Title: The Wishes of Sarah Williams
Prompt by: luneur
Rating: PG-13/T
Originally posted: April 2024
Notes: for Unsent Letters 2024 at Dreamwidth and AO3.
This story takes June 27, 1986 to be the day Sarah completed the Labyrinth (the original US release date of the movie) and assumes she was 16 at that time.
July 27, 1986
It isn't fair. I know that's childish to say, but it's also true. My life is completely unfair. For a month now, I have been trying so hard, for my dad, for Toby, even for the step-monster, but it's not easy. Why is it so hard for them to treat me like an adult? Other people don't find it that hard. Not that he was a person exactly. Whatever he was, he understood me better than any of the people around here, and I hate it! I hate that I have to live this stupid life. I am destined for better, for greatness. Don't they know I could be ruling a kingdom by now? An actual kingdom! Beloved by my subjects, with a king who was willing to be my slave.
Sometimes, I'm sure I should have stayed in the Underground. I had friends there, real friends who understood. And I had him. Why couldn't I just take the deal? Why couldn't I have stayed? Because I was stupid. I thought it was so important to save Toby from the goblins, to get back home. Some home. They wouldn't care if I disappeared again. I don't even think they would notice, except for when they needed someone to take care of something they didn't want to do themselves.
I wish I could have spent this summer with my mom. She said that I could, but of course, that fell through. She and Jeremy have better things to do. So, here I am again, left holding the baby, while Irene and Dad do whatever they want. They should make the most of it, because I won't be around forever. Two more years and I'll be gone, to college or just out into the world, I don't know for sure. If I can't go back to the Underground, and I guess that I can't, then I'll just have to find my freedom somewhere else.
My will is as strong as theirs, and my kingdom will be far greater. Nobody will have power over me!
December 31, 1986
It was a miracle Dad even let me go to the New Years party. I practically had to beg, but I actually thought it would be worth it. Of course, I was wrong. I should have known better than to think I would have a good time at one of those lame parties the popular kids throw. Why did I even believe that Danny Smith liked me? All he wanted was to add another virgin to his long list of conquests. As if I would ever! With him, of all people!
Not that it's entirely his fault, I guess. I did say yes when he asked me to go to the party. I suppose I made him think that I liked him, which probably wasn't fair. Not that he seemed so bad, up to the point where he invited me up to his parents' bedroom. That was a big no!
Maybe if he had been somebody else. Who am I kidding? Definitely if he had been somebody else, but the guy that I'm dreaming about is barely even real. It's been six months and sometimes I actually think I dreamed the whole thing. I did, didn't I? The labyrinth, the goblin city, all those strange creatures, and him.
I can't even write his name. I think about him all the time, I dream about him, probably more than is healthy, but I can't write his name. All the girls in school, with crushes on movie stars and pop stars, they have names scrawled on their notebooks in love hearts and I could do the same, but how? How could I ever explain? They would think I was an even bigger loser than they already do, and after tonight, I don't even know what people will think now.
God, I wish I could escape, but I know I should be careful how I use that word, because what if it wasn't a dream? What if I really did go to that place? What if I really did wish and ended up back there again?
It wouldn't be the same. He probably had another dozen girls face his labyrinth by now and one of them probably accepted the offer that I turned down. He won't even remember me by now. Just another girl. Just another frigid virgin.
I hate Danny Smith. I hate him and his friends and everybody at that stupid party. I hate the whole entire year that we just lived through and if I do have a wish, it's that this new year is better. That something happens, that someone saves me from this life I'm living. I wish for my freedom. I wish. I really wish!
March 7, 1987
He's real! I tried to forget, I swear I did, but no matter how much I try to focus on reality or make the best of what's around me, he shows up again. Not actually, not like that one night when he came in through the window, so handsome and so frightening all at once, but it's almost as if he's around, all the time. Maybe that's just wishful thinking, and maybe it's dangerous to even consider, but there's no denying that he. is. real!
