WARNING: The following chapter has been known to cause restlessness,
insomnia, irrational frustration, and homicidal urges towards the
authoress. Please exercise caution while reading. You have been warned.
n.-
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
There was a strange white van parked in Sarah's driveway when she got home from school on Friday. She paused to study it for a moment before heading inside, wondering who could be visiting.
"Sarah, is that you?" Karen's voice came from the kitchen as Sarah walked in the door.
"Yeah, it's me," Sarah replied, dropping her bag onto the floor and rolling her tired shoulders.
"Could you come here for a moment?" Her stepmother commanded tersely.
"Yeah, just a sec." Sarah finished pulling off her shoes and dropped them onto the mat, then headed towards where Karen was, puzzling over what was going on. She had the strangest feeling that something wasn't right. She found Karen sitting at the table, waiting for her and looking none too pleased. Dr. Trapp was with her.
Sarah stopped dead in her tracks. Her mouth went dry and her stomach suddenly felt like lead.
Oh, shit...
"Sarah, sit down. We need to have a talk," Dr. Trapp said. Sarah complied, feeling numb. She couldn't believe this was happening... "Can I assume by the way you're acting that you know why I'm here?" he continued, noting the expression on her face. Sarah nodded and hugged her arms, looking anywhere but at the other people at the table.
"You're here about Jareth, aren't you?"
"That's what she's named it," Karen supplied when the vet gave her a questioning look. She turned to her stepdaughter, her eyes flashing angrily. "Honestly, if I'd known that it was illegal for you to be taking care of that thing, I never would have let you set foot in the house with it!"
"Did you know that it was illegal to try and care for an owl without a license, Sarah?" Dr. Trapp asked. Sarah nodded again, feeling hot tears welling up.
"But I only just found out," she muttered weakly.
"I see." The veterinarian set laced fingers on the table in front of him and sighed. "Well, Sarah, we're not going to press charges this time, but you really should have handed the barn owl over as soon as you found it. I'm disappointed that you lied and said that you needed the information for a writing assignment."
"What?" Karen glared at Sarah. "That is completely unacceptable, young lady!"
"He said that they were going to put him down!" Sarah said in her defense.
"Regardless, the laws on this are very clear, Sarah. You should have told me." The doctor sighed again. "I won't lie to you. Going by what your mother told me about the animal's condition when you found him, we probably would have put it down. We would have done our best if we thought it could have been saved, but when it's that severe we usually just try to make sure it doesn't suffer. Quite frankly, I'm amazed that it's still alive now. You need to let us take it to a center so that it can be given proper treatment."
"It's not happy here, Sarah," Karen interjected.
"In all likelihood, it will probably stay at the center for educational purposes. It can't survive in the wild now. I doubt we'll end up putting it down, though," the vet added.
"No!" Sarah shook her head vehemently, standing up and backing towards the entranceway. "No, you can't do this!" She stopped before she said 'he IS happy here'. No, of course he wasn't. He didn't want to be here. He wanted to go home. But here was better than away at a center! "He wouldn't like it there," she insisted. "He'd rather stay here!"
"I can tell you for a fact that it's not happy, Sarah. It may seem docile, but it's out of it's natural environment, and it's scared and miserable." Dr. Trapp stated flatly.
There was a thump from upstairs, and Sarah was suddenly aware of the faint sound of voices. Coming from her room. She spun around and flew up the stairs, heedless of Karen's protests. She could hear Jareth hissing angrily as she reached the top, and a female voice was telling someone to hold him steady.
"Get away from him!" Sarah lunged at the woman who was about to inject Jareth with something. The back of her mind recognized Angela, Dr. Trapp's assistant. "Put him down!" Angela dropped the needle and almost lost her balance.
"Sarah!" Karen burst into the room, with Dr. Trapp behind her. "Stop this right now!"
"No!" Sarah cried as her stepmother and the doctor hauled her back. "Let me go! Jareth!" Angela retrieved her needle and inserted it into the barn owl's neck. A moment later, he stopped struggling. "NO!" Sarah screamed. "What did you do to him!? Let me GO!"
"Relax," Angela soothed, "all I did was inject him with a sedative so he won't hurt himself on the way to the Rehab center. He's fine."
"He doesn't want to go there, he wants to stay HERE!" Sarah insisted angrily.
"Sarah, I think you're overreacting." Karen stated firmly. "Remember what you agreed to before about giving him up without an argument."
