A/N: Well, the holidays have finally slacked off a bit, and I was able to write some more - and boy, did I write! 12 whole pages, people! Hope you're happy! Here, we are reverting to Sarah's point of view - skipping a couple years, of course. Things are going to start happening ... somewhat quickly. When the Fae want something, they don't waste time or give their victims time to think things over. They just happen. (That, by the way, is for anyone who wishes to complain that things are happening too fast.)
The song segment at the end is "I'm Still Here" from Treasure Planet. Please enjoy, and Merry Christmas/Happy Hannukah/Merry-whatever-other-winter-solstice-holiday-you-peeps-celebrate!
Sarah sighed contentedly as she made herself comfortable on the sun-warmed bench, pulling her autumn jacket closer about herself. It was unseasonably warm for the first day of December; warm enough for her to justify going to the park and sketching, as she was wont to do in the warmer weather of spring and summer. This would probably be the last time she would be able to do this before winter finally set in.
She wasn't looking forwards to being cooped up in the house all winter with her stepmother, unfortunately. She had the feeling that Karen had started out as a really decent person, and if fate had left them alone, she would have really liked her. But her father had died of cancer a year after her Labyrinth adventure, leaving behind a devastated and broken family. Karen did the best she could, but the strain was clearly getting to her, and Sarah felt that the older woman resented her step-daughter more and more. And lately, that resentment seemed to be spreading to Toby. Sarah was practically raising the kid on her own now, ever since Karen had started drinking.
Sarah understood that her step-mother was under a lot of stress, and worked hard to make ends meet; but it didn't justify excessive alcohol, in Sarah's opinion, as the young woman worked hard as well. Sarah had postponed college, deciding instead to stay at home to help Karen take care of things. She worked part-time at a deli shop, and made extra money on the side with her many drawings, which she sold for children's fantasy books.
She took a slow, deep breath, savoring the crisp wintry scent of the air before setting her pencil to paper. With eyes half-closed, she began to draw.
When she was drawing, it was like she was in a half-trance until she finished; and it always turned out to be creatures and scenes from the Labyrinth. Sometimes it was familiar faces – Sir Didymus, Ludo, Hoggle, the Wise Man, even the Goblin King – and other times, it was unfamiliar but equally fantastic creatures that leapt from her mind to the paper, beings and places she had never seen before but was certain that they, too, were a part of the Labyrinth.
The Labyrinth had changed her life. She was more sure of herself now, but also more aware of others, and that the world that existed outside of her head could be just as pleasant, exciting, and fulfilling as the fantasy realms she had lived in before. She had, in essence, grown up. And yet, in some ways, she was closer to the fantastic and magical than ever before. She would never forget her time in the Labyrinth, over three years ago now. A month before her sixteenth birthday … her last night as a self-absorbed, conceited, whiny teenager who clung to toys and fantasies while shunning her life and family. She was now nineteen years old, and far from the spoiled child she had been, though the stubborn, fiery streak was far from faded.
Finished, she opened her eyes all the way to gaze upon her latest work. It was a playful sketch, full of motion. The being it portrayed looked like a queer mix between human and feline, with long hair and feathers besides. He crouched on the paper, head cocked playfully to one side, tail lashing behind his legs as a mischievous grin added an extra sparkle to his light-colored eyes. A strange scar ran around his eyes, but it wasn't very noticeable – maybe it was just a smudge from the pencil. His entire stance was impishly playful, the long canines revealed in his grin adding vigor to the portrait.
"Well, hello to you, too," she said to her newest creation, wondering where he'd come from. He was the most detailed work she'd done in a while, and she'd never seen him before – either on a sketchpad or in the Labyrinth, though … perhaps … in her dreams …
She finally shrugged and tucked her sketchpad and pencils into her knapsack before setting off towards her house. Toby would be home soon, and she didn't like leaving him alone with Karen much lately. Karen would be home because she had a day off from her first job as a waitress at Carlotti's, a small Italian restaurant, and wouldn't be needed at the Laundromat for her second job until five in the evening. What with the way things were at the moment, she was likely to be drinking, and Sarah didn't think that a five-year-old should be left alone with that.
