Author's note: Juts a bit of a warning for you lot, towards the end of the chapter it gets a little dark, viewer discretion is advised.
Sarah grabbed the brown package and walked back out into the hallway, where Lizzie was sitting on the floor. Sarah knelt down by her friend and placed a hand on her shoulder. "Lizzie, did you call the police?" She nodded mutely.
"They should be here in a few minutes." She said, her voice sounding almost like she was going to cry. Sarah squeezed her shoulder and then sat down next to her. "Your stuff wasn't touched at all." Lizzie turned to look at her, raising one eyebrow. Sarah knew exactly what Lizzie was trying to ask. "My room is trashed, and the sofa has a few shredded cushions. We're gonna need more lightbulbs…" Sarah trailed off and started thinking.
First Jareth had messed with her car that afternoon, and he had pretended that he hadn't seen her last night in class that day. But now this. Now he had invaded her home and destroyed everything that she owned, just to get back at her for beating him. Sarah clenched her hand and then remembered the package in her hand. Lizzie noticed the package at the same time and she tore it out of Sarah's hands, turning it over and over, looking for some sort of identifying mark.
"This is from Brad isn't it?" Lizzie said as she started to get more and more angry. "That asshole just can't leave you alone can he? I swear I'm going to rip out his neck and…"
"Liz, stop it. The police are going to be here soon and if they hear you talking like that they're going to think that you're a sociopath." Lizzie handed the package back to Sarah and crossed her arms.
Sarah took a deep breath and leaned her head against the wall, her eyes closing. Lizzie mentioning Brad had forced a funny feeling into her bones. Brad was her ex from Freshman year. He was three years older, and at first Sarah thought his flashing smile was dashing, and that his bad boy image was one of the sexiest things around. Of course that was before the night at the bonfire.
Sarah shuddered and wrapped her arms closer around her. She still had scars on her stomach from him pulling the knife on her. Sarah bit down on her lip as she tried to fight back tears. Lizzie typically knew better than to bring Brad up around her, but she was scared, and Sarah knew that. Lizzie placed one of her hands on Sarah's arm and squeezed lightly.
"Sarah, it's ok. He can't hurt you." Lizzie said as she tried to comfort her friend. Then they saw the flash of blue lights outside and Lizzie sighed. "The cops are here. Do you want me to deal with them or…"
"No." Sarah cut her off and opened her eyes. "I'll tell them what's up." Sarah stood on shaky legs, her little package from Jareth momentarily forgotten on the floor. She stretched, and then sighed. The elevator dinged, and two officers stepped out of the elevator and headed towards Sarah and Lizzie.
Sarah sighed as the officers left. The questioning seemed to take forever, and by the time it was over Sarah had already missed her afternoon class. She sighed. It was only an intro level art class, and she was sure that if she emailed her professor about what happened that she would be excused. She sighed and ran her fingers through her hair, just as she heard a knock on the still partially open door. She moved to open the door and smiled slightly when she saw Lizzie. "Hey Liz." Lizzie smiled back and walked in, carrying three large grocery bags. Sarah helped her unload, laughing lightly when she realized that Lizzie had bought at least thirty light bulbs to replace the broken ones.
"What?" She asked innocently as she moved into the living room to replace the light bulbs in the living room. "We needed light bulbs. I wasn't too keen on sleeping here with absolutely no light." Sarah nodded and pulled everything else out of the grocery bags. Lizzie had also bought three pints of chocolate ice cream, some instant noodles, and quite a few containers of tea and hot chocolate.
Sarah started putting things away and then set a pot of water to boil. It was funny, but getting her apartment broken into made her hungry. Sarah moved back into the living room, only to see Lizzie staring at the brown package. Sarah had left it on the coffee table, trying to forget about it, but it wasn't working.
"Sarah. You have to open it." Lizzie said. "First you didn't tell the police about it and now you're just letting it sit here. I saw what that maniac did to your room." Sarah crossed her arms. "If you don't open it I will." Sarah sighed and took a step closer to the package. She looked down at the unoffending package and took a deep breath before she reached out and tore a small corner of the paper off. Lizzie moved closer to look at the package and cocked an eyebrow when all that could be seen was a black box underneath. "Go on." Liz said, waving her hands.
Sarah sucked in another breath and then picked the package up in shaking hands. She continued tearing the strange brown paper off of the box and finally the paper was on the floor, the thin black box in her hands. Sarah grasped the lid gingerly and pulled, the lid sliding off the box with ease. Sarah looked down at the thing, half in wonder half in fear, and Liz pressed closer, her head hanging over the box.
"A necklace?" She said simply, her blue eyes returning to Sarah's face. "What on earth…some maniac broke into our apartment just to give you a necklace" She shook her head absently. "Sarah we have to tell the police…Sarah?" Lizzie looked at her friend, concern written on her features. Sarah seemed enrapt with the necklace, her eyes never leaving it.
One of Sarah's hands moved towards the necklace, as she felt almost compelled to touch it, and finally when her fingertips brushed against the cool chain she dropped to the floor, seemingly dead. Lizzie's eyes widened and she moved to check for a pulse.
