Last Farewell
The pale white light of the full moon shone of my face. Sitting in the window of the room room, Sarah gazed with unseeing eyes over the streets below her. The lights of the street lamps covered the land in a orange glow, unlike the dark air above filled with the twinkling stars and the moon. Nothing stirred, and save for an occasional owl hoot, the silence laid like a heavy blanket over the city. Somewhere far away a dog barked once, but then he too joined the great, yet comfortable silence in which she hid. Nobody stirred in the white house on the edge of the street. Not even Toby, who was fast asleep after his adventure in the Labyrinth. And while he dreamed of crystals and goblins, Sarah on the other hand couldn't sleep. She sat in her pyjama's on the window sill gazing at the pictures of her mind. In her hand she clenched a bit of confetti, a remain of the party shortly before. Now that all her friends had returned to the Labyrinth once again, they left Sarah with memories behind. Memories that hunted her.
The white dress rustled softly as she passed a dancing couple. Their faces, like all other's, were covered with strange masks. They looked like elegant copies of Goblin faces. She pushed her way through the crowd, searching but not finding. It was odd to see her as the only one without mask. Her eyes kept passing the countless heads, searching for a sign. Why she searched, and what she intended to find was a mystery to her. She just moved through the dancing crowd. The rhythm was elegant and made her hearth beat faster. It was familiar, but she didn't remember of what. Then all of a sudden, his face appeared from behind a great feather fan. They looked at each other for a while, staring in each others eyes. And as he took her waist and hand, they too began to dance on the music. On the song he sang. She then noticed that it was he she had been looking for.
With a sad look on his face, the King of the Goblins stood behind Sarah. She didn't notice him, being to caught up in her thoughts. He stared at the strong-minded girl, barely a young woman, who sat elegant in the window. Her dark hair was kissed by the moonlight and created a shadow on the floor. She had a strong mind and knew what she wanted. Jareth caught himself of loving her. He adored her half-clad body, and was enchanted by the harsh, yet brave words she had spoken.
He smiled. She kept searching, even though she didn't find. He appeared near her, and laughed when she again missed him as she moved to the other side of the ballroom. And yet. Where others had given up long before, she went on. She kept looking for the answer. He danced with several woman, when suddenly he fell a gaze in his back. And as the feather fan was removed, he saw her staring. Impressively she had found him. He looked into her eyes, he lovely dark eyes and she looked back. He found her beautiful in the white dress he had given her. The bare shoulders were tendril above the puffy sleeves. He took her to dance and they moved on the rhythm of his song. A song, specially for her. He saw many thoughts were on her mind, but they danced longer and longer, and soon she only saw him, and he her. He fiercely wished her to stay, her with him, but destiny wanted different. As the old clock stroke twelve times, she ran off, leaving him astonished and heartbroken behind.
No, he couldn't love her. She was too young, not even woman. And he, he was older then he looked. He had given her everything a woman could wish for, and she had rejected him. Sarah couldn't see yet he loved her, she was too young for that. Jareth didn't let any tear escape his eyes, but his heart wept bitterly. If she had only been older.
But she wasn't, and when she finally would be, she would have forgotten about him. With a deep sunk heart, he conjured a crystal. This would be his last gift for her, then he would disappear forever in her world. The crystal floated out of Jareth's stretched hand, and flew to Sarah, still sitting motionless in the window. The crystal disappeared in her body, like she was a ghost. She would understand, she had grown even though it was only a little. She would understand. With a last look on Sarah, Jareth disappeared forever.
Sarah sighed. What had Jareth thought when she defeated him? She could remember his face when she had spoken the final words. Broken, defeated. Then she got a vision, images of Jareth and her and when she listened closely, she could hear what he thought.
He stood in the balcony, seeing the young girl passing through his streets and his subjects trying to stop her.
His heartbeat when in the tunnel of the false Alarms, standing so close to each other.
The smile on the ball, the grin of victory and the astonishment when she found him.
The way he looked at her.
He stood behind her, letting a crystal disappear in her body and then he disappeared as well.
Sarah was shocked when she heard what he had thought. He had loved her, like he described in his songs, but she had been to foolish to see. Or didn't she want to see? Did she love him? No, came the answer. She didn't love him. He had taken her brother, nearly killed her with the cleaners, threatened her with the Bog of Eternal stench, and sent armoured Goblins after her. For her, that was enough to realise that even though he said sweet things, he was still arrogant and selfish. There was no love between them, and now he had disappeared, he wouldn't return just as she wouldn't return the love.
"And if you will return, I will say what I think of you," Sarah thought. And with that, she fell asleep and dreamed of goblins and bogs and riddles, but never again of a king.
End