King of Dreams, Owner of None
by Bunniko
AN:?Ooooh, really late, I know. Sorry, sorry. It's just so hard to get to the darn computer lab with this cast slowing me down and no elevators to take me to the fourth floor. That's one good thing about returning to the States. My own computer. Anywho, another chapter with oblique references to me and my friends. So again, there's some stuff I own. I own: Trixie/Jeannie, Melinda, Deborah, and other things as they appear. I do not own: Texas (bummer), England (yay!), the Labyrinth (sniffle), Jareth, Sarah, etc. To my real life friends: See if you can find yourself. Did I write you in? lol
Please Note: This chapter is set AFTER the movie, and this chapter is longer than the previous three.
Note 2: Updated, corrected, slightly edited 8-12-02.
Here we go! (Can't think of anything in Japanese right now.)
Chapter Four -?Texas Dreaming
6:30 am. Jeannie groaned as she hopped out of the family van and shrugged her way-too-heavy backpack onto her thin shoulders. "Bye, Mom." she muttered as her brother slammed the sliding door shut in her face. In the gray morning, the white van drove off, tail lights barely shining through the faint mist of the dew. Jeannie shivered a little in the cool Texas morning.
Her jacket was slung about her waist. She wore sneakers, jeans and a baggy shirt to hide her lack of curves. Jeannie's blond hair was shoulder- length, glasses marred her face's sweet beauty, and she stood only about 5 foot 3 inches on a campus of insanely taller, more grown up looking teenagers. At fifteen, she weighed only barely enough to keep her on the ground, despite the fact that she ate tons of junk food everyday. She envied her two best friends, Melanie and Deborah, who, though they complained of being overweight, had curves to spare and didn't look like they'd just wandered off a middle school campus. She was insecure, but very talkative and often had her nose stuck in a book, though rarely a textbook.
She wandered over the dew wet grass, heading towards the school cafeteria, a huge place in the morning, before school, and a tiny place at lunch time. Her school was over-crowded, but she didn't mind much. She idly marveled at the coldness of the dew as it seeped into her shoes when in a mere half an hour, the Texas sun would be scorching the life out of everything underneath it. Personally, she loved the sun. Warm rays after the icy cold of air-conditioned, moldy old classrooms could ease away almost all of her school-day tensions. But at 6:30 am, she was barely awake, grumpy at the earliness of the hour and heading into another icy vault of stale air. "Why is everyone in Texas such a wimp?" she wondered as she opened the cafeteria's door and slipped in. "Absolutely freezing," she whimpered mentally, hugging herself as she walked toward their usual table.
Melinda, or Mel for short, was already sitting at the table, her bags piled round her, homework out in front of her, pack of cards pushed to one side. Jeannie checked cursorily to make sure there were no open cartons of milk or cans of soda, then slung her bag onto the wood and metal folding table with a very loud "thunk!" Mel looked up, grumpy sleepiness in her dark eyes. "Morning, Jean." she muttered, before returning back to her worst enemy, math.
"Mornin', Mel." came the equally muttered response. She gave Mel's homework a quick glance, then settled into her own chair, pulling her lightweight jacket on. Mel already wore hers. "15 minutes to cookies." Jeannie advised. Mel didn't look up but handed her a dollar and some change. "Ya want 10 cookies and chocolate milk?" Jeannie confirmed. Mel only nodded. "Kewl." She pulled out her own money and wandered over to wait in the fairly short line.
Their high school's cafeteria was good for three things; chocolate chip cookies, greasy and soft, French fries, crispy and over-salty, and delicious ice cream sold by an outside company. The usual staples of a high school kid's diet; despite the required subjects of Physical Education and Health's attempts to educate them about the value of vegetables. No way Jeannie was eating a vegetable, no thank you. Disgusting green things that made everything she ate afterwards taste less palatable. It was a junk food diet for her and only God knew why she retained a slim body. If only that body had a few curves, she lamented often, looking down at a body that still looked the same as it had when she was 10.
