Title: That Joyous Time Called Childhood - labyrinth version
Fandom: labyrinth
Parts: one
Rating: PG-13 for language and just slight creepiness
Disclaimer: This is based very VERY loosely on a Ray Bradbury short story,
"The Veldt" As I went along Istarted to remember my own incidents of
parents trying to take away parts of my childhood...ie, my father running
over my favorite doggy puppet with the car when I was ten...call me
vindictive, but I had a LOT of fun with this, snerk....ahem, anyway, it's
based loosely on the bradbury story and the labyrinth world isn't
mine...the pudglumples in the last part, are my creation, hehehe...
Summary: Sarah's parents try to force her to grow up. Not a good idea.
********
“She’s at it again,” the woman who was just at the start of middle age
huffed as she poked her head into the room, glaring at her husband who’s
face was buried in a newspaper.
“Is she?” he muttered, his hand fumbling on the table at his side for a
pencil for the daily crossword.
“I would think you’d have a little more concern...after all she’s what,
fourteen??”
“I’ve told you before that it isn’t a big deal...some children stay
regressed in a place that they feel comfortable with, especially in cases
of death of a loved one, an accident, or divorce...Besides, Sarah’s
a special girl...she’s smart enough to know the difference between fantasy
and reality,” he muttered, having caught the renegade pencil and turned to
focusing on a five letter word that’s a shortening of a monkey.
“Believe me, I’m quite aware of how smart she is...you’ve showed me her IQ
tests, I’ve seen her grades from those college classes she’s
taking...she’s brilliant, I know...but don’t you think it’s a little
odd for someone of her age to still be dressing up and playacting? And all
those dolls...”
“She’s just hanging on to the time where she feels safest...in this case
it’s the fairy stories and things her mother used to indulge her in,” he
sighed, and he could feel the woman tense up from across the room.
“You baby her too much,” she said coldly, her icy gaze turning to examine
her immaculate nails.
“We pay just as much attention to her as we do Toby-”
“Toby, is an infant,” she reminded him. “Sarah is fast becoming a young
lady and this kind of behavior is just unheard of...at least in my family.
By her age I was thinking of boys and makeup and normal things like
that!!! Not Snow White and Cinderella and-”
“It’s quite normal...and I think I would know, I am the psychiatrist in
the house...besides, maybe you’re just sensitive because you have this
notion that she sees you as-”
“As a wicked stepmother..well she does! I know it, I can see it in her
eyes when she looks at me! She’s the little abused princess and I’m the
woman that’s come and snatched her fun away. I didn’t /do/ anything! All I
did was love you,” she murmured, her eyes momentarily cracking to expose a
sliver of the hurt this whole thing gave her. He looked up from his paper
and sighed.
“You two need to get past this-”
“That’s all you ever say...that and that you’ll talk to her...much good it
does, you keep remaining the giving, doting, loyal father,” she grumbled,
the mask slipping back over her eyes. “Sometimes I think you mean to keep
her this way.” He was about to say something he’d probably regret when the
subject of their discussion came rushing down the stairs.
“Which one of you have been in my room!?” Sarah nearly shrieked, her eyes
in a panic.
“Young lady, I won’t have you taking that tone-” her stepmother started,
but was cut off by her father.
“What’s the matter, Sarah?” he asked in a soothing tone that he had
perfected on numerous professional cases. If nothing else, he was ever the
listener.
“Lancelot. Is. Gone.” she hissed, her lips pursing as her eyes welled up
with tears.
“Did you look under your bed, precious?” her father asked, earning a
lethal glare from his wife.
“I looked everywhere and he’s Not There!!!” Sarah went on, treading
heavily over the carpet and falling into an armchair with a flourish and a
sigh. “What if I never see him again? What am I going to do without him??”
“Oh really! It’s only a stuffed bear.”
“My mother gave me Lancelot and I have to have him!” Sarah snarled, her
eyes steeling as she cast a harsh look at the older woman.
“Oh for heaven’s sakes...Toby was crying and I know how he likes to play
with that thing-”
“You went in my room?!?!!?” Sarah shrieked, jumping to her feet in
disbelief.
“Like there’s anything worthwhile in there...I’ll get your silly bear so
just calm down! Though it’s really about time you forget about silly
things like that-”
“Lancelot is NOT a silly thing!!!” Sarah challenged, tilting her chin up
defiantly. The other woman rolled her eyes and stalked up the stairs.
“Sarah, calm down,” her father urged as she sunk back into the chair.
“I hate her so much, Daddy,” she whispered. “Why did you have to marry
her??”
“Sarah, she’s your stepmother-”
“And she doesn’t care about me at all!!” Sarah snapped, glaring at her
father who had finally folded his damnable paper to look at her. “All she
cares about is going out with you on the weekends, and the country club,
and going shopping with her friends-”
“Sarah you know that isn’t true. She’s been very patient with you. She
bought you some lovely clothes on one of those shopping trips.”
Sarah scrunched her nose at the thought of the designer threads in the
back of her closet. “I like books better.”
Her father looked at her steadily for a moment, coming to a decision.
“Sarah...about those books...you should try to expand your horizons,” he
started carefully, wincing inwardly at how fast her eyebrows shot up, at
the slow look of betrayal in her eyes.
“What do you mean?” she asked suspiciously.
“There are so many kinds of books out there..biography, nonfiction,
adventure, maybe even one of those romance books that Karen likes.”
“I like fantasy books,” Sarah replied simply, her arms folding
protectively about herself.
“I know, princess, uh, Sarah...but really...you’re not a child
anymore...it’s time you learn to take more responsibility for yourself and
learn more about the world,” he went on, secretly pleased that he was able
to voice what in fact had been worrying him for a while.
“I read about all that in school, you know that. I’ve read all the
classics and I like science books...why, do you think fantasy books aren’t
smart enough for me?” she challenged, raising an eyebrow.
“No, that’s not it at all...” He exhaled loudly and rubbed his forehead.
“Sarah, look. You’re fourteen. It’s time you start acting like it. Go to
the movies, or the mall with some of your friends-”
“What friends?” she muttered, glaring at the carpet. All the people I go
to school with are older than me...I can’t help it I don’t go to a regular
school.”
“And I’m proud of you for that baby..but maybe you could go with some of
the neighborhood kids-” He broke off at her scoff. “Or maybe we could fix
you up with someone at the club...would you like that Sarah? To go out on
your own for one evening with a boy?” He nearly paled at her shocked and
almost murderous glare.
“What are you doing?” she whispered in disbelief. “How can you say stuff
like that...has /she/ been telling you to talk to me about all this too??”
she added, her voice rising in volume and pitch.
“Sarah, no-”
“Maybe I don’t feel like dating any of the stupid boys I know! They’re all
so childish!!”
“You’re not behaving much better now,” her father declared. “Sarah, I’ve
tolerated this for too long..it’s about time you start to grow up,” he
added with a decisive nod. Her eyes narrowed to slits and she sprung out
of the chair and ran to the stairs, nearly colliding with Karen on the way
up.
“You did this to him...you turned him this way,” she growled, snatching
Lancelot from the surprised woman’s hands before stomping up the staircase
to her room and flinging the door shut with a bang.
Karen sighed as Toby began to wail.
Her husband sighed as well. “I’ll call the school, see if there isn’t some
activity she can get involved in...something harmless,” he added, making
note to keep her far away from any sorority-sponsored events.
“It really is for the best. She can’t stay a little girl forever,” she
reminded him and he nodded.
“I know. I just don’t know if we should do this all at once or take it in
stages...”
