Sarah couldn't understand how, but Jareth had called her and left a message. It didn't seem possible. It wasn't possible.
She shook her head gently, as thought to clear it, and trudged back to her bed.
"I'm hearing things. I must be hearing things," she muttered as she fell across the bed and clicked off the light.
…..oOo…..
The next morning Sarah awoke just after ten. She rolled off the bed and groggily climbed into a hot shower. She washed off the day-old makeup and sweat of the concert before and wondered what exactly had happened. Steam rolled out of the bathroom as she left to find breakfast, wearing her robe. The answering machine glared at her: a small, deceptive little thing. It crouched like a rabbit but, Sarah feared it as she would a jaguar in the jungle.
She turned from it and went to fix a bowl of Captain Crunch. The cereal spiraled into her generous bowl. She systematically flung open the drawer to retrieve a spoon, banging it closed with her hip as she opened the fridge.
Something caught her eye. She closed the fridge slowly, eyes unfocused as she tried to detect what she had seen. Something black and out of place. She blinked and stared at the magnets on the fridge. Round red circles for holding notes and photographs that Toby had sent her, her notepad for grocery lists and-
She ripped the page from the fridge.
State Farm Insurance
"Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there"
Sarah
It was scrawled in a cursive, handwriting that she could not recognize. And, it looked like it had been written with a fountain pen, certainly not a ballpoint.
"What," she said as she held the note closer to her eyes, "the hell?"
The phone rang. Sarah jumped. She stared at it, the tone trilling like something from a bad horror film. The light winking with the ring. She walked slowly to the receiver and stared at it. It rang three more times, until her answering machine clicked on.
"You've reached Sarah Williams. Can't answer, but leave me a message and I'll get right back to you." Beep.
"Hey dear, it's your mom. I know I shouldn't-"
Sarah fumbled the portable phone, "Mom, hi. Mom? You there?"
"Hi sweetheart, hope I didn't wake you."
"No, no I was up. I was just," she glanced down at the note in her hand. "I was in the kitchen. Couldn't get to the phone."
"Good. So how was the concert? I've been hearing nothing but praise from the press."
"It was fantastic. Were you in my house anytime last night or this morning?"
"No," Linda said slowly. "Why? Is something wrong?"
Sarah swallowed. "No, everything's fine. I just," she glanced back to the note. It shimmered in the sun from the window. Shimmering.
"It's nothing. Yes, the concert was amazing." She told her mother about how Jareth had pulled her onstage and how the security had shunted her, but she left out the part about him knowing her name.
"What an adventure! I think Audiolabs may really have a winner."
They hung up a few minutes later and Sarah went back to her cereal. She stuffed the note into a drawer and went to cradle her bowl at the kitchen table where the sun warmed her face.
She ran a mental list of what she had to do that day. Sunday. That means laundry, run to the store, hit the library to get that book Toby had recommended. What was it called? She turned to glance at the note on the fridge and realized it was gone. "He took my notes?" She jumped to her feet and stormed to the fridge.
"He took my notes!" All her lists; booklists, grocery lists, things to do; were gone.
"That's just off," she mused quietly. "I'm just off." She had to stop referring to this little note as though Jareth, the rock singer, had actually been in her house.
"That's ridiculous," she chided herself, downing the rest of her milk and stuffing the dishes in the dishwasher.
Sarah dried her hair and dressed for the day. Loose jeans and a sweatshirt. Perhaps she'd grade those papers this evening with some hot cocoa. Yes, that would be nice.
She grabbed her purse from the side table and opened the door to leave but stopped abruptly. Two bags of groceries and two books lay on the doorstep. She stared at the neat little pile for a moment, then pulled it all inside with a frown. All the groceries from the list, plus eggs and a bottle of good red wine. And the books? One Hundred years of Solitude, Gabriel Garcia Marquez. That was the one. And, a little, red leather tome.
She gasped as she dropped it back onto the floor. Labyrinth. She hadn't seen this book since she was a young girl. It had disappeared and she had blamed Toby for it at the time, but she had always shrugged it off as fate. She had been dwelling on it far too much. It also reminded her of her mother, who had been all too distant in those first few years after the divorce.
Suddenly, she remembered something. She flipped through the pages of the book quickly, looking for the name. Jareth, Jareth, she thumbed through the pages quickly. Slid into a chair in the living room and continued searching, but she couldn't find it. She began to read from the part where the Goblin King came to take the child.
Several hours later, Sarah sat up and slammed the book shut. She had re-read it cover to cover and the name Jareth had not been mentioned once. He was only referred to as the Goblin King. "I wish I could figure this out," she muttered, storming into the kitchen to grab an apple. She noticed the groceries still on the floor. "Damn! This is ridiculous!" She scooped up the bags and carried them to the counter. The milk smelled pretty sour, and she had no idea about the eggs. She drained the carton in the sink and took absurd pleasure in grinding the eggs one by one in the garbage disposal.