Finally, the gate opened and the early morning students filed in. Some picked up breakfast tacos, some chose cereal, many jostled for a large helping of cookies and most grabbed milks. The cafeteria lady shook her head as Jeannie paid for 20 cookies and two chocolate milks, thinking about what that much fat would do to her own already heavy-set body. But Jeannie just said good morning and headed back to her table to give Mel some of that wonderful junky goodness that would put a smile on her face.
Mel thanked her perfunctorily, then blotted the cookies with the extra napkins Jeannie had brought. There was a moment of perfect silence as both girls filled empty tummies with warm, soft, gooey, chocolate-y cookies. They devoured five, then forced themselves to wrap the other five up for lunchtime. Once that business was done, Mel went back to her homework, but more cheerfully, and Jeannie settled in to re-read her latest letter from Sarah. They ignored the hustle and bustle as more students arrived to grab breakfast.
Sarah's letter worried Jeannie. It was all about a place called the Labyrinth, a wicked yet handsome king named Jareth and some very odd creatures that Sarah called her friends. But Jeannie knew that Sarah had been playacting the story in the book they had both been given. Jeannie hadn't ever read it herself, though she wasn't sure why. But Sarah had told her a few things. Now Jeannie was worried. Sarah sounded unstable. Was it possible that she was hallucinating? Or was it just a weird dream that had felt so real? She would call Sarah tonight, while her family was still at school and soccer games. Since she was the only one that didn't go to the school her mother taught at, she was often out of the loop in her family's life.
She drafted a letter to Sarah throughout the school day, not paying much attention in class; and, in most of her classes, not really needing to. She finished it up; it was full of banalities, describing her friends, her classes, what TV shows and music she liked now, all things that avoided any mention of the Labyrinth. Finally the last bell rang and it was out to the bus circle to await her bus and head home.
Her friend Debbie showed up, the first time Jeannie and Mel had seen her that day. She came over and they chatted about the school day for a while, made plans to see a movie on the weekend, then said goodbye. She headed off to the front of campus to be picked up by her mom. Mel's bus came and Jeannie and Mel waved goodbye. Other friends came and went, some members of clubs, some getting on buses. Jeannie's bus never came 'til almost 5:00. She hated that so much. School went from 8:45 to 3:45, but she could never get home until after 5 pm. She, Mel and Debbie all lived in the same neighborhood, but because there were so many people in the neighborhood, it was divided up into two school bus routes. Mel and Debbie had the same bus, but Debbie hated the school bus and rarely rode it. Jeannie, only two blocks down on the same road as Mel, rode a different bus and usually rode it in silence, her nose buried in a book.
When she finally got home, she flew into the house, her mangy cat on her tail, yowling for food. She tossed her bag in one corner of the family room, let the dog in, grabbed her phone card and started dialing, then remembered the time difference. "What time was it in England?" she wondered. She couldn't remember. Her brain felt really fuzzy. She felt compelled to find the book and read it. She wandered almost zombie-like to her room and dug out the slim volume. Then, returning to the sunny family room, she flung herself onto the couch and devoured the book faster than anything else she had ever read. And for a speed reader, that was saying a lot. But she felt a strange urge compelling her to finish the book quickly.
From the beginning, she was chilled to realize that the story was about Sarah. It said Sarah, it said Toby, it described her best friend perfectly. It ended with the party in Sarah's room and the owl on the outside, looking in. She uneasily recalled what Sarah had said, "I need all of you." 'All of you' would include Jareth, wouldn't it? She willed Sarah to call her. It was a Friday night after all. Sarah would be alone with Toby long enough for her to have a nice, private conversation. Unless Sarah's nasty step-mother had tapped the phone line, Jeannie thought darkly. She wouldn't be surprised if that nosy woman did.
The phone rang. Jeannie dived for it, snatching it up by the second ring. "Hello?" she asked breathlessly.
"Hi, Trix." Sarah sounded odd, depressed somehow. Jeannie's worries grew. They started talking immediately, both at once. Sarah laughed hollowly, "You first."
