She was slipping. She groaned as the light came around her eyes. Had she slept outside all night? No, it must have been days. She tried to recall the memories before she fell asleep. She moved her hand to her forehead, forbidding the opening of her eyes. The wind kissed her cheeks.
Let's see, from the beginning? Yes, she decided. That was as good as any other place to start. It all started with Laura's idea to go camping. She had a tent, a cheap tent. Invite some people and enjoy spring break getting high, laid, and drunk. Laura had a lot of friends, and quickly the camping trip had developed into an outdoor orgy—or that had become the idea. Sarah had only agreed because the word high was involved. Community weed was fun.
Then they were there. After driving several hours out of town they found some private property to settle upon and make their nest. It had belonged to someone in the group, or their parents or something. Sarah couldn't remember. She tried to count the amount of joints she rolled, or the amount of swallows she had had of beer. She quickly lost count. She had remembered, David. AHA! That was his name. She recalled the way his eyes had ravished her body while the group was setting up the tent.
Then she remembered inhaling the smoke. She could still feel the foliage caressing the inside of her throat with their taste and scent. It felt good.
But. . . what was after that?
Obviously she wasn't in the tent. . . was she? She was slightly in fear of the outside world. She took a slow breath and sat up releasing her vision.
At first, the scene was too bright. Everything was too bright. White was the better word to describe it. Her head screamed now against the opening of her eyes. Why, it cried in protest, Why would you do this to me?
The pain subsided slowly. And she took a breath.
She really wished in that moment she could recall the rest of the night, for now she was in a very nice hotel room. That's what it was, right? A hotel room? Where else would she be?
Her bed, a four poster bed, with of course a white, canopy-type curtain draped all the way around her. That explained the white. The sheets matched the slightly see-through curtains. A balcony, or a very large window, was open to her left allowing the wind to drift inside. Directly in front of her was an armoire, tall and detailed. A fire place was next to it, but there was no fire. There was a door across from the balcony—well double, wooden doors, either way, an exit. She noted several objects as decoration, such as profound pieces of artworks on her maroon walls, and chairs left sitting haphazardly in front of the fireplace.
She clutched the sheet closer to herself. She still wore the same clothes from—was it last night? Yet, where was she? She felt into her jean pocket. Good, her stash remained. That would have worried her had it been gone. Her rolls were in her other pocket. She tossed the sheet aside and pulled the bed curtain open getting a Claritin-clear feeling of the room. Things were more exquisite than she first imagined.
This was an expensive hotel room. Probably the Hilton, but what was she doing here?
She stood on the carpeted floor noticing her shoes had been removed. She searched the room for her shoes and a telephone, but could find neither. She ran a hand through her dark hair. "What the Hell is all this."
She stepped to the door. She was curious for a moment. What would she find on the other side…? Did she really want to know? She pondered for a instant, but then gave into the temptation and pulled the hunk of wood towards her.
She was greeted by a hall. A long hall going both directions. Doors were spaced quite far apart on both walls. Sarah looked on her door to see if there was a number for a hotel room, but it was only adorned with a small crown near the top. The Suite.
She chose a direction and started walking. That was all she could really do.
But then, something caught her eye. Before her was something hopping along in the direction she was headed. It looked perhaps small enough to be a child. "Wait." She called after the thing. It paused for a moment, seemed to turn, but then hopped faster. Sarah sighed in frustration. She wasn't exactly fond of children at the moment, with Toby going through his 'toddler phases' —her father's name—and her job at the daycare with constant crying children. She just wished they would all listen.
She ran faster, perhaps she could follow the child to its parents. She saw it round a corner ahead of her. She sped up, passing a few windows and pieces of artwork as she did. She rounded the corner and nearly fell down a flight of stairs. She tried to catch her breath as she flew down the encircling stairs. With each step her head protested. God, I need coffee.
She couldn't help but remember a certain Escher work of art as she stepped down those stairs. She continued…how long were these stairs? She leaned over the railing…Quite a ways. She groaned, but continued at a slower pace.
How long had she been walking. These stairs…they were endless. And the child…where was it? She leaned against the wall, her heart pounding. God she wished she could pull out her weed and just let it burn away in her mouth. But not here, too dangerous. She wasn't exactly in the mood to be escorted out of a nice hotel by the police. No, thanks.
She looked back up the stairs. Maybe she would just hang in her room. She could easily sit on that awesome balcony and enjoy smoking outside. That sounded nice.
It was decided. Back to her free room it was. Questions on her reason for being there be damned. However, as she reached the top of her flight of stairs, the wall that was there before was gone. Now, there was a hall. A short hall, mind you. Streams of light poured in from the narrow windows on both sides of her. Fabrics rested on the sides with strange figures performing strange acts. She was curious about the disposition of the hotel, but a free room was a free room as far as she was concerned.
If she thought her room's doors were large, she quickly changed her mind when presented with the doors before her now. They were clearly there to say something along the lines of "That's right. Be jealous." Or at least, that's what she thought. She sighed at the overdone extravagance and assumed this would be the way to the front desk, though she could not be sure; she had never been to a fancy hotel before.
