She lay back on the bed, staring at the ceiling in moody silence. The rain fell in a soft, steady deluge, while the thunder rolled low in the distance.

Predictably, her father had knocked on the door to 'talk' to her but was easily turned away. It hurt… really hurt… that he didn't seem to care much what was going on with her. Certainly not enough to actually insist on talking things out.

You didn't make it easy on him, though… what was he supposed to do? Break down the door?

Sarah huffed to herself. She didn't know just how she thought that scenario should have gone. At any rate, he wasn't the problem. Karen was.

In one breath she pesters me to go out… to go on a date. And in the next, ties up my Friday night with babysitting her kid so she can go out with Dad…

Dating. She was only fifteen, what was the hurry? What was the appeal of those guys at school who didn't understand her? Guys who had no idea what she was interested in, had nothing that was going to interest her in turn. Why bother?

It wasn't just dating. Karen wanted her to go out with friends, if not on dates. But Sarah had no friends.

What do I have in common with the girls at school?She thought. Most of them couldn't be bothered to pick up a book if it wasn't required in class. Most of them were obsessed with their appearance, with their social media, with getting 'likes' and clout. To them, the height of ambition was to be an 'influencer', filming the banality of their lives and putting it out on the Web for all to see.

Sarah wanted something more. Something extraordinary. Something… magical.

And that was the problem. According to the people around her, Sarah's head was always in the clouds. Always off in some faraway fairy land and never focused on real life. Part of that was because the world she lived in was so dull, so plain and ordinary. So… painful. She wanted adventure. Excitement. Maybe even… romance.

At the thought of romance, an image of that owl in the park flickered across her mind. That was the sort of story she wanted… a faraway prince to sweep her off her feet and carry her away to his magical kingdom. Not some pimply, immature geek who thought his PVP ranking in World of Warcraft translated into high status in the real world.

That's not fair, Sarah. You liked that game when you tried it too…

Which was precisely why she didn't get to play it. Apparently, Karen was of the opinion that she already spent too much time in her own fantasy world, let alone a computer generated one. She'd convinced Sarah's father that having access to such a magical, engrossing virtual world would sever what few threads there were to keep Sarah anchored in reality.

So, since a pixilated fantasy world was denied her, she dwelled in the one in her head, and vastly preferred it to anything reality had to offer. The characters she imagined were so much better than the people she actually had to interact with, that she'd rather have a conversation with herself than another human being.

At school, she was something of a loner. She responded when required to, studied as directed, and completed her assignments with a minimum of effort. She did very well in her classes, at least as far as her grades were concerned. Her subject matter wasn't difficult in the least, with the possible exception of math, but anything that required a measure of reading (and especially writing) was almost laughably easy for her. She made it a habit to complete her homework for one class while sitting in the one that followed it, thus freeing herself for her own interests once the dismissal bell rang.

Her grades were all A's (aside from the B she received in Algebra), so her parents couldn't really complain about her performance. The only real irritation was that the school also graded her on her personality. Her cooperation. How she worked with others. In that, she didn't do so well.

It's not fair.

She kept to herself. She didn't bother anyone. And aside from today, she'd never gotten into a fight or any other trouble. She would never have gotten into that fight at all if she'd just been left alone.

Lisa Barrett. Bitch-queen of the Universe. Probably the most popular girl in the school, with a friend circle the size of a small town. Quite the online following, or so Sarah had heard. She wasn't allowed to have a smart phone yet, so she had no idea what kind of stuff Lisa was putting out in the ether. Something to do with makeup and crap like that. Sarah had no interest in such things, but Lisa's opinion was apparently sought by young girls all over the world. Lately, Lisa decided that she wanted to pursue celebrity endorsements or some such nonsense.

And Sarah was the daughter of a celebrity.

She didn't know exactly when Lisa had put two and two together and realized that Sarah was the daughter of Linda Williams, the 'famous actress'. She'd gotten commentary before on the resemblance between them, which she brushed off as coincidence. Since 'Williams' was such an ordinary surname, most people didn't pursue it when faced with Sarah's indifference.