At the very least, I didn't make him up in my head. I was in the library, researching for an English paper, and while I'm searching the shelves, this book just jumps off into my hands. Okay, so maybe it just fell because of the people making out on the other side of the stacks, but still, I didn't pick it out on purpose. It was on myths and folklore, but I swear, I was just idly flipping through the pages and, suddenly, there he was. The Goblin King.
The drawing didn't really look all that much like him, but how do you even capture someone like that in one picture? It was him though, I know it was. They had about eight different names for him, kind of variations on spelling, but there was no doubting it was him. Apparently, there are a lot of stories about him. Some say he is king of a vast land that exists parallel to ours. Others say he makes people pass tests to win prizes, like eternal life or riches beyond measure. Lots of stories about wishes granted, and some more about him stealing children away.
Of course, Tara Perkins saw me with the book and started poking fun. Now I'm right back where I started, with people thinking I'm a child obsessed with fairytales. If only they knew. I seriously almost told them. I almost got right up in Tara's face and asked her who she thought she was talking to. Didn't she know I took on the Labyrinth and won? That I fought my way through a goblin city? That I brought the Goblin King to his knees?
As if she would understand if I told her. She would probably think I was crazy. Sometimes, I think I might just be, but it was real. I know it was. Someday, I'll prove it to them all. I don't know how yet, but I will. I hope I can. I so wish it were possible.
June 27, 1987
Has it really been a year? I know that it has, but it seems ridiculous to think so. I asked Toby about it, but he looked at me like I was crazy. I don't know what else I expected. He doesn't remember. He'll never remember. The only one who knows what happened is me. At least, the only person in this land that knows.
What's the point anyway?
August 3, 1987
Jareth. There, I finally wrote his name. I said it out loud today, for the first time since I last saw him. I told my mom all about my time in the Labyrinth. Of all people, I really thought she would believe me, but all she did was smile and pat my cheek and tell me I have the most wonderful imagination and that I should never lose it. Then she told me she and Jeremy had somewhere they had to be, so would I mind coming home early.
I thought this summer was going to be different, but it's not. Nothing is ever different anymore. Sometimes, I think I'm not meant for this world. More and more, I think that the Underground was always supposed to be my home. I don't know, maybe it wasn't Toby who was supposed to be taken by the goblins, maybe it was me. Maybe that's where I came from in the first place. It felt more like home than anywhere around here ever does.
I don't fit in. Not like I did with Hoggle and Ludo and Didymus. Not like I did when I danced at the ball with Jareth. As crazy as the whole thing was, it felt real to me. It was the kind of reality that I wanted. A perfect dream come true, but I was too scared to take the leap, to accept what was offered to me.
If only I could tell him I was sorry. That I changed my mind. Maybe it's all too late, but what if it's not? I mean, he could be missing me just as much as I miss him, right? It could be possible. Maybe he's just waiting for me to come back. God, if I knew how, I would go, right now.
Maybe it is just as simple as wishing. Maybe if I were brave enough to dare to try. Or maybe everything they say about me is true. Poor little Sarah, lost in a dreamworld. Crazy as a bag of cats. Her head is full of fairies. Well, the joke is on them. If my head were full of fairies, I would let them out to bite every one of them! Then maybe they would believe me. Maybe someday, someone else will believe in me. Someone other than Jareth.
November 28, 1987
Today, I am thankful for my brother, Toby. Not only did his temper tantrum completely destroy the pumpkin pie at dinner, splattering his mother with orange goo and making me laugh so hard, my sides hurt for hours, but when she tried to calm him down, he shook her off, and ran around and around the table, screaming for Jareth!
Obviously, she had no idea what he was talking about. My dad was clueless too. Of course, they asked me, but I said nothing. Just shook my head and bit my lip, trying not to laugh more, determined not to give anything away. After all, what could I tell them, even if I wanted to? It's not as if they would believe me. They never believe me. They never even listen.
I'm so done with this place and this life. I want to go where I'm wanted. I want to be what I'm supposed to be. I don't think whatever that is fits in this world. Maybe in the Underground.