Jeannie started talking to her about the book. "Honey, my copy, it's you, your life, our dreams, your family! How can this be?"
Sarah was rifling through her correspondence, especially looking at the letters which talked about some of Jeannie's friends. She had wondered why Jeannie had made friends with girls who seemed so very different from her. They weren't big readers, or interested in acting or writing, for the most part. Now, as she listened to Jeannie trying to be so logical, she wondered how her friend could have changed this much.
Finally she interrupted her rambling friend. "Trix, it was real, it happened. I wished Toby away and I faced the Goblin King." Idly, she repeated some of his words, mimicking his voice, picturing him before her, as she had been doing for the past week. "I trembled before him, he was frightening. But I challenged him, Trix. And I saved Toby."
"You're in love with him!" Jeannie gasped.
"Oh Jeannie!" Sarah was so upset, she dropped the nickname. "I killed him!" She winced at the echo of her voice, grateful the storm that had sprung up had forced her parents to take refuge at the hotel where they had been dining. "Can't you understand that?" She was near tears. "Oh, Jareth." her sob was whisper-soft.
"How could you have killed him? It hints in the book that he was watching you at the party."
"How do you know about the party?" Sarah asked slowly, her eyes riveted on the silent lightning flashes of the advancing storm. She never heard the answer. A black-gloved hand smoothly pulled the phone away from her. She stared in shock at the reflection of herself in the glass, and of the man behind her.
"Sorry, Sarah can't talk now." The voice slid out of the phone seductively, swirling about Jeannie.
She knew who it was immediately. "Jareth." Her voice was a mere breath. A light chuckle confirmed her suspicion. "Don't you go near her!" she warned quickly, her anger boiling up out of nowhere, deep and protective.
"Tsk tsk. You know the tale." he scolded gently. Then the phone went dead. A pale version of Jeannie shakingly pulled out her copy of the Labyrinth. As she feared, there was now more. Their conversation appeared in crimson letters fading to black. Mesmerized, horrified, frightened, she watched what was happening become printed word.
by Bunniko
AN:?Ooooh, really late, I know. Sorry, sorry. It's just so hard to get to the darn computer lab with this cast slowing me down and no elevators to take me to the fourth floor. That's one good thing about returning to the States. My own computer. Anywho, another chapter with oblique references to me and my friends. So again, there's some stuff I own. I own: Trixie/Jeannie, Melinda, Deborah, and other things as they appear. I do not own: Texas (bummer), England (yay!), the Labyrinth (sniffle), Jareth, Sarah, etc. To my real life friends: See if you can find yourself. Did I write you in? lol
Please Note: This chapter is set AFTER the movie, and this chapter is longer than the previous three.
Note 2: Updated, corrected, slightly edited 8-12-02.
Here we go! (Can't think of anything in Japanese right now.)
Chapter Four -?Texas Dreaming
6:30 am. Jeannie groaned as she hopped out of the family van and shrugged her way-too-heavy backpack onto her thin shoulders. "Bye, Mom." she muttered as her brother slammed the sliding door shut in her face. In the gray morning, the white van drove off, tail lights barely shining through the faint mist of the dew. Jeannie shivered a little in the cool Texas morning.
Her jacket was slung about her waist. She wore sneakers, jeans and a baggy shirt to hide her lack of curves. Jeannie's blond hair was shoulder- length, glasses marred her face's sweet beauty, and she stood only about 5 foot 3 inches on a campus of insanely taller, more grown up looking teenagers. At fifteen, she weighed only barely enough to keep her on the ground, despite the fact that she ate tons of junk food everyday. She envied her two best friends, Melanie and Deborah, who, though they complained of being overweight, had curves to spare and didn't look like they'd just wandered off a middle school campus. She was insecure, but very talkative and often had her nose stuck in a book, though rarely a textbook.