A cold wind sent sudden shivers down her back, numbing her ears as she hastily pulled up the hood of her coat. A sudden movement in the corner of her eye brought her head swinging about.
She froze. There, in front of her, was the most gorgeous person she had ever seen. He was tall and beautiful and golden, with a fair complexion and wavy hair that glinted like sunlight. His eyes were a piercing blue, seeming to cut down to her very soul. His face was kind and gentle, was the embodiment of everything good and benign. He possessed an almost ethereal beauty that stopped her in her tracks and captivated her immediately.
He smiled as he saw her halt, a slow, golden smile that made Sarah's legs go weak. She watched, unable to take her eyes away, as he strode softly towards her, stopping about five feet away. She wished he'd come closer.
"Hello, Sarah," he said in a voice that made her shiver. A small warning bell went off in her mind, and she frowned slightly in puzzlement as she asked, "How … do you know my name?"
"I've heard of you," he replied, his smile growing warmer. Her heart pounded, and any other thoughts of the suspicious sort flew right out of her head.
"Oh," she replied faintly, clutching her book-bag tightly. "I … oh."
"You're a very special girl … did you know that?" he asked, taking a step closer. She shook her head mutely, unable to speak.
"Yes," he continued in a low murmur. "A very, very special girl, to be able to defeat the Labyrinth."
A small warning bell jangled again at the very back of her mind. How did he know about the Labyrinth …? But he smiled dazzlingly at her, and the brief, troubled thoughts once more flew from her mind.
"I was wondering, Sarah," he began slowly, Sarah hanging on to his every word; "I have a slight problem … and you might be able to fix it, or so I'm told. You're certainly clever; to have beaten the Labyrinth … couldn't you tell me how you did it?"
Sarah, by this time, would have jumped off a cliff for this beautiful stranger if he had asked it of her. She readily took a breath, about to explain how she'd beaten the Labyrinth with her friends.
"Prince Gwydion!" A sharp, sudden cry broke her concentration, and the golden stranger's. A young girl with flyaway tawny-brown hair, slanted cheekbones and dark, almond eyes stood several paces away, staring at the golden man with shock and a bit of panic.
"Why, Lady Annora," Gwydion began smoothly, beginning to walk towards the girl. "What a pleasant surprise-"
"What are you doing here!" she cut him off, eyes widening as she spotted Sarah behind him. Sarah stared at her – was she crazy? Why was she getting angry at this completely benevolent young man?
Staring right back at Sarah, the young girl continued, "What have you done to her? She's completely mesmerized! You release her, right now! It's forbidden to interfere with mortal's lives unless they interfere first!"
"Ah," Gwydion held up a slender, perfect finger; "but this is the mysterious and long-hidden mortal who defeated the Goblin King, my dear; I have every right to her."
"You haven't!" she retorted sharply. "If anything has a right to her, it's the Labyrinth! Now release her, or I'll call upon my own Queen!"
Gwydion sighed and waved a hand in Sarah's direction. "There. Happy now?"
Sarah blinked in sudden shock and horror. The strange man – Gwydion – suddenly didn't seem quite so golden, or beautiful. The spell, glamour, whatever it was, broke with the wave of Gwydion's hand. His face became narrow and slightly unpleasant in expression, his hair thinning and becoming lighter than the original rich gold. She could suddenly see the hardness in his blue-eyed gaze, the distant, merciless, remote air about him. It reminded her chillingly of her first impression of Jareth, though this man seemed to be … lacking something that gave Jareth a slight sense of morals, or emotions, perhaps. Yes, something vital was missing from this young man, and that frightened her.
She tensed, ready to move; whether to flee or attack, however, she didn't know.
Meanwhile, the strange girl who had rescued her frowned at Gwydion, unsatisfied. "You go back to your own realm, Prince Gwydion," she said slowly and clearly, a slight breeze making her bangs fly about her face. "Queen Didrika has her eye on you."
