Hey peeps, I am BACK! Soz, I was on holiday, then I had one of my lovely confidence panic attacks, and then I was just
totally uninspired, lol. Oooh and major thanx to Lady Jamie for showing interest in my stuff, and poking me back to life,
hee hee. You may have a cookie!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Sarah awoke she was lying in bed once more, the necklace coiled round her wrist. As though she had never awoken and
found it lying at her bedside table. As if the words had not flowed into her head like a warm flood of saltwater tears.
"maybe I'm going crazy." she muttered to herself, running her hands through her dark hair and sighing. This ridiculous
sequence of events was exhausting her. Rising and dressing as quickly as she could, she resolved to go into college to avoid
being alone. Surely this strangeness could not go on when she was surrounded by people?
She was wrong. Oh God how wrong had she been. Anybody's face seemed to be twisted and morphed into the faces of those in
her dreams. They didn't even have to look similar in the slightest. It seemed as if her dreams were closing in on her even
now when she was awake. They had no intentions of being merciful on her anymore, on allowing her time to think, time to
distract, time to breathe. They refused to continue their leniancy with her. One of the lecturers, Mr. Miles, turned to ask
her a question and in a moment of horror he HAD been the guard. The visualisation of his breath in her face, his harsh hands
groping her body, coupled with a shockingly vivid feeling of gut numbing hunger and agonising pain, skin scraped raw, having
trouble breathing, head swelling with hurt... It had been so vivid that she had been forced to run out of the classroom.
Staggering to the closest toilet she locked the door and dunked her face in cold water, trying to regulate her breathing.
Looking deep into her own eyes in the mirror, she tried desperately to calm herself "It's not real. It's in your mind.
None of it, is real." she said slowly, pressing her moist forehead to the glass. Eventually her breathing became smoother,
less ragged as though tearing through her throat. She felt indignant anger rise up in her at what was happening to her.
Jareth, it was him, it was ALWAYS him! All she wanted was to be allowed to be normal! Letting out a shriek of rage that
almost burnt it's vivid mark in the air, she spun and kicked one of the cubicle doors with such force it's hinges buckled and
it collapsed, crippled on the floor. Sarah merely stared, eyes wide in utter disbelief as the anger drained and disappeared
like unobtrusive smoke, as though it had never been inside her. "What..." she managed to stutter out, wanting to crawl out
of her own skin. This was not her. She had never been that angry before in her life. Surely it wasn't even in HER to be
that violent? But she knew who it was in...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"AGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"
Adrenaline pumping an overwhelming, primal drumbeat inside her, she kicked another of the men in the stomach, buckling him to
the floor. "Hold her! Hold the bitch fast!" roared their leader as she span, backing out away from them, struggling with
the biting cords that held her arms behind her. One moved swiftly towards her, sword raised. An arrow-shot of fear passed
through her, only serving to increase her fury. FEAR? Fear made her weak! 'Turn and run.' hissed her logic even as she span,
the logic that was more the Sarah that crouched and watched and yet was one with all that was going on. More were cautiously
surrounding her, watching for her reaction. Eyes aflame, she ran directly towards the more courageous one that had advanced
first. Surprised but not unstabled, he brought his sword round in an arc, ready to cut, to maim, to kill, whatever would
stop her. Turning abruptly, she bulleted into the man that stood beside him, bringing her knee to his groin and then kicking
him towards his companion. A sword shot into her vision, descending towards her face...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The dream had never travelled further than that. For all that Sarah knew, this woman that lived a life of hate and bitterness
, so different to her and yet in some way linked with her, had died in that instant. Looking hard at herself in the mirror,
she felt a resigned sense of defeat. Jareth had brought this madness. Jareth could take it away. What he wanted in exchange
for relieving her of this.... link with a woman from his realm she could only guess and dread. But it had to be done. Her
will to overcome this far superceded her misgivings. Stepping forward, exuding a coldness she wanted him to feel, a distaste
for him which HAD to be the only thing he would ever feel from her, she said softly "Jareth. Give me answers.". She stared
as hard as she could and nevertheless she could see nothing altering, even when he was there right before her. It seemed as
though he had always been there, it was just that she had been looking through him. He smiled, a smile of triumph, of
winning her... and was there something like relief there? "Shall we?" he said quietly, motioning to the mirror. She looked
at him again sharply, about to protest that she couldn't just walk through a mirror. But an utterly insane notion inside her
told her she could all too easily. Taking a long breath, resenting Jareth's chuckle at her apprehension, she stepped inside.
Like a smeared painting, it came into focus. Blurred and faded, then slowly becoming more sharp, concise and bright. She
knew this place all too well, yet it had been so long she was overwhelmed. Stairs spiralling in every direction about her,
up, down, across. It hadn't changed in the slightest, so much so that she expected Jareth to loom up before her over an
edge that no human could walk along, to see Toby crawling away from her. Even after all this time it gave her a sharp jab of
panic to think of how close she had come to losing him. "Why here?" she asked, her voice echoing against the cold stone.
She did not need to turn to know that Jareth was still with her. "For the same reason that it was here last time. The same
reason you will always be unnerved by this place." he said quietly, intensely, turning her with a single finger to her shoulder,
staring deeply into her eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about. Sir Didimus is right, you talk in riddles." she said
sharply, slapping his hand away from her. He smiled slightly, as if pleased. "All riddles are just a secret language you
need to learn. It's a shame in your case that you've forgotten the language." he continued, turning and falling back, right
off the edge. Sarah let out a scream of horror, running to the edge and looking down into the thick dark for him. His laugh
echoed up. "You'll know all you need to know soon enough Sarah. First, I want to enjoy you."
totally uninspired, lol. Oooh and major thanx to Lady Jamie for showing interest in my stuff, and poking me back to life,
hee hee. You may have a cookie!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
When Sarah awoke she was lying in bed once more, the necklace coiled round her wrist. As though she had never awoken and
found it lying at her bedside table. As if the words had not flowed into her head like a warm flood of saltwater tears.
