Okay, here is the third chapter. I won't put a long introduction for two reasons: 1, you probably
will never read this and are skimming past to get to the good part. 2, even if you are reading this, you are
cursing the long wait because the last chapter left you hanging. So, I won't bore you. Here is Chapter 3:
"The best friend I have ever had is someone who gives me a book
I have never
read."
Abraham Lincoln.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~Chapter 3: Memory~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Mrs.
Paige and the rest of the class were staring intently at Sarah with looks of
almost horror on their faces.
Jareth-er-Jeremiah, however, looked amused. "Sarah, you know this man?"
Jeremiah, sensing he was about to get into trouble, spoke first. "Yes, she does. I was in a play of her mother's once. She saw me there." Mrs.
Paige looked happy. "Ooo…another person
who's worked with the wonderful Linda Williams. This play is going to be wonderful! Why, I imagine-" Sarah
interrupted her happy speech. "But he's
the goblin king!!" She said in shock.
"Of course he is." Mrs. Paige
said, a little upset she didn't get to continue speaking. "Uh…" Sarah said stupidly, searching for
words. "He is going to be playing
Jareth in the play." Mrs. Paige
finished. "Um…" Sarah said again, not
finding anything to say. Though
everyone was looking at Sarah, Sarah was looking at Jeremiah, who was slowly
and inconspicuously raising a finger to his lips, motioning to her to be silent. "That's…great!" Sarah said carefully, and the room seemed to let out a mutual
sigh of relief. Jeremiah looked
pleased, but all Sarah could do was mope.
"Why don't
you practice together while I figure out who will play the other characters,
hmm?" Mrs. Paige turned away and
motioned to the rest of the class to follow her to another corner of the gym,
where she began to line them up for auditions.
"Hello Sarah. You're taller this
year. But just as beautiful." Jareth
said, beaming at her. "H-hi." Sarah was disappointed that was all she
could say. This wasn't how she had
wanted their first meeting to go at all.
"How did you want it to happen?"
Jeremiah said suddenly, making Sarah jump. "D-did you just read my mind?"
She said while gaping at him.
"No, but I know a lot of things just by looking at people." He said
simply. "Well why have you been
following me around?" That hadn't been
what Sarah had wanted to say either.
This meeting wasn't going well at all.
"I wanted to get your attention.
You were ignoring me, so naturally I kept following you until I
did." Sarah wondered if this was the
true answer, but didn't make another stupid comment she would regret.
"So
what did you want?" She asked
impatiently. "Sarah, we should be
practicing for the play." Sarah
inwardly groaned. Why does he always
avoid my questions when they most need to be answered?!! "If you won't tell me that, then can you
tell me where the ring came from?"
Jeremiah laughed. "The Labyrinth."
Sarah tsked aloud. "Not
that. You know what I mean." Jeremiah got a sudden look on his face as
though he was about to burst out laughing, but refrained. "I put it in your locker." Sarah rolled her eyes. "Wait…how did you get the combination?"
Before he could answer, she stopped herself.
"Wait-don't answer that. I already
know. You know many things. So, let's practice and get this over with."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"You're
no match for me, Cassandra." "I need my
brother back…please." "He's there…in my
castle." Jeremiah gestured into a
corner of the room. "Do you still want
to look for him?" "Is that the castle
beyond the goblin city?" Sarah looked
that way as though it were really there, remembering the night it was. "Turn back, Cassandra. Turn back before it's too late." "I can't. Don't you see that I can't?" Suddenly a bunch of applause made them both
jump. Apparently the class had been
watching them practice. They were still
clapping. "That was amazing!" Mrs.
Paige said, hands still clapping. "I've
never seen anything so…wonderful.
Sarah, you made it seem like you were really there, standing on the hill
above the Labyrinth!" Sarah looked at
Jeremiah and gave him a small smile.
"Well, working with an old friend helps too." Jeremiah looked surprised, but smiled back at her.
"Where
will you be staying, Mr. Smith?" Mrs.
Paige asked slowly. "Call me Jeremiah,
please. I will be staying at Sarah's
house, actually. The William's
household has been kind enough to offer me a room at their house." He put an arm around Sarah's shoulder, and
she shivered. He seemed to notice and
raised an eyebrow questiongly at her.
