A/N: I don't own the Labyrinth or any characters therein.

Chapter Five: Nothing Is The Same

Fact Five: The Labyrinth changes everything.

Take a walk through a park. Walk through a toy store. Remember that feeling that someone is watching you? Or that flicker of light out of the corner of your eye? It's all so innocuous to you, isn't it? I mean, it may unnerve you for a moment, but you don't think too much about it.

A walk through the park… You can feel the slow steady heartbeat of the trees and hear the melody of the flowers. You can sense the elementals in the grove – and if you went there you could see them. You know this as surely as you know your name after the Labyrinth. And it frightens you. The majesty of it cows you. It is no longer a mere stroll with your faithful canine. It is an almost otherworldly experience that tempts and taunts.

Toy stores are forever changed. Look at some of the inventions – you can see 'Labyrinth' written all over them. I wonder how he feels about that? People profiteering off his Labyrinth. When I got back, I looked at my toys and thought I'd invented everything. Not so. I might have been the first to reach the Castle Beyond The Goblin City but I was not the first to run the Labyrinth, or meet my friends. It's unnerving to see creatures you know to be very real masquerading as fantastical. I wonder if, one day, I'll see a doll of him. Oh that would be… It won't happen. He would not allow himself to be made a mockery of. I am sure he would draw the line there. Besides, it is not as if anyone could ever truly capture his likeness…

Sometimes everyone gets that 'I'm being watched' feeling. The difference is, you don't do your best not to break out in a cold sweat. I don't know if he is or isn't, but I know I'm being watched. He always seems like the most likely candidate. And when that feeling comes I do my best not to freeze; my best not to run. I try to pretend I am not afraid. I do not admit that I half expect to be taken back Underground. I do not try to sort out how I feel about the fact that he might be watching me or coming for me. I do my best not to think his name; not to breathe it in anticipation and acknowledgment. Instead I know it's time to run again, and I start boxing my life away. It takes twenty-eight boxes and twelve hours to start running now.

When one sees something out of the corner of their eye, they turn to catch a glimpse of something that is not there. Me? I wonder if it wasn't him. Or if it wasn't something more sinister. Or a goblin. I futilely check the clocks on my windows and doors. I turn the music up good and loud. I turn on the oven and bake something. I fill my head with noise and my hands with activity. And I triple check the locks again. I call Karen to make sure Toby is still there, still safe. Karen, of course, thinks my behavior towards Toby is bizarre and mildly amusing. But there it is. It is a wild panic of over-protectiveness. It's the total and utter guilt at what I did to him. Toby's ten and doesn't like me very much. I don't know whether this is because he can somehow remember what I did; or Karen's just convinced him I'm a 'flighty good-for-nothing'.

I don't eat peaches; can't stomach them. I try to memorize routes by counting steps, not leaving marks. I am careful who I give my name to. I never stay in the same place long. I never say 'my right words' that are oh so wrong. I do not dabble in summoning. I never draw unnecessary attention to myself. I used to want to be an actress. Now I want to feel complacent about anything at all. The Labyrinth, when you run it, changes everything.