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What Dreams May Come


"Sarah, wake up" said a man's voice coming from the dark.

"No" she heard herself mumble.

"Wake up"


Sarah sat straight up. She heard a distant banging and immediately recognized it as the sound of someone knocking at the front door.

She whined as she rolled out of bed and stumbled out into the living room. In her half-awake state, she assumed it was Erica and opened the door without question.

"Again with the losing keys..." her voice trailed off.

There was no one.

Her eyes adjusted to her surroundings. Now she was awake. Timidly, she poked her head out into the hallway. A sudden and strong wind blew from one end of the hall to the other. The lights above were yellow, dull, and ominously flickering, like always, leaving the corridor mostly dark. A cat scurried in front of the door. Sarah jumped back with a squeak and then laughed at herself.

Assuming it was many on of the many cats that belonged to her quiet neighbor, she stepped out to call it over. Her door slammed shut behind her. Another surprised squeak escaped from her. She took a deep breath.

"That was a bit creepy" she told herself.

She jiggled the knob. Locked.

"You've gotta be kidding me" she sighed and rested her head on the door, "What now?"

She was only wearing a t-shirt and didn't really want to wait for Erica to come home with a the spare key.

"Meow" the cat called sitting at the end of the hall.

She knelt down, "Come here, Kitty"

It tilted its head and twitched its tail but refused to move.

"Fine" she said beginning to approach it.

"Don't" said an odd and sudden thought.

It stopped her for a moment, but she wasn't afraid of the creepy hallway, or the slamming door, or weird unexplained drafts. Fear fears Sarah Williams. Or so she inwardly told herself as she continued onwards. As soon as she got close it ran off to the left down the next hall. She picked up the pace keeping a close eye on its movements. Even following it upstairs and down other halls. She hadn't noticed how dark it had suddenly become until, the cat ran into a shadow and dissolved into the darkness. She stopped and looked around at her surroundings. Sick to her stomach with fear, she realized that things were not right. No city sounds and the air seemed to a standstill. She looked left and right to find the wallpaper was peeling off and mud was caked onto what remained. It smelled like dried blood and decay. Her ears began to echo her ever increasing heart rate. She went to turn back.

"Sarah" hissed a ghastly voice from behind.

Sarah used what little courage she had left to face it, "Who are you?" she demanded.

The figure she saw had greasy black hair covering its face. Each limb thin and unnaturally long. Its arms reached the floor. The creature had to hunch over to fit itself in the narrow corridor.

"What the fuck?" she whispered.

Its head slowly tilted upwards revealing a mask-like face, gaunt, with large black empty eyes, and a jagged grin. A deep wretched chuckle echoed from the back of its throat. It slowly raised its arm. A loud snap followed every joint movement.

Its other arm followed the first and then its legs, moving slowly. She took a step back. Her own legs were now shaky and her heart was beating out of her chest.

She was about to turn around when an invisible arm wrapped around her waist. And just like that she heard the sounds of cars and smelled the scent of fresh air, and she was no longer in the hallway but on the roof.

"Sarah"

She was being held by a familiar face.

"Goblin King?" she gasped out of breath from her adrenal rush.

He was just how she had remembered him. Messy golden hair, stern yet entrancing mismatch eyes, even the royal garb. She reached out and touch his smooth pale face to be doubly sure he was there.

"Thank the gods. I thought I'd lost you completely"

She gasped again and pulled herself away from him.

"Where'd it go?" she said searching the roof.

"I am not entirely sure as to what you are talking about, but whatever it was, was a hallucination. Someone had sent a sort of shadow creature after you and it had taken hold of your mind"

She looked over where she must've been standing before he pulled her away. If she would've run from that thing she would've stepped off the roof's ledge.

"It was going to kill me" she muttered to herself.

"We have to go" he said grabbing her upper arm.

"No" she pulled away, "This doesn't make sense. What just happen?" she ask wrapping her arms around herself

"There is no time" he said frustrated, "Sarah, do not let fear blur your reason"

"Goblin King... This must be a dream" Sarah worried running her fingers nervously through her hair.

"It's Jareth, and really does it matter if you're sane or if this is a dream? This is your reality now, and you'd be foolish not to accept it... Please Sarah, you must come with me"

"No, no, no" Sarah said taking a step back, "This is crazy"

He grabbed her by the sides of her arms, "Sarah you need to gather yourself. I understand this is unsettling, but you must put it aside and come with me"

She took a few deep breaths.

"I don't trust you" she said firmly, "Why are you trying to help me?"

He took her hand "Trust isn't a requirement"

Reluctantly, she went with him. He smiled and began running them over to the fire escape.

