She heard the low rumble of the thunder before she fully became conscious. It sounded muffled in the distance but then echoed shrilly as it tumbled right above her and it stirred her from the deep slumber, a prelude to the symphony of rain yet to come. The thunder didn't linger long as its power reverberated and echoed across the landscape, foretelling the onslaught of water that would permeate the land. Several more rumbles roared across the charcoal sky and then the heavens broke releasing sheets of rain as if the Gods had decided to unleash their fury. As the last of the thunder sounded as the storm surged quickly overhead, her lashes began to flutter and lift at the noise. She slowly opened tired eyes.
Her body felt encumbered, as if she were being pressed down with weights. As if her muscles no longer understood how to work. As if she had been asleep for a hundred years. The heaviness of the sleep lingered like a deep hazy fog and beckoned her back into its folds. Her blood was thick, slow and stagnant. Her breathing was sluggish and it took effort to lift the heaviness to pull in a reviving breath. But the more she began to wake, the easier it was to fill her lungs and the pressure eased its strength from her chest and limbs. She heard the drumming sheets of rain as if it were coming from another room. It seemed so far away but then its pace became fierce as it spattered about her. She should have been wet. She should have been cold and frightened because it encased her but she wasn't any of those things. Instead, she felt soft and sank deeply into the softness and warmth. It was comfortable despite the raging sounds that desperately tried to penetrate into her mind.
The wind grew impatient and howled, piercing the sky with a shrill sound and it swooped through the trees, echoing like a banshee. The rain drops intensified as they were slammed against what sounded like a pane of glass, yet had not touched her flesh. She wondering, half dreamily, how long she had been sleeping. It must be storming outside her dorm, she thought to herself, pressing down further into the warmth of the pillows and blankets at her back.
I don't want to wake up just yet, she thought lightly to herself. I hate trying to dash to class when it's raining, having to bound over puddles and hold the umbrella just so to avoid being soaked. Lord knows, I hate sitting through a lecture soaking wet too.
Instead, she focused on the warmth and tried to roll over and get more comfortable, deciding to just skip any of her classes that she had today. Her hip bone suddenly struck something with a thud noise and she was stopped in her effort to turn to her side and belly. She finally opened her eyes. All she could see was the rain as it pooled and spilled above her face, and yet it was not soaking and splashing into her face and eyes. Instead, it danced and swirled and then rushed every which way behind what looked to be a sheet of clear glass. As if she were lying under a large window and looking to the charcoal and gray haze of a sky. It was muted and the clouds were low and she could just barely recognize the muted forms of what appeared to be dark trees and then the blurry effervescent emerald of closer saplings and foliage.
She turned her head, the water flooded down the side of another piece of glass. Time froze. Panic filled her chest as she quickly swung her head to the other side only to see a mirror image of more glass being drenched by the sheets of rain that pelted the pane. Her hands abruptly and reflectively shot forwards only to hit an invisible shield that she knew was more glass further down her torso. She was encased in glass. She cried out but it was lost beneath the rolling thunder that casually rolled through the darkened clouds. Her breathing intensified as she was washed with a claustrophobic panic. She was stuck. Trapped. Trapped in a glass case, much like other fairy-tale princesses. Once again, the thunder sounded loudly, declaring the raw power of the nature beyond the glass encasement, warning of an impending wrath. As if to solidify the point, a bolt of lightning streaked across the malevolent sky that was welcoming the oncoming night.
She pounded her fist upon the glass and called out, her voice a shrill scream but it was clipped by the oppressive boom and then the crackle as a flash streaked the sky and hit a tree. Though it was only slightly muted, she could hear as the tree cracked and fell somewhere nearby to where she was trapped in the glass box and she screamed in response to its fall.
Trapped. With no understanding of how she had ever gotten into this box in the first place. She was trapped and there was no way out. She inched her fingers around in search of something, anything that might reveal a weakness to the encasement. She turned and craned her neck about looking for a crack or crevice or even hinges but the walls were just a shiny reflective surface with drips of water tracing streaks down from the top and to the sides. The rain had stopped and the glassy surface had a haze from the panting of her breath against its now cooler surface. She used her hand to wipe away the sheen of fog within but all that met her gaze was a matching fog that slipped easily through the darkening tones of the oncoming night sky.
She tried to slow her breathing. Steadying her breath, she closed her eyes again and focused her mind. There had to be some way out but she would not be able to accomplish the feat if she couldn't focus and think clearly.
She placed her bare hands as high as she could in front of her and then pushed against the smooth surface again. The glass was cool to her touch and her hand left clear spots where the steam was wiped away. It left her hands slick from the condensation. She tried to dry them against her dress and the blankets beneath her and then pressed against the glass again, straining with all her might. Her arms started to ache as she pressed but it was to no avail. The glass didn't even moan at her efforts. She slammed her hands restlessly against the thick glass, eventually letting them fall to her sides in defeat. As she did so, she felt something tucked next to her thigh. She grabbed ahold of it, bringing it up close to her face. It was small and round. As she brought it up under her nose, she could smell that is was juicy and ripe. Slightly lifting her head, she could affirm what her brain had initially though. It was a peach.
