Sorry it took so long to get another chapter out! Thanks for sticking with me and for still reviewing, even in my absence. Hope you enjoy!

Chapter 6

Sarah left the cast party early by college standards. She had a drink or two to celebrate opening night and danced with a few of her castmates, but things were already starting to wind down, and she was ready to go home.

Jess was on her way home from her date with Alex, so the pair met at their front door.

"Hey girlie, how was the party?"

Sarah smiled. "It was fine."

"You're home awfully early and quite alone."

Rolling her eyes, Sarah said, "Don't start, Jess," as she fit the key into the lock. "I've had quite enough of strange men today, thank you very much."

"So that's why you were freaking out after the play!" Jess exclaimed as Sarah forced open the door and they entered the apartment. "Tell me! Who is he? How do you know him? What's he like?"

"It's not like that, Jess," Sarah began, setting her bag down on the table. "It's much more complic…"

Sarah trailed off mid-sentence.

Sitting on the kitchen counter in front of their bowl of fruit was a perfect peach.

Jess saw it at the same time Sarah did, and began to reach for it as she declared, "I don't remember buying peaches last week…"

"Jess, no!"

Sarah smacked Jessica's hand away, sending the peach flying across the room.

Jess turned to look at Sarah slowly with wide-eyed shock plastered across her face. "Sarah…please tell me what is going on with you. You're worrying me."

"I'm worrying myself!" Sarah cried, leaving the peach discarded and forgotten on the floor and plopping down on the sofa in the living room.

Jess followed her and sat nearby, looking at her intently. "What the hell has gotten into you? You haven't been right for the last couple weeks!"

Sarah sighed. "You're going to think I'm crazy."

Jessica just laughed outright. "Girl, try me."

Taking a deep breath, Sarah started at the only place that made sense. "Well…about six years ago, I was left to babysit my brother, and I was working on a play that must have gotten inside my head. I had…what must have been a dream…that he was captured by goblins and that I had to go and save him. But it was all so real. I remember navigating the labyrinth, I remember all the creatures and challenges I met along the way, and I remember…him."

Jessica's eyebrows raised at this.

"The Goblin King. I know this all sounds so stupid, but in the moment…it just felt so real."

"In your…your vision or dream or whatever this was, what happened with you and this guy that you remember so well?"

Sarah's eyes glazed over as she remembered her journey through the labyrinth all those years ago. "He was the one who kidnapped my brother, who threatened to turn him into a goblin if I didn't solve his labyrinth in time. He tried to confuse me, steer me away…" She cast a wary glance at the peach on the floor in the other room, "he even poisoned me with a peach. But there was always something about him, something spellbinding, mesmerizing, something that drew me to him…"

She heard his voice begin to echo through her head as she continued to unlock more and more memories of him.

I have turned the world upside down, and I have done it all for you!

Everything I've done, I've done for you. I move the stars for no one.

Just fear me, love me, do as I say and I will be your slave…

Jess's voice brought her back to the present.

"So it basically sounds like this figure, whoever he was, was kind of your sexual awakening."

Sarah smacked Jess in the arm. "Eew no, I'm not saying that at all!"

"Mhm…" Jess muttered skeptically from beneath raised eyebrows. "I think I'm going to need a drink to make it through the rest of this story." She got up from the couch and made her way into the kitchen. "Keep talking!" she called over her shoulder.

Sarah groaned. "You're really going to think I'm insane if I keep talking. Hell, I think I'm insane."

A sudden clap of thunder made Sarah jump out of her skin. Looking out the window, she saw the rain begin to fall as they were enveloped by a thunderstorm.

Jess came back with some Jaeger poured in a plastic cup and plopped back down next to Sarah. "Just tell me."

She hardly even knew how to explain the events of the last week. "Well, when you brought up that I was talking about goblins in my sleep, that was the first weird thing. And then...this is crazy…I started seeing things from that dream of mine in the real world. The dress in the window, the quote from the movie, the orb rolling to my feet…then today, before my show…and after…"

Sarah trailed off, but Jess leaned forward eagerly. "C'mon, girl! Spit it out!"