I can hear Toby yelling again. Jareth, Jareth, Jareth! I think he wants him to come and take him away again. I know exactly how the kid feels.
February 14, 1988
Today is my 18th birthday. It's a miracle my dad and Irene remembered. Not that I got the car I asked for. No surprise there. They got me a pretty decent cake, complete with eighteen candles that I was required to blow out. Of course, Dad reminded me to make a wish. So, I did. I made the ultimate wish, but surprise, surprise, I'm still here.
Clearly, it's too late. Jareth really has given up on me. I guess my refusal when he offered me everything was too much to come back from. I don't think I'll ever regret anything more than that moment, but it's obviously too late now. It's over and I guess I'm just going to have to accept it and move on with my life.
June 27, 1988
The irony that tonight is prom night. Two years exactly since my first and only trip to the Underground, the night that I conquered the Labyrinth and stormed the goblin castle. Two years. Sometimes, it seems longer. Sometimes, it seems like no time at all.
I don't have a date for the prom. A couple of guys asked, but I just couldn't. They were never going to fit my dream or fulfil my wishes. Not that anybody is even listening to my wishes anymore. I wish they would. I wish he would.
Getting up from her desk, Sarah looked down at her prom dress, an almost perfect replica of the white sparkling gown she had worn to the ball, the one where she had danced with the literal man of her dreams. It had been real. He was real. Sarah was so tired of waiting for something else as wonderful to happen to her, waiting for her life to begin. She was eighteen years old now, an adult, a woman. She could make her own choices and nobody could stop her. She was even more powerful than she had been two years before, or she could be, if it was what she wanted.
Turning around, she faced the full-length mirror in the corner of her room, took a deep breath, met her own harsh gaze.
"Where are you when I need you most? Jareth, I'm sorry I couldn't stay before, but if you asked me again, I swear it would be different. I wish that it could be different. I wish you were here..."
"Sarah?" Her father's voice came loudly from below. "Are you ready to go, sweetheart?"
"Almost!" she yelled back, eyes fixed on the mirror yet.
"The cab is here. Don't be too long!"
She was going to prom alone. It ought to be embarrassing, but Sarah wasn't even sure she cared about that anymore. The opinions of others, the kids in school, the teachers, the people around town, even her parents. None of them understood. How could she blame them when she could hardly explain anyway?
"I wish," she intoned one more time, before turning away from the mirror and rushing out of the room.
Tripping down the stairs, she paused just long enough for one quick photograph and to kiss her dad's cheek as she passed him by.
"Goodbye, sweetheart," he told her, holding her almost too tightly as he hugged her and told her not to worry, to enjoy herself just as much as she could.
His voice sounded strange to her ears, his eyes almost glassy as if they were full of tears. Sarah hardly knew what to make of it, but shook it off in moments as she slipped outside into the dark. Holding up her skirt as she descended the porch steps, she didn't clearly see the man holding open the cab door for her until she was practically on top of him. When she finally did look up, her eyes grew wide and her jaw slack.
"Jareth?"
"Hello, Sarah," he told her smoothly.
He was as beautiful and frightening as he had ever been, every inch the Goblin King, even if he was a little toned down to fit better into her world. His hair was tamer, but his suit sparkled with glitter yet, his mismatched eyes and his smile as enigmatic and inviting as ever.
"How?"
"You made a wish, Sarah. For the first time since you left the Underground, you wished, out loud and with your whole heart, and so, it was done. I am here, for you."
"For me?" she gasped, shaking her head. "For prom?"
"For whatever you want," he assured her, "to go wherever you please. Sarah, you wished for me," he reminded her again. "That wish was binding. I am yours if you agree to the offer you once refused. Just fear me, love me-"
"I do," she told him before he could say another word. "You know that I do. Nobody else measures up. I wanted them to, but they couldn't."
Jareth smiled slowly, drew her close in his arms, "Then I will be your slave," he told her softly, just before their lips met.
The End