"Of course!" She laughed slightly to herself. "Of course it would be a peach." She shook her head slightly and huffed. "Always had to be your particular spin huh?! Not the apple like the real Snow White."
Suddenly she heard a scraping noise. The sky had darkened to a deep purple hue and the last rays were setting. Soon she would be a maiden trapped in a glass box in the middle of the woods at night. The peach dropped from her hand, instantly forgotten as she saw movement to her right hand side. She called out again.
"Help! Help!" She hit her fist to the side of the box and then returned to beating the glass with the palm of her hand. "Please, is someone there? Can you help me get out?"
The scraping continued and then turned into a small tapping sound as she saw two bulbous yellow cat looking eyes peek up from the side of her encasement right at her eye level. She screamed with a temporary horror at the goblin that slowly stood up next to the case. It wasn't that tall and must have been standing upon stairs or a small chair because it had to reach up on tip toes to lean over the glass to fully see her face. Its skin was a muted cyan color and it was wearing a cream top, dirty brown trousers and a leather vest. There were a few scraggly black hairs jutting out from the top of his wrinkled face and head.
"Oh," it groaned woefully, "You're finally awake." As if it had hoped to never have to deal with this encounter between itself and her person.
"Please…..can you help me get out? I can't do it on my own. The glass is too heavy."
But the small goblin scrunched up its face in a sour look and spat out quickly. "No, no madam you must die, you must die! Be ready between seven and eight in the morning. I cannot be delayed a moment! The king must be informed."
After the goblin delivered its message, it quickly turned and scrunched up its tiny gnarled fingers and gave a quick snap. Magic instantly whisked him off and away to, what she imagined could only be the Goblin King's castle. Sarah didn't know what to think as she lay there in the box. The night sky had cleared and she peered out at it. The moon was high and shone like copper. It was a blood moon as they liked to call it, but she realized that it was just a total lunar eclipse and the moon was just now in the full shadow of the earth…or so she might believe. Seeing how she was trapped in the underworld, it could just be that the moon appeared as that copper blood whenever it wanted. Regardless of it, it abided by the same binds of nature as the Earth and was still mesmerizing with beauty. She stared at it a long time till her eyes began to grow weary again. Really, there was nothing she could presently do. Screaming and beating upon the glass would only exhaust her vocal chords and leave her hands battered and bruised. All that remained, other than sleep, was for her to await her summons of the death that the goblin had recanted to her. Obviously she wasn't dead to begin with, for the last thing that she remembered was Jareth's mouth crashing upon her lips and a blackness collapsing upon her.
She brushed the thought away. For now she was completely alone, even from the presence of the goblin that she didn't know had been leaning again the encasement waiting for her to awaken. She averted her gaze from the moon, whose red color was beginning to wane as it lifted higher into the sky and beyond her head. Soon she would have to crane her head backward to see its fullness and instead, she just turned her eyes to the pitch-black curtain draped over the sky, with the milky white threads that danced gently through the field of white speckles that twirled and spun. She traced her finger along various patterns connecting streams of stars together to create various shapes and patterns, trying to pass the times as there was nothing else to do and she didn't wish to engage in memories, or corrupting worries that might shake her before she knew what might truly happen to her come the morning. Even though she was trapped, she felt free and safe that nothing would harm her in the moment. She finally felt free to allow tears to come. Though she wished they would sprout forth, they did not immediately manifest. She knew that memories would be the only means to feel the release that her body desperately ached for. But what was she crying for anyway? She didn't will for tears of sadness, so what could they be for? They wouldn't come and she continued to study the starry horizon.
Sarah opened her eyes. She must have dozed off for a bit as the sky still looked dark as midnight. The stars no longer swam effortlessly above her with a shine and luminance as they danced in a haze of planetary dust particles. Now it looked as if she could sweep her hands over the satin of the night sky and scoop up mounds of white and gold glitter. The thought of glitter, set off a memory and the tears melted down from the corners of her eyes. Her heart had melted slightly over the course of the evening and the cry felt good. The storm that had raged and awoke her was now a gentle shower and she was happy that she was alone. It was good to allow the release of pain to seep from her, even though she knew it might be renewed with the morning. The floodgates had been released, as if the stars protected her and encouraged the deluge. A deluge that held all the lies, the hurts, the hatred and everything else that she'd harbored inside her heart.