“You telephone the university. I’ll take care of the rest,” she said
confidently, remembering the steps her mother had taken when she was
growing older and still clinging to childhood frills. It was painful, but
in the long run she was grateful. What was needed to be done was done.
“Are you sure? You know how she gets towards you sometimes,” he pointed
out as he headed for the phone.
“She didn’t seem thrilled with you just a moment ago, either,” she pointed
out and he frowned to himself.
That was true, and there was something about it he didn’t like. There was
something slightly foreign in the way Sarah had looked at him moments
ago...something almost cruel. The professional side of him reasoned that
he had babied her too long, and she of course would harbor resentment.
Maybe it was time to schedule a few sessions with her after this all was
said and done. But first, the telephone.
Karen rummaged in the garage for a few large boxes, pushing them awkwardly
through the doorway to get them into the house. Navigating them up the
stairs was another chore, but soon enough they were parked outside their
destination. She could swear she heard talking from inside the teen’s
room.
“I thought Daddy was on my side!! Why are you letting them /do/ this to
me??? Why don’t you come save me??” The muffled pleas went on, and Karen
huffed. She didn’t have a phone, so she couldn’t be calling her mother, as
if she could get through to her. More likely she was engaging in a teenage
pity party. Taking a deep breath, she knocked gently on the door.
“Go away!!” Sarah shouted immediately.
“Sarah-”
“GO AWAY!!!!” she screamed, and Karen could have sworn she heard her
mutter “Bitch,” in a hushed snarl. This lit a fire under the older woman,
and without any other warning she swung the door open and plunged through,
box in hand. “WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!!??! Sarah shrieked, trying to hurl
herself against the door.
“It’s time for this silly nonsense to stop,” Karen declared simply,
pushing her way past the girl and into the middle of the room, surveying
the decor with slight disgust. It had to happen sometime, and she might as
well be the one to do it. After all, her father certainly wasn’t going to
educate the poor girl in the real ways of the world. Gritting her teeth,
she walked over to the books on the table and began plucking them off and
tossing them in the box.
“NOOOO!!!!” Sarah shrieked, and the older woman winced at the noise,
ducked at Sarah’s flailing arms. Her stepmother seemed to feed off her
pleas and tears, and swiftly plucked up all the items that she deemed
childish within her reach and cast them all down into the cardboard hell.
Play jewelry and costumes, her panda slippers, the gnome statue, the
stuffed dog with the eye patch, the maze game, her books, her toy candy
store and pencil box, all of it went into the boxes, piling up on each
other, eyes from fuzzy faces and book covers cast towards heaven,
wondering what they had done to deserve such a fate.
Sarah was in near hysterics. She was screaming, cursing, tearing at her
clothes and her hair, and finally resorted to trying to tear the box away
from her stepmother. She relaxed as a heavy clomping came up the stairs
and the figure of her father loomed in the doorway. “What’s going on hear?
It sounds like someone’s dying!”
“Daddy!!! She’s taking my things...don’t let her take them Daddy!!!” Sarah
cried, her cheeks slick from tears, her eyes possessing a slight manicness
he had never seen there before. Sarah tugged at the box, nearly succeeded
in getting it. Karen looked silently at Sarah’s father for help. He looked
from one to the other, and down to the box. Without a word he silently
yanked it from both their grips and looked towards Sarah. The girl seemed
to grow three feet, relief and triumph flooding through her. Until her
father turned and dragged all of her treasures into the hall.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!?!!?!?”
"We won’t get rid of them...we’ll just lock them up for a while...you
don’t need these, Sarah,” he muttered, and she tried to rush forward, but
she was too stunned to move. She barely saw the beam of triumph on Karen’s
face that looked worse than any smirk.
“You can’t do this!!! I’m not like you, I’m special!!!” she whimpered.
“We know you’re smart dear...the whole world knows you’re smart,” Karen
bit out, stalking to her dresser to examine things there. “But you still
have to grow up.”
“No, you don’t understand-”
“You don’t understand!!” Karen bit out, turning towards her suddenly. “You
are not a child Sarah. You are a young woman. Your IQ does not entitle you
to be babied like Toby.” Her fingers fluttered over the vanity’s top,
contaminating everything they touched. Sarah’s entire body tensed as she
picked up the statue of an extremely odd, yet beautiful man. “Is this why
you aren’t interested in boys your own age Sarah? Is /this/ what you want?
It looks more like some deformed woman than a man...really Sarah...” she
muttered, tucking it under her arm as her hand gripped the music box.
“Please..my mother gave me that-”
“If we let you keep everything you got from your mother, you’d be five
forever!” It was a slap to her very soul. But not because of the words
themselves. It was because they came from her own father. “Let her take
it, Sarah.”
“Daddy-”
“Sarah.” With a defeated sigh, she released her hold on the box, and Karen
tucked it away with the figurine. Her hand moved to a small book with a
red cover.
“Let me keep just that one,” the girl whispered, her eyes locked lovingly
on the book. Karen slowly looked up to her husband, hesitating in the
purging of the room, slowly getting the idea that maybe they should
just let her have one item. She was beginning to think that something very
bad would happen if they took everything. It was a silly thought, but she
shivered still the same.
“Take it,” her father said, his face a mask of determination.
“Maybe just one wouldn’t hurt,” the stepmother whispered, glancing down at
the cover, herself, then over to Sarah. “To tide her over...”
“No...if we’re going to relieve her of this, it has to be all or nothing,”
her father proclaimed, reaching over to snatch the book away, right before
he leaned down and plucked Lancelot from the bed. Sarah stood by her
vanity, silently sobbing, her throat compressing in on itself in silent
rage and horror. Her own father...
“Now then...I’ve contacted the university and they would love to have you
help design and build an attraction for their campus festival...what do
you think of that, Sarah?” he said as he chucked the last objects
carelessly into the hall.
“Fine.”
“That’s a good girl...and I’d like you to come to my office a few times a
week starting tomorrow...we need to start talking more,” he added. Once he
had finally grasped authority, it was imperative he not let it go. She
nodded. He smiled and relaxed slightly.
“I’ll take you shopping...get you some more clothes,” Karen cajoled,
reaching out to touch her shoulder, and drawing back when Sarah flinched.
“Yes, that’s a good idea...we’ll keep these things locked up for you
Sarah...you can look them over when you’re older and have your own
children...” her father was saying as he guided his wife out of the room.
Sarah saw none of it. Her mind swam and spun, her eyes were blurred with a
thousand images from her life and from other times. She felt sick, dizzy,
drunk, heavy and light at the same time. Moaning weakly, she crossed the
room to collapse on her bed, her cheek nuzzling her pillow desperately.
“Someone save me...” she whispered “Someone take me away...” Her eyes
slowly drooped in slumber, but before they did they flitted over her
reflection in the mirror. Her reflection that seemed to have one
blue eye, one brown.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
"Sarah, if we’re going to get anywhere with this, we have to talk,” her
father was saying from the armchair in his office. For her part, she
remained scrunched down in a similar chair, glowering. She hadn’t even
looked at him in days, interacting with him and his second wife only when
absolutely necessary. “They were just toys, Sarah.”
“Mom gave me some of those things,” she whispered, her eyes red and
focused on the beige and blue swirls of the carpet.
“Yes, they’re quite the mementos...you don’t even remember that she’s the
one that left,” he muttered before he could stop himself. Maybe this
wasn’t a good idea...he had purposefully not taken Sarah as a patient
until now because he feared he wouldn’t be able to remain objective. Her
eyes snapped shut and she shuddered softly. “I’m sorry,” he murmured,
fiddling with his notepad and reading glasses. “Look, do you want to know
what I think?” he finally grunted. Silence. “I think that maybe Karen’s
right...you’ve been spoiled and coddled and babied by everyone around you
since you were born, and now that you have to live in the real world and
share the house and do what you don’t want you, you take extreme offense
at Karen and me for putting down ground rules.”
