Labyrinth Chapter 2

A New Found Friend and a Trip to the Hospital

"What are you doing here? Why do you keep following me?" you asked, trying your best to bite back the tears that kept coming, but it didn't say a word. Then again, it was an owl…how could it? You wanted so bad to just disappear right now, just disappear and never come back, but still you were here. "Why didn't you take me with you?" you cried, "Why…Mother why?" You couldn't do it any more. All you got for your cries was a solemn hoot and the feeling of something on your shoulder. You paid it no mind as you fell to the ground on your side, crying your eyes out. "Someone…help me? Please? Just take me away from here?" you cried, but it did little good, though the owl still stayed and watched you.

Eventually, it nipped at your jacket, hooting to get your attention. You just looked at it through puffy eyes, staring at it. "What do you want?" you asked, curling up a bit to keep warm. It just came closer, nudging your hand with its beak. You tried your best to smile, but you just couldn't seem to do it, so you just placed your hand on it. It hooted again, hopping forward a bit under your arm. Your brows furrowed a bit. "You want to lay here with me?" you asked, looking at it. It merely whooed again, nudging your cheek with its beak. "I see…" you said, tears starting to form as you hugged the bird, crying into its soft feathers. Eventually, you cried yourself to sleep, the owl staying and keeping you company. It also provided you with a bit of extra warmth as well.

When you woke up, you found yourself laying on a mattress, curled up in a blanket in front of a nice warm fireplace. "Wha…where am I?" you asked quietly, still half asleep.

"You're in my home" a voice said, causing you to turn your head, a smile appearing on your face.

"Hank? Is that you?" It was. Hank was an old friend of your mom's when she was still around. Actually, he was a cop too, and still is to this day.

"I found you laying in the park asleep early this morning, it's evening now though, but still" Once he said that, it all came rushing back to you. The fighting, the yelling…the hair, everything. Even the owl. Wait, where was the owl? You looked around, hoping maybe you would spot it somewhere. "Looking for this?" You looked at Hank, your eyes traveling to the railing, and finally the owl perched upon it. You slowly got up, walking over to it, a small smile on your face.

"You didn't leave?" you asked, stretching out your arm as it climbed on.

"This little guy followed you the whole way here. I just couldn't seem to get him to leave, so finally, I said the heck with it and just let the poor thing in. He's been watching you ever since." You stared at it, petting it softly with your index finger.

"Thank you…Jareth" you said.

Hank just stared at you curiously, "Jareth? What kind of name is that?" he asked. You just looked at him, before looking back down at the owl.

"I don't know…something just told me to call him that. It seems to fit him." It was true though, you didn't really know why, but something inside you told you the name. Jareth, that was his name. You smiled at the bird as he now set on your shoulder, nudging your cheek with his beak. This only caused you to wince, catching Hank's attention.

"What's that?" he asked, now taking notice to the bruise that was forming on your cheek. You just looked away sadly.

"Carmon…" that was all you said. Quickly, his anger flared.

"Your step-mother did this to you?!" you just nodded, Jareth whooing quietly as though he were trying to comfort you. Hank's eyes softened as he looked at you. "Haven't you ever told your father? I'm sure Richard would do something about it." You just snorted in response.

"Ha…all he listens to anymore is her. All he sees anymore is her…he…he…" you couldn't finish because you had started crying, your hands covering your eyes as Jareth hopped to your knee trying to help you. Hank left the room quietly, walking into the kitchen and picking up the phone. At this point, you really didn't care though. Right now, you just wanted to disappear. Quietly, you got back up and walked over to the mattress, sitting down as Jareth flew to you. You were once again exhausted and found the mattress to be quite inviting, so without any more thought, you laid back down and fell asleep. Jareth himself, still staying there with you, laying there with your hand resting on him.

Dream~

At first, there was nothing, but darkness. Pure darkness. All of a sudden, there was a bright golden light. It illuminated the entire room, only to prove that it wasn't even a room at least, but the park. **The park** you thought **Why the park?** There was nothing to indicate a sign of understanding until the owl showed up, but not just any owl, your owl. Yes, it was Jareth, you one and only friend besides Hank. "Jareth?" you called, holding out your arm, but he wouldn't come to you. "Jareth?" you called again, but he still wouldn't come. You sighed sadly, not understanding it at all. "Jareth…please come to me?" you asked, your eyes down cast and not paying any attention. Suddenly, a gloved hand met your face, resting against your cheek softly.

"You called my dear?" came an elegant mans voice. Slowly, you turned your eyes upwards, staring into a pair of mismatched eyes.

"Who…who are you?" you asked quietly, staring up at the man before you.

