A/N I know I said before that I don't do many of these, and now prove myself wrong again with another author's note. Sorry for the long delays in this. Those who are also writers I'm sure are familiar with the evilness of writer's block. I know where I want things to go, just not quite sure on how I want to get there. Part of my new year's resolutions though is to do more writing, with the hopes that writing more will make those blocks fewer. So with that, here's the next chapter for Help Me Fall
White. Sarah woke up and looked around her and everything was white. She lay on a hard narrow bed with a white sheet pulled over her. She wore a night gown which was white with small blue flowers on it. The walls and ceiling were all unrelieved white. She was most certainly not in the labyrinth any more.
She sat up slowly. The last thing that she remembered, she had been standing, surrounded by fog and……Thanier! He must be behind this, must have sent her here. But where was here?
She got out of bed and headed for the door. She turned the handle and it wouldn't open, it was locked from the outside.
"So I'm in some sort of cell? Should have known, that bastard." She paced around the small room wondering how long it would be before she heard from him.
It wasn't to long before the door open and to her surprise in walked Jareth. Or at least, she thought it was him. His hair was cut short and tamed and his eyes looked more normal, without the fey sparkle that she had grown accustomed to.
He smiled at her and pulled a wheelchair into the room behind him. "Well hello sleeping beauty." His voice was void of his normal arrogance and that slight lilting that always reminded her of a british accent. "I was starting to wonder if you were ever going to wake up. Sleep well?"
"Jareth?" her voice was heavy with sleep. "What happened to you? Why are you so….so….different?"
"Dear Sarah," he sighed and shook his head. "Come on. Have a seat and we'll take you to see Doctor Thanier."
"Doctor Thanier? Doctor? What the hell is happening here. Why aren't we in the labyrinth, what has that bastard done?"
Jareth crouched at on top of a hill looking over what had once the been the bog of stench. The Bog, while vile smelling, had been passable. There had once been a bridge across it, guarded by Sir Didymus. While he hadn't been very big, he had made up for it with enthusiasm and managed to prevent most people from crossing. Sarah had been the exception to that, she had managed to befriend the small fox, taking him with her on her trip through his maze. He wondered again where she was, hoped that she was safe.
He shook his mind clear of those thought. Worrying about her now would only be a distraction, and right now he needed to focus on what he was doing.
Below him now, in place of the Bog of Stench, was a wide trench filled with squirming masses of insect. From what he could see, the insects looked almost like the Aboveground scorpions. They had long, razor like claws and a silvery tail that ended in a long needle stinger. He had needed to get close to the pit to see the nature of the creatures inside, from this distance he could only see a mass of moving shadows.
"Now how am I to cross that." He wondered out loud.
"Can't see why you would want to, but I'd suggest walking."
Jareth spun quickly, rising to his full height expecting to confront Thanier. No one was there. "Who said that?"
"I did. 'Ello yer majesty, down here."
Jareth looked around and spotted a small blue and yellow worm on a rock near where he had been crouching. "Did you just say hello?"
"No, I said 'ello, but that's close enough."
Jareth shook his head. This seemed to be the first non threatening creature that he had come across since entering the labyrinth. "Well, thank you for your observation, but I don't think walking through that gorge would be very safe."
"Oh no, wouldn't be safe t'all." The small worm agreed.
"Then why would you advise me to walk through it?" the king arched an inquisitive eyebrow at the small creature.
"I said no such thing. I know, why don't you come back with me, on me way home to the missus and a nice cup of tea."
"You mean to tell me you did not suggest that you did not suggest I should walk through it?"
"Oh no, not through it, you should never go through it, much to dangerous."
Jareth gave him a puzzled look and dropped back down to a crouch to be more on level with this small creature. "Tell me what you know of that pit," he commanded.
At the raised blue eyebrows of the little worm creature, Jareth remembered Sarah's words. "Please, I need to get over to the other side , can you help me?"
"oh, alrigh, but don't say I didn't warn ya. It's bad on the other side. But if you want to get across, there is a bridge."
Jareth looked over his shoulder, searching up and down the length of the ravine for a bridge across.
"Oh you can't see it," the worm told him. "but it's there. Be careful, it's not a straight patch, it twists and turns."
"If I can't see it, how do am I supposed to use it"
The worm tilted his head quizzically at the goblin king. "If you can't see with your eyes, try seeing with your hands. You can find the start of the path over there," He indicated a way off to the left, "you'll see three rocks in a row right on the edge, go between the ones on the right"
Jareth stood, anxious to be on his way. He took two steps and stopped, turning around to the worm once more. "Thank you for your help."
