2 Conscious Confusion
Eventually she could put it off no longer, her mind screamed to be free. She'd hidden in the oblivion of sleep for too long, it was time to wake up. She knew it and feared it, but it was inevitable. Her body was aching slightly and as he opened her eyes she steeled herself for the pain that would follow, but her mind was instantly consumed by the scene laid out before her. In her stupor she had imagined a hospital, a white pristine room filled with complex machines, all designed to keep her alive and coax her back to health. An uncomfortable bed with starched sheets, nurses and doctors milling about doing this test, taking that reading. At the very least she expected to still be on the stairs up to the car park where she'd been attacked. That small, square stairway, whose empty, security devoid space had provided a perfect place for an inconspicuous and uninterrupted attack. Yet her eyes saw none of this, and blinking to make sure she was really seeing what her eyes told her she was seeing, she stood up in shock.
It was only as she registered the aching in her limbs from being laid on hard ground that she realised her injury's had disappeared. Looking down at her body she saw her clothes had a slight layer of dust from laying on the ground, but other than that, she was perfect. No blood, not broken bones, no cuts, no pain, nothing. Her immediate thought was that she was dreaming, but she knew instinctively that she was not. She was awake, she was alive, and she was in the last place she could ever have imagined.
As she looked down the hill towards the gates of the Labyrinth, the place that had haunted her dreams since she was fifteen, the place she'd tried so hard to convince herself did not exist, she was flooded with the memories of what had happened to her in this very place five years ago. Her head swam with the realisation that it was all real, it had all happened. She had wished Toby away, Jareth had come to take him, she had run the Labyrinth and she had beaten Jareth to win Toby back. It was real, it existed, and she was back here, but this time she had no idea why. She hadn't wished anyone away, she had no reason to be here. By all rights she should be dead…
At that thought Sarah stopped her thoughts in shock. She was right, she shouldn't have survived what she had been through. This made no sense.
Suddenly a feeling of uncontrollable weakness passed over her. He body lost all control and she fell to her knees, unable to support herself any longer. It lasted for only a few seconds but those seconds seemed to last a lifetime. When it was over Sarah found she was leaning up against a tree and only then did she realise she was standing at the exact place she had begun her first journey here, at the top of the hill overlooking the Labyrinth. She looked into the trees branches, expecting to see the thirteen-hour clock starting her countdown, but this time there was nothing, just autumn bare branches swaying in the slight breeze.
Finally, feeling her strength returning, she used the tree to hoist herself to her feet before looking back to the Labyrinth. She could clearly see the castle at the centre, and more confusion swept over her. What was she doing here? She couldn't even answer that basic question, but she knew what she had to do. There was no other choice. As much as it scared her, she felt her heart race with anticipation. She'd been through an ordeal the last time she was here, terrified of losing Toby, but this time she had nothing to lose, and a strange feeling began to creep over her. A feeling of peace, of contentment, a sense that for the first time in five years, she was home…