"Why, you don't remember me?" he asked, a slight smile on his face. "After all, you did call for me" Then it hit you.

"J-Jareth?" you asked hesitantly. He merely nodded, a faint smirk on his face.

"The one and only" Then, shortly after, the dream started to fade into nothing. Nothing, but the echoing sound of an owl around you.

End Dream~

You groaned lightly, slowly opening your eyes. When you opened them, an owl was right in front of you, staring at you. If you hadn't known any better, you'd have let out a startled scream, but you knew that it was your friend Jareth. "Hey there. You won't believe the dream I had, I…" suddenly you stopped, trying to remember the details. He just seemed to look at you as you tried to remember. "I know that you were in it…but I…for some reason, I can't remember it now" You sighed. You hated it when this happened, although, you remembered a set of eyes staring at you in the dream. "And these eyes, they were so peculiar, but still amazing" you said to him, and if you didn't know any better, you'd have sworn he was smiling at you.

"Crystal?" You turned your head to look around, searching for the voice. "Crystal." You blinked. "Over here" it said. You looked toward the steps to find Hank standing there.

"Oh Hank" He just smiled.

"I talked to your father Crystal. He said that the thing between you and Carmon was simply an accident" You couldn't believe what you were hearing.

"You can't be serious? He…he thinks that THIS!", you shouted, pointing to your cheek, "was an accident?!" Oh Lord have mercy. Angered, you grabbed your jacket and ran out the door, not bothering to put your shoes on at all. Hank looked at the bewildered bird, opening up a near by window.

"What are you waiting for 'Jareth'? Go after her already" he said, chuckling as the bird looked at him before quickly flying out the window after you. "If I didn't know any better, I'd think that that bird was a man."

Yelling could be heard coming from a house about several streets away. An argument out breaking and turning to violent words. "How could you Dad?!" you yelled accusingly at your father. "How could you side with…with her?! Does this look like an accident?!" you yelled, pointing to your face.

"I'll make it an accident…" muttered Carmon. Your eyes went wide at this. You took a few steps back, Cassandra making her way closer to you.

"Why don't you just get out of here already! We don't want you here!" she yelled, shoving you backwards a bit, a little too close to the steps.

"Yes, just leave" Carmon said, glaring at you as she clutched your fathers arm.

"Now leave!" Cassandra yelled, giving you one final push, pushing you down the steps.

"Crystal!!!" your father yelled as you went tumbling down the steps, your head and back making contact with the wooden floor. "Crystal!?" he yelled, running to you, but you didn't move. Nearly everyone was horrified, including a little barn owl sitting outside on a branch. Cassandra merely hid behind her mother as she watched everything. "What are you doing? Call an ambulance!" your father said, holding you up in his arms. "Crystal? Crystal answer me? Please?" he cried, shaking you lightly.

"D-daddy…" you whispered, barely even conscious.

"Call an ambulance…NOW!!!" he shouted angrily. The last thing you remembered hearing, was a voice, the voice from your dreams.

"Crystal…"

Dream~

You set there once again in the park, this time on the bridge, looking down at your reflection in the water. "Why am I here again?" you asked quietly, not really knowing the answer. You just continued to look down at your reflection, stopping as someone elses melded with yours. It was that of a tall young man with long, blonde hair, and mismatched eyes. His attire consisted of tight spandex pants, black riding boots, a white poet shirt, an odd black jacket, and some sort of amulet around his neck. "Who are you?" you asked, still looking at the reflections. You watched as his eyes looked outward, out toward the water.

"Don't you remember me?" he asked, making you slightly confused. This caused him to chuckle. "We had this discussion last time, remember my dear?" he asked, placing a black gloved hand on top of your head. This caused you to truly look up at him.

"Last time?" you asked, trying to remember. That's when you saw the 'owl'. "Jareth?" you called, only to get, "Yes my dear?" This caused you to blink, quickly looking up.

"J-Jareth?" you asked, staring at him.

"The one and only" he said, smiling down at you with those odd mismatched eyes of his.

"It is you…" Then, no soon did those words escape you, everything around you began to disappear. "Jareth? Jareth, where are you?" you called, but there was no answer, only the sound of a monitor beeping.

End Dream~

"Jareth…" you whispered quietly, opening your eyes, the faint image of a man before you. You rubbed your eyes, opening them again, only to find him no longer there. Instead, set a particular barn owl on a nearby chair. "Jareth? I could have sworn that there was someone here…I must have been dreaming" you said, letting out a sigh. You looked around, wincing as you tried to move your neck. You soon found that you had a brace around your neck, preventing you from moving it. "Great…just what I needed" you said quietly to yourself.

