Return To Labyrinth
Sarah a high school teenager had gotten very sick one morning. Her mother had waken her up and the teen had looked very pale that particular morning. The mother demanded Sarah to miss a day of school. Lucky for her it was Friday. She had temperature that reached to 102.4F. Sarah’s mother called her high school and said that she had gotten very ill that morning. So the teen took the day off and fell asleep. During her sleep she had been dreaming of her past adventures in the place called Labyrinth.
The certain things that had repeated in her mind was all the time that she had spent with the goblin king, named Jareth. She had tossed and turned in her deep sleep. She had also been sleeping with her bear named Lancelot that her little brother, Toby had given to her that morning. She had mumbled in her sleep repeatedly Jareth, Hoggle, Sir dinamis, Ludo, and Toby.
She then rose up very startled and couldn’t breathe and then she tried to speak, “Air please air.” Sarah found a glass of water that her mother had placed on the dresser. She desperately chugged it down hoping it might help. Sarah sighed in relief that she could breathe normally she still felt very sick but could breathe normally. She set the empty glass back down and sat in front of her dresser. She looked at all of her dolls that had represented all the friends she had once had before.
She looked at her ballroom doll, she had remembered the time she had danced with Jareth, and she had loved every moment of it. As she went deeper into thought it was quickly shattered by hearing her mom coming up the stairs to her bedroom. She jumped back into bed and covered herself with her warm blankets. “Yes mom?” She asked tiredly.
“Now Sarah your father and I will be gone at work are you sure you’ll be alright alone?” Her mother asked very concerned as she opened the creaky wooden door.
Sarah nodded slowly, “Yes mom I know where the medicines are if I need them and I’ll call them if I need any help.”
“Alright Sarah are you sure now? Because I don’t want you to pass out or get even more ill or even…” She continued but was abruptly interrupted by her daughter.
“That’s why I keep my phone with me all the time. Don’t worry mom I’ll be alright now go on you don’t want to be late to your jobs.” She looked at her tiredly.
“Alright Sarah…I love you Sarah…” Sarah’s father came in the room and sat next to her. He smiled and hugged her, “Alright sweetie now go to bed you want to be feeling healthy as soon as possible.”
Sarah nodded and hugged back, “Alright I’ll try to get some more sleep.” She watched her parents leave her room. She sighed in a relief and thought, “A day to myself…Just what I needed…” She looked at her dolls once again and mumbled, “Was that all a dream. Had I been that creative…No it seemed all to real though…I had a huge imagination also.” She layed on her bed holding her head.
She thought on trying to prove that it was her imagination. After about twenty minutes she had decided to look at the Labyrinth book she had kept since her adventure. She flipped through the pages and then something caught her eyes in the beginning of the book. She read out loud, “For the king had fallen in love with the girl…” She scanned through more and read aloud once again, “She wished for the child to be taken away from her. For she was tired of the dreaded work she was put through. So the goblin king did as told he had taken the child away from her and…” Sarah slammed the book on her dresser and yelled, “That’s it! I wished for him…I have to see if he will come. If not then…I can prove that none of them are real!” She thought, “I don’t know if I want everything to be true or not…Jareth…”
Sarah ran into Toby’s room where she had once stood once before. In the replacement of the Toby’s baby crib layed a twin bed the sheets were full of comic books you could not see the color of his blanket. Her brother still had to sleep with his parents. For his comic books sometimes gave him nightmares. She opened the curtains revealing bright sunlight that was too bright for her. She closed her eyes and slowly peeked trying to get used of the light. After a few minutes she looked around at where everyone was once before, opened the window, looked down, and saw the bushes in front of her house. She had remembered that this window had once led to the labyrinth itself.
Sarah leaned against the nearest wall by the window trying not to fall out. Sarah took a deep breathe losing her breathe a little bit. She began, “I wish…the goblin king would…” She began losing breathe but tried to go on, “take me far far away from this place…oh…Goblin King….” She then passed out on the floor.