Gwydion snorted derisively. "If you are all she sends after me, I have naught to worry," he scoffed, and suddenly left. He didn't vanish, exactly, or disappear; he just left, by way of a door Sarah couldn't see. But the girl apparently could, and she nodded briefly before turning to Sarah.
"Are you all right?" she asked carefully, stepping forwards only to halt as Sarah backed away quickly, clutching her bag as if it were an anchor.
Sarah took a few, gulping breaths, her eyes flicking back to where Gwydion had been only moments before. "I … I'm not sure," she finally replied, shuddering as she remembered how completely she'd been mesmerized. It frightened her just to think about it.
"Do you know who he was?" the girl asked cautiously, keeping her eyes on Sarah's face.
Sarah shook her head in an emphatic 'no'. "No. No, I don't. He reminded me of-" She cut herself off abruptly as it occurred to her she didn't know who this person was, either. "Who are you, anyway?"
The girl sketched a brief bow. "I am Annora, handmaiden and warrior of Queen Didrika, ruler of the Pictsie Kingdom. I came because Prince Gwydion, son of Queen Titania, ruler of the Faerie Kingdom and head of the Seelie Court, was mesmerizing you with intent to harm both you and another kingdom. To interfere with the affairs of mortals unless called upon is forbidden, so I took action against it."
Sarah blinked at the long list of names and kingdoms before shaking her head incredulously. "No. No, I – oh, for Pete's sake, I beat the damn Labyrinth!" she suddenly burst out. "I beat it, and I beat the Goblin King, and it's done with, it's over! You're supposed to leave me alone now! I'm done with it, I don't want faeries and elves and goblins popping up in the park and mesmerizing me, I want it done, I want it -"
She felt her breath starting to catch, and recognized the beginnings of a panic attack – something she had become all too familiar with in the past years after her father's death. She had had professional help back when they could still afford it, and hadn't actually had an attack in a while … but this whole, overwhelming thing was setting it off again. She focused on taking deep, steadying breaths, ignoring Annora's sudden, worried look. Calm down … calm down … you cannot have an attack now …deep breaths … deep breaths …
Finally, the edges of the panic faded, and she managed to regain control of herself. She took a few carefully deep breaths – better safe than sorry, after all – before turning back to Annora. "Well?" she asked tightly after a moment. "I beat it, didn't I? What -" she gestured expansively with her hands; "is all this about? What did I say wrong this time?" She cut herself off before she could start panicking again. She had beaten the Labyrinth, hadn't she? She hadn't called on anything. But a Faerie prince was seducing her 'with intent to harm', and this pixie girl, Annora, was here acting as if it was all normal, and … and …
Annora gazed intensely at her; the direct, piercing gaze sent chills down Sarah's spine. The stare reminded her that Annora was not human, nor anything resembling it; she was something totally alien. The pixie blinked her unreadable almond eyes and pursed her lips, obviously thinking.
"Well, it's really because you defeated the Goblin King that the other kingdoms are taking an interest in you," Annora finally replied. "You defeated the Labyrinth. You. No one has ever been able to do it before. And you're just a mortal. Obviously exceptional, of course. Many … many kingdoms would love to defeat the King of Goblins, and they see you as their means of success. You have already entered our realms before … and so they can loosely claim that they have a right to interfere – to approach you in the mortal realms and use any means at their disposal to get you to go with them and help them topple the Labyrinth."
Sarah shook her head in insistent denial, clenching her fists in frustration. "Why? I mean -" she hastily amended as she saw Annora getting ready to repeat herself; "why now? It's been over three years … why now, all of a sudden?"
Annora blinked again, her dark eyes seeming blank and alien, indecipherable. Sarah had no idea what was going through the pixie's mind. "No one knew who you were. No one could find you. The protections surrounding you were formidable, but obviously someone has broken them."
"Protections?" Sarah repeated incredulously.
"Yes. Most likely set in place by the Goblin King, in order to protect his realm." Annora cocked her head, scrutinizing Sarah. "Or perhaps to protect you. I wouldn't know."
