Long lost words whisper slowly to me
Still can't find what keeps me here
When all this time I've been so hollow inside
I know you're still there
Watching me wanting me
I won't let you pull me down
Sarah was for once completely and utterly satisfied with her life. Of course, most people would consider her regime of research and teaching tedious if not boring. Sarah, on the other hand, adored her quiet, structured existence. She spent her mornings in the lab, afternoons lecturing, then rounded out the evening in front of her laptop hammering away at her most recent attempt at publishing her work.
Needless to say, this hectic schedule didn't leave time for friends, let alone a social life. Even she was loathe to admit the last time she was asked out on a date was in the distant past. Let's not even talk about when the last time she actually accepted one was.
But Sarah was content. Being alone gave her the unique opportunity to control every aspect of her life. There were no surprises, no unwanted demands on her time - nothing holding her back from devoting the rest of her life to research and study.
One wouldn't go so far as to call Sarah happy or joyous with her lonely existence, and ecstatic is just right out. Still, Sarah felt fulfilled.
Until the dreams started, that is.
Sarah had prestige. She had power. She finally managed to gain the respect of her mostly male coworkers. And she had one hell of a nasty case of recurring nightmares.
The dreams began several months ago when she was searching in her attic for a box of stored books. Stacked along with boxes of old clothes and well thumbed-through paperbacks, she noticed the arms of a once loved teddy bear hanging out from the lid of a box shoved in a corner.
Even though it had been well over ten years since she last saw the toy, Sarah immediately recognized it. "Lancelot," she had whispered, rescuing the aging bear from its cardboard prison. Wrapping it up in her arms, she had allowed herself an uncharacteristic moment of reverie. "What else have I got packed in here," she wondered allowed, tugging the box open.
Inside she found a virtual treasure trove of memories: old playbills, pictures of friends long forgotten, her music box - all things that meant so much to her so very long ago. "What an overdramatic brat I was," she mused, a smile tugging at the corner of her mouth. Just as she was about to toss everything back into the box and continue on with her true objective, a glint of gold caught her eye. Buried underneath the stack of playbills was a small red leather bound book. The gold which caught her eye was the intricate lettering. "The Labyrinth," she read aloud. "For some reason, I don't remember ever owning this book."
Something tugged at her memory, beckoning her to remember. For a moment, Sarah almost sat down right there to read. This book hinted at a mystery - why did she recall everything in this box of memories but this?
Shrugging her shoulders, ever conscious of the minutes ticking by, robbing her of precious research time, Sarah tossed the book back in the box.
Later that night, the nightmares began.
In her dream, she stood on a hill overlooking a city in ruins. Surrounding it was what once might have been a great maze, long decayed. It's tall walls were crumbling, the shrubbery dead long neglected and forgotten. Far beyond the ruins stood a castle, dark and foreboding.
A sense of dread would fill her whenever she gazed at that castle. She knew that she was looking for something, or someone. But why?
Although the lands seemed dead and deserted, it was never completely empty. Beside her stood a boy boy dressed in a bizarre motley of leaves and heather. His feet were shot in soft leather boots that looked odd considering his legs were bare. A pair of pointy ears peeked from underneath a mass of unruly dark curls. Honey colored almond-shaped eyes stared into her own with an intensity that belied the boy's apparent youth. Around his mouth small wrinkles had formed from a perpetual smile looking out of place considering his solemn gaze. After just one glimpse it was obvious the child wasn't human - and it wasn't just the pointy ears that gave him away. His eyes were aged and knowing, showing a wisdom far beyond his body's limited years. The eyes of an old man, bowed down with sorrow.
Every single night, for weeks now, the boy would offer his hand, begging Sarah to follow. Every single night, she resisted. Somehow she instinctively knew he would take her to the castle - the last place she wanted to go.
As soon as she refused to follow, the boy would hold a crystal to her. No matter how hard she fought, Sarah always was compelled to gaze inside.
Whatever it was she saw in there must be scaring the crap out of her, because she would wake up in a cold sweat, a scream on her lips. She knew somehow that it was a face - a face of a man. But Sarah could never remember who's it was.
At first, Sarah viewed these bad dreams as she viewed any other obstacle in her path - she would summarily defeat it, or at the very least ignore the problem until it went away.
Standing in her living room nursing a bad cup of coffee that did nothing to rid herself of the last vestiges of her most recent nightmare, Sarah watched the morning sun kiss the lightening sky. It was time to face the facts. "Slowly but surely, I am going insane," she whispered to the empty room.