When Sarah had woken up she realized she wasn’t by the window nor the on the floor. She was on her parents’ bed on top of the blankets and pillows. Sarah panicked, jumped off the bed, and landed on her wobbly knees. She mumbled, “What…where…who…how?” She got back up and looked downstairs to see if her parents had come home and put her on the bed. She yelled, “Mom! Dad? Are you home yet?” Sarah waited a response but none came back to her.
She quickly ran back upstairs into her room. “Jareth maybe…no…he isn’t real…which means he couldn’t have done…” She whispered grabbing her ballroom doll then sat on her bed. After a few minutes of doubt she looked at the doll’s dress. All of a sudden at the bottom of the doll was a tiny note. It looked ripped, old, and decorative. The color of it was yellow, it also had a very faint scent of something that she had experienced before.
Sarah went closer to see what the smell was. After she had done that she set it down on her bed quickly. “Ugh The Bog of Eternal Stench! Wait…The bog…Sir dinamis Ludo, and Hoggle were with me when I saw it…Nothing ever smelled so terrible!” Suddenly her nose became less stuffy and she began to feel a little better. She occupied herself by quickly grabbing the note from her doll.
“Alright this is some kind of joke! I mean…There has to be an explanation…”She sighed and opened the note while leaning against the wall. Sarah silently read out loud, “Why hello my dear Sarah. Do you prefer this life you currently have? For if you do not remember I gave you choices on how you can live your precious life-style.” She turned the paper around slightly shaking. It was signed with the oddest names. She desperately searched for Hoggle, Sir dinamis, and Ludo. She then automatically found Jareth’s name in the middle of everything and she forgot everything about everyone except for Jareth.
Sarah signed and put the note down. She covered her face with the pillow and screamed with frustration. “Nothing will answer me! First when I passed out and now the note. Why did Jareth have to choose me? It’s so hard…” She gasped for air. Sarah got out of the bed putting the note in her pocket and went downstairs. She saw on the kitchen table a picture of her old dog’s name Merlin.
Sarah went outside sneakily and ran by the meadow and bridge about a fourth mile from her house. She wished her dog was with her because she felt so very alone. Sarah sighed, “Outside once again…freedom from that house hold.” It was slightly chilly out for winter was about to begin. She went out in a pair of jeans and a long sleeved red shirt. Sarah sat on a white bench that was surrounded by dead plants and one flower that was almost dead. All of a sudden a white owl swooped down and grappled the half dead flower with it’s sharp yellow beak.
She ducked trying not to get hurt, she also accidentally yelled, “Jareth?” The owl flew a little bit higher than where her head was and dropped a few dead petals on her head. Sarah stood on the bench and jumped in the air trying to get a hold of the owl. The owl began to fly away. “Wait please! Please come back! I wish...for Jareth to stay here until I tell him not to!” She looked at the owl hoping something might happened.
The owl just kept on going. Sarah ran in it’s direction to see if it will ever come down. “Come back if Jareth is a person!" She sighed and gave up. Sarah sat on the cold hard ground and trying to catch her breathe once again. “Okay he isn’t real…neither is Hoggle, Ludo, or Sir dinamis…and…and… Jareth…” She was then interrupted by feeling a hand on her shoulder. Sarah turned around and her eyes widened. “You’re…you are back…I thought you wouldn’t find me here…”
Sarah’s mother hugged her, “Sarah! I told you to stay in your bed. Oh dear your temperature is going to rise. Come on go to the house! The car is over there!” She pointed past the bench and behind a few trees. Then that was were the red car was most visible. Sarah nodded and refusing walked to the car with her mother. As Sarah walked to the car she saw people walk on the nearest sidewalk. She thought, “It’s rather busy today.” Her father was actually very shocked to see her outside, “Sarah come on in the car. We don’t want your fever rising even more.” Sarah nodded, “Alright dad…” She went around to the back seat and as she opened the car door she heard a voice, “I’m watching you Sarah. You will never be alone again.” He completely walked passed her and went around the corner.