She stepped forward pushing the door opened. She could hear loud bustling noise as the door cracked, but as the room came into full view the entire room was hushed. She looked around her. Her breath caught in her throat as Goosebumps took hold of her arms.
Goblins stared at her from every direction, even a chicken on the floor beside her, refused to move. These creatures were adorned with an assortment of clothes ranging from expensive to raggish. Sarah's teeth began to chatter perhaps because of fear or excitement…or an over the top high. She couldn't decide.
"Where did I get that weed?" She asked herself quietly as the eyes continued to gawk at her in the fashion she gawked at them.
"If you are implying," Her eyes shot to the end of the room which seemed very far away. A shadow was slumped awkwardly in a circled chair, "That you are still intoxication, I have fixed that." His words were a growl, but that was not what Sarah was worried about.
Although the man was stepping off his pedestal and out of the convenient darkness that had enveloped him, Sarah already knew who he was. She took a step back, but only one, she knew from previous meetings, one could not just run from him. Not him.
Slowly the light played across his features, starting with those hilled boots of his. They clanked on the floor as he neared. Then his pants, seemingly of the leather variety—for they were squeezing a certain part quite tightly. Next, his arms and hands. He held a riding crop in his right, gloved hand and lightly tapped the end of the device into his left, gloved hand.
Sarah gasped and the goblins let out a giggle as the chickens fluttered. The man wasn't ready for this reaction, though. He flung the riding crop in the air causing the speed to create a swish noise. The room was once again silent.
He took a few more steps forward as the light began to head up his poet's shirt, past his family ornament around his neck, and then to his miss-matched eyes. He looked arrogantly down at Sarah as she shook before him.
"Jareth." Were the words that escaped her lips before she stumbled backwards, this time, however, she caught herself.
The Goblin King smiled. So, she remembered. This was good, he thought. He had not been aware she was awake, which distantly perturbed him. She had slept at least three days—underground days. He would have liked her reintroduction to this world to be a bit less surprising, given her current state of affairs. He didn't trust her mind.
"Leave us." His voice dominated the room. There was a loud rustling, but then the room was silent, except for Sarah's breathing.
"Why…" She shook her head bringing her hands to her temples. "What am I?" She couldn't finish her words. '…Doing here.' Her breath, she could not control it. Her anger and fear molded together.
Jareth rolled his eyes. "I believe the name of your species is human." He began circling her. He took in her details now; oh, how Sarah had changed. She was no longer the starry-eyed Sarah he knew—was that the right word?—but a victim of the world, of adulthood.
She stomped her foot and pressed her hands harder into her face. "I'm not here. I'm not here. Wake up, Sarah. Wake up!" It was not working. Her head was beginning to hurt again with all the pressure. So many emotions rolled through her. What was she supposed to do?
The King moved back in front of her then. Her eyes opened back up, her face unmasking her fright.
"Assuredly, you are not sleeping." Jareth grinned. "You have wished yourself here, of your freewill." He hid a cringe. Was it freewill when she was clearly under a spell cast by a plant?
Her fingers dropped to her sides. "No." She chanted. "I would never do such a thing." She tried desperately to call forth her memories again, but they were too shrouded. There was a moon, trees, and bricks. Yet, nothing was coherent.
Jareth plucked a crystal from the air and without saying a word, he held out to Sarah. She stared at the object hesitant for a second, but against her better judgment, she took it.
"What is it?" Sarah's voice cracked under fear and stress.
"It's a crystal. Nothing more. But if you turn it this way and look into it, it will show you how you arrived here." He grinned at his use of familiar words. He wondered if she had also shared in his joke, but her vivid emotions told him, that no, she had not. She was much to occupied with the device she was holding.
She turned it the way he ordered. David was there a moment, was he kissing her, the view was hazy. She saw herself suck on a roll, but suddenly she was running away from David. Then she was just walking. . . walking through the forest. The night was around her. Sarah watched as her form in the crystal ball slipped down a steep hill, rolled over a log, and landed in a creek hitting her head on large, jagged rock hiding within the dank ground. There she laid. Nothing was happening within the crystal as blood began to pool around her body with her arm disheveled at her side.
Then she heard a quiet whisper emit from her mouth. "I wish the Goblin King would take me away."
The crystal cleared, it was just blank. Sarah stared at her reflection. Then she shot an angry glance at the man before her.
"But I didn't mean it! I was high and drunk!"
His smile grew wider as took the orb from her fingers. He tossed it into the air; it didn't come back down. "Oh, Sarah, you never mean it, do you?"
"Don't you understand what that means?" She pleaded. "I wasn't sober, Jareth."
The king winced at such a casual use of his name. He grabbed the girl in front of him by the shoulders. She cowered before him.
"Not sober? Is that the phrase you use to describe someone with brain damage?" He didn't wait for her answer as he continued. "You were dieing, Sarah. For a most stupid reason. In your last words, what did you decide to do? You called for me, Sarah. You called for me. I fixed your head. I cleaned up your wounds with the help of some magic and I let you heal. In short, dear, I've saved your life."
He paused now to let her soak in the information. He realized the tension in his hand had grown so he released her shoulders to find her shaking. She looked up to him, tears filling her eyes. "And, now?"
He let a small laugh leave his lips. "Now? Precious, you belong to me."