The nightmares were getting worse...
Last night while typing out some lectures notes in the office, the boy from her dreamed appeared. On her desk. In all his glory. Sarah just about crapped her pants. Okay, so he didn't say anything or do anything, but damn it all, he was there. When she blinked her eyes, though, the boy disappeared.
She tried not to make too much of it. Yesterday was stressful, alright? Perhaps, this was all just her mind's way of telling her to stop multi-tasking so darned much. Just because your dream-boy appeared in her office doesn't make her insane, right?
Unfortunately, that idea would have been much easier to believe if the kid hadn't showed up at the grocery store, the gas station, and even the laundry mat. Judging by the fact that no one seemed bothered by the appearance by some weirdo kid with pointy ears and wearing only a couple of leaves, Sarah figured that this particular phantom was for her eyes only.
The phantom kid even showed up at her house later that night while she was chowing down on a frozen pizza. She would have offered him a slice, but figured it's probably better to not feed one's paranoid delusions. It just gives them the wrong idea.
Plus, it's hard to be polite when someone's just staring at you.
"You know, I'd quit bothering you if you would just come back with me to the Labyrinth." A melodious voice coming from somewhere behind her, jerked Sarah's wandering thoughts back into the present. In horror, she turned around.
Leaf-boy was sitting cross-legged on her coffee table, casually leafing through an old edition of Scientific America.
"You can talk." Okay, so it wasn't the most profound thing to say, but when faced with a talking figment of one's imagination, it's kind of hard to come up with something witty to say.
The boy scowled. "Of course I can talk. I've been talking in your dreams for months now, whatever good that's done me."
Sarcasm. It was just soo typical that her over-stressed imagination's brainfart would have an attitude problem. "I don't have time for this, Freud, so why don't you do me the favor of crawling back into whatever wrinkle in my brain you crawled out of. I'm going to be late for work."
The boy shot straight up. The coffee table's added height made him almost tall enough to see Sarah eye to eye. "Look lady, I don't have time for this either. My whole world is falling apart, and you're to blame. Now until you can come back to the Underground with me to fix it, I'm going to follow you, and follow you, and..."
"Can it, small fry. I get the picture." She groaned, holding a hand against her aching forehead. Lack of sleep always made her feel grumpy. "Please somebody, tell me I'm not having a conversation with my imagination."
"You are having this conversation, and you are not imaging things. And I'll tell you another thing, Lady. I'm not going anywhere. Now that I've figured out how to enter your world, I'm going to be your worst nightmare."
Sarah's temper flared. "Well then what the hell do you want?!"
The boy's almond eyes suddenly widened in excitement. "I want you to come back to the Underground with me. I've tried to show you in your dreams, but you just couldn't understand. My world is falling apart because of something you did, and you've got to fix it. I can't explain it all to you here - you just wouldn't understand. I need you to come back to the Labyrinth with me."
"I'm not hearing this."
The words tumbled out of his mouth in a hurried gush. "I've figured out how to use Jareth's crystals - well somewhat at least. I mean, I can at least use them to cross over into your world, but it took me so long to find you. You've put so many barriers up in your mind, I almost gave up hope of ever finding you, but..."
Sarah listened to the boys speech with only half hearted interest. She turned her back, and walked towards the hallway, but when he spoke a certain name, she froze.
....Jareth...
The name sent an unpleasant rush of half formed memories into her mind. Deep in the crevices of her memory, a door that had long stood locked and bared strained at the hinges. Some great sleeping beast, trapped behind the door had awakened, demanding to be released.
"Enough," her voice was icy, shocking even herself. "I've heard just about enough from you, kiddo. Plenty to last a lifetime. Now I am going to take a shower, and I am going to get ready for work. If you're scrawny butt is still on my coffee table when I come out, I swear I'm going to check myself in to some kind of asylum before the day's out. Now beat it!!"
Without even bothering to give the kid another look, Sarah retreated to the safety of her bedroom. Twenty minutes later, dressed and ready for work, she tried not to feel to relieved when the boy was no longer there. It's never a good idea to get too excited about your psychotic illusion's coming and goings.
By the time Sarah pulled into a parking spot at the university, she was already well on her way to convincing herself that this morning's bad encounter was nothing more than an extension of her bad dream.
***************************************
"Well this has been a complete waste of time," Sarah groused, glaring at her nearly blank computer screen. No matter how hard she tried to concentrate this morning, there was almost nothing to show for her efforts. Every time she tried to focus, that name kept creeping into her mind. Jareth.