Sarah looked in the man’s direction and whispered, “Jareth’s voice…”Sarah’s mother rushed her, “Hurry Sarah your brother should be home soon.” Sarah sighed and obeyed her mother and went into the car. When the family finally returned home Sarah ran up into her room not saying a word to her parents. Sarah’s mother looked at her husband, “What did I do to make her so rash at me?” He sighed, “I don’t know…but let her rest for now she needs it. Besides Toby should be home any minute now.” She nodded and headed to the kitchen to get lunch ready for her family.
Sarah slammed the door and also locked her bedroom door. She jumped on her bed and screamed in her pillow painfully, “Jareth! Why…why do you torture me so much!” She sat up and dug her hand in her pocket only finding the note she had found earlier. She cried rereading the note. She finally stopped crying and got up from her bed. Sarah took a deep breathe and set the note on her dresser. She opened her bedroom window looking down and seeing Toby run inside because suddenly it started to rain. Gently the mist ran across her face cooling it off. Wind suddenly whipped around her clothes and her hair. Even during all of that she saw a white owl in a hole of her tree that was nearby her window and was staring at her.
Sarah reached out for the owl, “Jareth please if it’s you…please.” She crawled out of her window to the tree still not feeling well. The wind its hardest to knock her off the tree to the wet hard cement below. Sarah held on as tight as she could hoping that no one had seen her or was calling for her. The white owl walked carefully towards her tilting its head at her. All of a sudden the owl transformed into a shape of a man. The mysterious owl transformed into Jareth. He was sitting on the branch staring at her. He wore the outfit that Sarah had last seen him with before he disappeared.
Sarah was speechless but was able to say one word, “Jareth…”
He smirked devilishly, “Why hello there young Sarah. You have called for me my dear?”
Sarah backed away from him, “You came…for me…I thought I and you…I mean we…” She was very confused to see him once again. Thunder suddenly roared in their ears. Lightning began striking nearby.
Jareth looked at her calmly, “Sarah? Do you miss everyone in my castle? Can you bare not seeing them anymore? Does it tear you apart that every second you have no clue on what they are doing for me?” He shouted through the loud thunder from the storm.
She nodded, “Yes Jareth…I admit it…I do miss everyone…Even…even you…” She whispered the last part as quite as possible.
Jareth nodded, “Just as I expected.” He grabbed what looked like two crystal balls from the air. “I decided to give you one last chance. For as I hope you may see this is generosity.”
Sarah gasped of from being so shocked, “What do you want for the exchange of this?”
“Nothing for an exchange just yet. I just want you to choose which world you prefer to live within. Once you choose I shall tell you my exchange for your choosing.” Jareth smirked making the two crystal spheres disappear before her eyes.
Sarah shivered from the cold breezes from the harsh wind. The rain hadn’t helped her either the ice cold raindrops fell in her hair, on her face, and clothing. Jareth smirked and covered her with his mink materialized cape. “Take it, you shall be needing it when you come back to the goblin city once more.”
Sarah nodded and whispered, “Thank you…Jareth.” She crawled off the tree and jumped back into her room. She turned back around and nothing was there not even the hole of where the owl had been. Sarah closed the window and touched the cape. “Jareth…” She heard her mother call out for her. “I’ll be right there mother!” She quickly hid the cape under her bed and ran downstairs.
During dinner Sarah didn’t talk she just wanted to have the day over and go to the goblin city once more. She then thought, “Maybe Toby…I can ask him personally…I doubt he would remember he was about two in a half or one.” No one really talked at all during lunch and as soon as everyone finished Sarah excused herself and went back up into her room. Sarah went under her bed and grabbed the cape and layed it on her bed. “Alright Jareth. You better not be putting me in any more trouble.” She covered the cape with her blanket so no one could see it.
Sarah looked outside and saw that it stopped raining and the clouds were slowly being blown away. She smiled, “Alright! Time to talk to Toby! Let’s see if he remembers anything of Jareth.” She headed towards her parents’ room and saw Toby sitting on his bed reading his comics. He looked so very excited. Sarah whispered, “Umm…Toby? Can I talk to you for a few minutes?”
Toby turned around, “Alright sis but hurry I was just getting to the best part!” He jumped off the bed and went up to his older sister. Sarah led him to her room and locked it behind him and kneeled down to his level. “Toby this is serious now I want to know something...do you know anything about goblin city?”
