"Get out of my way, I wanna see!"

"She's so different than the other babies."

"Looks more like a runner to me. Think maybe she lost or something?"

"I likes her, she's pretty."

"She's kinda familiar ain't she?"

"Oh! She's waking up! Shut up all of you!"

Her eyes began to flutter open at the sound of the voices around her.

God my head hurts! Could Karen possibly have the TV any louder, it sounds like I'm right by it! Wait, did I fall asleep by the TV? When she opened her eyes and saw the strange ceiling above her, she realised that she wasn't anywhere in her house. Wait, where the hell am I?

Sarah sat up to take in her surrounding, only to be greeted by a hoard of goblin staring down at her. She looked around to see that she was sitting in a shallow pit in the middle of room with stone walls, and covered in chicken feathers and discarded ale mugs. The urge to scream at the top of her lungs returned for the second time that day, but it was almost like she's gone mute. All she managed to do was crouch down a little further into the pit.

"Hello." One of the goblins finally stammered out.

"Ummm ... Hi."

"You don't look like any of the other babies we get down here."

"What?"

"The babies, you know, the ones that get wished away."

Oh mmy, I'm dreaming, I must be dreaming, I found my labyrinth book, and I'm just dreaming again.

"You do know about the wishing aways don't you?"

I know it seems real, but you're just drdreaming.

Her little internal monolog was interrupted though when the goblins all turned to one of the doorways at the sound of clicking boot heels. "Oh believe me, she know plenty about the wishes."

Sarah turned with a shock to see the source of the voice. And there he was, in all his glittery, puffy haired, tights wearing glory, the object of many nightmares aswel as fantasies; the goblin king.

"But apparently, she still doesn't know enough, even after her last little excursion." He said with a smirk as he looked over her.

"She's been here before!?"

"Yes a few years before. She wished away her baby brother, a spirited little lad in a rather horrendous stripped ensemble. This time however, she's not the runner." He let out a smug laugh "So tell me Sarah, how does it feel to be back?"

"This isn't real" Still in a state of pure shock to see him standing before her, Sarah was amazed she managed to speek at all "It's all just a dream, none of this is real."

"Oh Sarah" Jareth looked down at her with a devious gleem in his eyes. Then in one fluid motion, he swept her up onto her feet and into his arms, holding her as if they were doing a waltz. "You don't really believe that do you?"

Shecouldn't deny the fact that she could feel him pressed up against her. She had had some decently vivid dreams, some even resembling this very moment, but nothing that had even been this real before. She could feel him against her, and had felt the stone floor below her just seconds before. It was all just too real. She also couldn't deny that at the moment she just wanted to run, but she settled for just getting away from Jareth for now.

"Why the hell am I here?"

"Sarah, Sarah, Sarah, are you really still so foolish? Or did you suffer some sort of head injury at the hands of my goblins that caused you to lose your memory? Now, I myself distinctly remember a disgruntled young lady asking the goblins to come and take her away. Does that sound at all familiar?"

"I ... I didn't mean that!"

"My word Sarah! When was the last time you had your head checked? I'm really becoming concerned about your memory! What's said is said Sarah! Whether you meant it or not, you said your right words, and we had no choice but to answer the call."

"But how can I be allowed to wish myself away! What about the whole winning me back thing! How is this fair!"

Jareth rolled his eyes when he heard that last word. He simply stood there with his head in his hand before actually responding. "Now Sarah, I understand that you're scared, so I will forgive you for your otherwise inexcusable ignorance. Now if you will agree to calm down and stop these idiotic interjections, I will explain your situation to you."

"Alright, fine."

"So as you know, when a person wishes away a child, the wisher is given the option to run the labyrinth to win them back. If they agree, then they have thirteen hour or else the child becomes mine. When the wisher wishes themselves away, they still have the thirteen hours before they officially become mine, the only difference is, they have no one running for them. Really quite a foolish thing to do, it's been over 1000 years since someone did this last."

Sarah was beginning to wonder if being in such a state of shock so many times in one day was detrimental to her health.

"So, let me get this straight, I basically get to sit here for the next thirteen hours and then I just get stuck here for the rest of my life!"

"Well, yes, unless you can think of someone who would be willing and able to win you back. Perhaps your brother would like you repay the favor."

"He's a toddler! He'd probably get killed the minute he set foot in that thing, that is if you could even get him in there!"

"Alrightht then, perhaps one of your parents."

"No, my dad probably wouldn't believe this place was real, and even if he did, he'd never make it through. He'd try anything to get me back, but he can hardly finish a crossword. I don't even know about Karen."

"Then a friend maybe. Isn't there that one boy," he seemed a little annoyed by the thought of him "Mark or something isn't it?"

"Matt? Ha ya sure! He'd totally be willing to give up his tropical paradise and his beautiful blond beach babe to come and face dangers untold and hardships unnumbered to win back his ex girlfriend. That's totally why he planned to leave the country with his gorgeous new girlfriend the day after he broke up with me."

"Hmm, seems I struck a bit of a nerve there. Well is there no one you can think of?"

"No ... I guess not."

"Then I guess that you're here to stay. I'll have a room made up for you so that you, and you can stay in there for as long as you wish. That way you won't have to wait here with the goblins."

"But we always get to play with the wished aways." One of them whined.

"She's not a toddler you idiots! Sarah wouldn't you much rather be alone than with a hoard of screaming goblins."

She just nodded, since she was now completely lost for words.

She had been ushered up to a bedroom, about twice the size of hers, but with probably half the stuff. A bed, a small desk, a wardrobe, a trunk, and finally a large clock. The clock became of particular interest since rather than showing an actual time, at the moment it seemed to be counting down her thirteen hours.

Twelve hours and twenty seven minuets left. Come on Sarah, there has to be some way out of this. She looked over to the window and something caught her eyes. There, just past the walls of the labyrinth, was the tree on the hill she had been by when she first came to the Underground. If that was a way in, maybe it's a way out.

He brain was spinning as she tried to figure out a way to get to it. The door had been locked to she moved over to the trunk, where, lo and behold, a rope as stored. Well that was easy.

Tying one end to the heavy bed frame, she threw the other end out of the window. It stopped right about the ground since it seemed she was only on the third floor. Alright, this is almost too easy.

Most of her brain had gone onto high alert since she knew it shouldn't be that easy to escape, but the rest told her that she didn't have time to worry. Within a matter of minuets she was down the rope and half way to the goblin city.

It had only been about ten minuets since he left her, but Jareth had come back to the room where he left Sarah already. He had brought some food with him, mostly just to try and make it look like he wasn't trying to keep an eye on her. He had knocked on the door twice already, so he decided to just let himself in.

When he entered the room was just as it had been before, but now with a rope hanging out the window and no one inside. He did a quick once over to make sure she hadn't just hidden, and confirming the room was empty, he put the tray down and moved to the window. He could see her running, and she'd almost reached the labyrinth. A sly little smile came to his face as he watched her.

"Perfect. Now let the game begin."