"I only agreed to give him up if he attacked someone again, and he hasn't! Hey!" She added as Angela and her companion headed for the door. "Stop! No!"
Sarah struggled to get away as the door of her room slammed shut. After a moment, she broke free from her stepmother's and Dr. Trapp's grip and ran out after the two assistants. By the time she got to the front door, they had slammed the van doors shut and started the engine. She sank to the pavement and sobbed into her hands as the van pulled out.
"No... Jareth..." she whimpered. They had taken him. They had really taken him, and she'd probably never see him again.
Her shoulders shook as she cried harder, and she ignored the two adults who caught up to her and started scolding her for her behaviour. After awhile, Dr. Trapp got into his car and drove away, and Karen left her stepdaughter outside with a shake of her head.
"Hey Sar, what's wrong? Lose your Prince Charming?" Sarah lifted her head and looked up. Alex was sitting on his front steps, wearing a dirty wife- beater and a pair of old black sweatpants with a hole in one knee. He crushed the end of his cigarette on one step and gave her a cheeky smirk.
Sarah got to her feet and walked over. Alex's expression didn't change as she drew near, and he lifted his head cockily in response to her venomous glare.
"You ratted me out, didn't you?" Her tone of voice could have curdled milk. Alex shrank back in spite of himself.
"So what if I did?" He challenged. "Payback's a bitch, isn't it?"
Sarah's already-furious gaze darkened. Without a word, she drew her fist back and slammed it into the boy's face. Alex reeled, holding his nose as blood dripped out.
"Asshole," Sarah spat. Alex sat there in shocked amazement as she turned and walked back to her own yard.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jareth had known well ahead of time what would happen if he was seperated from Sarah. He knew that he needed to be close to his powers, for the sake of his own sanity. The terrible anxiety and discomfort he had felt when she'd been on the other side of town, even, had been more than he ever wanted to experience again.
Even knowing what he did, nothing prepared him for what he felt now.
The sedatives had worn off much too quickly. While he had missed the creeping sense of panic at first, that only meant that it had slammed into him full-force when he became aware of himself again. The horrible gnawing feeling he felt before was forgotten. It was nothing compared to the sheer agony of being so forcefully taken from where his powers resided, and so quickly! Jareth felt ill, felt like his flesh was being pricked by a thousand icy needles, like his feathers were burning and his innards were being twisted and torn into shreds. He was a creature of magic, he needed the magic to survive in this world, just as mortals needed to eat and breathe. His panic skyrocketed, and something inside of him snapped.
He keened in pain and threw himself at the walls of his confinement. The bars rattled loudly in response, and he gnawed on them restlessly. Evidently, wherever he was being taken was a good ways away, because it felt like they had been driving forever. The rational part of his mind reasoned that he probably wouldn't last much longer in this state, and for once, the irrational part was in wholehearted agreement. It was dark in the back of the van, and he was being jostled every time they went over a bump. Not that he wasn't capable of seeing fine, but he could care less about what else was in the cabin with him. All he could think about was Sarah. Sarah, and the hell he was going through.
Another wave of frustration hit him, and he slammed against the inside of the cage angrily. His sensible side was telling him to wait until they went to take him out of the van before he tried to escape. Even with almost-useless wings, he should be able to give them the slip if he tried hard enough. He'd have a much better chance of getting back to Sarah that way. The overwhelming panic was making it difficult to think, however, and in the end, it won out. With a wild cry, he attacked the walls of the cage repeatedly, until one blow struck too hard and he was thrown into welcome oblivion.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Dr.Trapp looked down at the trembling, listless barn owl on the examination table and shook his head sadly. "There's nothing you can do for it?"
"We've tried everything," Angela sighed. "He's not responding to any of the treatments. I'm not even sure how this happened, he was perfectly fine when we picked him up."
"The trauma of being moved must have gotten to him. He was probably feeling ill when we checked his health, and it was still in the early stages." The doctor poked at the twitching bird gently and frowned at the shallow rise and fall of it's chest. "Very well, then, it looks as though there's nothing we can do for him now. We'll have him put down in the morning."
~*~
-The End
...Hey, hey, I was kidding! It was a joke! *dodges overripe peaches* Eeek! I'm sorry, I have to leave it off there! And I've run out of prewritten chapters, so you're going to have to wait until I get my inspiration back to write the next chapter. I'll try to hurry, but my schedule's not condusive to quiet writing moments this week or next. I will try my best.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
There was a strange white van parked in Sarah's driveway when she got home from school on Friday. She paused to study it for a moment before heading inside, wondering who could be visiting.