She had no idea who the guy was or what significance he might have had in her past. All she knew was that the jerk was keeping her from her research, and that every time she heard his name she felt like puking.
Sarah glanced at the clock on her monitor. "Damn, is it already 12:30??" she muttered to no one in particular. She would have to skip out on lunch just to make it in time for her afternoon lectures which normally wouldn't be a problem. Unfortunately this morning she wasn't in the mood for breakfast for some particular reason.
Lack of food competed with lack of sleep to see which could give Sarah the worst headache. Boy, her students were in store for a great lecture. Pop Quiz anyone?
A rueful smile crossed Sarah's aquiline features. Tying her long raven hair back behind her head in a prim bun, she grabbed her suit coat before locking the door to her office. The short walk to her lecture hall usually gave her time to clear her mind before facing her students. Research would always be her first love, but getting in front of a room full of fresh young minds held it's own fascinations.
Lecturing was something that Sara had always enjoyed - perhaps because it somehow appealed to her theatrical nature (something she would never, ever admit to). Standing before a packed lecture hall, sharing knowledge with fresh eager minds - okay, judging by some of her student's recent grades, maybe not all of them were so eager. Regardless, Sara enjoyed her time with the students
When she first began teaching, Sarah quickly gained a reputation for a bit of a hard nose. Because she was still trying to establish her reputation, she was a bit strict at times. All in all, she came to love and respect her students just as they learned to do the same.
Setting out across the campus, she tried to clear her mind. A couple passed her by on the sidewalk walking hand in hand. She paused to let them pass.
....It's only forever...not long at all...
A dark, masculine voice from deep within her memory whispered into her mind. Sarah jerked her head around to see if the man who just passed by had spoken to her.
His back was to her now, but she could still see that he was engrossed in a conversation with the girl who's hand he held.
Sarah's throat tightened. "Please God, tell me I'm not losing it," she whispered. Thoughts suddenly filled her mind, each memory flashing by so quickly that she could hardly comprehend. Flashing faces, sparkling lights, couples slowly revolving in a dance surrounding her - the memories assaulted her senses, attacked her mind. Two eyes loomed before her. A face, dark and terrible, yet desired and feared. The name resounded in her ears like a tolling bell. ...Jareth...
She shook her head, closing her eyes tightly. Forcing herself to calm down, Sarah firmly shut the door in her mind. The images faded, their violent attack ceased.
When she felt like she could trust herself again, Sarah slowly opened her eyes. She was alone on the campus sidewalk, standing in between the administrative building where her office was located and the distant lecture hall. Taking a few deep, yet shaky breaths she continued her walk.
********************************************
"Okay class, first question if you please."
So far, Sarah had managed to get through the lecture without having any more freak out's. In fact, she was finally starting to feel a little more confident. I mean, a crazy person wouldn't be able to give a forty minute presentation on the reign of Elizabeth I and her struggle with Mary Queen of Scots would they? Surely that must prove her sanity. Of course, the very fact that she was trying to prove her sanity to herself proved that she really must be insane, right?
Would you please shut up so I can just get through with this?? Sarah ordered her talkative mind.
Scanning the crowd, she waited for the first brave student to gather their courage. The syllabus announced that there would be an exam next week. As a courtesy, Sarah always allowed her students the opportunity to have a nice Question/Answer session before hand.
A hand towards the back of the classroom shot up.
"Pardon me Professor but I was wondering if you could tell us when you will return to the Labyrinth?"
Sara shook her head in good natured confusion. "Excuse me? I don't believe I heard that question quite right, could you repeat that please?"
The student tried again. "I was wondering if you could tell me if the next exam will be all essay again. We need you to return to the Labyrinth, Sara. We need your help." The student's voice began in with the normal timbre of a young man, but as he spoke it began to change into that of a young boy - a very familiar young boy. "Save us, Sara - before it's too late."
Sara blinked several times, the color slowly draining from her already pale cheeks. "Is this some kind of joke sir?" She glanced around the room, looking at the student's faces. They were suddenly looking at her as if she had suddenly sprouted two heads.
A girl in the front row timidly raised her hand. "Professor Williams, you've always told us before what kind of questions to expect on the exam. Has your policy changed?"
"Of...of course not, Linda," coming to her sense, Sara offered the girl a small smile. "I believe I must have misunderstood the question."
She turned to write on the chalkboard, but stopped dead in her tracks. Sitting on her desk, studying the classroom with interest was the boy from her dreams. "What the heck are you doing here?" she demanded in a fierce whisper.
