Sarah got up, gathered all her things, stuffed them into her backpack and ran all the way back.

She stormed up the stairs as if the floor behind her was on fire. Her heart was racing, her breathing was shallow and rapid. Her gaze was wild and her eyes wide open as she pushed open the door to her room.

"Debbie!" she called and ran to her best friend, who was sitting on one of the two wing chairs that stood under the window.

Surprised by her friend's attack, she jumped up in alarm and came towards her. She put her hands on Sarah's shoulders to help her calm down.

"Look. The owl is back," she said quietly, pointing to the window and Sarah followed her gaze. The barn owl was sitting on the branch of a tree in front of the window – this time almost too calm, almost too quiet. "That would be the third time. So it's not a coincidence after all," Debbie remarked, her voice filled with a mixture of amusement and concern.

Sarah could hardly calm down. "The fourth time," she murmured, still breathless.

"What?" Debbie asked her, stunned, staring at her with her mouth open. "The fourth time? When did you see the owl for the third time?"

"First in the park, then with you in the city and earlier in the forest. I found a clearing there and sat down there because I wanted to draw again. Suddenly it was there. This owl... it's following me."

Sarah took her sketchbook out of her backpack and quickly opened it before handing it to Debbie. "Here. See? I drew her sitting in the tree."

Debbie took the book and looked at the picture. "Yes, that's her. No question. Our owl." She put the book on Sarah's bed and looked at her friend with an uneasy look. "This is really... strange."

Sarah sat heavily on her bed. "It gets stranger," she whispered. "I fell asleep. I just wanted to stare at the sky, but somehow... somehow I slipped away. And then I dreamed. It was so real. Everything seemed so familiar, as if I had been there before. And at the end I remembered something I thought I had forgotten."

Debbie tilted her head. "What happened?"

I remembered it," Sarah said quietly. "The name... the name of the man from the labyrinth. I had forgotten it for so long. But now... now I remember it. In my dream, it basically put itself together."

"And? Come on, tell me. Don't keep me in suspense," Debbie urged, barely containing her curiosity. She playfully nudged Sarah in the side.

Sarah calmed her breathing.

"Jareth," Sarah whispered, as if she wasn't allowed to say the words. "His name is Jareth."

At that moment, the owl outside cried out, a strange, almost piercing sound. A shiver ran down Sarah's spine as the owl leapt into the air and disappeared.

"That was strange," Debbie broke the silence. "It flew away exactly when you said the name." She raised an eyebrow. "Is that somehow connected?"

"I don't know. It could be," Sarah said, her voice now laced with doubt. She remembered that Jareth could turn into a barn owl. So there might be something to it. She thought about the day in the forest. About the owl that had followed her. And about Jareth. His presence in her dreams was not just a fleeting image. It was more, much more.

Debbie stood up and went to the window. "Sometimes it's better not to think too much. Coincidences happen," she said with a smile that eased the tension a little.

"Yes, coincidences..." Sarah repeated quietly and then turned to the desk, which was, as always, a complete mess.

Debbie went to Sarah to distract her from her thoughts and helped her tidy up her desk. It was a small attempt to lighten the atmosphere, but Sarah's thoughts were already elsewhere once again. In another world, with an owl and a man named Jareth, whose name she had long thought she had forgotten.