5 The Worm
As she began walking her mind was assaulted with memories of her last visit, of the pain she had suffered there. The anger, the turmoil, the infinite worry over Toby, five years was not long enough to rid her of those feelings, it wasn't even long enough for them to fade. The thing that surprised her though, was that she felt none of that now. All she felt was peace, a strange calm, as though someone had dropped a shield around her to protect her from the pain, because the pain was still there. She could feel it, like a soft pressure surrounding her heart, as though it was trying to get in, and she knew if it did she'd shut down. But it wasn't time to deal with the pain yet, that time would come. At the moment something was keeping the pain at bay, and it allowed her to focus on the task ahead.
Worried that she might miss the one and only turn she knew out of this dreaded corridor of damp, lichen covered stone, she walked instead of ran, praying the worm was still in that little nook where she'd found him before. It was, in fact, only a few minutes later that she spotted the familiar tuft of blue hair sticking out behind a slight ledge in the rock. Thankful she had finally found a familiar face she ran the last few steps towards him. As she reached him Sarah sank to her knees and the look of surprise on the worm's face at seeing her must have mirrored her shock at finding herself in the labyrinth again. In fact it took a few minutes for him to regain his senses enough to utter his usual "Allo"
"Hello Worm!"
"Well this is a surprise, what are you doing here?"
"I'm not exactly sure of that myself." Sarah said, musing on how best to explain.
"Hmm, a mystery, well come inside and have a cup of tea. I'm sure the missus will know!"
"Once again I'm going to have turn down the offer of tea I'm afraid. I really need to find out why I'm here." She hesitated before continuing. "I need to find Jareth, which is why I have to run the Labyrinth again. Who knows, maybe when this is over I'll have time to take you up on that offer of tea."
"I do hope so, well good luck."
"Thank you, it was good seeing you again."
With that Sarah stood up and walked towards the wall that held the hidden opening, and as before it was as though the wall suddenly moved back a few feet revealing two openings. It was only as she turned to go right a thought struck her. Turning back to the worm she asked:
"Just out of curiosity, why can't I go the other way?"
"Well that way leads straight to that castle, and you don't want to go there."
"Straight to the castle?" Sarah asked, shocked. "Why didn't you tell me that before?"
"You never asked."
"Yes I did." Sarah said, not knowing whether to be angry or amused. "I asked you if you knew how to get to the castle, and you said no!"
"No, you asked if I knew how to solve the labyrinth, I thought you meant how to get through the maze, if I'd have known you wanted the castle I'd have told you."
"Well where did you think I wanted to go?" Now she was laughing. "Where else would I be going to in order to solve the Labyrinth?"
"Well I erm, I don't know." The worm said, stumbling on his words. "You know I hadn't had any tea that morning, maybe that was it."
Laughing at the slightly confused look upon the worms face Sarah simply turned back to the opening. She started to go left but after one step stopped. Did she really want to go straight to the castle? Was she ready to see Jareth again, and what about her friends, where were they? Surely she should see them first, after all they meant more to her than Jareth did, didn't they?
Bombarded with even more questions she did the only thing she could have done, she turned right. She wasn't ready yet, not for that trial, first she needed her friends, after that, well only time will tell.