"I know it's impossible, but today I could have sworn I saw him, the Goblin King, standing behind me in the mirror in the dressing room. And then at the end of the show, I…I saw him. He was sitting behind you and Alex, but then he just walked through the doors and vanished without a trace."

Jessica lowered her drink. "What does this mystery man look like? Maybe I saw him."

Despite her best efforts, a small smile crossed Sarah's lips as she said, "He's tall, slender build, blonde hair, and the steeliest blue eyes I've ever seen…"

"He sounds sexy! Trust me, if he was there, I didn't see him."

Sarah rolled her eyes. "Of course not…None of this can be real, right? I'm just imagining things…"

Jess set down her plastic cup. "I mean, that's definitely a possibility." After a moment in thought, she asked, "Does this goblin king have a name that you're just afraid to use?"

"Jareth," Sarah breathed, and Jess laughed.

"Even his name is sexy."

Sarah groaned.

"Listen, do you want to know what I think?"

Sarah reluctantly nodded.

"I don't think you're crazy, but I do think that you've been under a lot of stress lately. Your brain is probably just trying to find ways to handle it and maybe to even personify your problems a little bit. Maybe you're seeing this Jareth guy around because you're looking for a guy, or maybe even for something that his image provided when you first dreamt it. You're obviously searching for something, and this is kind of like your brain laying breadcrumbs to try to help you find it. I'm not sure what to tell you. Maybe take a vacation, get on Tinder, hell, I don't know, maybe even let this Jareth guy get some in your dreams—"

"Jess!" Sarah scolded, mortified.

"What? It might fix your issues. I'm just saying."

Sarah was silent at this, feeling completely overwhelmed. Jessica could see it, too, because she laid a hand on her shoulder before saying, "For now, all you can do is go to bed and get some rest." Jess got up and picked up the peach from the floor. "Whatever happens in your dreams is one thing, but let's try to keep it contained there and not let it bleed into the real world." She tossed the peach into the garbage can beneath the sink.

"Amen to that," Sarah muttered, rising from the couch.

"Listen to me," Jessica said, bracing her hands against Sarah's shoulders and looking into her face intently. "Get some rest. Everything is going to be fine."

Sarah drew Jess into a hug. "Thank you for listening to me and not making me feel like a total idiot."

"Of course."

The two separated, and Sarah grabbed her phone off the table before heading into the bathroom to get ready for bed. It had been a long day, and she was already exhausted.

Before brushing her teeth, Sarah unscrewed the cap of the Nyquil, turned the bottle upside down, and…

Nothing came out.

Cursing, Sarah looked inside only to find that the bottle was empty. She had used it all up, and with so much of her energy focused on the play, she had completely forgotten to go out and buy more.

Brushing her teeth, Sarah began pacing the floor anxiously before she stopped herself, thinking about Jess's words. This was exactly the kind of stress her friend was talking about! It was no wonder she was turning into a basket case. The labyrinth wasn't real, and neither was he. She was working herself up over nothing.

Sarah was starting to feel like she needed a drink, too. But she rinsed her mouth, changed into some boyshorts and a t-shirt, and climbed into her bed wearily. She forced herself to take a deep, steadying breath. She listened to the sound of the wind and the rain, and even with the thunder and lightning outside, she found herself drifting off to sleep.

*break*

Hours later, Sarah was sound asleep while the storm continued to rage outside. A nearby tree began to tap on her window, but Sarah did not wake. She tossed and turned in her sleep, almost as if she were trying to run. Quietly, she began to speak under her breath.

"I wish…"

There was an air of anticipation in the silent, empty room as Sarah's murmuring continued.

"I wish…the goblins…would…"

Outside, a large owl seeking shelter in a tree watched through her bedroom window.

"Would…come and…take me away…"

She had muttered brief words before in her sleep, but never the full sentence, not since that fateful night.

"…Right now."

And without a moment of hesitation, Sarah was gone.