He shrugged, a few leaves from his dress floating down to the floor. "I told you I was going to follow you."
"Get the heck out of here, now." Sarah whirled about, facing the class. Seventy five pairs of eyes stared at her in confusion. Could they not see the strange little weirdo sitting so calmly on her desk.
As if reading her thoughts, the boy murmured. "They can't see me, Sarah. Only you can."
Giving the class room a cursory glance, she turned on her heel and stalked towards the chalkboard. "There will be only two essay questions. I'm going easy on you guys since the results from the last exam were less than exemplary. There'll be sixty additional questions in a mixture of multiple choice, fill in's, and of course the all-time favorite short answer." She wrote as rapidly as she spoke.
"And I'll be there for you stupid exam if you don't stop and listen to me, Sarah."
Ignoring him, Sarah gritted her teeth. "Next question please."
Despite the brat's refusal to disappear, Sarah kept up the charade of teaching. Her students must have picked up on the strain. After only five more questions, she dismissed the class. As soon as the room emptied out, she made a break for the sanctuary of her office.
Dashing across campus, she thanked her lucky stars that no one tried to stop her to socialize. Sarah just wasn't in the talking kind of mood. Her world was crashing down around her shoulders. For the first time in her life, she simply didn't know what to do.
Shutting her office door behind her, she sunk into her chair with a sigh of relief. Fighting back the urge to cry, Sarah closed her eyes.
"You know I'd quit following you if you'd just stop and listen."
Sarah's eyes flew open. Sitting directly across from her was the new bane of her existence. "Don't you ever get tired of making my life a living hell?" she questioned mildly.
"Well, now that my world is destroyed, there's not a whole lot else to keep my entertained."
Sarah shifted in her chair, her going from zero to sixty in about 2 seconds. "Yeah, well the feeling's mutual."
The boy's almond eyes begged. "It doesn't have to be this way, Sarah. If you would only help put everything right again..."
"Help you?" Sarah just about screamed. "Help you? Kiddo, I'm getting ready to just about kill you."
A sudden knock at the door made Sarah jump. Her eyes flew to where the child was sitting. Luck for her, he had disappeared again.
Her visitor knocked again, a little more forcefully this time. "Sarah, are you in there? It's me, Silas."
Sarah suppressed a groan. Silas Gunthry was both friend and mentor to her. He was also the University Dean aka her boss.
"Come in," she squeaked through her suddenly dry throat. Visits from Silas were usually a pleasure. Some distant part of her mind wondered at the foreboding that filled her heart with dread. Another part of her mind demanded the other part shut the heck up if all it was going to do is be theatrical all the time.
Oh quit arguing, she ordered herself. I'm having a hard enough time as it is. She tried to pull herself together as Silas stepped through the door.
In typical Silas fashion, he was dressed in dark slacks, a blue oxford shirt with a white collar, a crooked tie, and his trademark suspenders. Topping off the whole ensemble were a pair of scuffed up tennis shoes with mismatched laces. Intelligent blue eyes peeked from underneath a pair of bushy eyebrows. Those eyes were usually kindly and harmless. Make Silas angry, however, and those eyes could pin you down like a bug in some middle school science class.
Right now, those eyes showed only concern. "Is everything okay for you, my dear?" he inquired. "I thought I heard you talking to someone."
Sarah smiled, hopefully in a non-threatening "I'm not losing my mind" sort of way. "Hmm, maybe it was coming from next door." She spread her arms. "No one here but me, Professor."
Sara still used the formal title, much to Silas' irritation. Even though he was the dean, he wanted all of the other professors to be more informal - something Sara had a hard time doing with him. To her, he would always be holding dusty specimens while lecturing to her and her enraptured classmates.
Silas cleared his throat. "Sarah, I was auditing your class today, sitting anonymously in the back. You seemed... distracted."
She suppressed another groan. Why on earth did he have to pick today of all days to spring this on her. "Silas, I'm just not feeling too well today. Perhaps if you come back next week, I..."
He held up one hand, silencing her. "I'm not questioning your teaching abilities, my dear. I'm asking about you. Are you feeling okay?"
No actually, I'm not feeling okay. Some psychotic nature boy who's been tormenting my dreams has now taken to joining me in the lecture hall.
"Silas, I'm fine. I just need a good meal and 40 winks."
"Sarah, that's precisely what I've come to talk to you about."
