A/N:Thank you to all my reviewers and readers. I love you all!
Haunted
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Sarah knew the moment she walked into her house that afternoon. She could feel the ominous presence that she associated with the goblin king reverberating through the house. There was no doubt in her mind that he had, at some point in the day, been in her house.
A feeling of dread washed over her. What in the world could he have been doing in her house? Karen had been home all day. Jareth had balls, that was for sure, but why would he have come to her house if there was a chance that he could have been caught? Unless...
"Karen? Are you here?" she called out. What if he had carried out the threat he had made in her dream the previous afternoon?
"I'm in the basement!" came the muffled yell. She let out a heavy sigh, dropped her heavy book bag on the floor, and ran into the back room, and down the creaky wooden stairs. Karen was busy transferring a load from the washer to the dryer. Toby was sitting in a playpen, happily banging a little stuffed giraffe into the ground.
"How was your last day of school, Sarah?" Karen asked, not tearing her eyes away from the laundry.
"Fine. Uneventful," Sarah replied, walking over towards the playpen, "How about you?Anything... interesting happen today?"
"No. Quiet as can be," her stepmother said. Toby turned his bright blue eyes upward. He broke into a big smile at the sight of his big sister.
"Sa!" He cried out with glee. Sarah giggled and scooped him up into her arms. He squirmed happily.
"And how was your day, Toby?" she cooed, rubbing her nose against his. He let out a high pitched giggle, and swatted at her face.
"You know something, Sarah? It is simply amazing how much your attitude towards Toby has changed over the last couple months," Karen observed, watching the charming scene between her son and stepdaughter.
"Yeah, well, people change."
"Yes. I suppose they do..." Karen said slowly, cocking her head to the side, "So Sarah. Your father has to work late, so he won't be joining us for dinner."
"Oh, thats alright," Sarah said, tickling Toby under his chin, "We don't have to go out."
"Well, we can still go out. I have the carseat."
"No, I wouldn't feel right," Sarah said, "Lets just stay home."
"Oh, honestly, Sarah. You act as though I'm going to put you in cement shoes and drop you into the river."
"I don't really want to go, Karen. Lets just do it another night."
"Sarah, I've already made the reservations for seven o'clock. And besides, I wouldn't feel right leaving you here all alone."
"You leave me alone with Toby all the time!" Sarah snapped indignatly.
"Sarah, we're going out tonight. Consider it an order from your evil stepmother. You WILL go out and have a nice evening with your brother and I," Karen said with a wry little smile, eyebrows raised into her bangs.
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A few hours later, Sarah was sitting in the resteraunt across from her stepmother, with Toby seated in a high chair between them. Sarah watched her stepmother take a bite, giving the older woman a weary look. Karen had practically shoved her out the door that evening, and Sarah was not quick to forgive.
Seeing her stepdaughter's pained expression, Karen decided to take a stab at conversation. "So Sarah. Any plans this weekend?"
"No Karen. I'll babysit if you need me to."
"No, we're not going anywhere this weekend. I was just wondering, is all."
"Well then, no. No plans. I'm know that thats a disapointment to you..."
"I'm not disapointed, Sarah. Everyone comes into there own at their own pace."
"Uh-huh," Sarah said, disinterested.
They sat in silence, surrounded by the chatting of happy customers. Karen stared at her stepdaughter for a moment, then asked, "Sarah, you know better than to let someone in the house when your father and I aren't home, right?"
"What? Of course! How irresponsible do you think I am?" Sarah snapped.
"So, you've never let a stranger in while you were babysitting, or anything? Maybe someone who claimed to be a friend of mine, or something?"
Sarah found it a little hard to lie to Karen, who's sharp blue eyes seemed to look right through her. "Karen, I swear that I've never let anyone in while I was babysitting for Toby." It wasn't really a lie. After all, she hadn't really let Jareth in, he had come in of his own accord.
"Alright. I just wanted to be sure."
Karen reached over to wipe Toby's face, which was covered in tomato sauce. He fussed a little, disliking the cold wet wipe against his face. Sarah looked around the room taking in the scenes, a young couple sitting by the window, looking at each other with sappy smiles playing across their faces, a family of twelve that took up four tables, in a booth near the front were six burly teenage boys, and seated in a booth in the back corner was a blonde man, sitting alone, sipping on a glass of red wine.
Sarah stared at him for a moment, entraced as he swirled the contents of the glass, which was perched delicately in his gloved hand. He smirked at her, winked, and raised his glass to her. Her eyes grew wide. It couldn't be...
"Sarah, are you all right?" Karen asked, looking to see where she was looking. A waitress walked by, dropping off their bill. When she moved away, the man in the back had vanished.
"Yeah, I'm fine."
"Are you sure, Sarah?"
"I said I'm fine!" she snarled.
"All right, all right. Lets get going, then," Karen said, hoisting Toby out of the wooden high chair. The three made their way to the register, where Karen paid, and they went out the doors, and into the brisk evening air. The sun was setting over the western horizen, casting a pinkish glow over them.
Sarah got into the front seat of the car, while Karen wrestled Toby into his carseat. She glowered out the window as her stepmother got in and started the car. Karen cast a look at her.
"Sarah, I really don't want things to be so tense between us. I know I'm not your mother, but I would just like a lack of open hostility. I'm not your enemy, Sarah," Karen said softly. Sarah just looked out the window, fighting the sleep that the impending nightfall was bringing.
She closed her eyes, just for a moment. She suddenly felt the car stop. Karen turned off the engine. But they couldn't possibly be home already...
Sarah opened her eyes, and looked over at Karen. But to her horror, her stepmother was not in the driver's seat. Jareth was.
She screamed, and tried to open the door. The locks clicked.
"Now, now Sarah. Don't try to run away. I'm not going to hurt you," he purred, leaning over and taking her hand. She tried to tear it away, but he held tight.
"This isn't real, this is just another dream," she muttered to herself.
"Well of course it's a dream. But why on earth does that make it any less real? I haunt your dreams, does that make me any less real?"
"Wake up, Sarah, wake up!" she mumbled, screwing her eyes shut.
"It doesn't matter if you wake up or not, Sarah. I'm always near. And no matter where you go, no matter what you do, I'll always be watching you. You're my princess, Sarah, just the like you've been ever since the moment I first laid eyes on you."
Sarah was being shaken. She opened her eyes and looked over at her stepmother. Karen had a look of genuine distress on her face. "Sarah, you were whimpering! Are you okay?"
"Fine, Karen. Just another nightmare."
"You've been having a lot of them lately. Maybe we should consider therapy..."
"No way! I'm not going to see a shrink!"
"Sarah, I'm worried about you."
"Just leave me alone! I'm fine," Sarah gasped, tears forming in her pale green eyes.
"All right then, Sarah." Karen sighed as she pulled into their driveway. Sarah jumped out of the car before Karen could take the key out of the ignition.
"Wait up, Sarah, you don't have the key!" she called as she got out and started undoing Toby's restraints. She carefully lifted him out and shut the door.
Suddenly, Karen heard a loud squak in the tree in the front yard. She looked upwards and saw an owl sitting there, watching the scene below...
A/N: And that was chapter 7! I planned out the rest of my story in the last few days, and I'm fairly pleased with it. Some people might not like it, but hey, you can't please everyone, can you?
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