Mrs. Paige smiled. "Oh! That's
nice. I know where to reach you,
then. Tell your family the whole class
appreciates your family's hospitality, Sarah."
Sarah grinned back, but as soon as Mrs. Paige turned to address the
class, she shook Jeremiah's arm off and glared at him. "What do you think you're doing?!!"
she whispered furiously to him. "We
never invited you!! My family is going to have a fit!! And where do you
think you're going to stay? Since Toby was born, we don't have a spare
bedroom!!" Jeremiah smiled calmly at
her. "It has already been arranged. And you have been kind enough to give me
your room, while you sleep on the sofa downstairs." Sarah felt like stamping a foot and having a temper tantrum like
she used to when she was little.
Instead, she merely hissed at him.
"Nothing is fair with you around!!" "It could've been worse." He
said while grinning even more. "If I
had been in a better mood, you might've had to share the room
with me." Sarah groaned aloud and
walked past him as the bell rang.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sarah went home and parked the car, so exhausted from
her Chemistry class, she almost forgot who would be at her house when she got
there. Almost. "Sarah! You're home!" said Karen from the
doorway. "Yes, I'm home." She said,
walking past her into the house. She
walked upstairs to her room, Karen coming to the bottom of the steps. "Uh…dear…" Sarah waved a hand in the air as
a sign she didn't want to be interrupted.
She walked down the hallway…and opened her bedroom door. She screamed shortly, and then
recovered. For her room had completely
changed. The décor's theme seemed to be
black silk, and all of her things were gone.
There, sitting calmly on her bed, stroking Alpha's fur was Jeremiah. "W-wha?"
She couldn't seem to ask anything.
"Don't worry." Jeremiah said
calmly. "It's all in here." He lifted up a crystal and within Sarah could
see her old room. Sarah gasped. "But…what if I need something out of there? Wait…hold on…" she ran into the
hallway. "Karen!" she called nervously
down the steps. "Yes, Sarah?" "Umm…there's a guy in my room!" "Oh, yes dear, did we forget to tell you?
Jeremiah from your mother's theatre called.
He needed somewhere to stay and naturally your father and I agreed. He's such a nice man, isn't he?" Sarah gaped at Karen while someone stepped
behind her. "Hello, Mrs.
Williams." "Oh, hello Jeremiah."
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If
Sarah thought that first day was bad, she had no idea what was in store for
her. She often came home to find
Jeremiah playing with Toby…to which she would snatch Toby up and carry him
elsewhere. However, Toby would start to
cry and reach for Jeremiah, while Jeremiah grinned at Sarah as though daring
her to try and do it again. It was
common to find a goblin somewhere in the house…in the kitchen, searching
through the fridge, in the bathroom, messing with the medicine cabinet…they
were everywhere. However, Sarah's
parents didn't seem to notice, even if a goblin was sitting on Robert's morning
paper. Sleeping on the sofa was not very
pleasant, because it was old and lumpy and springs seemed to always stick into
her back as she slept. Sarah didn't see
much of her cat, because it spent most of it's time weaving between Jeremiah's
ankles, mewing for attention, which Jeremiah was only too happy to give. The worst thing, however, was Sarah having
all of her things inside a crystal ball.
Jeremiah made her ask specifically for what she wanted, and though Sarah
assumed at first it was so a whole dresser wouldn't come crashing to the floor,
she began to decide he was merely trying to embarrass her. IT was quite hard for her to look him
straight in the face and not laugh or cry while trying to ask for her
underwear. He didn't seem to care at
all, but various goblins would pop up out of a drawer or from under the bed and
start laughing until Sarah gave them a hard stare and they ducked back into the
Underground.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
School
was not any easier. The subjects seemed
to wrack her brain and the SAT was positively frightening. Sarah found herself wishing the year would
end, but began to wonder if she really wanted it to when play practice
started. John, as it turns out, had to
play the part of Hoggle, which made him seem even sillier than he already
was. Adam got to play the part of Ludo,
which was good seeing as how he only had a few lines to say anyway. Everyone seemed to get a part fitted to
them. But the hardest part of all was
the part Sarah had to play. She found
herself slipping into saying things that weren't in the script, and worst of
all, being perfectly horrified after she had said them. Jeremiah, Sarah was pleased to see, also had
a hard time with his part. For he, too,
kept calling Sarah by her real name during the practices, or the child in the
play Toby. Every time he did so,
however, he flashed a grin in Sarah's direction before saying the next
line. Despite the fact, he was tearing
apart her life, Sarah found herself making friends with Jeremiah, and couldn't
wait until the day would end and she could talk to him freely. She didn't understand why, but eventually,
every time Jeremiah looked her way, she began to blush furiously. Jeremiah, of course, would only grin in
return.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
One
particularly long night, when Sarah was extremely tired, she came home to find
that her parents were not there.