Sarah felt like she was floating through an endless fog, tendrils of the stuff caressing and carrying her to her destination, wherever that was. She opened her eyes gingerly and realized that she truly was floating, soft grey clouds carrying her to an unknown destination. She sat up slightly, her head screaming out in protest. One hand moved to rub at her temples, while the other supported her. She tried looking down over the edge of the cloud but she could see nothing underneath her, just an empty void. She shivered and ran her hands up and down her arms, and that's when she realized that something wasn't right. She looked down and swore under her breath lightly. She was wearing a Grecian inspired dress, one that flowed all the way down to her feet. It was grey in color, and the small sleeves that wrapped around her upper arms were heavily beaded. She also noted that there were winding bracelets that traveled from her wrists up to her elbows, molded to look like snakes. Finally the cloud started to descend and when it touched down Sarah was in an eerily familiar place.
Chunks of stone were floating around her, suspended in air. She stepped off of the cloud, sandals making almost no noise on the stone. She looked around, trying to take in her surroundings, and her eyes passed over the great stone arch more than once, almost swearing that she could see pieces of white cloth wafting around the corner.
Her feet moved forward of their own accord, taking her towards the archway. She stood under the arch and looked from side to side before stepping into the darkness. She took a few steps before strong arms wrapped around her, pulling her backwards, and she screamed as her feet lost contact with the ground and she was falling backwards. Her arms flailed wildly as she tried to make contact with anything and then suddenly she wasn't falling anymore.
Sarah was laying on a bed, one that was coated in plush pillows. Her fear leached out of her bones, leaving her calm and tranquil. The fire near the bed roared to life and Sarah's eyes wandered around the room, trying to soak it all in. That's when she noticed a pair a glowing eyes watching her from one of the shadowed corners of the room.
Jareth stepped forward from the corner, wearing nothing but black lounge pants and an open black robe. Sarah felt her heart flutter in anticipation, her dream-like state not alerting her to the danger that was clear in Jareth's eyes. He stepped closer, making absolutely no sound as he moved. Sarah could feel a strange sensation overcome her, and as he moved closer she became more and more relaxed, not wanting to move at all.
Jareth was silent as he climbed onto the bed with her, his eyes burning into hers. He moved over to her, one gloved hand moving to caress her face. Sarah hummed and her eyes fluttered shut. It was strange to feel this trusting, and a small voice in the back of her mind was screaming at her, yelling at her to get out of there but she wasn't listening.
Jareth loomed over her, his eyes grazing over her face. He leaned down, his lips brushing over hers. Sarah whimpered and her lips parted, out of surprise and almost out of desire. His hand traced over her neck, and down her side. His tongue snaked out of his mouth and gently parted her lips further. Sarah whimpered again, her inner voice silenced by his bold move. Jareth's tongue retreated, and a growl broke over his lips as he bit down on her lower lip. Sarah's eyes shot open, fear starting to creep into her mind once more.
She pushed against his chest, the inner voice finally breaking through, screaming her name to get her attention. Sarah shifted under him, trying to break free, but he grasped her wrists and forced them over her head. Sarah tried to fight him but his magic froze her, and silenced her. Sarah had finally broken out of her dream state, realizing how much danger she was truly in. Tears tracked down her cheeks, and Jareth ran one of his fingers over her tear, collecting it on his finger. That same finger went into his mouth and he hummed, a small smirk on his face when he released his finger from his mouth.
"Your fear both tastes and smells delicious Sarah mine." He murmured, his hands moving to her neck, tightening momentarily. Sarah felt her breath hitch, and she tried to break the hold he had on her but she couldn't even break the spell she was under. His hands moved from her neck and went to the neckline of her dress, brushing his hands over her chest before grabbing the fabric and ripping harshly. Sarah internally screamed, wanting this nightmare to end. The dress ripped to her navel, and Jareth's eyes drank in her form. His hands traced over her breasts and then the tightened his hold, almost possessing her with his hold.
"SARAH!" The room started to shake and Jareth swore, sitting up before he started looking around wildly. Sarah took a deep breath and waited. "Sarah wake up, you're scaring me!" Sarah felt dizzy, and almost half formed. Sarah started to phase in and out of reality, and Jareth looked down, a mad gleam in his eye.
"Don't you dare." He snarled, a storm starting to brew in the bedroom.
"Sarah, I swear to all that is holy if you don't wake up I'm going to kill you." Sarah blinked once, twice, three times and then she was back on the floor of her living room, the necklace gripped so tightly in her hand that it felt like it was burning her. Sarah dropped the necklace just in time for Lizzie to rush over, dumping a bucket of water on her. Sarah spluttered and then glared up at her friend. Lizzie shrieked and squatted down next to her, pulling Sarah into a wet hug.
"I thought you were dead! You just fainted and you wouldn't wake up." Lizzie continued ranting and Sarah took a deep breath, grabbing the necklace before replacing it in its box and sitting up.
"I'm fine Liz. I promise." Unbeknownst to her dark bruises started to appear on her neck.