"The Goblin King?" the young woman replied numbly, feeling like a broken record.
Now, Annora seemed slightly annoyed with the seeming idiocy of the mortal in front of her. "Yes," she said, faintly peeved. "That is what I said." Sarah picked up on the unsaid 'Are you deaf?' and, wisely, decided not to comment.
Annora cocked a slender eyebrow at Sarah. "Be wary. When the Fae kingdoms decide they are interested in something, they do not rest until they have it. You, and your family, are all fair game to them. Keep your family close, and your friends closer, Sarah Williams. Be on your guard."
With that, the pixie bowed gracefully and faded gently out of existence. Sarah shivered. The sheer alien nature of the Fae creature had unnerved her greatly, and her words even more so.
She was brought back to reality quite suddenly when her wristwatch's alarm went off. "Dee-de-dee-de-dee-de-dee," the watch trilled, playing to the tune of "Mickey Mouse Club March". Startled, she fumbled with her bag for a moment before managing to reach her wrist and turn the alarm off.
"Damnit!" she cried as she looked at the time and remembered why she'd set off that alarm. "I'm late again!" She took off running, throwing her backpack around her shoulders as she did so.
Dead grass coated with frost crackled beneath her boots as she fairly flew over the ground of the park, racing across several streets without so much as a 'look-both-ways'. No one called out to her – she didn't really know anyone very well, and anyone she might ever have considered a friend had moved to college last year, with the exception of her co-worker, Tina. The only reason she stayed around, really, was helping to support Karen and her little brother – a task that was becoming harder and harder, both because of the ever-mounting stack of bills and Karen's building enmity towards both her stepdaughter and son.
Whoosh! – dead leaves, delicately laced in frost, flew as she cleared several backyard fences, resorting to seldom-used shortcuts in order to get home faster. Sarah focused her mind solely upon the rhythmic pumping of her legs, and of her deep, carefully regulated breaths, doing her level best to shove all thoughts of faeries and goblins out of her mind.
She cursed under her breath as she came into sight of her house – the bus had passed by several minutes ago, judging by its current position further up the road. That meant Toby was home with Karen, at least long enough for something to …
She cut the thought off and smothered it, refusing to think like that. Karen wouldn't do anything to her son. No matter how far she'd fallen from her former self … no matter how stressed and pressured and resentful she had become … she would never do anything to hurt Toby in any way. Never.
She leapt onto the porch and threw the screen door and main door open in one swift motion, not even stopping to kick off her boots onto the mat just inside the hallway as she hurried inside. "I'm home!" she called loudly, praying harder than she could ever remember praying … for what, she wasn't precisely sure.
"Sarah!" came a delighted shout from the kitchen. Sarah let loose a huge sigh of relief, grinning goofily to herself as headed into the warm, yellow-tiled kitchen.
Toby sat at the table – slightly wobbly thanks to a wedge of wood forced underneath one of the broken legs – his knapsack beside him on the floor, his homework spread out in front of him. He grinned delightedly as his elder sister entered the room, leaping off the hard chair to give her a flying tackle that ended in a hug around her knees. "SarahSarahSarahSarah!" he yelled, nearly knocking her off her feet.
"Sarah," came another voice, this one tight and brittle. Sarah looked upwards to see her stepmother standing by the sink of the kitchen. Karen's face was tight and unreadable, her mouth surrounded by worry lines. The woman, once so pretty and confident, was a shadow of her former self, worn and haggard. Her eyes glinted with something dangerous as they rested upon her stepdaughter and son.
"Hello, Karen," Sarah replied, gently extricating herself from her baby brother.
"You're late." Karen's face was unreadable, but her voice was tense.
"I'm sorry," Sarah replied, suppressing a shiver at the thought of what had delayed her. "I … ran into some difficulties. It won't happen-"
"Oh, it's always some difficulty!" Karen snapped, cutting her off. "Why can't you ever just be on time?"
Sarah didn't flinch, though she did glance worriedly at Toby before bending down and whispering to him, "Mommy and I have to talk, Tobes. Can you wait upstairs?"