She wandered over the dew wet grass, heading towards the school cafeteria, a huge place in the morning, before school, and a tiny place at lunch time. Her school was over-crowded, but she didn't mind much. She idly marveled at the coldness of the dew as it seeped into her shoes when in a mere half an hour, the Texas sun would be scorching the life out of everything underneath it. Personally, she loved the sun. Warm rays after the icy cold of air-conditioned, moldy old classrooms could ease away almost all of her school-day tensions. But at 6:30 am, she was barely awake, grumpy at the earliness of the hour and heading into another icy vault of stale air. "Why is everyone in Texas such a wimp?" she wondered as she opened the cafeteria's door and slipped in. "Absolutely freezing," she whimpered mentally, hugging herself as she walked toward their usual table.
Melinda, or Mel for short, was already sitting at the table, her bags piled round her, homework out in front of her, pack of cards pushed to one side. Jeannie checked cursorily to make sure there were no open cartons of milk or cans of soda, then slung her bag onto the wood and metal folding table with a very loud "thunk!" Mel looked up, grumpy sleepiness in her dark eyes. "Morning, Jean." she muttered, before returning back to her worst enemy, math.
"Mornin', Mel." came the equally muttered response. She gave Mel's homework a quick glance, then settled into her own chair, pulling her lightweight jacket on. Mel already wore hers. "15 minutes to cookies." Jeannie advised. Mel didn't look up but handed her a dollar and some change. "Ya want 10 cookies and chocolate milk?" Jeannie confirmed. Mel only nodded. "Kewl." She pulled out her own money and wandered over to wait in the fairly short line.
Their high school's cafeteria was good for three things; chocolate chip cookies, greasy and soft, French fries, crispy and over-salty, and delicious ice cream sold by an outside company. The usual staples of a high school kid's diet; despite the required subjects of Physical Education and Health's attempts to educate them about the value of vegetables. No way Jeannie was eating a vegetable, no thank you. Disgusting green things that made everything she ate afterwards taste less palatable. It was a junk food diet for her and only God knew why she retained a slim body. If only that body had a few curves, she lamented often, looking down at a body that still looked the same as it had when she was 10.
Finally, the gate opened and the early morning students filed in. Some picked up breakfast tacos, some chose cereal, many jostled for a large helping of cookies and most grabbed milks. The cafeteria lady shook her head as Jeannie paid for 20 cookies and two chocolate milks, thinking about what that much fat would do to her own already heavy-set body. But Jeannie just said good morning and headed back to her table to give Mel some of that wonderful junky goodness that would put a smile on her face.
Mel thanked her perfunctorily, then blotted the cookies with the extra napkins Jeannie had brought. There was a moment of perfect silence as both girls filled empty tummies with warm, soft, gooey, chocolate-y cookies. They devoured five, then forced themselves to wrap the other five up for lunchtime. Once that business was done, Mel went back to her homework, but more cheerfully, and Jeannie settled in to re-read her latest letter from Sarah. They ignored the hustle and bustle as more students arrived to grab breakfast.
Sarah's letter worried Jeannie. It was all about a place called the Labyrinth, a wicked yet handsome king named Jareth and some very odd creatures that Sarah called her friends. But Jeannie knew that Sarah had been playacting the story in the book they had both been given. Jeannie hadn't ever read it herself, though she wasn't sure why. But Sarah had told her a few things. Now Jeannie was worried. Sarah sounded unstable. Was it possible that she was hallucinating? Or was it just a weird dream that had felt so real? She would call Sarah tonight, while her family was still at school and soccer games. Since she was the only one that didn't go to the school her mother taught at, she was often out of the loop in her family's life.
She drafted a letter to Sarah throughout the school day, not paying much attention in class; and, in most of her classes, not really needing to. She finished it up; it was full of banalities, describing her friends, her classes, what TV shows and music she liked now, all things that avoided any mention of the Labyrinth. Finally the last bell rang and it was out to the bus circle to await her bus and head home.