"Wait. What are you doing?"

"I honestly thought that'd be obvious" he said ignoring her protests, "The building is compromised we must leave"

"I'm only wearing a t-shirt" she said using her free hand to pull it down.

He pushed her towards the ladder, "Yes, well, I'm dressed like royalty from another world you'll be fine. Besides, it's most likely unsafe for you to return to your apartment, and from what I understand your outfit is practically acceptable wear on this earth"

What was earlier a welcoming night, was now cold. She went down and he followed behind her as fast as they could safely go. When they reached the bottom he took her arm again and lead her towards the street, glancing around cautiously as he did so.

"Where is your car?" he asked.

"Right over there" she pointed at the old coupe, "but the keys are in the apartment"

"That's alright" he ran them over and released her.

He approached the driver's side, and she saw him put his palm flat on the lock. There was the sound of the lock releasing, then he got in and unlocked her side. As she hopped in she watched him perform the same trick on the ignition. The car started.

He glanced over at her, "It doesn't take much to impress you then?" he said as he pulled onto the street.

She hadn't noticed how awestruck she looked, "Not really. I live in the city. Plenty of people start people's car without a key and proceed to take it without permission everyday"

"Honestly Sarah, I am no common criminal"

"You're right, kidnapping is a felony" she said rubbing her hands together to get warm.

He sighed and grinned "You asked me to take your little brother, love"

"My name is Sarah, not love, and I didn't mean Toby, I meant me. The whole come-with-me-if-you-wish-to-live bit. Maybe you could ya fill me in?"

"You're going to have to be a little more specific than that"

"Why am I in the car with you at 3am? Where are you taking me? What the fuck just happened?" she questioned turning up the heat to get comfortable.

"You have quite the tongue don't you" he said coolly.

"Jareth..." She warned when he ignored her questions.

"The simplest answer I can give you for your first question is, it's in your best interest. And then for the second, we are going to visit my sister. The third, I'm quite sure you experienced some sort of possession"

"Why are we going there? Where is it?"

"Because we will be safe there, and luckily she's in your city tonight attending to some business" he explained.

"Are we in danger right now?" she asked her voice started to sound stressed again.

"That's why we're taking your car instead of using magic. As long as we keep moving we'll be fine"

"Who's coming after us?"

"You are an unlimited source of questions, yes? I haven't driven for more than half a century and I would like to be able to concentrate. Just take a deep breath and relax, I won't let anything happen to you"

"Why didn't you say so, I could've drove?" she said reaching for her seat belt.

"Shh darling, I'm concentrating remember, and besides you're a bit overexcited at the moment"

"Psh, overexcited" she muttered.

She crossed her arms watching the city pass. The normalcy of the city night seemed bizarre seeing how her night was now nothing but normal. Then suddenly she noticed that they seemed like they were driving in circles.

"Do you even know where you're going?" she sighed leaning her head against the cool window.

"Of course. This place isn't meant to be easy to find" he assured.

As far as she could see they were now, literally going in circles. It was their third time around the block now. They went around once more. She anticipated seeing the same street but instead the surrounding was completely different.

She sat forward in surprise, as they pulled to the side of the road. There was not another car in sight. All but about three street lights lit the block and with what little light they granted her she was able to see that she was on an abandon street block.

"Here?" she was feeling extremely uncomfortable.

"Yes here. I need to explain this to you quickly. There has been a spell cast over this place to keep away mortals"

"That's fine, I'll wait in the car"

"That would be the kind of mentality the spell is meant to give you" he informed.

"No spell needed. We are in the shadiest looking place I've ever seen. It's like crackhouse city. If I leave the car I don't think I'll be getting it back again"

"It would be terribly unwise to wait here" he said getting out of the car.

Sarah took a deep breath, "Yes Sarah, get in the car with a complete, potentially imaginary, stranger after experiencing hallucinations" she said to herself and got out of the car.

He started to walk, but she stuck by the car. She could easily have said that she had never felt so on edge. There was a fear in her stomach that she couldn't properly place. The cold night air that sent chills up her spine wasn't exactly helping either. He noticed and walked back to retrieve her.

"You have my word that there is nothing to fear. That is unless you decide to stay out here"

"Yeah. Okay" she said taking another deep breath then walking with him.

He lead her to a large double door townhouse. It looked a little out of place, but it blended right in with the beat up siding and the boarded up windows the rest of the neighborhood bared. As he reached for the door she became very nervous and reached for his free hand. She squeezed his hand and bit her lip to keep herself from yelling at him to stop. He looked back at her a moment with a smiled then opened the doors.