Ok! So, a few changes have taken place. I have turned the story into 3rd person narrative. I REALLY wanted to do a first person narrative, but a lot of people were reading the story and not making it past the first chapter, which means that something was wrong with it. So, I went through the whole story and changed the narrative. Hopefully people will like it better.
Enjoy the chapter! This has some more character development, but I was happy with the way it turned out.
As always, more reviews = more chapters!
Disclaimer: Dunno why I have to keep posting this disclaimer. If characters from the "Labyrinth" and the "Choices" Universe didn't belong to me in the first chapter, what makes you think they'd belong to me now? No copywrite. Just fanfiction.
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Chapter 5: Doubting Thomas
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"Ahhhhh!" Sarah screamed.
The locker door sprang open and she fell onto the floor, her hands catching her. She gasped frantically for air. Slowly, she realized someone was leaning over her, talking to her. She looked up to see her old friend, bending down worriedly.
"Luke! Thank you!"
"Of course! Easy now..." Luke rubbed her back, concerned.
The artificial light of the school hallway had never brought her such relief. She took Luke's hand and he pulled her to her feet.
"How'd you get the door open?" Sarah asked, surprised.
Luke folded his arms and frowned disapproving at the lockers. His chocolate brown hair was slicked back into the latest style, and his clothes looked new and expensive for the first day of school. His black rimmed glasses gave him a "laid back professional" look and rested gently on his nose, highlighting his chocolate brown eyes. His parents were Brazillian, but he was born and raised here, so he had the Brazillian olive-toned skin but not the accent.
"I've been telling the school for years that we need to replace these old lockers. Anyone can open them if they know the trick..." he turned to Sarah and gave her a half grin, "Guess it's a good thing they never took my advice, huh?
Sarah shook her head at him and chuckled, "Yeah, lucky me."
Sarah paused, concerned. The events of the locker already seemed to blurry up. Kind of like when you wake up from a dream and you remembered it when you first woke up, but 5 minutes later and you only have bits and pieces. This troubled Sarah, and she felt a strange panic inside. She tried to sift through all her emotions and thoughts. Something about the Goblin King and Dan. And…death?
Luke smiled, then glanced at his watch and heaved a weary sigh.
"Late to something?" Sarah askd. She decided not to bring up the strange conversation she heard between him and Mr. Cooper.
"Just a lot to do, as always. Did you want to report this incident? I can take you by the office if you like."
Sarah shook her head and grumbled, "I doubt it'd do any good." She turnd to look at him then, remembering why she was waiting for him in the first place. "But...there's actually something else I needed to talk to you about."
"Oh!" He looked torn, "Uhh, can we walk and talk? I've got some things I need to take care of before I head out."
Sarah noded, and the two of them set off at a brisk pace.
"It's about what happened at the pep rally." She cut to the chase. No reason to mince words with Luke Thomas.
"Oh the blackout? Don't worry. I've already filed a maintenance report. Can't have the lights going out during the basketball game." Luke waved his hand, as if the issue was a pesky fly, not really worth his time.
"And the voice?" She insisted.
"The…" Luke looked flustered and shocked, "I don't know what you're talking about."
It was Sarah's turn to look shocked, "But—"
"Sorry, one sec." Luke cut her off and before she could say another word, he ducked into the auditorium. She had no choice but to follow.
Inside, he waved to a group of band kids on the stage. "Sounds great, guys! Just make sure you're done in here by quarter to four, okay? Drama club needs time to set up."
Sarah stopped and found herself staring at the lavish red curtain of the stage longingly, memories of plays and performances…
Luke seemed to remember something and glanced back at her brightly, asking a bit too loudly "Hey Sarah! You gonna join Drama club this year?"
Sarah smiled softly, and shook her head no. He shrugged, seeming to have expected that answer and continued on his way, "Give it some thought. You'd be sensational."
She sighed. She really didn't want to talk about this. She didn't want to think about her mother. They needed to talk about the issue at hand!
"Luke Thomas, listen to me! The Goblin King is back!" Sarah said point blank, desperate. This is getting ridiculous.
"Goblin King…what, from when we were kids?" Luke looked back at her incredulously, still not breaking pace. "Sarah, come on. That was just some make-believe game that you and Jess made up."
Sarah rolled her eyes, feeling angry although she knew that she had no right to. She was just like Luke. In order to move on from the trauma of the past, she had convinced herself that it had all been a game. A dream. Until she was attacked last night….and again in a locker…
She quickly jogged until she was in front of him, blocking his path. She angrily placed her hands on her hips and looked him in the eyes, "Are you sure about that?"
Luke looked rattled…even more so when the phone in his pocket started buzzing. Huh?
"I, uh, I have to answer this. Excuse me." Luke muttered, not making eye-contact. He slipped around her and out a side door.
Sarah glanced once more at the lavish auditorium with it's shiny wooden stage, deep red curtains, and plush chairs. Mom….
Sarah felt a great wave of sadness, before sighing and following the direction Luke went.
By the time she caught up, he was already in the middle of a phone call.
"Yes, mom, I know college prep is tonight, but we talked about this…Mmmhmmm..…..Because, I have to meet with the homecoming and yearbook committees after school, and I can't be in three places at once!" Luke huffed, running his hand through his gelled-back hair, angry. "I know, Mom. I know. Yeah, I love you too. Bye."