"Crystal? Is that you?" you heard your father call as he stepped into the room.

"Dad" He smiled, running to your side, holding your hand.

"You're awake. Finally, I was so worried about you" he said, a few tears actually falling from his eyes.

"Dad…" you said quietly, brushing away his tears with your hand.

"You've been asleep for nearly two weeks now" he said, shocking you to say the least.

"Two weeks?" you asked, your brows furrowed.

"Yes. I mean after that fall that you had…you fell down the whole flight of steps." That's when it all came back to you. The shouting, the yelling, your step-mother, and Cassandra.

"Cassandra…" you said quietly to yourself. She had been the one to push you down the steps. "She…pushed me down the steps" you said looking at your father. "Cassandra pushed me!" you shouted angrily, trying to sit up, only to be met with restraints. "What's this?" you asked, looking at them. Once you had taken a better look, you found that they were on your upper arms, your legs, and also around your waist. "What's the meaning of this?!" you yelled, struggling furiously.

"Carmon thought that it would keep you from hurting yourself when you woke up" your father said. This only enraged you further.

"I want out of here, now!" you yelled, barely able to contain your new found anger.

"Crystal, dear, please? We did this for your own well being" he said, trying to calm you down, but it wasn't working.

"Where is Hank? I want to talk to Hank!" you said, now on the verge of tears. Your father looked at you with sad eye, before getting up and walking out the door. Hank entered shortly after he left. "Hank?! Hank, get me out of here, please?" you cried, tears falling now as you tried to contain yourself. "Hank, please?" you cried. He came over to your side, kneeling down beside you.

"Crystal, calm down, please? Nothing is going to happen to you, ok?" he asked, stroking the back of your hand with his thumb.

"Hank, please? Cassandra's the one that pushed me down the steps! I want out of here…please?" you cried as you told him this.

"What? Cassandra?" he asked, somewhat shocked.

"Yes, Cassandra…please Hank…please? Just get me out of here?" you cried, not being able to take it anymore. All that you wanted was to get out of there, simple as that.

"Don't worry, I'll get you out of here" he said, quickly running off to find the doctor. That left you with Jareth, your loyal friend, sitting atop your stomach.

"Hey Jareth…" you said quietly, lifting your arm up slightly to pet him. The pleasant silence didn't last long though because before you knew it, your worst nightmare entered the room, well one of two anyway. That's right, Cassandra.

"Hey, what's that bird doing in here?" she asked, making a move to grab him, but he moved out of the way. "Here, birdie, birdie, birdie" she called, quickly grabbing him around the neck, causing him to let out a shriek.

"Let go of him!" you yelled, struggling against the restraints, the left one seeming to loosen a bit.

"Ha! As if. Stupid pile of feathers" she said muttering the last part. Suddenly, the restraint on your left arm broke, allowing you to lung out at her.

"I said let him go!" you yelled, grabbing hold of her arm tightly, squeezing it. Out of sudden fear and shock, she let go of him, letting him fall to the ground and hide under the bed. She screamed and then ran out of the room after pulling free from your grip. "Jareth?" you called, but got no answer. Out of the corner of your eye, you could see where a few feathers had come loose and littered the floor, this worried you. Quickly, you worked on undoing the rest of your restraints. After you were done, you got off of the bed, carefully kneeling down to look under the bed. There he was, a big mess of newly ruffled and slightly torn feathers, hiding beneath the bed. "Jareth?" you called softly, reaching your hand under the bed, only to have it bitten. "Ah!" you let out a yelp in pain, wrapping it in part of your gown, seeing as he'd bitten hard and drawn blood. You winced and looked at him with pained eyes. "Jareth…it's ok…it's me" you said quietly, before reaching your hand toward him one more time, this time you felt his talons on your hand causing you to wince. Slowly, you pulled him out, smiling down at him slightly with pain still in your eyes. As though seeming to notice this, he hopped up on the bed, bowing his head low as though apologizing. You stroked his head lightly, trying to fix some of the damaged feathers. "It's alright, it doesn't hurt much", you told him, "I'm just glad you're ok now."

"What's going on in here?" asked a voice as they entered the room. You looked, to find that it was a doctor, Cassandra standing right behind him.

"See? I told you there was a bird in here. Look, it bit her too!" she exclaimed. You glared at her.

"It was an accident" you said, defending him.

"I'm calling animal control" the doctor began, but you cut him off.

"No! You won't touch him!" you yelled angrily, placing your arms around Jareth protectively.

"See doctor? She's lost her mind too, just like I told you" Cassandra said, causing you to glare at her.