Toby nodded, “Yea I read it all the time!”
Sarah nodded no, “Not my book I mean…did you have…dreams or anything?” She looked at him calmly.
He nodded, “I think but I can’t remember a lot of it.” He put his hands in his pocket staring back at her.
She nodded, “Tell me the dream. I won’t make fun of you I promise because I to had a dream.” She smiled at him.
Toby nodded, “Okay well…I was in this castle…many ugly creatures were there laughing. Then I think there was the goblin king he made me a guest and treated me kindly. I remember stairs to but I was too busy having fun walking on them I don’t know what was happening. That’s all I can remember…Oh also! The goblin king and you were talking. He wore this fluffy cape and you in your favorite outfit before. That’s it I think.”
Sarah gasped then smiled, “Did the cape look anything like this?” She got up and put her blankets on the floor and held up the cape.
Toby backed away a bit, “Come on Sarah! How did you know that! Stop scaring me!” He looked at her very startled.
Sarah nodded no, “Please Toby believe me…it wasn’t a dream or I would have had the same dream…Jareth…is the goblin king. I’ve seen him just recently. He sent me a note and showed me he is real. Toby please it wasn’t your imagination.” She let Toby feel the cape.
“Sarah…Jareth…he gave me something to give you…He said not to give it to you but you need it desperately…He gave it to me about a year or two. He told me exactly this I think. Toby my little goblin do not give this to Sarah until I tell you so…I think I should give it to you now though…”
The brown headed girl knelt back down to her brother. “I don’t think you should give it to me…I can’t risk it…Toby I don’t ever want to have anything happen to you ever again!” She embraced her brother rather tightly crying a bit.
Toby hugged her back startled by her words, “Hey what do you mean by again?” He let go of her after a few minutes of silence from the two of them.
Sarah stood up wiping the tears off her eyes making sure that her younger sibling did not see her shedding tears. “Oh did I say that I didn’t mean to…So come on let me take you back to your room.” Toby nodded watching his sister hide the white cape under her small bed. After Sarah had put it under the bed she took hold of Toby’s hand and led him to his room. She picked him up and placed him on his bed where he had been before. Sarah also handed him the comic book that he had been reading. Toby looked at his sister as she left the room then continued to read excitedly as if nothing had happened.
Sarah entered her room with a long frustrated sigh. She looked at Toby’s opened door then quietly shut her creaky door. Sarah leaned against the wall slowly sliding down with her head down letting some pieces of her hair fall to her face. “Why…Why do I miss him? He can’t be real…there is no way!” She got up very swiftly and looked under her bed finding the cape is where she had left it. “No…It’s still there!” She grabbed the cape roughly throwing it on the chair that sat in front of her mirror on the dresser.
Again more tears began rushing down her delegate face then she thought, “I need to get out of here... But mom and dad still think I’m sick…That’s it…I’ll sneak out they wouldn’t be going out tonight though…” She nodded planning out everything. “That will do for now…” Sarah looked at the tip of the sun seeing it was ready to disappear to what seemed like the edge of the grass. She walked to the ruffled cape and hugged it. “Jareth…” She whispered to it as if it were him Sarah folded it neatly and put it under her bed once more. She looked on the bed seeing that her ballroom doll was still there. Her tears began to dry up, but she didn’t mind much about it.
Sarah reached for the doll and placed it on the rafter that was by her dresser. “Well I have to pretend to be sleeping or else everyone will know that I am up.” She said in a low voice as she laid in her bed. After an hour or two she heard her mother walking up the creaking stairs with her father. “Do you think Sarah will be okay tonight? I’m really worried about her…” She had asked worriedly.
“Yes dear she is alright. Let’s just go to bed right now and we will talk to her in the morning.” He reassured her as they entered their room closing the door quietly behind them. Sarah hesitated getting out of bed, “Good they are going to sleep.” She whispered as she stood up. “Now where is my lamp in here? It is so dark in here.” Sarah wondered tripping over items on her floor