"Can I wait in your room?" the five-year-old asked eagerly. Toby loved Sarah's room, which was still full of mementos of her childhood, various drawings that she couldn't bear to sell plastered all over the walls.
"Sure," she murmured, waiting until he had raced up the stairs to the second floor and heard the door to her room open before standing and returning Karen's gaze.
"We need to talk about Toby," Karen said after a moment of this, straightening and walking towards the center of the kitchen. Sarah's eyes flickered briefly towards the bottle in Karen's hands – some kind of alcohol – before returning to her stepmother's face. Toby didn't deserve this – a father he could barely remember, a mother who was falling apart by the seams, and an older sister who couldn't always keep her grip on reality.
"What about Toby?" Sarah finally questioned, seating herself at the table, all sensors on red alert. Karen hesitated a moment before sliding into a seat across from the nineteen-year-old.
"His kindergarten teacher – Ms. Pam – called again today," Karen began, her voice strained.
"Again?" Sarah asked, surprised in spite of herself. Karen glared at her but continued:
"She thinks that Toby has a learning disorder, and should be put in a class for children with special education needs."
"What?" Sarah yelled, eyes widening, suddenly furious. "But – but Toby isn't like that!"
"He doesn't pay attention, ever, he's doing poorly in everything, he can't even tie his own shoes, and he's not keeping up with the class at all," Karen grated, her obvious stress showing in her face and voice. "Frankly, Sarah, I don't see any other choice at the moment-"
"Toby is not retarded!" Sarah shouted, cutting her stepmother off. She glared at Karen angrily. "He's just bored, and putting him in a special ed. class will make it worse! You can't be thinking about-"
"I can put him where I want! He is my son, Sarah Williams!" Karen suddenly exploded, standing up abruptly and clenching her fists.
Sarah pursed her lips and frowned, but halted her tirade. She'd continue this battle later – with Ms. Pam.
"And there's more," Karen continued, calming down slightly. "Apparently, Toby has been … telling tales. About a place full of mazes. And monsters. He's been drawing them, and insists they are real! He won't listen to anything the teacher says!" She thrust a handful of childish drawings at Sarah like they were weapons.
Sarah took the pictures and gently flipped through them. Scrawled childishly with bright Crayola crayons were, unmistakably, goblins – big-nosed, floppy-eared goblins, with horns and hair and beards and helmets – strange, but not scary; funny, really.
"Goblins," she murmured after a moment.
"What?" Karen asked sharply, peering at her dangerously.
"They're goblins," she repeated, not raising her voice. "Not monsters – goblins."
Karen slammed her bottle onto the table. "This is exactly what I mean!" she cried angrily. "Toby has to keep his head out of the clouds – he's failing kindergarten – and you just keep encouraging him, with your pictures and crazy stories! Why can't you accept that this is real life, and you're stuck with it!" She took a deep breath, and then shook her head. "No, I don't care what you do, what you think … but why can't you leave Toby out of it? It's not bad enough that you can't keep your own feet planted on the ground, oh no, you have to keep Toby isolated, too!"
"Karen," Sarah began, alarmed, but Karen plowed on heedlessly, her face ruddy with rage and drink.
"I've about had it with the both of you! I hear you two, all the time, at night, in the evenings and mornings and afternoons, whispering and telling stories about … about horrible things, like monsters and wizards and magic and babies stolen away and Goblin Kings and, and … Sarah, it's nonsense like that that keeps him preoccupied, that keeps him cut off from the rest of the world!"
Sarah did her best not to flinch at the unwelcome reminder that what Karen deemed nonsense was all too real – and all too dangerous. Focusing on ordinary, everyday worries was apparently not going to drive thoughts of Gwydion and Annora from her mind.
"Karen, they're just stories," she tried again, desperate to make her stepmother see reason.
"Not to him, they aren't!" Karen exploded hoarsely. "And definitely not to you! I don't know my own son anymore! Most of the time, I don't even want to!"
Sarah stood up suddenly, violently, her face hard. She leaned towards her step-mother and hissed dangerously, coldly; "Take that back. You didn't mean that."