Sarah had finally been convinced to sit in the wheelchair and let Jareth take her down the hall. She had to figure out what was going on so she could get out of here and back to the labyrinth.
She was taken to a richly decorated office. Paintings by Dahli and Monet hung on the walls with lighting carefully placed to best illuminate each work of art without shinning directly on it.
Sitting behind a large polished oak desk was Thanier. The brass name plate on the desk bore the name Richard Thanier, Head of Psychiatric Services. The long dark hair seemed to make his simple white doctor's coat seem even brighter somehow. He smiled at her, although she noted that the smile did nothing to warm his icy eyes.
"Ah, good morning Sarah, and how are we feeling this morning?" His arrogance and condescending manner made her want to smack him.
" Thanier, what the hell are you trying to pull, I demand you send me back this instant!" She folded her arms across her chest and glared up at him from her seat in the wheelchair.
Thanier looked amused for a moment and then took his gaze from her. "So Jared, it seems that I am still the villain, does this mean that you're still the unwilling hero?"
Jareth locked the breaks on the wheelchair. " So it would seem." He did not look over at Thanier, instead he concentrated on helping Sarah to her feet.
Sarah pushed his hand away. "This isn't real. You're playing with my mind. Well, it's not going to work."
"Now Sarah, please don't be stubborn. We've gone over this before."
Thanier snorted. "I wouldn't waste your breath, Jared. She'll just forget everything you tell her next week anyway."
"She was doing a lot better until you came along." Jareth shot back.
Sarah closed her eyes and tried to will her mind to wake up. This was just a dream, like when she ate the peach, and if she only realized it, it would go away. When she opened her eyes though, she was still sitting in that office with two men arguing over her. The longer she sat there listening to them argue the more real this started to seem.
In her first trip to the Labyrinth, Jareth had tripped her into a dream with a poisoned peach. Then she had found herself in a decadent masquerade ball wearing a luxurious silver dress and playing cat and mouse with the goblin king. Looking back, the entire thing had seemed rather hazy at the edges. Shapes and faces were blurred when looked at through the corner of the eye and in sharp focus when looked at directly.
This place seemed…normal, even a little familiar. The familiar feeling scared her but she wouldn't admit it, not even to herself.
"You do remember that her father will be here this evening to check on her progress. And I'm sure you also remember what he said last time. If he doesn't see progress, you will no longer be in charge of her care. Personally, I can't say that will be a bad thing."
Jareth glared at him. "Then you'll be sadly disappointed I suspect. Now do you mind?" He gestured to the door.
Thanier smiled at Sarah, patting her on the shoulder as he walked past her to the door.
Once the door closed behind him, Jareth took her hand and gently pulled her to her feet. "Don't worry Sarah, I'm going to do everything I can to make sure that you don't wind up in his care. "
Sarah allowed herself to be pulled to her feet then pulled her hand away. "That's not going to happen because this isn't real." She assured him.
He gave her a look of mixed sadness and frustration. "Sarah, do you remember anything about the time you've spent here? About what we've talked about before?"
"Look, Jareth…"
"Jared. Not Jareth."
"Whatever, I know what Thanier's up to." She paused and looked around the room. "Can probably even hear me now, so listen up asshole. This has been done once before, and it's not going to work. Hell, at least last time it was a place I wanted to stay. Why the hell would I want to stay here?"
"Well at least we agree on that much." Jared said. "But you can't leave here Sarah until you face what really happened and stop living in this fantasy you've created. Now, why don't you tell me what happened? Last week you were making such improvement. What sent you back into the labyrinth?"
He motioned for her to have a seat in a big overstuff chair. She stared at the chair for a moment. It was the same one that she had in her living room. "This is my chair." She stated.
"Yes, that's your favorite place to sit when we talk."
"No, I mean this is my chair, this is the chair that is in my apartment."
"Sarah, you don't have an apartment."
She folded her arms and looked at him as she took a seat in the chair.
Jared sighed. "Sarah, look. I know that this is hard for you, but please, you have to try to remember what happened the night you came here. Can you do that?"
She smirked at him. " What happened the night I came here? You, Jareth, came to my apartment and asked me to help you because Thanier was trying to take over the labyrinth and you had to get through it."
"And what do you remember of the night we first met? Can you tell me that?" His voice was supposed to be calm and comforting, but somehow it managed to irritate her more.
"Yes, I remember the night we met, and yes I could tell you that. But I'm not going to lest it's some how a design for Thanier to try to get something to use against you. I'm not going to help that madman."
He laughed a little. "Why don't you tell me just a little bit, see if you remember what we had been talking about before Thanier came?"
