Chapter 4
"Hey Sarah!" called a girly voice half way across the store. Sarah was half way up a ladder stacking a shelf with storybooks but nearly fell due to the shock of this voice. She turned her head and saw Kelly. Her best friend from High school. Sarah jumped down and the two women ran in to one and others arms.
"Kelz! What the hell are you doing here?" Sarah said with tear glazed eyes. She was so happy to see this woman. It had been almost six months since she had seen her last.
"Just came to see how the owner of the BIGGEST TOY STORE IN NEW YORK IS DOING!" Kelly blurted out.
"Honestly Sarah, this is amazing! I always knew you had a fascination for toys and childish things but I never thought you'd make it this big! I'm so proud of you" Kelly continued to shout whilst looking around the shelves. Sarah was just glad that the store was empty at this point as Kelly would have been loud enough to cause a scene.
Sarah knew she needed to butt in soon. She loved Kelly dearly but she could talk for a year on end if no one stopped her.
"Enough about me Kelz. What about you?" Sarah said whilst holding Kelly's shoulders in an attempt to keep her still
"Oh honey! I have so much to tell you! What time do you normally close?" Kelly impatiently asked. Sarah glanced at the clock which read 6:45 pm.
"In about 15 minutes but there is no harm in closing now" Sarah said with a huge smile on her face.
Sarah closed the shop and took Kelly to her favourite Italian restaurant to catch up. Although Kelly was doing most of the talking about her job promotion in work and becoming engaged to a man who she has known for a little over three months. Sarah was glad to listen to her motor mouth friend. Kelly had always been the hyper one who everyone wanted to talk to or be friends with or even date. Sarah was just seen as the quite girl who tagged along with her head in a book. But Kelly never saw it that way, she loved Sarah's mature quality and she felt they were a perfect match. It seemed she was right.
"… but seriously honey, Brad is amazing! He's kind and sweet and thoughtful and handsome and…"
"You say this about every guy you meet Kelly" Sarah thought to herself.
"And I know I say this about every guy I meet but there's something about him. He's just different…"
"You say THAT about every guy you meet as well Kelly!" Sarah thought and this time responded with a laugh.
"What's so funny?" Kelly suddenly asked.
"Hmm? Oh nothing" Sarah responded with a sigh as though all of Kelly's talking had worn HER out.
"Anyway!" Kelly suddenly blurted out "What about you Sarah? Any man at all"
Sarah's least favourite part of a conversation. Not just with Kelly but with anyone. There never were any men in her life. Whenever she thought of men all she could think of was Jareth and that scared her too much. That and being busy with the store, it never left her time to find someone. Much to her friends and her family's disgust. Everyone in her life wishes she would find someone, particularly her step mother. With this new stronger relationship that they were both grateful for, her step mothers concern grew for Sarah constantly being on her own in the big city. Sarah kept explaining that she was fine on her own and did not want a man. She knew she couldn't tell anyone why she was scared of looking for a man as they would ask why. Sarah could never tell them that no matter how much she wanted to. People would think that she was crazy and she wouldn't risk their safety if they knew the truth. In this aspect of her life, she was less lucky.
Sarah managed with ease to steer Kelly away from the subject of men and instead on to the subject of work.
"My turn to ask the questions Sarah. This toy store of yours, where in hell did you get the name? The Oublia- no, Oublee- no not that, the Ou…"
"Oubliette!" Sarah corrected
"That's it!" Kelly said as though she herslef had remembered it. "Where did you get that name?"
"From something I had heard in a dream" Sarah said feeling a hint of fear as she recalled the real reason she heard that word.
"You liar" Kelly said in a jokey tone. "Seriously where did you get it? Because the word "oubliette" rings a bell for me.
Sarah felt a rush of panic rise and fall very quickly as she remembered the reason why Kelly would remember.
"Do you remember the play I used to contently read when we were kids?" Sarah asked Kelly
"Honey, you read dozens of plays! How am I supposed to remember just one of them?" Kelly joked again.
"It was called the Labyrinth" Sarah said quietly and feeling uneasy at the mention of its name. It held so many memories. Good and bad.
"Now that I remember, it was the one about the goblins wasn't it? And the Goblin King! The one who went "You have thirteen hours to solve the Labyrinth before bla bla bla…" Kelly quoted the Goblin king in the most pompous and stuck up British accent she could manage. This made Sarah laugh not only at Kelly but at what Jareth would think of someone quoting him like that in such a way.
"I remember that play better than the others" Kelly said in seriousness after she had finished making fun of Jareth.
"I don't know why but it has always stayed with me. Maybe it's because of how many times a heard you or saw you reading it. You loved that play so much. But then you stopped."
Sarah looked up a Kelly who was now looking at her with concern.
"You just stopped reading it all together." Kelly continued. "I've always wondered about that Sarah. Did anything happen that weekend because you really seemed to change. All you said you did was babysat Toby which you always hated. Did anything else happen that night?" Kelly had now dropped the hyperactive nature and replaced it with serious worry.
Sarah felt so conflicted. Kelly was a girl with whom she shared everything. She was like her sister. And yet she could not tell her the truth about why she changed that night. She wanted to tell her so badly but she couldn't. She knew she could never confess to her what she did and how it changed her life forever.
"No, nothing happened" Sarah lied reassuringly and Kelly seemed to drop the matter. For now.
After another battle of questions, Sarah and Kelly left the restaurant and headed through the streets towards Sarah's home. Sarah invited Kelly to stay with her all the time she was in New York and Kelly accepted the invitation. They passed through the dark maze of streets which were filled every kind of light imaginable. Sarah always thought a dark night in New York was like a magical land all on its own. Rainbows of light were mesmerising against the black sky and both Sarah and Kelly were captivated by it.
On their way through the streets, Sarah pointed out every building they passed like the court house, the library and both the schools. Sarah had gotten to know the city well since she moved here and Kelly loved to be told anything by Sarah.
They continued to midnight sightsee until Sarah spotted her house at the end of the street that was quieter than the centre of the city. The two women started to cross the road and Kelly walked a little faster. She was in the middle of the road before Sarah and continued to walk. The peaceful night air was suddenly shattered by the sound of screeching tyres. A car darted round the corner and sped towards the women. Sarah threw herself back on to the pavement but Kelly was too far from either side. She stood frozen and wide eyed staring at the car coming towards her. The car screeched as the drunk driver slammed the breaks but it was too close. The car hit Kelly and she tumbled over the bonnet, then the roof and fell off of the other end. Sarah couldn't move, she wanted to scream but nothing happened. She watched Kelly lie motionless in the road and heard the car crash into a letterbox which stopped it. Kelly didn't move. Her features were invisible to Sarah as the black night clouded her and left only a silhouette in the middle of the road. She lay on her back with her head facing the sky. Sarah clambered up to her feet but her legs would not hold her. She tumbled back down to the floor banging her knees. She tore her purse open ripping the fabric and ferreted around for her phone. Her hands and fingers trembled as she managed to dial a number
"911, what's your emergency?"