"Uh…anyone home?" she called
into the dark house. She walked to the
steps and looked up to see the hallway light on. "No one home but us Goblin Kings." Came a voice from
upstairs. She sighed and went to her
room. "So…you're plural now?" She asked while staring into the room. Again, Jeremiah was playing with Toby. "No…just being strange, as usual." Sarah
came in and sat down next to him, staring at Toby. Toby had a pair of sunglasses on and was giggling. "Um…what's with the sunglasses?" Jeremiah laughed. "I don't know. Got bored,
I guess." Sarah took the glasses off of
Toby's face and stared at his cute face as he grinned at her. "Your parent's went out. I offered to watch Toby for them until you
got home. Not that I mind." He said, staring at the little boy grinning
at them both. Sarah sighed. She had been staring intently at Toby, but
realized Jeremiah was staring at her.
"What?" She asked, turning to
look at him. Their faces were inches
apart. It brought back memories of the
masquerade she had been in the bubble Jareth had made…when they almost had
kissed then…
"There's such a
sad love, deep in your eyes,
A kind of pale
jewel,
Opened and closed
within your eyes…"
"I'll place the sky…within your eyes." She realized that she had not been hearing
the voice singing in her mind, but in the room. She then realized she was standing up and dancing with Jeremiah
as Toby looked on and giggled. "There's
such a fooled heart, beating so fast, in search of new dreams, a love that will
last within your heart…I'll place the moon, within your heart." Suddenly she backed away from the
embrace. "I-I'm sorry." She said and
ran downstairs. She ran outside and ran
into the park where she had first started the play. The moon was covered by a dark and menacing cloud, and she ran
towards the stone bench Merlin had once sat on. That was before he died.
She thought bitterly, wishing the dog hadn't been so old the year
before. She sat down and began to
cry. She then realized her ring had
come off her finger. The ring… she
thought sadly to herself. Memories,
memories she had never wanted to think of again, suddenly flooded through her
mind and tore her in two.
The car ride,
The music from the
Labyrinth playing on the radio.
Her mother singing
along with the man playing Jareth,
Grinning at her
daughter in the passenger seat.
"It's your
thirteenth birthday!"
Sarah grinned at
her mother.
"So what do I
get?"
Her mother smiled
and handed her a small box.
"Here's the first
gift."
Sarah ripped off
the paper and opened it.
"It's a ring!!"
cried Sarah.
"Yes. I got it from your father a long time ago.
I was going to
save it until you got married.
I would've given
it to your husband to be, but he isn't here yet, so
There it is."
Sarah smiled at
her mother.
Her mother took
her eyes off the road to smile back.
As Sarah and he
mother turned back, they screamed.
A truck was in the
wrong lane, avoiding a car that was going too slowly.
It came towards
them and all Sarah could hear was
The blaring horns,
The sudden
crunching sound as the car was hit head-on,
And the scream of
her mother suddenly cut off.
Then darkness…and
the sterile inside of the hospital.
…"We're sorry,
Sarah." The doctor said carefully.
"Your mother flew
on top of you when the truck hit the car to save your life, but…
I'm afraid your
mother died in the accident."
"NO!!" Sarah had
screamed.
"NO!!!!!" Sarah cried into the night, amid the loud rumbling
of thunder as rain began to fall. "No."
she moaned. "It was all my fault. All my fault!" she sobbed. A hand suddenly wrapped around her shoulder
to comfort her, and Sarah cried into Jeremiah's shoulder as it began to pour.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