Lisa wasn't deterred. She'd apparently done her homework, managing to find evidence on the Net of Sarah with her mother. She pranced right up to Sarah this morning, thrusting a color printout of a photo from last year, when Sarah had spent a couple of weeks in Summer with her mom. Sarah's disinterest in talking about her mother was apparently the same thing as disrespecting Lisa… or something… Sarah didn't know. Whatever the case, Lisa thought that Sarah's attitude had earned her a slap, as if she'd been some kind of queen disciplining a wayward servant.

She had been woefully unprepared for the haymaker punch that Sarah laid her out with in return.

Those little sparring lessons with Dad sure paid off,Sarah thought to herself. A silly pastime, but when she was younger, before Toby came along, her dad would hold out his hands and encourage Sarah to throw punches at them. He'd correct her form, show her how to stand, and laughingly shake the feeling back into them when she'd score a good hit. She never thought she'd have to put such a goofy little game into real life practice, but there you go.

Her nose bleeding, and crying in the most pitiful manner, Lisa had garnered a wave of attention and sympathy. Sarah, for her part, simply raised her eyebrow and looked over the crowd that was gathering around her, almost daring them to come and take a piece. Before any of Lisa's friends could muster the courage to try their luck, one of the teachers had grabbed Sarah's arm and hustled her and Lisa to the Principal's office.

Lisa's recounting of the incident was almost incoherent, peppered with sobs and sniffles. Sarah said nothing until the principal demanded her version of the incident. Sarah coolly explained that she'd had no interest in discussing her celebrity mother, for which Lisa had slapped her, and she merely reacted in self-defense. She stuck to that statement, despite Lisa's attempts to twist the situation.

Finally, throwing his hands up in frustration, the principal called both of their parents. Lisa's mother was the predictable shrew she had anticipated, fussing over her daughter's bloody nose and unleashing a shrill torrent of vitriol at Sarah for hitting her 'baby'. Sarah kept a disdainful expression on her face throughout the tumult, tuning out both the woman and her devil spawn daughter.

Sarah's gut had clenched when Karen arrived, shooting Sarah a strange look as she spoke with the principal. Oddly, Karen listened to Sarah's explanation and with a short nod, suggested that all parties review the security camera footage. When the video showed the events exactly as Sarah had described them, Karen then suggested that both girls take the rest of the day to consider the incident and perhaps think about how they both could have handled things better. The principal had readily agreed to this, opting to excuse both girls, but Lisa's mom wasn't having it. In a high pitched, almost hysterical voice, she got right into Karen's face, threatening everything from a lawsuit to a criminal charge.

To Sarah's utter shock, Karen met the woman's gaze serenely, then nodded. "Well, you are certainly within your rights to try. Be aware, though… should you proceed with such an action, we will be filing charges of our own. Your daughter was the initial aggressor, which in this state precludes any legal action against Sarah for acting in self-defense. Your daughter, on the other hand, committed assault and battery. That's a felony. For which we will press charges to the full extent of the law." Karen's eyes then narrowed dangerously, giving Sarah a shiver. "I'm not sure how long Lisa will have to spend in Juvenile detention. Maybe an hour. Maybe a day. Maybe longer. I do know that it's going to cost you a pretty penny to bail her out."

Both Lisa and her mother had identical looks of horror on their faces at that point, but Karen wasn't finished. "Further… any civil suit you file will result in an immediate countersuit, both for physical damage and emotional distress. I will also be requesting that a full report of the incident be put into your daughter's file." At this, Karen gave Lisa's mother a savage smile. "Such a violent act will be of great interest to any potential college she plans to attend." She then opened her purse and withdrew a business card, handing it to Lisa's mother. "Any further concerns you have regarding this incident can be directed to Sarah's attorney."

Sarah watched as the woman's eyes got wide as she perused the business card. Dad's firm was pretty famous, and it didn't surprise Sarah one bit to see the blood drain from the woman's face. Turning to the principal, Karen smiled and took Sarah's arm, giving it a gentle pull. "I think we're done here."