For the first time in a while, her callous brown stare slowly slid up to
his eyes. He had never seen her warm chocolate eyes look so frozen.
“It’s not going to stop, Sarah...you aren’t seven anymore. Maybe it’s my
fault for putting you in those advanced classes...if you weren’t so
brilliant it wouldn’t be an issue...” he muttered to herself.
“I like my classes...I like to learn,” she whispered, her eyes once again
on the floor.
“I know...I just don’t see why you can’t apply yourself to living in the
real world the way you do with school!!!” he bit out. “If you would just
talk to me!”
“You wouldn’t listen to what I have to say anyway,” she murmured. “You
never do.”
“Dammit, Sarah, you are not some princess shut up in a tower!!! The only
thing you shut yourself up in is your own delusions!! You aren’t
Cinderella! We treat you very well! It isn’t much for us to expect you to
keep the house clean and watch Toby while we go out! And it isn’t much for
you to act like a normal teenager instead of having your head in the
clouds...that’s no way to live a useful life!” he snapped, his cheeks
turning redder by the minute before he suddenly caught himself. With a
sigh, he leaned back in the chair and closed his eyes. “That’s enough for
today...go on home and tell Karen I’ll be there in time for dinner,” he
murmured, ignoring his daughter’s indifferent expression as she silently
rose and headed out the door.
He wasn’t expecting too much. She would just have to learn. Learn the
right things.
*********
As soon as Sarah had left the table after barely touching her plate, Karen
leaned towards her husband, glancing around the room as if afraid to be
caught fraternizing with the enemy. “I think there’s something you should
see,” she murmured as she rose from her seat.
“I found it this way when I got home,” she explained as they climbed the
stairs and went into the master bedroom. “There.” She pointed to the small
crawl-in cupboard that lay opposite from their closet, meant for storing
away decorations and other seasonal items. It also happened to be where he
had locked away the box he had drug from her room.
Glowering, he knelt and examined the box. “Nothing seems to be missing,”
he grumbled. “Though how she got in here I have no idea...I have the only
key and I’ve been carrying it around for days.”
“Maybe she picked it,” Karen supplied. “Or took the door off the hinges
and put it back on.
“She’s smart enough, but I doubt she’d go to all that trouble and then
leave everything here.” He paused in thought. “Maybe she played with her
things and didn’t have forgot to shut the door?”
“I wasn’t gone long enough,” his wife replied, shaking her head. “I was
barely gone for fifteen minutes, taking some mail to the neighbors that
had been put in our box by mistake.”
“Wait,” he murmured, leaning back over the box. “Where’s that book?”
“What book?”
“Sarah!!!!” he called, his voice darkening. “That book she didn’t want to
give up...the tiny one with the red cover. “Sarah, get in here now!!!!!”
Momentarily, she entered, looking suspicious and trying ever-so-hard not
to show any guilt. “We found this door open....where’s the book, Sarah?”
her father asked, leaving no room in his voice for nonsense.
“What book?” she asked, furrowing her brow slightly.
“What book...The book you Took from the box! The one you were so upset
about the other day...small, with a red cover?? Gold letters?” he added
sarcastically. He was having his fill of being deliberately disobeyed.
“I...I don’t know-”
“What, did it just fly away by magic?” he snorted, stalking towards her.
“John, it isn’t a big deal, it’s one book. She didn’t take anything else,
why not let her just keep that one,” Karen murmured, never taking her eyes
away from Sarah’s. That sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach began to
surface again and her skin felt cold. Something about the girl’s
expression.
“It’s a matter of principle...She went into our room and took something in
it!!!“
“You went into my room and took all my things!!!“ Sarah snapped before she
could stop herself. Her father’s face grew bright red.
“I will /not/ be disobeyed, do you hear that young lady???!” he growled,
grabbing her shoulder painfully when she didn’t respond.
“Yes...ow, yes I hear you!!! Daddy stop!!”
“Then give me back that book!!!” Karen watched, slightly horrified as she
witnessed her husband raising a hand for the first time in his life to his
daughter. Was she really the cause of all this, or had this been dormant
in him for so long, and was just now starting to surface?
“Please Daddy...please!!!!” Sarah’s pleas began to grow slightly more
desperate as her face contracted when his fingers began to dig painfully
into the skin of her shoulder and neck.
“Give it to me!!!”
“John, stop it!!” Karen blurted, suddenly propelling herself between them.
“It’s just a book...one book. It can’t hurt anything. Let her have it.
Besides, she’s doing what we wanted, after all...Calm down. It’s just
a book.” His hand slowly retracted, as if he hadn’t really been aware of
what he had been doing as he regarded his wife, nodding faintly.
“Just a book,” he murmured as he wandered to the other room. The older
woman looked down at the girl, her hand fluttering millimeters above her,
not certain whether to touch her or not. Her dark hair was mussed and her
eyes were puffy and held an expression of unbearable pain and betrayal.
The betrayal of having to leave the fun of childhood behind, the betrayal
of finding out that her father was an adult after all.
“Are you okay?” Karen asked, taking a step back at Sarah’s silent, but
loaded stare. Without answering the girl turned on her heel and walked to
her room, slamming the door behind her.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
It had been a month and a half since the cleaning of Sarah’s room, and she
had slowly withdrawn more into herself around her family. Karen was
concerned. Her grades were still wonderful, and when her father checked up
on her progress to see how her work on the university fair was going, all
of the workers and teacher assistants marveled at her imagination and
ability to put such a vision into reality. What she was working on,
however, was a very hushed secret, although she could tell that it pleased
Sarah very much. Whenever they asked she would say nothing, but her eyes
would glitter with a light they hadn’t seen in them in a long time.
She only talked to them when she absolutely had to. Really, the only
member of the family that she seemed to actually have any affection for
anymore was Toby. She had seen her more than once leaning over the baby’s
crib, waving a rattle at him or stroking his cheek, always humming or
whispering to him. Oddly enough, the infant was enraptured by her
attention, and always seemed to be nodding at his older sister sagely, as
if they were discussing some important matter. She nearly went in to stop
her the first time before she realized that there was true feeling for him
the younger girl. Far be it from her to take away something good between
the girl and the rest of the family.
*****
Karen trudged up the stairs as she dragged along the overflowing basket of
laundry. She was about to go into the master bedroom to put away some
things when she paused, stilled by the sight of Sarah perched on the edge
of the bed, Toby cradled in her arms along with a book of nursery rhymes.
She kept silent, because she had grown used to such images in the past few
weeks, and at the moment both seemed to be blissfully happy. Sarah read
softly to her little brother while rocking him on her knee, and for his
part Toby fingered the edge of the book with sticky hands, and looked
adoringly up at his older sister. A slight pang of envy flushed through
the older woman, and she shook her head as she dismissed it. That was
silly...after all, she was thrilled that Sarah was finally accepting her
younger brother...for the most part anyway. It was silly. She smiled
slightly as she recognized the poem the girl was reading, one her mother
used to recite when she was a little girl.
“Yesterday upon the stair, I saw a man who wasn’t there...”
Karen suddenly remembered those readings of that particular poem, and how
her mother‘s voice formed each syllable in such a way that sent icicles up
her spine. She shivered at the memory and at the words, catching herself
and smiling slightly at her sillyness. There was no reason for her to feel
that way about a silly poem. But peeking at Toby’s face again, there was
no problem, so she let it slide. Silently she walked off towards Sarah’s
room with the basket, listening to the next line.