She swallowed back the big lump that suddenly formed in her throat, threatening to cut off her breathing. "Professor?" she inquired, not really wanting to hear what came next. Okay, maybe the part of her brain that felt the foreboding wasn't so wrong after all.
Silas patted her shoulder kindly, suddenly realizing how ominous that must have sounded. "Calm down, my dear, it's nothing serious... yet."
She nodded her head and gave him a small sigh, but her defenses were still up. "Yet?"
Silas took a deep breath and collected his thoughts before he spoke. "You have the makings of a fine professor, Sarah, and your research is impeccable. Your credentials are outstanding and you lack only experience, which will come only in time. I can easily see how in a few years when the current department head finally retires, you taking their place without challenge or competition." He paused for a moment, allowing this rare praise to fully sink in before continuing. "And yet, knowing all of this, you consistently push yourself beyond endurance. Yes you have passion. Yes you have determination. But I must ask you Sarah, what is it that you are trying so very hard to prove? I ask you this not as a boss or teacher, but as a friend. A colleague." He again patted her shoulder. "You've spread yourself so thin, Sarah. I see how tired you are - it's in your eyes. But have you ever asked yourself why?"
Well for starters, I'm suddenly hallucinating that some freakoid kid dressed in leaves wants me to come over to his house and solve a maze, she laughed inwardly.
"I enjoy what I do, Silas," she answered softly.
Silas harrumphed. "When I look at you Sara, I see myself at that age. I put off creating a family, starting a home, because I reasoned that there would always be time for such foolishness later. Instead, I focused all of my time on learning, research. All I would allow myself to do was spend time working, working - always working. the museum became my wife and the students children. I looked into the mirror one morning and was shocked to see an old, wrinkled man staring back at me. I'm old Sara - I've wasted my life on pointless endeavors, and I don't want to see that happen to you."
Sarah shook her head. "Silas, you work isn't pointless," she was shocked to hear this coming from Silas. She had no idea he felt this way.
Silas only smiled ruefully. "Yet the most important things in life eluded me, Sarah. So I ask you this - what was truly more important - research or love? Building a scientific legacy or a family?"
She was speechless. All of her earlier worries suddenly melted away. "I don't know what to say, Silas. How can I answer that?" It was almost impossible to meet his piercing blue eyes. She turned her head away from his gaze.
Both of them afraid to break the uncomfortable silence that feel between them. After several moments, Silas spoke.
"Sarah, I'm giving you an opportunity - a once in a career opportunity. I want you to take some time off - a few weeks, maybe a month - just some time for you to get away from this. Time to think about, reassess if you will, your life. You've become so obsessed with work, it's all you can think of anymore. I don't want what happened to me happen to you."
Sarah's jaw dropped open. She simply couldn't believe what she was hearing. "You know I can't just leave my students in the middle of the semester," she protested. "Silas, what the heck are you trying to do to me?"
"I've already considered the ramifications, my dear. I will personally see to it that your classes are covered."
"But what will all the other professors say?" Sarah had fought too hard to gain her colleague's respect to loose it so unfairly.
"My dear, it's not unreasonable for a professor to need to take an unexpected research trip. I'm sure with the proper explanation, the other professors will understand. No one else need know the true nature of your vacation."
She stammered, searching for a reason why she couldn't take the time off. "What about my tenure?"
"It won't be put at risk, trust me."
"Silas," she raised her voice in protest. "You can't make me do this."
He sighed, crossing his arms over his chest. "Actually, my dear, yes I can. Trust me, Sarah. It will be much less embarrassing for both you and me in the long run if you do this voluntarily. Effective immediately, you will be taking an extended leave of absence. It's up to you what to do with the time I've given you."
Without another word, Silas stepped out of her office
********************************************
A/N: I had posted this chappie a long time ago, and hated it. So, just like any good obsessive compulsive author will do, I yanked it down and rewrote it. I'm pretty psyched about the idea and hope to keep on writing my way through this.
FYI - I plan on making this Jareth a much more darker character than my other story My Immortal. None of that romantic knight-in-shining-armor bullshit. But we'll be getting to him before too much longer.
Thanks again for all of the reviews, both positive and negative. Your reviews are the drugs that I crave - it makes each chapter come easier.
***Throughout this fic, I'll be using lyrics from the group Evanescence at the beginning of each chappie. So no - I did not write the intro poetry crap myself : ) Please don't sue.
****Oh, and while I'm on the subject of not suing, I don't own the Laybrinth or any other Jim Henson crap. So please don't sue : p