"Sarah, is that you?" Karen's voice came from the kitchen as Sarah walked in the door.
"Yeah, it's me," Sarah replied, dropping her bag onto the floor and rolling her tired shoulders.
"Could you come here for a moment?" Her stepmother commanded tersely.
"Yeah, just a sec." Sarah finished pulling off her shoes and dropped them onto the mat, then headed towards where Karen was, puzzling over what was going on. She had the strangest feeling that something wasn't right. She found Karen sitting at the table, waiting for her and looking none too pleased. Dr. Trapp was with her.
Sarah stopped dead in her tracks. Her mouth went dry and her stomach suddenly felt like lead.
Oh, shit...
"Sarah, sit down. We need to have a talk," Dr. Trapp said. Sarah complied, feeling numb. She couldn't believe this was happening... "Can I assume by the way you're acting that you know why I'm here?" he continued, noting the expression on her face. Sarah nodded and hugged her arms, looking anywhere but at the other people at the table.
"You're here about Jareth, aren't you?"
"That's what she's named it," Karen supplied when the vet gave her a questioning look. She turned to her stepdaughter, her eyes flashing angrily. "Honestly, if I'd known that it was illegal for you to be taking care of that thing, I never would have let you set foot in the house with it!"
"Did you know that it was illegal to try and care for an owl without a license, Sarah?" Dr. Trapp asked. Sarah nodded again, feeling hot tears welling up.
"But I only just found out," she muttered weakly.
"I see." The veterinarian set laced fingers on the table in front of him and sighed. "Well, Sarah, we're not going to press charges this time, but you really should have handed the barn owl over as soon as you found it. I'm disappointed that you lied and said that you needed the information for a writing assignment."
"What?" Karen glared at Sarah. "That is completely unacceptable, young lady!"
"He said that they were going to put him down!" Sarah said in her defense.
"Regardless, the laws on this are very clear, Sarah. You should have told me." The doctor sighed again. "I won't lie to you. Going by what your mother told me about the animal's condition when you found him, we probably would have put it down. We would have done our best if we thought it could have been saved, but when it's that severe we usually just try to make sure it doesn't suffer. Quite frankly, I'm amazed that it's still alive now. You need to let us take it to a center so that it can be given proper treatment."
"It's not happy here, Sarah," Karen interjected.
"In all likelihood, it will probably stay at the center for educational purposes. It can't survive in the wild now. I doubt we'll end up putting it down, though," the vet added.
"No!" Sarah shook her head vehemently, standing up and backing towards the entranceway. "No, you can't do this!" She stopped before she said 'he IS happy here'. No, of course he wasn't. He didn't want to be here. He wanted to go home. But here was better than away at a center! "He wouldn't like it there," she insisted. "He'd rather stay here!"
"I can tell you for a fact that it's not happy, Sarah. It may seem docile, but it's out of it's natural environment, and it's scared and miserable." Dr. Trapp stated flatly.
There was a thump from upstairs, and Sarah was suddenly aware of the faint sound of voices. Coming from her room. She spun around and flew up the stairs, heedless of Karen's protests. She could hear Jareth hissing angrily as she reached the top, and a female voice was telling someone to hold him steady.
"Get away from him!" Sarah lunged at the woman who was about to inject Jareth with something. The back of her mind recognized Angela, Dr. Trapp's assistant. "Put him down!" Angela dropped the needle and almost lost her balance.
"Sarah!" Karen burst into the room, with Dr. Trapp behind her. "Stop this right now!"
"No!" Sarah cried as her stepmother and the doctor hauled her back. "Let me go! Jareth!" Angela retrieved her needle and inserted it into the barn owl's neck. A moment later, he stopped struggling. "NO!" Sarah screamed. "What did you do to him!? Let me GO!"
"Relax," Angela soothed, "all I did was inject him with a sedative so he won't hurt himself on the way to the Rehab center. He's fine."
"He doesn't want to go there, he wants to stay HERE!" Sarah insisted angrily.
"Sarah, I think you're overreacting." Karen stated firmly. "Remember what you agreed to before about giving him up without an argument."
"I only agreed to give him up if he attacked someone again, and he hasn't! Hey!" She added as Angela and her companion headed for the door. "Stop! No!"