"He wasn’t there again today...”
Sarah looked up from the book, her eyes boring into the space where her
stepmother had just been staring before sliding over to the mirror, a
secret smile playing over her lips as she spoke the last line that was
very different from what the author wrote.
“I hope he never goes away...” Silently, smiling at Toby again, she slid
the red book out from behind the book of rhymes and began to read in
earnest to his tiny, captivated face.
****
John Williams sighed as he glanced over at his daughter at another silent
dinner on her part. She was starting to relax and act more composed with
each passing day; the activity at the university was helping and when he
and Karen pressed enough they could usually get her to babble on about it
excitedly. But at her core there was something that wasn’t better,
something that was still hurt, and frozen. He didn’t want to admit that it
scared him slightly, because that was silly. To be afraid of his own
daughter. Though he couldn’t help wondering what had replaced him as being
the most wonderful thing in her life. He certainly wasn’t it anymore...she
barely talked to him and never even met his eyes unless she was terribly
angry. How could books and toys take the proper place of a parent? It made
his heart flame at the thought...he contemplated throwing the entire box
of toys into a bonfire every time he caught her staring through the
doorway of his bedroom at the cupboard, but he kept himself controlled. It
was unreasonable to feel such envy at inanimate objects, and such an
action would only fuel the fire along. Though at least she had stopped
speaking of her mother at all...she never mentioned her anymore and he had
noticed at passing glimpses that she had taken down the photos on her
mirror, replacing them with notes to herself and various sketches and
formulas that he didn’t understand at all. But school was a better
replacement than fantasy, at least.
He also noticed that at times when she thought no one was looking she’d
get a wistful smile on her face and sway around, twirling as if dancing
with thin air. Or he found her gazing dreamily out of the window at the
trees, sometimes talking to herself in soft murmurs about how ‘they just
didn‘t understand what was really important.’ It was most likely his
imagination but he often swore he saw a large white barn owl looking down
at her, then flying away as soon as he came into view. He was secretly
worried that maybe she was more wounded than he thought, even contemplated
bringing in a colleague to analyze her, because their sessions weren’t
providing him with anything helpful. Such thoughts kept his mind in a buzz
all evening until at last, he tiredly went up the stairs to the bedroom,
intent on forgetting all of this in a good night’s sleep, or spending a
few intimate hours with Karen...she would make him forget.
He crawled under the covers and sighed, stretching out languidly. “Are you
coming?” he called to the bathroom, smiling slightly as his wife strolled
out in a pale pink nightgown.
“Fast enough for you?” she chuckled, grinning as she leaned in to press
her lips softly against his. He sighed happily against her mouth; this was
what he needed. This would take his mind off things. His arm reached to
his bedside table and flicked out the light as he slowly leaned over, his
arm wrapping round Karen’s waist as he crept closer.
He paused suddenly, pulling back as his hip encountered something lumpy on
the mattress.
“What is it?” Karen asked, slightly put out.
“Nothing, I...there’s something strange in the sheets,” he mumbled, his
hand stretching down and fumbling in the dark for the invading item.
“Is there?” she purred, mistaking his confusion for some new game.
“Yes, there is!” he grumbled, rolling her eyes at her giggle as she leaned
closer to him. “Wait-”
“John....” a soft voice whispered, and they both jumped. They tensed,
their bodies not moving an inch.
"Help me...”
“What...was that?” Karen whispered after a few moments, slowly rolling
towards him again.
“MAMA!!!” The voice was cold and alien and unfeeling. Karen jumped out of
bed as if she had been bitten by a snake, and he felt himself immediately
jumping up, struggling to turn the light on as they tore the covers down
the bed. The hairs on the back of his neck stood up on end, though he
couldn’t understand why. Karen’s eyes looked ready to fall out of her head
and she gave a very soft whimper.
On the mattress, nestled against the indentations where each of them had
been laying were a large overstuffed teddy bear and a doll. Each had
indifferent expressions, and beady, alien eyes. Neither adult found any
comfort in the toys. Instead, they felt heavy in the pits of their
stomachs, and Karen couldn’t stop shivering.
“They’re not Sarah’s...I don’t recognize them,” he murmured, bending to
pick up the trespassing toys, then pausing, his hand inches from them.
“Would you recognize them if they were? I wouldn’t,” she murmured.
“They must be something of Toby’s...left in here as a joke, or
accidentally while Sarah was playing with him...they must be,” he
murmured, gathering courage before plucking up the toys and flinging them
far away from the bed as if they were some dead animal. The two looked at
each other and unconsciously looked over at Toby’s crib. The boy was
standing up, watching them with interest, eyes completely fascinated with
everything they did. John hit the light and crawled under the covers,
though the addition of his wife’s body heat did nothing to help the chill
they both felt.
They both lie awake long into the night, always glancing over to the
cradle, to always find Toby watching them intently.
*****
John and Karen Williams slowly walked out the house to where the car was
waiting. Neither one were particularly keen on spending an afternoon at
the university festival, but it had done much for Sarah’s disposition, and
they were determined to show their support. At least it would be somewhat
fun, and it took her mind off those damn toys. Dr. Williams paused as he
opened the door to the backseat, intending to put the diaper bag next to
the carseat.
Up in the tree, nestled in the branches, was that large owl.
“What is it?” Karen asked as she handed Toby over to him.
“That owl...I’ve never seen one awake in the day before...do they usually
do that?”
“I don’t know...I guess maybe a few do, out in the country anyway,” she
murmured, shrugging as she walked round to the passenger seat.
“Well this isn’t a country...I don’t like it, I don’t like it at all...”
“Well you can call and exterminator or something when we get back...don’t
worry about it right now, it’s just a bird,” she giggled, leaning over to
kiss him on the cheek as he slid in behind the steering wheel.
“Right, just a bird,” he agreed as he started the ignition. Outside, the
owl tilted its head at the humans, and Toby turned round in his seat to
gaze at it through the back window of the car as it eased down the
driveway and into the street.
***
They arrived in the busy parking lot sometime later and slowly navigated
themselves to the student union, where they found Sarah waiting for them,
beaming as other students passed with flush faces, gushing about how great
her project had turned out.
“Well, ready to see the festival?” her father said jovially, trying not to
feel ancient around so many young people. Even the parents that were there
seemed to look younger than him.
“Definitely...here, I can take Toby..” she offered, gladly accepting the
wriggling infant from his mother.
Amazingly enough, he seemed to calm down once in his sister’s arms, though
both bubbled over with contained excitement. “Come on, you need to see
what I’ve been working on! I can’t wait for you to see it!”
“Are you sure you don’t want some lunch first?” Karen asked, putting on a
pair of sunglasses as she grimaced at the nearest food booths.
“We could start with what’s here,” her father offered. Sarah levelled a
look at them and sighed.
“I’ve really been looking forward to you seeing what I’ve been working
on...please,” she added. Her father blinked, startled by the amount of
words she was actually speaking to them, as well as the civility in
her tone.
“Alright...I know it’s been important to you...show us your booth,” he
replied, shrugging at Karen behind his daughter’s back as she took the
lead.
“Oh, it’s not a booth,” she fairly purred, running ahead, even with the
weight of the baby in her arms.
“Hey, wait up!” Karen called, slinging the diaper bag over her shoulder as
they struggled to match her pace.
They suddenly came to a clearing where the booths petered out and a large,
massive...thing took their place on the middle of the student commons.
“Here it is!” the girl laughed, striding up to the front entrance.
“It’s...it’s...” her father stammered, his eyes widening. He knew she was
brilliant and that she had been working hard, but /this/...
