A story still in progress and simply titled "Jareth" at the moment this is a part two kind of work. In order to fully understand what is transpiring across these pages you will need to have either read or seen The Labyrinth (book: A.C.H. Smith, movie: Jim Henson). This is a continuation of what might have happened after Sarah left the Goblin King.
A SHORT WALK
PROLOGUE:

The castle stands high above protective walls. It is gray, and rotted with time's pulling stress. There is a sense of awe standing before glory now fallen. The air is laden with a horrid stench as you open the gates, and make your way into the village that surrounds the castle. The village also shows the stress of time: the cottages are low and squatted, the dirt is beyond dirty hued with gray and black; it crunches beneath your feet along the brick walk. Your head snaps dangerously up as you hear a distant laughter of a drunken goblin.

All around you there is a menacing feeling of perverseness. By simply breathing in and tasting the air you are aware of the conscienceless of every single inhabitant. It surrounds you. It is in the dirt; it is in the walls; it is in the voice of the drunken goblin. Soon you fear it will be in you. Lifting the weights that have suddenly become your feet you move towards the castle.

Slowly finding yourself in full presence of the castle you realize that you are not alone. That though quiet and subdued there is restlessness in the kingdom. There's more than just the foul stench and perverseness surrounding you. It dawns on you that the kingdom is alive, and that with every kingdom there comes a ruler. You wonder who could allow such decay. A force moves through the air surrounding the castle. You search the rows of windows; looking into each one as you would an eye- searching.

You realize that you are alone and in the midst of a Goblin City.

CHAPTER ONE:
AN OLD FEELING

A drunken goblin laughed heartily. His voice rising from some dark corner, whooping and hollering some intoxicated gibberish. He raised another toast and celebrated early for the arrival of the Full Moon. One face peered down at it all from the castle's highest and largest window: the face sighed deeply at his ruined city. He had been ruling the pitiful place with its even more pitiful inhabitants for centuries, and now it disgusted him to think how quickly it had down fallen. It was more than the downfall that bothered him at the moment though: something from his past was pulling at his mind. He could feel it in his chest.

He turned away from the window with another long sigh. He picked up a crystal ball from a silk cushion and peered into it. A slight rainbow played around its smooth edge. He could see his reflection. "What is happening?" But nothing stirred in reply. Discontented with it he threw it across the room. Despite the force the sphere landed lightly on the room's floor. This was his room where for years he had gone to think; he had always felt secure and comfortable in this room, but now, for unexplainable reasons, he felt restless there. Frustrated he threw open a set of large doors. Walking into a bedchamber, he threw himself onto his bed. What is going through my mind? He asked himself rolling over onto his back. The sound of the rolling crystal entered his ears. What feeling is this? She has been gone for years now, but why have all of these memories returned? I did not summon them. He thought back and remembered the young, teenage girl who had defied him no matter what he had done to her. No power of his had shaken her strong will. "You have no power over me," she had said. Sarah: dear to his being Sarah. 'You're a fool Jareth for thinking so. She was nothing more then something that suited your momentary fancy.' But then he thought back even further to the wish she had asked of him to take her baby brother away. She was so stubborn; so intense; she never showed any fear. She was so beautiful- Jareth cut short with a gasp of pain. He winced, and rolled over onto his side rapping his arms around his middle. A power inside him tugged at his emotions, as if it were trying to pull them physically out.

Jareth winced again as he supported himself on an elbow. The feeling was still in his chest, but the thoughts of Sarah and what had happened all those years ago were gone. The spasm contorted him with a fierce blow, flooding his brain with pain. "Stop!" he exclaimed out loud. "Stop! The thoughts are gone! Stop!" He begged and begged for the power to release him, but it just grew tighter. He fell back onto the bed, and beat the pillows with his fist until he had no more strength and had passed out.

Out in the courtroom the goblin guards were gathered in a pit. The pit had been made for no particular purpose; the goblins were ignorant, and so they threw their bits of unwanted food in it. Yet they felt the need for whispering so, they gathered together closely in this pit. Each one knew something was happening, and each one had their own thoughts about it. Most of them were wide and dramatized because a goblin's mind is too simple to think straight. They knew that usually their king was sitting in his courtroom at this time of night when the Moon was supposed to rise. Their king was usually very punctual about it especially on a Full Moon, and tonight was such a night. They waited for their ruler to come down dressed in his traditional costume. 'Yes, he will come,' they thought. 'He will come down with the banging of his staff on the stairs, and his cape flowing behind him. He will welcome the Moon.' Jareth still lay on his bed though with a look of pain in his features.

CHAPTER TWO:
HOME

The highway stretched clear and straight before Sarah's eyes as she turned off the on ramp. She was going home to see her little brother, Toby, turn nine years old. Home, she thought happily. She listened to her car switch gears, and heard the steady hum as it picked up to sixty-five miles per hour. She hadn't been home for what had seemed an eternity. After a disturbing experience at age sixteen Sarah had moved out of the house to a dorm room at a university to escape the memories of it all. Slowly she heard the sound of car slow to meet the speed of the suburban area. The idea seemed to have worked: she was halfway through her last year of school, she had a loving boyfriend Eddie, and had good, dependable friends. Nine years ago I thought I was going mad, she thought to herself turning off onto an old, bumpy road.