She looked up to the stars, raising her hand to try and touch them through the glass and allowing the tears to fall. But as her fingers grazed and rested upon the glass, the protection of those millions of stars began to slide away like a blanket being pulled across her vision. It slid off the glass revealing the soft colors of morning. She caught her breath and choked on an exhalation. There was a glowing behind the black satin layers. It was then that she realized that he was there and she tried to stop the crying but her body had the opposite effect. The crying intensified for several more minutes. They were tears of joy, relief, grief and anger. How long had he been there listening to her cry?
She wiped at her eyes, as the morning light was still rather bright compared to the darkness that she had been harbored in. When she opened them, she could see his figure as he leaned casually against the edge of the glass box she lay in. His long black cape was still half covering the bottom of the glass near her feet.
She hit her fist upon the glass in an attempt to gain his attention. He didn't turn at first as he raised something to his lips. She didn't knock on the glass again but gave a long heavy sigh, turning her head away. After several breaths, she turned and looked back and there he was with his pale face staring down through the glass as he took a bite into a viciously red apple. He gave her a quick wink of his green eye and then smiled widely as he ate the bite.
Her heart beat a little bit faster seeing him and a fire lit her frozen heart as he taunted her by eating that red apple. Though the wink held mischief, it was quickly replaced by a merciless gaze, as if remembering suddenly that she was a traitorous friend. He carelessly watched her for several minutes as he continued to eat the apple and chuckle to himself. Then as if lit with another grand idea, he tilted his head and motioned the half-eaten apple to her.
"Are you hungry my dear?" he questioned her beyond the glass pane with a snicker.
Sarah glanced away with a huff and then suddenly remembered the peach by her side. She laced her fingers about it and brought it up near her face and pressed it against the glass.
"Nah, I'm good", she sneered back sarcastically.
The humor drained from his face as he saw what she pressed against the clear pane, the mix of a soft orange blushed with hints of pink. Promptly he cast the unfinished apple away from himself, swinging his body fully about before her enclosure. His hands, slammed fiercely against the thick glass, demanding. "Where did you get that? How did you get that?" he questioned.
She could only lift her head just slightly as she glanced toward the delicate and fuzzy fruit that rested in her curled fingers. She wasn't certain how the peach had gotten there.
"Don't eat it!" He demanded.
She stared at him curiously. Why would he be so threatened by a peach? Wasn't he the one that had given her that enchanted peach the first time? With vengeance threading through her veins, she lifted the peach closer to her face and inhaled its beautiful and heady scent, watching him the entire time. She licked her dry lips, not only at the thought of angering him but because it smelled delicious. Though she would rather a glass of water to the peach, she could vividly imagine the delicate juice dancing down her throat and dribbling passed her lips. It felt firm in her grasp but sunk ever so slightly when she pressed into the flesh. It was succulent and ripe and the air became potent with its intoxicating perfume.
"No!" He yelled at her. "No, Sarah, don't eat it.""
She smiled feeling a frisson of glee. Finally, even though she was trapped in his snare, she had somehow found something that caused him to panic for once. She huffed at him, rolling her eyes and looking into those meadow eyes.
"And just why should I believe a word that you say? You locked me up in a glass box!" she accused him, pointing a finger at him, then suddenly remembered, crying out. "You stabbed me with your dagger!"
His eyes were serious as he slammed his hands upon the glass and commanded her.
"Do not eat that peach, Sarah!" his voice was charged with power and authority. He had a steadfast grip on the polished jeweled dagger and he shifted it just slightly in his hand, slamming it into the glass above her. The air around her was disturbed by the sound of glass cracking, though it didn't shatter, for it was only a hair-line thin crack that scattered the light and cast a blue haze where it broke his face into two sections. He lifted his hand again to drive it further into the pane, his eyes wilder with urgency and the line suddenly became a larger spider's web of cracks.
She laughed at him, her smile crooked with the sound of the cracking. Defiant, she raised it tentatively to her mouth and goaded him, "I'll make you rue the day you stuck that dagger into me and put me in this glass case and I don't care if I make it out alive."
"Don't!" he yelled, distressed, as he watched her defiantly bring the fruit to her lips. Her white teeth bared as she began to bite into it. Her movement was so swift that she didn't note the urgency of his actions, the reflection of emotion in his eyes that was something that she wouldn't have expected to see from this dark king above her. They were eyes that screamed more than just games and vengeance, but more like "please believe me."
She took the bite and the sweet juice spilled into her mouth and across her lips as she swallowed the mouthful. It had that same fragrant honeyed taste of ozone and magic that it did the previous time, only as her vision started to blur she raised her hand to the glass and whispered toward the Goblin King, "I wish…I wish…." But the rest spoken died to a faint whisper that he was unable to clearly make out and understand other than the "right now" because he felt as the magic began to enfold about him.
But it didn't matter, just as the air was rent by the sound of breaking glass, she was ripped away from her encasement in a black mist of magic and she was no longer there.