Karen stared at Sarah – straight into the young woman's cold hazel eyes – and laughed bitterly, a chilling, half-crazy laugh from a woman who's given up on everything and just wants to lose it all. A violently unnerving sound that had Sarah racing upstairs, away from the kitchen, away from Karen, in the space of about five seconds.
Sarah pounded up the stairs and, throwing the door to her room, hurried inside and then shut the door firmly, as if to block out the horrible conversation. She hadn't believed … hadn't even suspected, not really, that it had become this bad …
"Sarah?" a small voice queried. She turned to see Toby curled up on her bed, Lancelot the teddy bear held tight in his arms.
He must have heard. He had to have heard. Sarah attempted a smile and sat down beside him. "Hey, Toby," she said, making an effort to hold her voice steady. "What's happenin'?"
He didn't lift his head. "Mommy doesn't care anymore, does she?" he asked quietly.
"Oh, Toby," Sarah breathed, then reached out and brought him onto her lap, hugging him tightly. "I'm sorry you had to hear that, kiddo. Karen's just … not having a very good week. It'll be all right."
"Don't lie," he sniffled, burying his face in her shoulder, kicking her slightly with his sneakered feet. "Mommy doesn't love us anymore."
"I'm not lying," Sarah insisted, making her voice stronger. She had to make him believe that … had to make herself believe that.
Toby sighed. After about five minutes of this cuddling, he pulled away and asked hopefully, "Can I look at your storybooks?"
"Sure, kiddo," she laughed as he leapt eagerly off of her lap. Every time she sold pictures for children's books, she got sent a free copy. She now had a veritable library of children's books, filled with scenes from the Labyrinth.
After digging through the giant pile, he emerged with three different books, each filled with misplaced illustrations of the Labyrinth. "Found 'em!" he exclaimed excitedly.
Sarah smiled down at him, and then stood up with a sigh. "I've got some things I need to do," she told him. "Can you take those books and camp out in your room for a while?"
"Sure!" he agreed, grabbing his handful of colorful storybooks and trotting out the door. Sarah watched until he was in his room, and then gently shut the door.
She turned to face her vanity, staring intently into her mirror-image's eyes. "Hoggle," she called out quietly. "Ludo? Sir Didymus? I need you. Now."
"What is amiss, my lady?" a familiar voice queried from behind her. She turned to see her friends gathered around her bed, looking at her attentively.
She hesitated a moment before the weight of everything that had happened that day caught up to her. "Oh, I'm so glad to see you!" she cried suddenly, throwing herself into Ludo's giant arms and sobbing.
"Sawah?" the gentle giant queried worriedly. Behind her she heard Hoggle and Sir Didymus asking her what was wrong, did someone hurt her?
"I'm alright," she finally told them, sitting up and wiping the tears away from her face. "It's just … it's been a wretched day."
"If there's anything we can do to help …" Hoggle began.
"Yes, milady, anything!" Sir Didymus added loyally, peering concernedly into her face.
Sarah took a few deep breaths before gathering herself and asking, in her steadiest voice: "What do you know about a … a Fae, called Gwydion?"
It was like she dropped a bomb in the room. Hoggle started, eyes huge, while Sir Didymus froze, his mouth hanging open.
After a moment, Hoggle managed to collect himself enough to ask, "And where did you meet him, Sarah?" His tone was frightened and slightly disbelieving, which made Sarah even more nervous than she had been.
"In the park," she replied, crossing her legs atop her bedspread. "He mesmerized me."
"WHAAAT!" Hoggle roared, to her astonishment. "Where was Darius? I'm gonna kill that cat-hawk, don't think I won't!"
"Peace, friend Hoggle!" Sir Didymus yipped in distress, tugging on the irate dwarf's arm. "Sir Darius has been here for over a sevenday! He cannot watch my lady every moment!"
"Darius?" Sarah demanded. "Who's Darius?"
Hoggle froze and gulped, a look of ill-concealed guilt crossing his face. "Uh, no one, really, no one at all," he began nervously.