They walked out of the office, their heads held high in almost identical poses.

This was the kind of crap that really confused her. While watching Karen handle Lisa's mom, Sarah felt… strange. Almost proud. She couldn't picture her own mother neatly check-mating that woman the way Karen did. Hell, her mother probably wouldn't have bothered to come down to the office at all. Karen did. Not only that, but she believed Sarah's story. From the look in her eyes, Sarah knew that she'd only suggested reviewing the footage to box Lisa's mother into a corner. She trusted Sarah's word. That… was strange.

Sarah really didn't know how to feel about it, not when it happened and not now. When they'd gotten home, Karen attempted to discuss the incident with her, but Sarah, determined to avoid a lecture (and more to the point, avoid these strange feelings she was having) had said something flippant and ran off to the park with Merlin. It wasn't until just now that she wondered what the discussion would actually have been.

Her musing was interrupted by the sound of Merlin barking.Poor Merlin… he doesn't deserve to be in the garage on a stormy night like this. It's not fair.

That thought restored her resentment of Karen back to its proper levels.

Her eyes wandered around her room. The bookcase, filled with fantasy and sci-fi novels. Her vanity. The posters on her walls. Sarah preferred the music of past decades; the more modern sound was almost like torture to her ears.

Bring back the 70's and 80's please.

Her gaze fell onto her Ziggy Stardust poster, the image of David Bowie staring down at her in all his glory. Some of his music was so surreal and fantastical that she felt almost a kinship with him. She'd never know, but she wondered if at her age, he'd had the same wish for something magical to come into his world. And maybe… when it didn't… he made his own magic through music. Maybe that's what she'd have to do… make her own magic, instead of waiting for it to come to her.

Her eyes drifted to another Bowie poster, this one from the mid 80's. Gone was the makeup and glitter and in its place was a suave handsomeness, his golden hair falling over his forehead in a charming, sexy way. She looked between the two, marveling to herself that this was the same man.

I wonder, if I could have the power to remake myself like he did… what would I be?

Shaking off the thought, she glanced down at her bed, noticing that her mother's scrapbook was beside her. She didn't remember taking it out, but… she must have. Idly turning the pages, she looked over the photos dispassionately. The earliest ones had Jeremy in them. She skipped over those quickly. The later ones had a variety of different men, all in as varied of type as could be imagined. Muscle men. Boy toys. Business types. Her mother never seemed to hold on to any of them for longer than a year. Even Jeremy didn't last much beyond twelve months. Sarah had a feeling that it had more to do with her mother than it did the men themselves.

Her mother. Linda Williams. The woman whose DNA gave Sarah her emerald eyes, raven hair and pretty face. That prettiness got her a lot of attention, at least when she was a child. During her summer visitation with her mother, Linda would take her around the movie sets proudly, showing off her cute kid. Of course, anyone who admired Sarah was soon stuck babysitting her while Linda drifted off, but at the time, Sarah didn't give much thought to it. While Linda would snipe at her now and then, increasing in frequency as the visit drew to a close, it didn't get really bad until Sarah started changing from kid to young woman. It was odd… Linda didn't like when attention was taken off her, and yet she still insisted on bringing Sarah to events that were guaranteed to do exactly that.

That last party, for example. The last time Sarah had felt that kind of gnawing discomfort in her stomach was that disastrous 'gala' a few years ago that had been the end of her parents' marriage. There were a few other girls her age there, all of them dressed to within an inch of their lives. All of them sophisticated. All of them… jaded. She saw the predatory looks of the people at the party, sizing the girls up, measuring them for God knew what. Felt their eyes on her, almost a physical sensation, one that left her cold and nauseous. If this was what becoming a woman was all about, Sarah wanted no part of it.

Rolling away from the scrapbook, Sarah's gaze then fell on her music box. It was a beautiful, ornate thing, imported from somewhere, she was sure. Expensive, no doubt. This was her mother's gift from last Christmas, along with the Prada bag, the Sephora gift card and the garnet ring on her finger. She'd given the bag and the gift card to Karen, shaking her head at the idiocy of giving a fifteen-year-old such presents. But then, that was Linda. A Prada bag had a tangible worth to it. A good memory… not so much.