A large wall of wood painted like metal encased a good portion of the
commons, and students dressed up in wizard’s outfits and lady’s dresses
and such manned the ticket booth, beckoning all to see the wonders of the
labyrinth.
“It’s a labyrinth, like in the Greek myth of Knossos,” Sarah explained,
striding over to the others. She cast a friendly, almost conspiratorial
grin to the boy yelling out advertisements about the maze. “How’s
business?”
He returned her grin. “Amazing..we’re the hit of the whole festival...I
can’t believe the things you pulled off with the junk we trudged up,
Sarah...this is just fucking brilliant!” the wizard said, and she grinned.
“I’m resourceful, what can I say,” she replied.
“So...are these your parents?” he asked, raising an arched eyebrow. It was
then that Karen noticed the odd things about him...his tapered eyebrow
drew her eyes to his makeup...well, he /was/ a theatre student, but
still...it was exquisitely done. He was quite a handsome young boy from
what she could see, and she wondered in the back of her mind if he was
making a play for Sarah. She’d have to have a talk with the younger woman,
it seemed...And the costume, well it was incredible, not a cheap halloween
party satin from a bag, but truly exquisite. Blue, with stars and infinity
signs, complete with silver trim, and instead of a pointed hat he wore a
turban with an infinity sign at its front.
The wizard’s grin faded as he surveyed them, though he smiled at Toby and
tugged at his foot gently.
“Yeah, that’s them,” Sarah murmured, the light fading from her own eyes as
well. Nodding, the wizard drew her over momentarily and they whispered
together, the boy glancing over towards them momentarily. With a sudden
flourish, he produced two tickets and handed them to Sarah, who had such
an odd smile on her face. If Karen didn’t know better she’d swear the
purse of the girl’s lips, the way they were turned up, and the way her
eyes gleamed was vindictive.
“Well then, enter at your own risk...we’ll be running the clock to see who
makes it to the center the fastest...the winner gets a gift,” the wizard
explained, pulling two crystals out of his robe and holding them aloft.
“Oh how lovely,” Karen found herself murmuring, her eyes transfixed by the
gleam of the spheres, the shimmer of the boy’s eyes above them.
“And what happens if we get lost?” John joked, though his voice was weaker
sounding than he had wanted it to be.
The wizard shrugged. “Simple, you pay the penalty...” he murmured
seriously. “You get turned into goblins!” he added, his eyes widening,
then he and Sarah burst into laughter at the startled looks on the adults’
faces. John and Karen relaxed, then began to laugh with them, amazed at
how silly they were taking things. And where had she seen his face
before...it was irritating, she just knew she had seen him somewhere...
Sarah grinned again, winking at the wizard as he motioned them towards the
doors which were being opened by two hunched over students wearing
tattered clothes, leather armor and goblin masks. “Come on, come inside!
See if you can make it through!!” John wondered exactly how much money the
student group working on this had put into this little project.
“Well...since you designed it, it must be safe...just stay with us to
guide us, okay?” John chuckled as they followed her inside.
At the sudden slam of doors behind them Karen and John turned,
instinctively pressing on the entrance from which they had come.
“It won’t open!!”
“That’s cause you have to go through the labyrinth...once in you can’t go
out again till you get to the center!!” a voice growled, and they looked
to their left to see what must have been a midget student dressed in a
very convincing mask.
“Those theatre students must do good work,” Karen breathed. “Okay Sarah,
lead on,” she added, turning to where the girl had been. Nothing. “Sarah?”
“Sarah???” John echoed, squinting as he looked down the nearest passages,
as if that would help.
“She’s got Toby,” Karen breathed, shivering.
“They get along well together, he’s safe with her...she’s just taking out
her aggressions at the moment by giving us the slip,” John murmured,
trying to reassure the both of them. “Come on, with two of us we can
certainly make our way through this thing. Just remember, it was designed
by a fourteen year old,” he added, smiling broadly.
"Yes, but Sarah’s different than other fourteen year olds...and she’s
brilliant,” Karen murmured to herself, suddenly getting a sinking feeling
in the pit of her stomach, as if she wouldn’t see the rest of the campus
again. It was an odd thought, a silly thought, but it was there. And it
wouldn’t go away.
*****
They had been in there at least an hour, Karen realized, and then they had
gotten separated. She glanced up at the sky, suddenly feeling closed in,
suffocated, trapped. How in the world was anyone supposed to find their
way through this thing? She knew Sarah was gifted with electronics as well
as she was with everything else, but she could swear that the pieces of
this maze changed on her every time she turned a corner. But that was
possible...
“Impossible,” she murmured. She had given up calling for her husband a
long time ago. He’d never hear her and it was useless to just sit there
and wait for him to wander back to her. At this rate, it would take
thirteen hours to get through, if not longer. But then what? She
remembered the keen look in the wizard’s eyes and shivered. The way he had
looked after him when they started into this thing...it was almost
chilling. The slightly snide curl of his lips, the way his eyes
danced...something about his eyes...
She grumbled to herself as she came to yet another fork in her path.
Looking around, finding no one about, she shrugged and took out a marking
pen from her checkbook in the diaper bag. She crouched near the ground,
careful not to rip her nylons on the coarse stone tiles...
Stone tiles?
Where had they come from? This whole thing had been in the school
commons...there was only grass there. “Theatre students, it‘s all
scenery..an illusion” she murmured, before scribbling an arrow into the
masonry. She had just begun to straighten and head on her way when the
tile popped clear out of the ground. Gasping, she dropped her pen and took
a step back as a little man poked his head out of the floor.
He chattered at her angrily, and all the while she was trying to figure
out just how this was happening. It had to be a puppet of some sort..she
saw no marionette strings, and she couldn’t bring herself to grab him,
exposing the hand or the rod underneath. It just had to be a puppet. Her
head hurt, was a dull throbbing behind her eyes and all the way back to
her neck. She shouldn’t have worn heels and was tempted to kick them off.
She was very conscious of the hot sun soaking her blouse...it seemed
hotter here than it had an hour ago. The air was very dry and it made her
mouth feel like swollen cotton, her tongue feel like the Sahara itself.
Her eyes still locked on the little man, she slowly took out a sippie cup
she had tucked away for Toby and took a slow sip of the apple juice
inside. His head tilted as he looked greedily at the cup.
“Um, want some?” she asked when he had extended his hands, still yelling
in a demanding tone. Slowly she uncapped the cup and set it before him. To
her astonishment, he crawled out, revealing a whole body, bent over the
cup and slurped greedily. She fell to her knees, barely aware of the rough
stone scraping through her pantyhose and ripping the outer barrier of
skin. She was too busy looking at three more tiles that were slowly
opening, exposing more little men who looked at her expectantly. Frowning,
she almost got up at once and ran down the path...but she was enamored by
these angry little gnomes...
Gnomes. That was a word she hadn’t used in ages except when reading
stories to Toby. But there they were, large as life. She vaguely
attributed to them being some sort of animatronic, but then how could
they consume the juice? Slowly, she set out a handful of cheerios from the
bag, drawing her hand back quickly as the three men jumped towards them,
grabbing the cereal pieces at once and cramming them into their mouths,
some even stuffing them down their shirts for later.
“How odd you are,” she murmured, relaxing slightly. They reminded her of
the books her grandmother read her when she was very little, about mortals
being spirited away in fairy circles and other nonsense. She kept dishing
out the cereal, vaguely aware that their numbers kept multiplying. When
she finally came back to herself it was because of a hard pinch to her
leg. She hissed and looked down at about thirty expectant faces, waiting
for more food. “I’m sorry...that’s all I have,” she explained, the hair on
her neck beginning to raise as they looked at her and then each other. She
opened her hands, showed that they were empty, took out other items in the
bag to show she had no more edible goodies. Their chatter turned slowly to
snarls, and she was too frozen with morbid fascination to run.