"Hoggle," she interrupted warningly.
Sir Didymus leaped to the gardener's rescue. "A friend, dear lady, sent to watch over you when it became known that the kingdoms had discovered you."
"Sent by who?" she said more than asked, slowly and deliberately.
"Well, uh, that is to say, my lady," Didymus stammered, but was interrupted by Ludo, who said, "Jaweth! Jaweth send fwend!"
"What's more important, Sarah," Hoggle quickly interjected before Sarah could explode in outrage at the mention of the Goblin King – who was interfering again! – "is that practically all the kingdoms are out to get you!"
"Yes! It is far too dangerous for you to remain here, my lady!" Sir Didymus agreed, waving his tail about in his agitation.
"Oh, and where else would I go?" she demanded, glaring at the fox knight. Her anger at Jareth for showing up in her life – even second-handedly – had not faded very much.
"Home," Ludo grunted from behind her. When she turned to look at him, he smiled at her, misunderstanding her incredulous look. "Home."
"Sir Ludo is right, my lady," Didymus said cautiously. "You would be safe in the Labyrinth …"
"'The Labyrinth' and 'safe' are not two things I would ever use in the same sentence," Sarah retorted, growing angrier and angrier despite her best efforts. "I'm never going back there, do you hear me? Never!"
Her friends lowered their heads, downcast. "All right, Sarah," Hoggle mumbled. "Take care of yourself, though. If you ever need us … just call …"
"Wait – I'm sorry!" Sarah cried, but it was too late – they had already left.
"Oh, just great," she moaned, flopping face-down onto her comforter. Pulling her pillow firmly over her head, she tried to blot the rest of the world from existence while silent tears of rage, frustration, and perhaps a bit of fear, ran down her face. Outside, thunder cracked loudly, and it began to pour.
Sarah reached out blindly with one arm and groped for a moment before hitting the "on" switch for her radio. The end of a song floated gently to her ears, resonating and lingering a while before drifting away on the winds of music.
"They can't tell me who to be,
Cuz I'm not what they see.
Yeah, the world is still sleeping,
While I keep on dreaming for me.
And their words are just whispers and lies,
That I'll never believe!"
"And I want a moment to be real,
Wanna touch things I don't feel,
Wanna hold on,
And feel I belong.
And how can the world want me to change?
They're the ones that stay the same!
I'm the one now,
Cuz I'm still here!"
Outside, thunder crashed and lightning lit up the skies, while Sarah Williams lay huddled in her bed, trying to deny the fact that her life was about to change forever - again.
"I'm still here!
I'm still here!
I'm still here …"
A/N: We'll be right back, after these messages ...
Aurora Ranger: Mmmm ... jelly and cream ... Yummy! Much more interesting than charades-playing green cheese. Thank you oh-so-much for your long reviews - like my chapters are to you, they are highly sustaining and muchly appreciated! I'm really glad you like my characters - life doesn't throw easily explainable people at me, so why should it throw them at Jareth?I'm so glad you're going to review alot, really truly honestly. Your reviews are absolutely fantabulous. Hope you liked Sarah's view of everything that's been dumped on her! (poor girl)
Lonewolf-chica: Nope, no sarcasm, too hard to pull off in writing/talking except in chapters. I really am thrilled! And all hail the Giant Fanfic Soup Bowl in the Sky! Chicken Soup for the Fanfic Lover's Soul ... sounds like something I'd read ...
Ally: Yay! I'm so glad you like Darius and Cook! I worked really hard on Cook, isn't she great? (I'm ashamed to say I didn't work very hard on Darius at all - he came up to me at McDonalds, bought me a cheeseburger, dinged me with a straw and made me begin writing.) And, yes, Jareth is, at heart, a good guy ... sort of ... he just doesn't follow the same rules that most people operate on, and that can be confusing.
Lake of Fire: T. H. A. N. K. Y. O. U.
REVIEW! Or I shall boil you all in a chicken soup and give you to Cook to make souffles with! Or something like that, anyways ...