to the labyrinth.
“I wish the goblins would come and take you away… right now.”
She was cold and irritated and tired, irrational with misplaced hate and annoyance, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. No-one would care - her step-mother would just ignore her, prattling on about what mattered to her and no-one else, and her father was always too busy to care, always too busy with that woman and Toby, precious Toby, who had everything his baby heart desired and still, got so much more. His screaming and crying had worked Sarah into an almost tearful frenzy in frustration, wishing that the tale she had spun him of the girl and the Goblin King would come true, just so she could get some peace and quiet, just so she could get some attention. Her mother hadn’t spoken to her in months, her father didn’t care, that woman didn’t care - there was never any time for her. It was always about Toby, and if she was given attention, it was because she had done something wrong. It had all spilled out that night, and though she knew it was wrong to direct it all at Toby, she couldn’t help it. Sometimes she adored her half-brother, and sometimes she hated him, and tonight it was the latter. Her malicious wish for him to be taken away was childish, and only half meant, but all of a sudden, as she left the room, his wailing stopped, and an icy hand squeezed her heart and a sudden silence fell upon the house.
“Toby?” She called out, voice almost shaking. The light in the adult’s room was out, and she made her way back in, flicking the switch, but no light came on, even as she flicked it and flicked it, desperate. There was nothing to light the room but moonlight, and even that could be blotted by clouds and the heavy sheets of rain outside.
“Toby? Are you alright? Why aren’t you crying?”
Fear had well and truly gripped her now, and she approached the crib, whispering her baby brother’s name almost fearfully. Something moved under the blanket, and something giggled, something that did not sound like Toby at all. In a fit of braveness or madness, she reached down and tore back the blanket, to reveal nothing at all; Toby had gone.
For a minute or an hour, she stared at it, not fully taking in the giggles and deep laughs of the goblins hiding in the room around her, too shocked over the sudden disappearance of Toby. Her parents would kill her, that woman would murder her dead - where had he gone? She hadn’t really wanted to get rid of him, especially not like this. Panic set in, amplified by a tapping at the window and she twirled, fists clenched so tight that her fingernails left marks in her skin, as a white barn owl tapped at the window, moonlight radiating off it’s great eyes. Thunder howled and lightning cracked, something ran across the floor, touching her legs, and giggles came from everywhere, and she couldn’t find the source, she was going crazy and where was Toby she had to save him she had to -
The window blew open and the owl flew in, screeching as Sarah cried out and raised her arms to shield herself from it’s talons, but the biting pain from them never came. The wind blew her hair around and made her loose clothes flap, and slowly, she lowered her arms, wondering if the owl had flown out. Instead of the owl, a figure stood in front of the windows, and the giggles had mostly hushed as Sarah made eye contact with the frightening man who reminded her so much of a character from one of her stories.
“Who… who are you?”
A white barn owl sat perched just outside a bedroom, seemingly innocent. But the owl was not innocent in the least, for the owl was none other than Jareth, king of the goblins. He could see right through the glass doors. A crib was set off to the side, and a teenage girl was standing near it, looking quite angry as she told the baby inside it a story. Had Jareth been in human form, a smirk would have crossed his lips as he listened to her story, for it was an exact representation of the truth.
“But what no one knew was that the Goblin King fell in love with her and gave her certain powers.”
How true that was. If only she knew it. But from the sound of it, she would soon enough. Sarah only needed to say the right words. And she did. His goblins had the baby taken away in an instant. Jareth was mildly amused at her panic as she came back in to the room, frantically searching for the baby. But she wouldn’t find him. Not here.
Flapping his wings, Jareth took flight, tapping at the glass doors for entrance. The wind was in his favor, and within a few moments, doors had burst open and he flew in, instantly switching to human form. He stood there, a smirk on his face, as Sarah looked up at him, a look that was a mixture of confusion and mild familiarity on her face. It took only a moment for her to ask, “You’re him aren’t you? You’re the Goblin King.”
Jareth smiled in confirmation. He was rather amused at the fact she was pleading to have her brother back, when only moments before she was wishing him away. “What’s said is said,” he told her, crossing his arms. The girl continued to plead with him, but he had no intention of giving in. Slowly, he walked a few steps closer to her, moving his hands to his hips.
“Sarah, go back to your room. Play with your toys,” he instructed her. “Forget about the baby.”
“No. I can’t.”
She felt as if she was in a dream; no, a nightmare, a horrible horrible nightmare from which she would never wake. Stories and fairytales had been her comfort for so long, her refuge, her own private sanctuary, and the story of the Labyrinth that most of all. She had spent hours acting out scenes, and had almost the entire book memorized, and she had loved it, loved the escape it had given her. And now, suddenly, that escape had been pulled away and she was trapped, staring up at the Goblin King, the character she had come to love and loathe in equal measure, who stood before her at that moment. They bore holes into each others souls, while thunder rumbled outside, and suddenly the intense moment was shattered as Jareth raised his arm, presenting something to her.
What looked like a small glass orb now rested in his hand, but she knew it really to be crystal, of course she did. But she could not help herself asking what it was when he called it a gift, and she found herself mesmerized as he spun it in front of her face, watching the light reflect off it, a thousand rainbows twinkling off it in the moonlight. Almost against her will, she reached out for it, only for Jareth to snatch it back from her.
“But this is not a gift for an ordinary girl, who takes care of a screaming baby,” he said teasingly. “Do you want it Sarah? Then forget the child.”
Another bolt of lightning illuminated his figure, and she felt torn. She would give anything to be able to see her dreams, see what lay ahead for her - but at the same time, Toby was her brother, and she didn’t hate him, not really. Yes, she got frustrated at him, but other times, she doted on him entirely, and life would not be the same without him. And what would she tell her father? A simple crystal was not worth it … was it? She closed her eyes, frustrated and distracting by the glowing ball.
“I - I can’t. It… it isn’t that I don’t appreciate what you’re trying to do for me, but I need my baby brother back, he must be so scared…”
The crystal winked out of existence, a snake replacing it, and suddenly Jareth flung it at her where it wrapped around her throat, constricting her windpipe and choking her completely. Grabbing it tight, she pulled it from her neck, finding only a silk scarf which fluttered harmlessly to the floor, where it scattered into goblins who fled to the corners of the room, muttering, whispering, giggling horribly at her. Jareth was speaking again, but she wasn’t really hearing it, still in shock.
“I must have my brother back,” she insisted, feeling near tears.
“You will never find him,” the Goblin King insisted, and a light clicked on in Sarah’s head, and she felt a small sense of triumph as she defiantly raised her head, and almost smiled.
“Ah - then there is a place to look.” If something was lost, then surely, it could be found again, and she stared at Jareth, waiting for a reaction, to see if he would give her the chance to reclaim Toby, to make things right.