"Apple," she murmured, opening the fridge.
No apples. But there was more milk, more eggs, and a single peach. She laughed, despite herself. Peaches. She liked peaches. Her mind reasoned with her that she probably shouldn't eat a peach that some mysterious rock-star-stalker had left in her fridge because chances were it was laced with cocaine. But reason or not, she was so stressed out now that she didn't really care. She grabbed the peach and went back into the living room to sit with the book. She threw one leg over the easy chair and settled into the pillows. With her free hand, she raised the novel to eye level and she bit into the peach. It was sweet and tangy, completely normal. No razorblades, no cocaine, nothing she could detect. She finished the peach and wiped her fingers on a napkin, laying the pit down a plate on the table. She continued to study the book. It was as though there were something she just couldn't quite remember, something from her past. That was where the memory ought to have been. She flipped the pages of the book slowly.
"Where are you hiding?" she whispered. She stopped on a random page and read what was there.
He handed her a smooth, round peach. It looked so perfectly delicious, it almost glowed. "Wow, thanks Hoggle! You're a lifesaver!" She bit into it, savoring the taste, but then, "It tastes strange. Hoggle, what kind of a peach is this?" Hoggle muttered something and ran off into the dark forest. She tried to focus on Sir Didymus and Ludo, but already they were so far ahead that she was having trouble discerning them from the gently swaying fronds.
"Everything's dancing," she gasped. She slid down to the forest floor, resting her back upon an old and twisted root. The air seemed to almost shimmer, the ground glittering with tiny stars, the leaves winking and fluttering as if to an unheard song. But, there was a song, a thin melody over the air.
She looked up. Three crystals hovered before her, and one, one of them was playing the melody. The melody of her music box, the dancer even twirled inside. But it was not a figurine, it was her! She, Sarah, twirled,
Sarah dropped the book. It had changed. No, that's impossible. But it had seemed so familiar. She went back to the beginning and scanned it. Yes, this book was about her! And Toby, and-
The phone rang. "Bugger off!" She yelled, but got up anyway to answer.
"Sarah Williams, I'm on cocaine, leave a message. Beep." She said in a daze.
"You're what now?" Came Toby's deep voice. "I know you're lonely Sarah, but drugs aren't the answer."
"I can't explain it though, Tobe, things have been really strange the past few days."
"So you're not really on cocaine?" he laughed.
"How should I know?" she replied, her voice serious.
There was a pause. "So what's going on?"
Sarah wandered back to her chair and The Labyrinth. "Have you seen this Jareth guy? The rocker?"
"Yes! Do you know who he looks like?" Sarah tensed. Maybe here was her answer. Here was the key- "Grandpa Williams when he was younger." Sarah gave an exasperated sigh. "No, seriously! Just stick a wig on him."
"Toby, I think he knows where I live."
"What?"
"He's been here, in my condo, he's been raiding my fridge!" she realized how insane she must sound. Toby was laughing. She laughed a little, too. "Okay, that sounds odd. But he left me a book. I used to have it when I was little. It was a gift from my mom. And it was called The Labyrinth."
"Isn't that the name of his album?"
"Yes. And, I lost it when I was fifteen or sixteen and never found it again. Even when we moved, I never found it. And, then it just shows up on my doorstep with eggs and milk and so I read it and then things start appearing, not to mention he called me, and then I went back to read the book and," she took a deep breath, "it's changed. It's not the same story anymore! I finished reading it just a half hour ago and I came back and it's a new story. And not only that, we're in it. And Jareth, he's in it too."
She realized she hadn't read his name yet, but she was sure he was there.
Toby sounded worried. "Do you want me to come over, Sarah? Are you alright?"
She was yearning to go back to the book. And Hoggle, she remembered him! He was just a short dwarf who liked jewelry. But, how could she know this?
"I'm fine, Toby. Let me call you later." She hung up the phone and went back to the book.
An hour later and she was re-reading the part about the peach. She remembered it all. She knew about the ballroom, the goblin battle, the room of stairs, of defying the goblin king. Of defying Jareth. She remembered everything. And Jareth, he was here, somehow, in the Aboveground.
He was trying to communicate with her. And, oddly enough, buy her groceries.
"What can this mean?"
She knew what she had to do. She would have to wish for him. But, she wasn't sure if she wanted to. Perhaps he wanted to revenge himself for his defeat so many years ago. Perhaps the whole concert, the whole rock-star thing, perhaps that was just to find her.
She opened the book again as she thought. Immediately music began to play. As The World Falls Down, one of Jareth's songs. The same song her music box had played; the same song from the crystal. She slammed the book closed, afraid to hear more.
Because what could that song mean, other than that the Goblin King had fallen in love with the girl?