Puzzle Pieces of a Memory
Sarah woke up as the morning sent its first rays through the window. It wasn't the alarm clock that roused her from her sleep, but the feeling that there was something in the air – something she couldn't name. The dream still had a hold on her, the feeling of confusion, the feeling of walking through the endless, winding corridor of the labyrinth, not knowing where she was going or what she was looking for.
In this dream she had been in the labyrinth again, but this time everything was different. The walls, which were usually made of gnarled branches and secret passageways, seemed to shift, as if the labyrinth were alive. The ground beneath her feet was soft and damp, the air thick and heavy, and the twilight turned the shadows in the corners into flickering, eerie shapes. It was as if the walls were whispering, their voices woven into an incomprehensible noise that almost drove Sarah mad.
Suddenly the owl flew past her. This time it was not the gentle, almost ghostly apparition from before, but a massive presence whose eyes pierced her as if it were looking straight into her soul. Its feathers shimmered in the twilight, and the sound of its wings echoed like drums in her ears. When she turned her head to follow it, the owl was suddenly no longer there.
In front of her, in the middle of the labyrinth, stood the man.
He was, as she remembered – tall, with long blond hair blowing in the wind and a gaze that both captivated and confused her. She wanted to approach him, but her feet would not move. Something held her back, as if the air around him carried the weight of a forbidden promise. And then, as if from nowhere, he took her hand.
"You forgot me," he said, his voice soft as a whisper with a hint of sadness in it. Suddenly a gentle wind blew with the scent of lilacs, enveloping her. "Please remember, Sarah. It's the only way to make peace with your inner self."
The words swirled in her head as if they were part of an endless puzzle. But before she could answer, he was gone again, and she was alone in the labyrinth. The ground began to move beneath her feet, the walls drew even closer together, and the owl flew over her head again.
"Please remember," she heard the man's voice whisper as the darkness enveloped her.
Sarah jumped out of bed, her mind racing. Her heart pounded as she tried to drive the dream from her mind, but it was persistent, not letting her go. She sat on the edge of the bed, took a deep breath, trying to organize her thoughts.
Why did all these dreams feel so real, so vivid? What did these enigmatic memories mean? And why was she suddenly so sure that the man, she had defeated in the labyrinth, was more than just a shadow of the past? Sarah was confused, because she didn't understand what was going on inside her. She remembered the man, but not his name. And why had his mere presence in her dream made her so nervous?
The owl – it had to mean something. She had seen it so many times, but the feeling it evoked in her dreams was much more intense, much more urgent than anything she had ever experienced. Something drew her to this owl, as if it was the key to everything – to what she had forgotten.
With shaking hands, Sarah reached for her notebook and began to write. Perhaps by writing down her thoughts she would find some of the answers she was looking for. But it was more than that. The dream, the owl, the man – everything had a deeper meaning; she knew that now.
She couldn't wait any longer. Something within her knew that the moment that would lead her back into the labyrinth was closer than she thought. And she could only find the answer to all these questions by following the owl's call.
Sarah had told Debbie about all the things she had experienced and about her visit to the labyrinth – about all the memories she had rediscovered. She had also told Debbie about the man whose name she just couldn't remember.
Debbie suspected that Sarah had something terrible associated with this man and had therefore banished the memory of him from her mind. But Sarah wasn't so sure. Something about this explanation didn't feel right.
One day she decided to go for a walk in the forest alone.
"To switch off my head for a bit and let myself be enchanted by nature," she had explained to Debbie, who had asked if she could come along.
So one Saturday morning she set off with her backpack on her back. Her feet led her without a specific destination until she came across a beautiful clearing. Sarah had a blanket in her backpack and spread it out on the grass. She sat down on it and pulled a sketchbook out of her backpack. She hadn't drawn for a long time and wanted to start again.
But as soon as she had drawn the first lines, she heard a slight rustling. She looked up and saw an owl landing in a tree – a barn owl with two different coloured eyes.
Sarah opened her eyes wide and had to gasp.
'It can't be true!' she thought. 'That owl again. As if it were following me and watching me.'
With a deep sigh, she picked up her pencil and began to draw the owl. It sat completely still, as if it knew it was the model. Sarah couldn't shake the feeling that something strange was in the air. When she was finished, she put the sketchbook aside and stared at the owl.
"WHAT DO YOU WANT FROM ME?" She suddenly called, her voice a strange mix of frustration and confusion. The owl rose into the air and disappeared into the trees.
Sarah sank back onto the blanket and rubbed her forehead. "This is so strange," she murmured to herself. She lay down, stretched out her legs, and closed her eyes.
Dozing, she sank into a restless sleep and began to dream.
It was dark, and she didn't know where she was. It was so dark that she could hardly see anything, and a quiet humming could be heard in the distance. She stretched out her arms and held them protectively in front of her. This way, she slowly and carefully felt her way along a cool wall.
The surface was rough and hard, and suddenly the material of the wall changed. It was no longer made of stone but of wood. And it wasn't a wall either.
'A door!' thought Sarah and looked for a handle or a latch and finally found one, which she laboriously pushed to the side to open the door outwards.