That was, until one of them ran forward and suddenly bit her. Her mind
lept back to itself and she struggled to her feet, wobbling on the heels
as the little creatures surrounded her, pinching at her ankles, ripping
her hose with their teeth as they bit. Gasping, she kicked at them,
wincing at the constant pain of the little nips. But once she kicked down
two or three, four more would jump up from newly opened holes. She
shuffled through them, shrieking as they clasped her ankle, determined to
be drug with her, and gasped as her heel caught in an open hole, sending
her to the ground. Her cheek flamed at the impact, her hands and knees
scraped violently against the stone.
They swarmed over her, tugging at her hair, shouting in her ears, biting
at every bit of skin they could reach. Tears burned her eyes at the pain
and she screamed in terror as she felt herself slowly being tugged in slow
heaves. Looking behind her, she screamed again upon seeing the group of
missing tiles on the maze floor, revealing a large, gaping hole. A hole
that nearly resembled a grave...a grave she was slowly being drug down
into...
She made one last attempt to summon her strength and pulled herself along
on her elbows, struggling to get to her knees and then her feet. They
weighed her down, they kept on pulling, the damnable things! And then
there was one by her face, and he had a very wicked grin on his lips
indeed. Reaching behind him, he lifted one of those missing tiles. Her
eyes widened and she opened her mouth, but he swung at that moment,
hitting the tile on her head brutally, knocking her unconscious. Slowly
her body scraped against the floor as she was drug closer to the hole,
knocking pieces of rock into the abyss with her as she went down, down,
down...
****************
John paused. He could have sworn he heard screaming. It was probably just
his imagination...the heat getting to him, not to mention getting
separated from Sarah and Toby, and now his wife. He’d be asking for a
refund if he had paid for those tickets. How people could have fun in some
twisted carni maze like this was amazing.
And of course, there were the two dressed up kids in front of him that
refused to let him pass. He had come to a dead end, even though he swore
there had been a way out when he had wandered in. And apparently now he
had to choose a door...but there was a catch. There always was.
“So one of you always lies and one of you tells the truth...and you mean
to tell me I can only ask one of you once?” he growled, running a hand
through his hair. He wished he had brought his notepad with him.
“That’s the rules,” one of the strange two-faced, upside-down costumes
said.
“Look, this is great, but aren’t you getting tired sitting there in the
sun? Just let me by...I told you I’m Sarah William’s father! She designed
this!”
“You have to choose one of us,” the other replied.
“I bet you’re loving every minute of this...bastards,” he growled,
wondering if the university would sue if he punched one of them in the
face. He was never violent...well, hardly ever. This was so unlike
him...it had to be the heat. He undid another button on his polo shirt,
wiping at the sweat dripping down the back of his neck. It was
unbearable...he was a psychiatrist, he should be able to figure this out!
“One leads to the center...one to certain death...one lies, one tells the
truth,” he repeated for the thousandth time. He stared up blankly at the
two, as if expecting them to burst into laughter, pull off those damnable
masks, and show him the way out of there. But all they did was twitch the
whiskers at the end of their noses.
“To hell with it, I’m choosing this one,” he grumbled, shoving one of the
guards aside so hard that it fell into the other with a cry. He slammed
open the right door and stalked for two feet before the ground fell out
from under him. How Sarah had accomplished /that/ he couldn’t even begin
to think...but she was in so much trouble once they all got home.
He screamed despite himself, tensed when he saw the hands rising up to
clutch at him, to tear at him. But instead, they simply retracted
themselves towards the wall, letting him plummet straight down into the
darkness. How long he fell he couldn’t judge. It felt like his stomach had
catapulted right out of his body. And then the ground suddenly rose up to
him, and he hit it with a sickening crunch.
**************
When they slowly came to, all their senses came rushing back to them at
once, as if they were awakening from death or frozen state. Karen
whimpered through clenched teeth, delicately raised her hand to feel the
massive knot on her forehead. She vaguely wondered if she had a
concussion. Slowly, so slowly that every pinch under the skin, every rub
of sensitive flesh on the floor seemed to tear deep into her nervous
system, she raised her head, blinking groggily until the whirling, blurry
images started to run back together. She gave a soft sigh of relief when
she spied her husband laying a few feet in front of her, slowly starting
to regain consciousness, himself.
“That girl is in so much trouble when we get home,” he grumbled, cursing
as he sat up too fast. He turned to look at her, blinked, then slowly
smiled in relief. “Karen? Oh thank God,” he murmured, and suddenly they
were crawling to each other, ignoring the pain flaring through their
bodies, ignoring everything except the touch of his hand on hers. “I was
so worried,” he went on, and she nodded at the unasked question in his
eyes. “Where the hell are we?” he whispered, and they both craned their
heads to gaze about the room. It was all made out of stone, and was very
large, but very drab. They seemed to be in some sort of sunken pit in the
middle of the room in front of an empty throne.
Their interest and sudden fear laid not in the room itself, but in its
occupants. Dozens of goblins, warty, slimy, ugly creatures were scattered
throughout. Some were hobbling along, chasing others, some were picking
fights while others picked their noses. Some were drinking from a keg,
others were chattering in their already drunken state, playing with wicked
looking knives and other unfamiliar weapons. Karen couldn’t fool herself
into thinking they were puppets this time. She didn’t know how, but there
was no doubt in her mind this time that they were real.
“I think...I think we must be in the center,” she whispered, trying not to
bring attention to her or her husband.
“Very good...I’m amazed that you actually made it here, let alone figured
out where you are,” a voice said softly, and they raised their heads in
silent awe, then recognition as a regal figure glided out from the
shadows.
“You!!!!” John croaked, his eyes impossibly wide as he saw the wizard
standing before them. But he wasn’t the wizard...not anymore. He was older
now, and clothed in leggings and riding boots, as well as a flowing blouse
covered by a leather jacket that morphed into robes of a midnight blue. An
infinity symbol dangled against the pale skin of his chest. His hair was
long and wispy like spring winds. His eyes were feral, hungry and
mismatched. His face was beautiful yet cruel and his features were
chiseled like a-
Like a statue.
“Oh my God,” Karen whispered, suddenly knowing where she had seen him
before. The man smiled, his lips twisting back exposing wolf teeth.
“Yes, I thought you might recognize me if given time,” he whispered,
smirking.
“But that’s impossible...you’re a...a-”
“A toy?” he spat, the smile gone from his face. “A figurine? Perhaps only
to your eyes...to others who can see, I am so much more,” he breathed,
stalking down to the two adults, his gloved hand grabbing John’s chin
brutally, making him look into those glittering eyes. “Do you know how it
feels to be taken from one who truly loves you and put in a box to be
forgotten?” he snarled quietly, his eyes narrowing. “In a box, where
you’re jumbled with other prisoners all on top of each other, all longing
for the love you used to have, wondering how long you have till you‘re
given away, or thrown into a junk heap, or incinerated. Do you know what
it’s like to be compressed all day and night for long months, breathing
stale air, your whole body slowly aching as everything presses down on
you, barely able to take the heat of the closet, and slowly starting to
panic as you wonder how you’ll ever get out?” he added, the smile flitting
back on his face momentarily as he pulled his hand away. “Well maybe you
do now,” he chuckled to himself.