Sarah struggled to get away as the door of her room slammed shut. After a moment, she broke free from her stepmother's and Dr. Trapp's grip and ran out after the two assistants. By the time she got to the front door, they had slammed the van doors shut and started the engine. She sank to the pavement and sobbed into her hands as the van pulled out.
"No... Jareth..." she whimpered. They had taken him. They had really taken him, and she'd probably never see him again.
Her shoulders shook as she cried harder, and she ignored the two adults who caught up to her and started scolding her for her behaviour. After awhile, Dr. Trapp got into his car and drove away, and Karen left her stepdaughter outside with a shake of her head.
"Hey Sar, what's wrong? Lose your Prince Charming?" Sarah lifted her head and looked up. Alex was sitting on his front steps, wearing a dirty wife- beater and a pair of old black sweatpants with a hole in one knee. He crushed the end of his cigarette on one step and gave her a cheeky smirk.
Sarah got to her feet and walked over. Alex's expression didn't change as she drew near, and he lifted his head cockily in response to her venomous glare.
"You ratted me out, didn't you?" Her tone of voice could have curdled milk. Alex shrank back in spite of himself.
"So what if I did?" He challenged. "Payback's a bitch, isn't it?"
Sarah's already-furious gaze darkened. Without a word, she drew her fist back and slammed it into the boy's face. Alex reeled, holding his nose as blood dripped out.
"Asshole," Sarah spat. Alex sat there in shocked amazement as she turned and walked back to her own yard.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Jareth had known well ahead of time what would happen if he was seperated from Sarah. He knew that he needed to be close to his powers, for the sake of his own sanity. The terrible anxiety and discomfort he had felt when she'd been on the other side of town, even, had been more than he ever wanted to experience again.
Even knowing what he did, nothing prepared him for what he felt now.
The sedatives had worn off much too quickly. While he had missed the creeping sense of panic at first, that only meant that it had slammed into him full-force when he became aware of himself again. The horrible gnawing feeling he felt before was forgotten. It was nothing compared to the sheer agony of being so forcefully taken from where his powers resided, and so quickly! Jareth felt ill, felt like his flesh was being pricked by a thousand icy needles, like his feathers were burning and his innards were being twisted and torn into shreds. He was a creature of magic, he needed the magic to survive in this world, just as mortals needed to eat and breathe. His panic skyrocketed, and something inside of him snapped.
He keened in pain and threw himself at the walls of his confinement. The bars rattled loudly in response, and he gnawed on them restlessly. Evidently, wherever he was being taken was a good ways away, because it felt like they had been driving forever. The rational part of his mind reasoned that he probably wouldn't last much longer in this state, and for once, the irrational part was in wholehearted agreement. It was dark in the back of the van, and he was being jostled every time they went over a bump. Not that he wasn't capable of seeing fine, but he could care less about what else was in the cabin with him. All he could think about was Sarah. Sarah, and the hell he was going through.
Another wave of frustration hit him, and he slammed against the inside of the cage angrily. His sensible side was telling him to wait until they went to take him out of the van before he tried to escape. Even with almost-useless wings, he should be able to give them the slip if he tried hard enough. He'd have a much better chance of getting back to Sarah that way. The overwhelming panic was making it difficult to think, however, and in the end, it won out. With a wild cry, he attacked the walls of the cage repeatedly, until one blow struck too hard and he was thrown into welcome oblivion.
~*~*~*~*~*~*~
Dr.Trapp looked down at the trembling, listless barn owl on the examination table and shook his head sadly. "There's nothing you can do for it?"
"We've tried everything," Angela sighed. "He's not responding to any of the treatments. I'm not even sure how this happened, he was perfectly fine when we picked him up."
"The trauma of being moved must have gotten to him. He was probably feeling ill when we checked his health, and it was still in the early stages." The doctor poked at the twitching bird gently and frowned at the shallow rise and fall of it's chest. "Very well, then, it looks as though there's nothing we can do for him now. We'll have him put down in the morning."
~*~
-The End
...Hey, hey, I was kidding! It was a joke! *dodges overripe peaches* Eeek! I'm sorry, I have to leave it off there! And I've run out of prewritten chapters, so you're going to have to wait until I get my inspiration back to write the next chapter. I'll try to hurry, but my schedule's not condusive to quiet writing moments this week or next. I will try my best.