Author's Note: Here are parts 2 and 3…Enjoy!
Sarah had told Toby the story of the Labyrinth a hundred times. Her quest as a young girl to make her way to the castle at the centre of the labyrinth to rescue her baby brother. Toby had always loved the story because he'd always felt a part of it, like Sarah, even though he had only been a year old. It was their little secret.
She explained to him that Jareth was the Goblin King. After a moment it was like a light went on inside his head. "You mean in the play."
"Exactly."
"So this guy played Jareth?" he pointed to the photo.
"Exactly. No. Not exactly." Sarah didn't know how to tell him without upsetting him. "He actually was Jareth. I mean that story…the one I used to tell you, to frighten you…when you were baby, well this is the man who took you that night."
Toby laughed awkwardly. "No way. Stop joking." Sarah shook her head and swore she wasn't joking. Toby grabbed the picture from her and stared into the man's eyes. One looked darker than the other and suddenly that smile was all too familiar. "Oh god." He felt sick. For some reason he could actually recollect the sound of Jareth voice in his head.
"Why the hell was that in my room?" demanded Toby. Throwing the photo down like it just bit him.
"I don't know. Look just because it looks like him…It could be coincidence. Like all my toys, if this picture was on my vanity and I saw it all the time then that's why he looked like that!" Sarah picked up the photo and placed it back between the pages of the scrapbook. "Besides Toby it was only a dream!"
Toby took his sister by both shoulders. "It was not a dream, Sarah!" Now they were both shooting. "I can remember things too, and not because you told me. My imagination is not as strong as yours. Do you know how many times I hear an owl at night and have nightmares about him coming to take me back!?" The intensity in his eyes and voice was frightening. "He said he wanted to name me 'Jareth', that I had his eyes! Now did you make that up?"
Sarah was almost in tears. "No," she said standing and moving across the room. "Fine what if it did happen? It couldn't possibly happen again. I beat him, fair and square at his own game."
"But what is 'fair', Sarah? What is your basis of comparison?"
Sarah, wide-eyed and unblinking turned on Toby. "What did you just say?" Toby shook his head. What had he just said? "Where did you hear that?'
"What are you talking about?" Toby moved away from Sarah as if she would attack him.
Sarah closed her eyes tightly. She knew if she didn't calm down she would end up back in therapy. "Nothing," she said her voice quiet and even. She sighed, "Nevermind."
Toby left her room for a minute and then returned holding an old bag of Sarah's. "I think this is yours too," he said half-heartedly and tossed into a box. Only when Toby tossed the bag a crystal sphere rolled out of it onto a pile of toys. "What's that?" he said bending to pick it up. Sarah practically jumped at her brother as though the thing was made of pure evil.
"Don't touch it!" she yelled, but it was too late. The instant the crystal was in Toby's palm he vanished and the orb fell. Luckily, it landed on a cushion of stuffed animals and didn't shatter.
Sarah was beside herself. What should she do? Should she stay here and try to explain that her seventeen-year-old brother vanished into thin air, or take a deep breath and clasp the crystal in both hands? She decided to do the latter and in a flash of light, Sarah was gone.
TBC…