“How did you...how did we-”
“Magic. Has many forms,” the goblin king murmured, stalking back up to his
throne. “Thankfully there were others in your house that loved me enough
to free me. Free me to deal with you...and your viscious and heinous
crimes of rape and attempted murder,” he all but snarled, his face very
grave, very serious and frightening.
“What??” John croaked, the color leaving his face as his wife screeched “I
would never!!!”
"Then what do you call invading a child’s happy world...invading it and
taking everything that means anything to her away, ripping a piece of her
heart out in the process. She was innocent and happy and you took her
possessions because to you they’re not important!! What gives you the
right to take away your daughter’s soul and grind it into dust, trying to
replace it by making her into the person you want her to be. Look at
you!!!” he shouted, his voice echoing in the room, causing a few goblins
to drop their cups and knives to cower in the darkened corners. “You’re
nothing...you’re unimaginative, repetitive, boring creatures and you’d
eagerly snuff out the flame of another to make another of you. I won’t
have it, I won’t have you hurting her any longer!” he hissed, sitting on
the edge of his throne with a flourish.
“She’s my daughter, she’s not your concern at all!” John shouted, wishing
he sounded as formidable as the other man. Jareth smirked.
“Is she? She doesn’t seem to have any interest in you anymore...that was
why she called me, after all. And she isn’t your daughter anymore,” he
added, smiling to himself. Neither Karen nor John liked that smile at all.
“What did you do to her!?!? Where is she?” Karen demanded.
“She’s fine, and I did nothing to her except give her what she asked for,”
he added, his head turning as another figure glided into the room, almost
dancing. John’s eyes widened as he recognized the woman entering the room,
clad in deep midnight robes, a thin crown of silver on her head. She cast
a neutral glance at them, but otherwise paid them no mind, crossing
instead to the king on his throne. The goblin king gave the first true
smile either prisoner had seen him give as she bent and lovingly,
passionately pressed her mouth against his.
"No...no you can’t have her, she’s only fourteen!!!” John snarled and
tried to get to his feet, but his body wouldn’t obey him. He was too week.
“Age is nothing in this realm,” the king murmured before pressing another
kiss against his beloved’s pouting mouth. “She is my queen, the one I have
waited for for centuries, the one I have been watching, keeping guard over
through that figurine form. She has granted me my freedom and I will grant
her hers, and we shall be happy together, each the devoted slave of the
other,” he whispered, and Sarah nodded, a true smile of happiness suddenly
sparking over her face.
A smile that disappeared as soon as she glanced down at them. She turned
her head to her husband, raised an eyebrow.
“I almost forgot. I did say you would receive a gift when you made it to
the center,” he purred, his wrist flicking impossibly fast. Two crystals
appeared in his palm again, and his eyes bore into them as his fingers
rocked them back and forth at lightning speed. Sarah peered into them as
well, smiling maliciously as she saw what lay inside. With an abrupt flash
of blue material and leather glove, he hurled the crystals directly at
their heads. Screams permeated the room, and it took a minute to realize
that they were their screams. They ducked, felt a current of heat and air
engulf them momentarily, then nothing. Jareth and Sarah laughed at their
expressions, at the way they had leapt to the floor to avoid the attack.
“Wait. Toby, where’s Toby!?!?!” Karen screeched, suddenly remembering the
baby.
“He’s fine...he’s very happy,” Sarah murmured, stepping to a cradle that
had appeared like magic beside the throne. Humming, she bent and lifted
out the infant who gurgled happily and tugged at her hair. Laughing
softly, she brought him to Jareth who smiled tenderly at the boy and
stroked his cheek with a finger.
“What will you do to him? Give him back!!!! You can’t turn him into one of
those things!!!” Karen gasped, tears streaming down her face now as she
saw the creation of her blood and love so close from her, but so far that
it seemed they were across a wide ravine.
“Of course not!” Jareth scoffed, his face softening as he regarded the
baby. “He will make a very fine heir,” he murmured.
“Toby is my baby now,” Sarah explained, smiling down at him.
“He’s our son!!” John shouted, glaring up at them, at the girl who
couldn’t be his daughter. She couldn’t.
“It was his choice...he doesn’t seem to want to have anything to do with
you anymore,” Jareth replied, shrugging as he motioned to his wife. Slowly
Sarah held up the squirming infant until he could see his birth parents.
Immediately he burst into screaming, crying hysterics, calming only when
Sarah held him close to her chest.
“No...no, it can’t be..you’ve put a spell on him!!!” Karen screamed.
“No spell needed in this case,” Jareth laughed, grinning at them cruelly.
“He doesn’t want you to do to him what you did to me. You’ve frightened
him, made him terrified to grow up,“ Sarah explained, her face accusatory.
“His place is here now. Our place is here. We’ll live here forever with
Jareth and the creatures of the labyrinth and rule over dreams and
childlike things and magic. Someone has to protect all the innocents like
us in the world from people like you,” she added, her eyes narrowing
dangerously. Karen and John shook their heads, unable to comprehend, to
understand. Their heads were spinning and their stomachs seemed to slowly
drop out from underneath them.
“Besides,” Sarah laughed, “you’re much to young to take care of a baby.”
“What?” Karen asked, her mouth snapping tight when her voice came out a
high breathy squeak.
“That’s ridiculous!!” John added, but found it hard to form the word
ridiculous, stumbling over it slowly.
“No it isn’t! I’m much older than you,” Sarah sang, laughing at their
confused, astonished faces.
“But I’m your father!” John shouted, stamping his foot, then stopping
immediately. Why was he even acting like that? He hadn’t done something
that rash since he was a-
“John,” Karen whispered, looking with horror at a puddle of water along
the side of the pit they were in. Trembling, he crept over beside her and
slowly took a look at his reflection.
Smooth skin, the lines of middle age wiped away. Unruly hair, wide eyes,
slightly pudgy limbs that were slightly mismatched for his body. Karen’s
hair was much longer and darker now, and a patch of freckles graced her
nose. She was chewing her thumb and trying not to cry.
He screamed. He screamed and he screamed and he shouted and stamped his
feet and fell on the ground screaming. Sarah and Jareth sat above them, so
high above them now, and laughed at their new predicament.
They were children. Cast back into their youthful days, days that neither
of them had wanted to see again. They were both so much more comfortable
in high school, in college, than they had been on playgrounds or in
nurseries or, heaven forbid, in elementary school. Those times of
childhood were magical to some, but terrifyingly dangerous to others.
“You can’t!!! You can’t do this!! Turn us back!!!” John wailed, mortified
at the tears on his cheeks.
“At least make us forget,” Karen sobbed, timidly walking over to the
throne with her bare feet. He was now clothed in raggedy shirts and
trousers, with a sundress for Karen that had seen better days. “Make us
forget what it’s like to be adults...have pity please!!!!” she sobbed, the
tears running down her cheek, causing her nose to run all at once. She
fumbled around, trying to find her purse to get a tissue, but little girls
don’t have such things. Whimpering dreadfully, she had to wipe her nose on
her arm, and ended up sobbing even more because of it.
“Perhaps...if you’re good children,” Jareth said, a small smile gracing
his features. The two perked up, hope filling their faces and they forgot
that when one is a child, grownups will say anything to get them to
behave. “But not for a very long while...remembering is part of your
punishment,” he explained, glancing at Sarah.
“How long are we to stay like this??” Johnny begged, tugging at his shirt
hem as he jumped from foot to foot.
“Forever...I’ve decided to give you a wonderful gift,” Jareth murmured.
“You’ll never grow old, you’ll never have any responsibilities...all you
have to do is play,” he said, bursting out laughing at the looks
of horror on their faces. “That’s right...I remember you from your
youth...you never were ones for enjoying being young.” He tsked softly.
