose from his
position upon the comfortable sofa. The actress beside him offered a puzzled look to his
sudden movement, but soon delved back into the plot and her many lines that still needed
much work.

"From you, not much. Perhaps some time spent cracking through that tough
exterior. Maybe loosening you up," he stated and then reached out a hand to touch her
hair.

Sarah recoiled as if she had been burned. She narrowed her eyes and suppressed a
snarl that formed on her full lips. This cretin, who had done everything to make her life
hell, was coming on to her? Sarah was shocked, stunned, flabbergasted, to say the least.
She set her jaw and searched for something, anything that would cut his ego down to size.

"After what you have done to me...," Sarah could not continue, but only shake her
head in stunned silence.

The actor edged forward, perhaps taking her lack of words as a happy sort of
shock. However, he obviously had not read her well enough. Sarah recoiled once again,
but, urged forward by her raging anger, struck at him with her hand. She slapped him
across his face, with enough power to rock his head back and leave quite a throbbing red
mark as evidence of what she had done.

"Bastard!" Sarah remarked.

All attention in the room was instantly averted to the confrontation between the
two. All eyes remained glued on the man, whom rubbed at his reddened cheek slightly,
glaring at Sarah the entire time. A look of shock and complete resentment covered the
many pairs of eyes that Sarah looked towards before rushing away.

The doors swung open, and Sarah only avoided them by a scant margin. She
yearned to be away from the theatre, and all the phony people by which she had found
herself surrounded. Even now, as she stood there, waiting for the person to enter, Sarah
could hear the injured man's groans, and several bouts of laughter. She smiled in pride.

"Sarah?" Gabrielle asked carefully, her voice shaking only slightly as she rushed
forward. Her cheeks were flushed and her hair in disarray.

Sarah immediately feared the worst, as she had done since her return from the
labyrinth. Gabrielle grabbed Sarah's hands and quickly led her towards the swinging
doors, anxious to get them somewhere.

"Gabby, what is it?" Sarah demanded, yanking herself free from her friend's
vice-like grip.

Gabrielle turned, her eyes downcast and her chest heaving in an unnatural form. It
was obvious that something bad had happened. As a matter of fact, Gabrielle almost
appeared ready to cry. Sarah stepped forward and placed an arm about her friend's
shuddering shoulders.

The auburn-haired woman turned her emerald eyes down the hallway, as if looking
at some unseen force. She then sighed deeply and readied herself to speak. Bad news was
not something she enjoyed delivering.

"Peter was passing your room, and....Sarah, I can't even begin to explain it,"
Gabby paused once more, overcome by shock.

Sarah placed her hands on Gabrielle's shoulders, ordering her with her eyes to
continue. She could not be kept in such extreme suspense. Sarah narrowed her eyes, and
tightened her lips. She urged her friend to talk once again.

"Gabby, go on!" Sarah commanded, firmly.

"It's burned, Sarah...all of it. But,... there were never any flames."