Sarah felt a little worried about him. "Jeez, you really are busy. You know, if you would slow down for a second—"
"Pretty sure the school would literally collapse." Luke deadpanned at her. He raised an eyebrow, daring Sarah to refute his claim. She wanted to laugh in his face at the absurdity of what he just said…but she didn't. Luke's pride was important to him, and she needed him on her side.
Luke's phone buzzed again. He checked it and sighed. "Great. Now the school paper says they need an interview…" his eyebrows shot up to his forehead, "TOMORROW?!"
His words came faster and faster, growing louder as he started to pace back and forth, "How am I supposed to get ready for an interview by tomorrow?! I can't handle this right now!"
"Whoa, Luke! Stop and breathe for a second!" Sarah put a hand on Luke's shoulder, meeting his eyes. "Just focus on me, okay? Deep breath in…" She took a long deep breath, motioning for Luke to do the same. "Good, now back out, nice and slow."
They did it a few more times. Finally, Luke shook his head and chuckled at her.
"Better?" She asked.
He smiled, "Yeah, a little."
"Good. Now, about this interview…" She came up with a plan, "Maybe it'd be less stressful if I helped you prepare? We could go grab a milkshake down the street, and I could throw you some softball questions. I've been meaning to catch up with you anyways. It's a perfect excuse for me to ask all kinds of nosey stuff."
"Th-that would be great! You'd really do that?" He looked at her surprised.
"Of course! My parents are out of town and I have nothing I need to do." And I don't want to go home to an empty house…She thought. "But you have to promise to hear me out for five minutes when we're done." She finished sternly, giving him a look.
He debated inside himself before finally sighing, "Alright. Deal."
In the small town of Westchester, there's really not much to do. Sure, there's a cinema, a few tasty restaurants, and a fair Library. But it's mostly a town for outdoor hobbies such as hiking, camping, as well as fishing and boating on the lake that's not too far away on the other side of the mountain. That being said, one of the more popular hang-out places was a cozy diner on Main street called "Rosie's Place".
Sarah and Luke came in and sat at one of the tables. 15 minutes later and they were sipping cool ice-cream through a straw. Well, Sarah was anyways as Luke opted out for a hot coffee.
She got down to business. Putting on her best reporter voice, she mimicked writing in a notebook.
"Hi, there! I'm Sarah with the Westchester Word. Thanks for sitting down with me." She beamed at him brightly, getting into character, "And can I just say, sir, what an honor it is to interview the Class President Thomas?"
"Oh, gosh," Luke laughed at Sarah, "Uh, my pleasure. I'm a…big fan of your work? I guess?"
"Aww thanks!" She tried to gush the way that Lily, the school reporter, liked to do when giving interviews, "Let's start with an easy question, to help our readers get to know you better. Tell us about your hobbies!"
Luke broke character and burst out worriedly, "Sarah, who has time for hobbies?!"
"Uh, Luke, that's a terrible answer!" She huffed at him, breaking character as well. "Everyone has hobbies. You must do something other than school stuff. You're not a robot."
"I guess I-I beatbox. A little." He tried, "It's not that big of a deal…"
"Oh my gosh, no way!" She got back into her 'Lily' character and 'wrote' that down excitedly. "Now you have to show me!"
"Uh, isn't this supposed to be a newspaper interview? How would that even work? What, would you transcribe it?" He raised an eyebrow.
"No, I'd just be like, 'Mr. Thomas proceeded to spit a series of sick beats. They were so hella dope my soul briefly left my body.'"
"Hahahahaha!" He laughed, leaning back.
She grinned at him knowingly. He looks a lot calmer than he's been all day. Good! My plan is working. Muahaha!
"Moving right along…Let's talk about the school year ahead. What are you looking forward to most?" She asked.
"Ooooh, good question. I´d say this year what I'm most looking forward to is homecoming."
"Really? That's surprising." She looked curiously at him over her 'imaginary' glasses.
"This is the first year the student council has an actual budget, Sarah! So we can afford to hire a decent DJ!"
"Wow. So, a school dance is actually gonna be cool for once?" Dances weren't really her scene but she, like anyone, could appreciate a good DJ.
"That's the hope." Luke said happily.
She got into character yet again, "Well, since we're on the subject, let's talk about the event on everyone's mind…This year's homecoming. How's planning coming along?"…
*~*~*20 minutes later*~*~*
Sarah clicked her imaginary pen and closed her notebook, the interview coming to a close.
"Well, I think that's just about everything I need for the interview! Look for it in the stands tomorrow."
"Hah!" He rolled his eyes and smiled, "But seriously, thanks Sarah. That helped a lot."
"Anytime Luke! I'm glad I could help." She put her notebook in her backpack and took a deep breath, "Now...there's something else I needed to talk to you about."
"You mean what happened at the pep rally." His face fell.
"Yeah. So, you heard them then? The whispers? The voice?"
Luke scratched his arm uncomfortably, glancing around, "I mean, look, I don't need it getting around that the Class President hears voices...but hypothetically, suppose I did? Then what?"
"Well, then hypothetically a bunch of us are meeting by the fountain to talk about it. So... you in? Or are you too busy?" She tried to plead with her eyes. They all needed to figure this out together.
Luke sighed and then calmly nodded his head, "I'm in. I owe it to you at least that much for helping me with my interview."
"Great. See you then?" She stood up, pleased.
"Yeah, yeah. See you then."
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"Gimme Gimme Gimme! I need I need I need I need! I'll do the work, I'm not a slacker!" Ten points for whoever knows this movie XD