"maybe I'm going crazy." she muttered to herself, running her hands through her dark hair and sighing. This ridiculous
sequence of events was exhausting her. Rising and dressing as quickly as she could, she resolved to go into college to avoid
being alone. Surely this strangeness could not go on when she was surrounded by people?
She was wrong. Oh God how wrong had she been. Anybody's face seemed to be twisted and morphed into the faces of those in
her dreams. They didn't even have to look similar in the slightest. It seemed as if her dreams were closing in on her even
now when she was awake. They had no intentions of being merciful on her anymore, on allowing her time to think, time to
distract, time to breathe. They refused to continue their leniancy with her. One of the lecturers, Mr. Miles, turned to ask
her a question and in a moment of horror he HAD been the guard. The visualisation of his breath in her face, his harsh hands
groping her body, coupled with a shockingly vivid feeling of gut numbing hunger and agonising pain, skin scraped raw, having
trouble breathing, head swelling with hurt... It had been so vivid that she had been forced to run out of the classroom.
Staggering to the closest toilet she locked the door and dunked her face in cold water, trying to regulate her breathing.
Looking deep into her own eyes in the mirror, she tried desperately to calm herself "It's not real. It's in your mind.
None of it, is real." she said slowly, pressing her moist forehead to the glass. Eventually her breathing became smoother,
less ragged as though tearing through her throat. She felt indignant anger rise up in her at what was happening to her.
Jareth, it was him, it was ALWAYS him! All she wanted was to be allowed to be normal! Letting out a shriek of rage that
almost burnt it's vivid mark in the air, she spun and kicked one of the cubicle doors with such force it's hinges buckled and
it collapsed, crippled on the floor. Sarah merely stared, eyes wide in utter disbelief as the anger drained and disappeared
like unobtrusive smoke, as though it had never been inside her. "What..." she managed to stutter out, wanting to crawl out
of her own skin. This was not her. She had never been that angry before in her life. Surely it wasn't even in HER to be
that violent? But she knew who it was in...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"AGGGGHHHHHHHHH!"
Adrenaline pumping an overwhelming, primal drumbeat inside her, she kicked another of the men in the stomach, buckling him to
the floor. "Hold her! Hold the bitch fast!" roared their leader as she span, backing out away from them, struggling with
the biting cords that held her arms behind her. One moved swiftly towards her, sword raised. An arrow-shot of fear passed
through her, only serving to increase her fury. FEAR? Fear made her weak! 'Turn and run.' hissed her logic even as she span,
the logic that was more the Sarah that crouched and watched and yet was one with all that was going on. More were cautiously
surrounding her, watching for her reaction. Eyes aflame, she ran directly towards the more courageous one that had advanced
first. Surprised but not unstabled, he brought his sword round in an arc, ready to cut, to maim, to kill, whatever would
stop her. Turning abruptly, she bulleted into the man that stood beside him, bringing her knee to his groin and then kicking
him towards his companion. A sword shot into her vision, descending towards her face...
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
The dream had never travelled further than that. For all that Sarah knew, this woman that lived a life of hate and bitterness
, so different to her and yet in some way linked with her, had died in that instant. Looking hard at herself in the mirror,
she felt a resigned sense of defeat. Jareth had brought this madness. Jareth could take it away. What he wanted in exchange
for relieving her of this.... link with a woman from his realm she could only guess and dread. But it had to be done. Her
will to overcome this far superceded her misgivings. Stepping forward, exuding a coldness she wanted him to feel, a distaste
for him which HAD to be the only thing he would ever feel from her, she said softly "Jareth. Give me answers.". She stared
as hard as she could and nevertheless she could see nothing altering, even when he was there right before her. It seemed as
though he had always been there, it was just that she had been looking through him. He smiled, a smile of triumph, of
winning her... and was there something like relief there? "Shall we?" he said quietly, motioning to the mirror. She looked
at him again sharply, about to protest that she couldn't just walk through a mirror. But an utterly insane notion inside her
told her she could all too easily. Taking a long breath, resenting Jareth's chuckle at her apprehension, she stepped inside.
Like a smeared painting, it came into focus. Blurred and faded, then slowly becoming more sharp, concise and bright. She
knew this place all too well, yet it had been so long she was overwhelmed. Stairs spiralling in every direction about her,
up, down, across. It hadn't changed in the slightest, so much so that she expected Jareth to loom up before her over an
edge that no human could walk along, to see Toby crawling away from her. Even after all this time it gave her a sharp jab of
panic to think of how close she had come to losing him. "Why here?" she asked, her voice echoing against the cold stone.
She did not need to turn to know that Jareth was still with her. "For the same reason that it was here last time. The same
reason you will always be unnerved by this place." he said quietly, intensely, turning her with a single finger to her shoulder,
staring deeply into her eyes. "I don't know what you're talking about. Sir Didimus is right, you talk in riddles." she said
sharply, slapping his hand away from her. He smiled slightly, as if pleased. "All riddles are just a secret language you
need to learn. It's a shame in your case that you've forgotten the language." he continued, turning and falling back, right
off the edge. Sarah let out a scream of horror, running to the edge and looking down into the thick dark for him. His laugh
echoed up. "You'll know all you need to know soon enough Sarah. First, I want to enjoy you."