The Dirt Beneath Her Shoes
Sarah was cleaning out her closet, readying to move out on her own, much to Karen's delight, a sort of cease fire had been reached in the past several years, mainly for the men in their lives. Sarah's father was really incapable of dealing with any sort of tension and Toby loved his sister and mother too much not to be upset by their constant crossing of words. She had a pile of old clothes and shoes that she was planning to donate to a local charity, things she would never wear again.
In her hand was one black ballet slipper, from a short lived after school activity she had been hoping to find its mate, so far her search had been fruitless. Crawling on her hands and knees to the back of her closet she moved another pair of shoes seeing if the slipper was beneath them. It wasn't, her hand now rested on the carpet where the shoes had been. Her eyebrows drew together in confusion, why was there a clump of dirt in her closet? Lifting her hand Sarah bent closer to examine what she had felt, a slight twinkle flitted in and out of her vision. Very odd indeed, the light was dim and she was unable to make out if some of the shoes in front of her were blue or black. And there it was again, a twinkle, a little wink of light from her carpet.
She shoved her hair over her shoulder and pushed her closet door open a bit further with her foot, hoping to shed more light on this small mystery. There was no doubt about it, the dirt a sandy brown was twinkling and winking as if it were half glitter, yet she could not see any of the tell tale small squares of glitter, no matter how hard she looked, it was the dirt itself that was twinkling.
"How odd," she muttered to herself, momentarily taking a break from her scrutiny of the dirt, her eyes caught the shoes that she had moved away. She gasped a little, of course, her fingers with a mind of their own stretched forward and touched the small bit of dirt. It had fallen from the treads of her shoes, the shoes she had been wearing that night. She remebered the sand of the first hill of the Labyrinth where Jareth had left her, how she nearly fell down its slope in her eagerness to begin her quest, how a few stray grains had found their way into her socks. She sat there, in her closet, remembering it all as her finger began to absently trace patterns in the small pile of dirt.
The light in her room was nearly gone from the sun by the time she came back from her memories, her neck was stiff and her legs were tingling from lack of circulation. Her life plans suddenly seemed distant, her need to be an adult seemed childish. She had been trying to prove to Karen, her father, herself--and him that she had grown up, that she didnÕt need any of them. She remembered what she had told Hoggle that night, she did need all of them.
"I need you, all of you," she whispered fiercly tears threatening to roll down her cheeks. She wasn't expecting any response except the continued silence of her room. And was surprised to find herself dissapointed when there was no response. Slowly she got up, rolling her neck and shoulders a bit, she almost tipped over when the blood began to flow back into her legs with a painful throbbing, leaning heavily on the wall she started to turn around, but on a whim she slid her feet into those shoes. The felt like the old worn in shoes that they were, and a little snug.
With a small, sad, half smile she took a stumbling step forward and found herself tumbling down the hill that she had been thinking off. Sarah blinked her eyes in adjustment, again her night was the Labyrinth's day and she was momentarily unable to see anything but bright splotches floating in her vision.
"I never imagined you would be falling at my feet Sarah." An amused, though tired sounding voice floated down to her ears.
"Jareth?" She squinted up at him. "How did I get here?"
"I imagine your feet took you here."
"Yes, but I was just in my room...at home, one can't just walk to the Labyrinth."
"It's rather amazing where your feet will take you, if you let them. So do you plan to sit at my feet all day, perhaps in blind adoration? I really didn't take you as the feet kissing type Sarah."
She scowled slightly at this, mentally forcing herself to remember the reasons why she was almost crying over him moments earlier. "I can't get up, my legs fell asleep while I was in my closet."
Jareth began to chuckle a bit, "Getting out of the closet took you here? How peculiar."
He knelt down to her level and saw the continued scowl with a concilliatory smile he took her hands in his and helped her to slowly rise.
"Thank you." She said in a low short tone. She had not realeased his hands, fearing she might topple over if she did so, bowing her head to his chest as the blood came back in full force, pins and needles shooting up and down her legs. Jareth's eyebrows shot up a bit at her intimacy, he heard her sigh a bit and then she looked up at him, her hazel eyes fully capturing his.
"You know, I've never been able to lean on anyone like that."
"Really?" Jareth's breath caressed her cheek, he smelled slightly of honey and oranges and a little bit of something she couldn't identify, but it gave her an odd elated feeling.
"I didn't want anyone to see how weak I was, you know?"
"You've seen me at my weakest Sarah."
"I know," she paused for a moment, squeezing his hands," And I'm sorry. I was a stupid kid. I didn't think you were worth the dirt beneath my shoes."
"And now?" Jareth felt hope blossom in his chest and he leaned in towards her, pulling their joined hands up to his lips, and kissing her finger tips.
"The smallest thing, makes me think of you, even the dirt beneath my shoes." The leaned on each other, and into each other, lips meeting as their hearts bound themselves together. The dead tree that had heralded so many into the Labyrinth for the first time since any in the Labyrinth could remember began to bloom, a rainbow of blossoms, all shapes and sizes. Just as the love felt could not be bound to one shape or size, it was all, it was everything, even the dirt beneath her shoes.