Her friend Debbie showed up, the first time Jeannie and Mel had seen her that day. She came over and they chatted about the school day for a while, made plans to see a movie on the weekend, then said goodbye. She headed off to the front of campus to be picked up by her mom. Mel's bus came and Jeannie and Mel waved goodbye. Other friends came and went, some members of clubs, some getting on buses. Jeannie's bus never came 'til almost 5:00. She hated that so much. School went from 8:45 to 3:45, but she could never get home until after 5 pm. She, Mel and Debbie all lived in the same neighborhood, but because there were so many people in the neighborhood, it was divided up into two school bus routes. Mel and Debbie had the same bus, but Debbie hated the school bus and rarely rode it. Jeannie, only two blocks down on the same road as Mel, rode a different bus and usually rode it in silence, her nose buried in a book.
When she finally got home, she flew into the house, her mangy cat on her tail, yowling for food. She tossed her bag in one corner of the family room, let the dog in, grabbed her phone card and started dialing, then remembered the time difference. "What time was it in England?" she wondered. She couldn't remember. Her brain felt really fuzzy. She felt compelled to find the book and read it. She wandered almost zombie-like to her room and dug out the slim volume. Then, returning to the sunny family room, she flung herself onto the couch and devoured the book faster than anything else she had ever read. And for a speed reader, that was saying a lot. But she felt a strange urge compelling her to finish the book quickly.
From the beginning, she was chilled to realize that the story was about Sarah. It said Sarah, it said Toby, it described her best friend perfectly. It ended with the party in Sarah's room and the owl on the outside, looking in. She uneasily recalled what Sarah had said, "I need all of you." 'All of you' would include Jareth, wouldn't it? She willed Sarah to call her. It was a Friday night after all. Sarah would be alone with Toby long enough for her to have a nice, private conversation. Unless Sarah's nasty step-mother had tapped the phone line, Jeannie thought darkly. She wouldn't be surprised if that nosy woman did.
The phone rang. Jeannie dived for it, snatching it up by the second ring. "Hello?" she asked breathlessly.
"Hi, Trix." Sarah sounded odd, depressed somehow. Jeannie's worries grew. They started talking immediately, both at once. Sarah laughed hollowly, "You first."
Jeannie started talking to her about the book. "Honey, my copy, it's you, your life, our dreams, your family! How can this be?"
Sarah was rifling through her correspondence, especially looking at the letters which talked about some of Jeannie's friends. She had wondered why Jeannie had made friends with girls who seemed so very different from her. They weren't big readers, or interested in acting or writing, for the most part. Now, as she listened to Jeannie trying to be so logical, she wondered how her friend could have changed this much.
Finally she interrupted her rambling friend. "Trix, it was real, it happened. I wished Toby away and I faced the Goblin King." Idly, she repeated some of his words, mimicking his voice, picturing him before her, as she had been doing for the past week. "I trembled before him, he was frightening. But I challenged him, Trix. And I saved Toby."
"You're in love with him!" Jeannie gasped.
"Oh Jeannie!" Sarah was so upset, she dropped the nickname. "I killed him!" She winced at the echo of her voice, grateful the storm that had sprung up had forced her parents to take refuge at the hotel where they had been dining. "Can't you understand that?" She was near tears. "Oh, Jareth." her sob was whisper-soft.
"How could you have killed him? It hints in the book that he was watching you at the party."
"How do you know about the party?" Sarah asked slowly, her eyes riveted on the silent lightning flashes of the advancing storm. She never heard the answer. A black-gloved hand smoothly pulled the phone away from her. She stared in shock at the reflection of herself in the glass, and of the man behind her.
"Sorry, Sarah can't talk now." The voice slid out of the phone seductively, swirling about Jeannie.
She knew who it was immediately. "Jareth." Her voice was a mere breath. A light chuckle confirmed her suspicion. "Don't you go near her!" she warned quickly, her anger boiling up out of nowhere, deep and protective.
"Tsk tsk. You know the tale." he scolded gently. Then the phone went dead. A pale version of Jeannie shakingly pulled out her copy of the Labyrinth. As she feared, there was now more. Their conversation appeared in crimson letters fading to black. Mesmerized, horrified, frightened, she watched what was happening become printed word.