She tried to think back, tried to find a good memory with her mother. There weren't many, but they existed. She remembered standing next to that very vanity, watching her mother put her makeup on. Remembered when Linda had laughed, brushed Sarah's hair and put makeup on her. Then they tried to fit in the reflection of the mirror. She remembered how eerie it was… seeing two of the same face in the mirror, one adult, one child, but the same face. Almost… the same person.

Reaching out one languid hand, she reached for the little key on the side and turned it. Shaped like a gazebo, there was a female figure rotating in the center. A princess… dressed in a ballgown. The haunting melody filled the room. She didn't know why, but the tune brought her feelings of… melancholy. Sadness. Loneliness. Inexplicably, Sarah found herself wishing that she could go somewhere else… somewhere magical.

An image of that owl flickered across her mind again. Maybe she should wish that he really was a prince. Wish for him to take her away.

As she was thinking this, her eyes drifted over her shelf of stuffed animals. For a moment, it didn't register, until her gaze narrowed in on the empty spot in the middle of the shelf. In a fury, Sarah got up from the bed and moved over to the shelf, shifting the other stuffed animals around almost frantically.

Lancelot.

Given to her by her mother, back when she was little, the stuffed bear was one of the few gifts that weren't given with a price tag in mind. One of the few memories she had with her mother that were good… clean… real.

And he was gone.

Anger such as she'd never known boiled up within her. She knew what had happened.

That bitch came in here and took him. Just took him. Didn't ask. Gave it to her son. My bear. Her son.

Lightning flashed, and almost immediately, a deafening clap of thunder sounded. Right on cue, Sarah could hear the frightened cries of her brother carrying through the air. Under any other circumstances, those cries would inspire pity and compassion, but now… right now… they inspired a scintillating rage.

She stormed into Toby's room, eyes blazing with the inferno that was roiling within her. Right on the floor in the center of the room, was Lancelot. Tossed away. This elevated Sarah's temper even more. She bent and picked up the stuffed bear, feeling the anger contorting her face as she stared at the toy in her hands. Then she fixed her fiery gaze on Toby.

Author's Notes:

I wanted to tie in the incident that Sarah recounted to Jareth back in 'Kingdom', where she'd gotten into a fight at school. The incident itself is one that actually happened to my stepdaughter (except the cause… she was being bullied, but not for the same reasons), and Karen's words to the other mother are a direct quote of my own. Sarah's recollection of her dad 'sparring' with her is taken directly from a childhood game my dad would play with me. The point I was trying to make here was that Karen really was in Sarah's corner, she just didn't know it (or just refused to believe it). I also wanted to throw in a little vignette of a moment with her dad, just to show that there WERE moments with her dad, even if there weren't as many as she'd have liked.

I also wanted to highlight Sarah's conflicted feelings about Karen. Her mother once referred to her as 'that interloper' (back in 'Kingdom') so you can take it as a given that she effectively poisoned Sarah's mind against her. Sarah's innate loyalty to her mother (however little she deserves it) is also a factor, but Karen consistently shows her own love and care for Sarah, and it's confusing to her. While Sarah had some legitimate anger about Lancelot being taken from her room, a lot of her emotions come from this confusion.

Karen's fears about Sarah getting hooked on World of Warcraft are actually real. I can say from personal experience that when I play it (Alliance Druid, FTW), I lose complete track of time. It's not really the kind of game you can set a timer for, and it is incredibly immersive. Sarah's parents are already worried that she doesn't interact much with the real world and letting her play something that would just reinforce that withdrawal from reality… well, I can't really blame them.

And… I couldn't resist. I established back in 'Kingdom' that Sarah had a crush on David Bowie at the time of her Run, and I wanted to throw in a little of that here, as a tribute. Sharp eyed readers might notice that Jareth's initial appearance is an amalgamation of the two posters on Sarah's wall… the Glam Rock version and the handsome '80's version. This is where the Labyrinth got it from.