"We hadn't been talking before Thanier came. We haven't talked or seen each other since I last left the Labyrinth."
"Sarah? Do you remember where we met?"
She didn't see how Thanier could gain anything with the answer to this question. "In my parent's bedroom."
He shook his head. "No, Sarah. I know that's where you think we met, but we didn't. We met later, in the hospital. Try to remember."
Memories whispered to her, trying to bring to mind events that she was sure never happened. She tried to ignore them, this wasn't real, this was just a trick by Thanier.
Jared wouldn't let her simply ignore these memories though. In her mind, she felt as if a wall had broken and images and thoughts flooded in.
She was sixteen years old again and in the park. She wore he mother's white dress and a wreath of dried flowers in her hair. Hidden in her sleeve was the red leather book of the Labyrinth. She had read the book until it was nearly ready to fall apart. She played the part of the young heroine, nearly at the end of her quest to rescue a baby stolen by the wicked Goblin King.
Chimes in the air, the town clock tower was ringing seven o'clock. She has lost track of time in the park again and would be in trouble when she got home. She raced through the streets as the skies opened and rain began to pour down. As she pushed through the gate into her front yard, there was her stepmother standing in the door way giving her a disapproving look. As she suspected she was in trouble for being late.
She had promised to baby-sit while her father and stepmother went out. Watching over her baby brother, Toby. As she thought of Toby, a deep sadness filled her. So young, so helpless. She hadn't been able to get there in time to save him.
She shook her head trying to clear the thoughts out to no avail. A fire, it had started in her parents bedroom. Toby had been crying and she had tried to make him go to sleep. Frustrated, she had picked him up out of the crib and began telling him the story of the Labyrinth. Not even a year old, he was not interested in hearing stories, he continued to cry. She put him back into his crib, hoping that he would just cry himself to sleep.
She had left the room, flicking the light switch off as she entered the hallway. She went to her room and sat in front of her vanity mirror playing with make-up and costumes and Toby's crying had gotten louder. Then the first tendrils of smoke had started to drift in over the top of her door. She flung open the door and it was filled with smoke, she tried to get to her parents bedroom where Toby was still crying, but the heat in the hall way forced her back.
She had awakened in the hospital. A fireman had brought her out of the house, unconscious from smoke inhalation. She had never gotten Toby out of his crib.
She remembered being released from the hospital and going to stay at her grandmother's house. Her stepmother has been there and accusing her of setting the fire to get rid of Toby. They fought, slapping and clawing and biting at each other until her father had pulled her off Karen and sent her upstairs to the room she was using until the damage to their house was repaired. She had been overwhelmed with guilt and grief and had done something she had thought herself incapable. She had tried to kill herself. It hadn't worked though, her father found her, mostly unconscious, and called an ambulance.
It was there that she had met Doctor Jared King. And there that she had created in her mind an escape from the grief and the pain. An escape from reality.
Now sitting here talking with Jareth….no, Jared, it was all coming back to her. They had been working together to get her to come back to reality, until Thanier had been appointed head of psychiatric services and was planning on firing Jared. Seeing the one person that she had grown to trust was about to become lost to her, she had retreated back into her fantasy world. Thanier had become the bad guy, and Jared had taken on the role once more of the Goblin king. Instead of trying to take her baby brother from her, now he was asking for her help.
The more she tried not to remember the faster the images spun in her mind. She tried to hold onto the idea that this was a trick by Thanier, this wasn't real, the Labyrinth was real. The Labyrinth with it's moving walls, it's playful fairies, and a grumpy dwarf easily distracted by plastic charm bracelets.
She wondered if she just might be crazy after all.
She spent most of the day in that office, talking with Jared. When evening came, Thanier came back to find her sitting quietly with her hands folded in her lap. She was taken to where her father was waiting for her.
Her stepmother was not there and she commented on this fact. "So I take it that Karen still refuses to have anything to do with me?"
Her father blinked then gave her a small nod. "Yes, I don't think she'll ever move past what happened. Do you remember what happened?"
Sarah shrugged. "A little. I know that what I thought happened didn't, and I remember some things about the fire, but that's it."
He simply nodded again. "You have made a big improvement. Any thoughts on when you might like to come home?"
She shook her head. "daddy, please don't rush me, I'm getting better, but…..but I think I still have a little ways to go yet before I'm ready to deal with being home again."
She spent a little while longer talking uncomfortably with her father, and then Jared was there again to take her back to her room.
By the time she went to sleep, she was emotionally and mentally exhausted. In her dreams, she could still hear Toby crying as fire filled her dreams.