The darkness receded a little, but she could still hardly see anything. It smelled old and stale. Sarah's eyes got used to the darkness, and now she could make out things in the shadows. Was that a table? The humming was louder now and seemed to be changing.
On the opposite wall was another door. Sarah ran towards it and tried to open it. But she needed a key for that.
'Where am I supposed to get that from?' she thought and looked around the half-dark room. The table in the middle was old; a crooked chest of drawers stood in one corner, and in the other there was a rancid, old box that gave off a strange smell.
'I'm definitely not touching that,' she thought and took a step towards the chest of drawers. She opened all the doors and drawers, but all she found were milk bottles, pacifiers, and a spoon.
Now her gaze fell on the table. It only had one drawer on the side.
"Please let there be a key here," she prayed as she opened the drawer. But apart from a small spider that quickly scurried away, there was nothing but yawning emptiness.
"NO," Sarah cried out in shock and reluctantly turned to the box.
"Oh God. I don't want to open this box. But in stories the ugliest thing is always the solution. Like the chalice in Indiana Jones."
She bit her lip to suppress her nervousness and knelt down in front of the box. The smell became more intense. It smelled unbearable, as if something was rotting.
Sarah flipped the lock up and lifted the lid a little. A wave of decay and mold came towards her. She quickly flipped the lid back down.
"It's just a dream. It's not real," she said to herself over and over again before finally opening the lid. What she found there took her breath away.
The box was full of peaches. All bitten, completely shrivelled and mouldy. The sight made her stomach rebel.
Sarah had to hold her breath. 'Damn peaches,' Sarah thought, suddenly remembering the poisoned peach that Hoggle had given her back then. The memory of the ball and dance with the man, whose name she still didn't know, flooded her.
The humming grew louder and intensified into a quiet "eth" - the same word echoing through the room over and over again.
"Eth? What's that?" she said out loud to herself, still holding her nose.
Sarah was just about to reach out her free hand to take a peach from the box when her thoughts wandered to the spoon she had seen in the dresser earlier. Armed with it, she scooped one rotten peach after another out of the box. At the bottom of the box was a small key. Strangely, it was sparkling clean, as if it had just been put there.
Sarah was confused, but since her visit to the labyrinth, nothing surprised her any more.
She took the key, put it in the lock and opened the door. The beam of light that streamed through the opening made her squint. Whatever she had expected, it was not this light. It was suddenly so bright. As if two suns were shining at the same time.
After Sarah's eyes had adjusted to the extreme difference in brightness, she looked around. She was no longer in a building.
No. She was standing in one of the most beautiful gardens she had ever seen.
Everywhere something was blooming. Birds were singing, and rabbits were happily hopping through the grass.
'Well, the difference really couldn't be any bigger,' thought Sarah and took a step forward. But suddenly everything went silent. The rabbits all stood still and turned to her at the same time. A cold shiver ran down her spine and she felt a little uneasy. She put one foot in front of the other, trying to remain calm.
All of a sudden and without any warning, all the rabbits jumped towards her and opened their little mouths. But instead of the usual rabbit noises, they let out a loud "JA" (the J like in Genie). Sarah's heart almost sank into her pants.
They stopped just in front of Sarah and the air was filled with the humming, the "ETH" from before and the "JA's" of the rabbits.
"What the hell...?" she whispered, covered her ears and ran. She ran until the garden disappeared behind her.
Exhausted, she let herself fall to the ground and was startled. The world had changed again, and she did not fall on grass, but on a cold stone floor.
She landed roughly on the ground and rubbed her aching knee. After she had collected herself, she looked around.
She knew exactly where she was. This was the throne room of the nameless man. Why was she here of all places? She turned her head in all directions and saw that she was alone. No man and no goblins in sight.
Sarah stood up and brushed the dirt off her clothes. She knew what to do, where to go and turned on her heel.
There was the staircase. She had run up it once before, searching for her brother. And she knew where it ended. The most confusing staircase she had ever seen.
Sarah started and climbed the stairs. When she got to the top she kept to the right. Just like she had done before. At one point she stopped and looked carefully down. But no one was looking up at her and so she continued on. Suddenly she saw movement in the corner of her eye. She whirled around and...
"Toby!?" Sarah called out her brother's name in surprise. 'That can't be! Although...this is a dream. So it could be. But it's strange anyway,' she thought to herself and before she could say anything else her brother turned to her.
Sarah was startled. On the one hand he looked like Toby, in his red and white striped romper, but on the other hand he didn't. Something about his face reminded her of the man whose name Sarah wanted to remember. But it looked so damn strange and, if Sarah was honest, a little scary too.
"What... what's wrong with you?" she whispered. Toby stared at her, opened his mouth, and let out an endless, elongated "R."
'What the hell is this dream?' Sarah thought. 'First "ETH", then "JA" and now "R"? "ETHJAR? What is that supposed to mean?' Sarah looked down and knew what she had to do. She jumped.
As she fell, something echoed through her head.
The fall seemed endless, but suddenly she awoke in the clearing again as darkness slowly settled over the day. A final, whispered thought broke through her dreams.
"Jareth...".