“What a pity.” He burst into laughter again.
“But I’m afraid we just can’t adopt any more children,” Sarah explained,
cradling Toby lovingly. "One is enough and I don’t think I could handle
bad tempered children.”
“We’ll be good!!!” Karen assured her over and over.
“What’s to become of us?? Orphans?” Johnny gasped, the color draining from
his plump face.
“Nonsense...all children that end up in the labyrinth have good
homes...though I’m afraid it won’t be like you’re used to,” the goblin
king sighed, and in an instant they were standing by a little hut on the
city outskirts, a short distance away from the local garbage dump. Toby
was
gone. They hadn’t even gotten to say goodbye. Sarah hummed to herself as
she ran gaily over to the piles of rejected belongings, shuffling through
them.
“I want you to meet your new parents,” Jareth said, his voice taking on a
fatherly tone as he pushed the children towards the house and the figures
in front. Karen squealed in quiet terror and tried not to wet herself.
Johnny buried his head against Jareth’s leg.
“Nonono, please, don’t make us live here. We’ll be so good!!”
“Nonsense, don’t be rude! The Pudglumples are a very respectable family
here in Goblin City,” he snickered, nodding to the family. Mr. Puddleglump
was tall for a goblin, obese, with pudgy arms and legs and wore a metal
helmet askew on his head. His eyes were slightly dim but his demeanor was
friendly enough, because Jareth would never be too cruel and stick the
children with any man-eating goblins. Mrs. Puddleglump was shorter than
her
husband and twice as plump, though she was very fast and very sharp. She
had a long crooked nose and little beady eyes. Her hair was wild and
unkept under the ratty flowered hat she wore. She squealed in delight and
wiped her hands on her dirty apron.
“Human children!!! We haven’t had human children stay in the labyrinth
forever!! We usually adopt the ones that are turned into goblins!!!”
“You’ve done very well in your duty,” Jareth said respectfully, smiling
kindly as the fifteen Puddleglump children, ranging in ages from two to
fifteen peered out of the doorway with curious, anxious eyes than in a few
cases of the bossier, older ones possessed a predatory gleam. “So here is
a special reward for you. These two will never grow old, ever. While your
other children must grow up and get jobs and move out, these two will be
able to stay with you forever!” Jareth laughed, and Mrs. Pudglumple
squealed her hands, clapping her hands in delight.
Karen and Johnny cried silently beside the king.
“Oh how wonderful!! Thanks, yer Majesty!!!” she wept as she waddled over
to the two humans. “First thing we’ll do is put you in a scalding hot bath
and scrub ye from head to toe! LARS, FETCH THE BRUSH AND THE BASIN!!!” she
shouted towards the small house.
“I get to braid her hair Mama!!!!” a lanky goblin daughter said with
glittering eyes.
“All right Cecy, but don’t knot it like you do yours...humans is delicate
creatures!!!
Mr. Puddleglump looked them up and down and grunted in satisfaction.
“They’re too young to do much work in the business, but they can help
Agatha sort toys that come in from the human world,” he mumbled slowly.
“And we’ll make sure they get a chance to play with everything that comes
in! Nothing’s too good for our children!!” he decided, and Karen and
Johnny followed his gaze to the massive piles and mounds of neglected toys
that lay out under the sky down the road.
Once again they burst into tears, screaming, begging the king not to
abandon them. But he was gone. Their world seemed to be shaken inside out
and they began to panic when Sarah approached. “I almost forgot...wouldn’t
want them to not have any memories of the human world,” she murmured,
nodding respectfully to the Puddleglumps as her stepmother and father
frantically tried to hide from their new brothers that wanted to have them
taste their mudpies. “Here you go,” she murmured, pressing a teddy bear
into Karen’s arms. She hugged it softly, amazed at the simple comfort it
could bring. Until she looked at it’s face.
Lancelot.
“You seemed to want him so much, that I suppose you can have him,” Sarah
said kindly, a wicked gleam in her eye. “And Johnny, for you,” she said,
pushing a large rag doll into his arms.
“My boys don’t play with dolls!!” Mr. Puddleglump stated bluntly.
“Oh, but this is a special doll...one who loves to play and loves
everything about childhood, even if she didn’t know how to deal with
children,” she added, casting a derisive look at the thing in her father’s
arms. He blinked curiously at it, somehow recognizing it. It’s body was
lean and wore a fancy kind of gown, though it was stained from laying in
the junkyard. It’s yarn hair, once beautiful, was slightly ratty,
and her button eyed expression looked so sad, despite the perfect mouth.
In a strange way it looked like Sarah. In a horrifying way it looked
like...
Inadvertantly he squeezed it’s tummy. “John, help me...” it whispered. He
screamed and dropped the doll, hiding behind Karen. Linda! his mind
screamed. Linda Linda Linda!!!! Not even his first wife was neglected in
this cruel punishment.
“Now don’t be ungrateful to yer queen children!!” Mr. Puddleglump said
firmly. “What do you say?!”
“T-thank you,” they whispered, crying silently as they were suddenly
surrounded by smelly, foul, though well-meaning goblins.
“Alright, that’s enough visiting...we must get you fed and washed and to
bed! Bedtime at six o’clock!!!”
Mrs. Puddleglump was shrieking in a high, manic voice. "Now come into your
new home...I’ll call you, girl, Fionna, and you my lad will be
Fezzlewig!!” Tensing, unable to follow, they looked around desperately for
Sarah. She was gone.
*******
Later in the evening, Fionna and Fezzlewig lay crammed between the other
fifteen Pudglumple children, trying not to shiver at the foul stench of
the meat stew that lay on their breaths, or the wince at their
faces and arms that had been scrubbed till they thought their skin would
fall off. Apparently goblins didn’t see a lot of children and they were
completely fascinated with their pink skin and soft hair.
Fionna’s hair lay braided almost painfully in twenty odd extensions,
bright pink bows gracing each one thanks to Cecy’s manic fingers. They had
been made to eat all the strange and weird things on their plates, and now
they were in bed, and it wasn’t even ten o’clock! Already though, the nine
and ten year olds were taunting them in whispers with how they were going
to push piles of toys on them tomorrow, and if they were too bad they’d
get dropped in the Bog of Stench. Karen lay with her back toward her
brother, for she couldn’t think of a drippy, whiny little boy as her
husband now. He had already wet the bed once when it was told that he had
to sleep with the other goblin children. He lay beside her, stiff, trying
to be brave, to tell himself that it wasn’t forever. But it was. And every
time they tried to rid themselves of the hateful presents, the Linda doll
and Lancelot kept coming back. After all, their father said, they were a
gift from the queen and they must enjoy them. Karen looked into the dead
eyes of the teddy bear that had started it all. And her eyes began to
burn, and not for the first time that evening, she began to cry
uncontrollably.
Up in the castle at the center of the goblin city Sarah and Jareth quietly
peeked in on Toby, who was sound asleep after watching the crystal mobile
above him with their parents’ pictures in it. He hugged the assortment of
stuffed animals in his bed to his chest and sighed happily in his slumber.
Smiling, the king and queen exited to their own chamber, and paused at a
soft, melancholy sound on the wind. They walked to the window, leaned out
to catch the noise.
Crying. A child’s tears of complete misery. Two children’s tears.
Ordinarily they would be there to sweep in and take care of the problem.
But this time they were well aware of who those children were. Sarah
smiled gently up at Jareth after flinging the shutters of the window wide,
wrapped her arms round him and moved with his graceful movements, their
lips whispering thank yous and tender promises of love and pressing kisses
to each other’s faces as they swept round the room in a giddy waltz.
Now that crying was music one could dance to.