Her mind began to wander: it wandered back to that time she was sixteen, and she had made a silly wish for her brother, Toby to be taken away. Now I couldn't live without him. She laughed to herself hoping that would end the train of thoughts, but instead it encouraged them. Pictures from that other world flashed in her mind- something like a goblin, a flash of color. No. Not this time. I won't think of that during this visit home. She shifted gears and pulled into the driveway.

Her dad, stepmother, and brother greeted her with the same love they always did. Nothing had changed: her dad still smelled of the same after-shave, her stepmother still wore the same hair cut, and Toby was as hyper as ever. He tugged on Sarah's hand, and asked over and over again, "What'd you bring me, Sarah? What'd you bring me?" Sarah had expected him to ask this question: he did every time she visited. Scooping him up into her arms, she took him inside, and said,
"Oh no! I can't tell you now. No! You have to wait." She had dramatized her voice to make the whole thing sound special.
"Ah c'me on Sarah. I've already found all my other presents," he whined hoping to win her over. She tickled him instead and told him to be patient.

Inside Sarah first offered her help in the kitchen, but as always her stepmother told her to go sit down. You need to relax and get your strength back." Sarah objected saying that it had only been a four-hour drive and that she felt fine. She wouldn't listen, and Sarah was scooted into the living room. She sat down on the couch and turned on the TV. Toby came along and climbed on her lap.
"Im glad you're home Sarah," he said playing with her hands. She asked him if he had been getting any bed time stories. He loved them, and before Sarah had left, she had always told him one. "Mommy has tried telling me bedtime stories, but there's always a prince and a princess who fall in love, and then they kiss." His face twisted in disgust just at the word. "You don't tell stories like that."
"Have you asked mommy to tell you a different story? Ones with goblins, faeries, and trolls like the ones I told you."
"Yes, but she says that they will give me night-nightmares. Or, as she tells daddy when she thinks I'm not listening, that they'll give me a complex later in life. Whatever a complex is. Will Sarah promise me to tell me one of her stories tonight?"
"Yes, Sarah promises you that, but don't let mommy know: it'll be our secret." He agreed. Toby leaned against her and watched the television.

Dinner was ready an hour and a half later. It was Toby's birthday dinner so they had fixed his favorite meal: hotdogs and French fries. On any other day Sarah's stepmother would never have allowed such a meal to be served at dinner, but Toby had begged and begged so, she gave in. Sarah looked at her and laughed inside as her stepmother took little bites with a disgusted look. She knew exactly what she was thinking. "Pass the ketchup!" Toby yelled, and Sarah's train of thoughts broke. She started. "Sarah pass the ketchup!"
"Huh? Oh. What do we say?"
"Please!" he grinned. She passed it to him, and now Sarah watched her brother. He was so adorable with his Elmo T-shirt and blue-jean shorts. His dishwater colored hair was roughed up, and he blew it out of his eyes as he took a bite of his birthday dinner. Sarah shivered at the thought that nine years ago her stupidity could have made him disappear forever. That devilish Goblin King Jar-no, I shouldn't think of him. Sarah picked up her hotdog and finished eating.

CHAPTER THREE:
"I AM DYING."

After dinner Sarah ignored her stepmother's complaining and helped clear away the plates. She wanted to help with her brother's birthday. Ever since the incident nine years ago she had taken much interest in Toby's life: bedtime stories, walks in the park. Everything that he thought was important in his life she had been there for them. She smiled happily as her dad handed her the matches to light the candles. In her mind she counted each candle as they lit up: seven, eight nine.

Turning out the lights Sarah went back to the dinning-room and her and her parents sang happy birthday to Toby. "Ok, Sarah: now where's my present?!"
"It's still out in my car. I'll go get it." She picked up her keys, bounced off the front step, and stuck her key in the trunk. Inside were her two bags and the present wrapped up in a box. She looked around and began maneuvering the gift out. It hit a bag and out dropped a mirror; Sarah starred at it. Something had been inside it; a face that looked hurt and it had called out her name. She blinked, looked away, and looked back: nothing was there. Reaching out, she lifted the mirror up, and looked at it curiously. "It couldn't have been him," she said to herself. She closed her eyes, concentrated, and re-opened them half hoping it would bring the face back.
"Sarah! I don't think your brother can wait much longer," her father called from behind the screen. She shoved the mirror back into the bag, took out the present, and went back in.

Inside she could hear her dad talking to Toby, telling him his present was coming. Toby sprang up from his chair as soon as he saw a glimpse of his sister. He told her to set it down in the living room, and since Toby almost always got what he wanted, she set it down on the floor. "There Toby, tear it open," Sarah said stepping back. He looked at it for a moment: it was a large box, and the Power Ranger wrapping paper ran smooth along its sides. He began to unwrap it carefully, and as the last piece of paper fell to the floor Sarah came up to look in with him.
"Sarah it's beautiful!" Toby reached in his hands. Lying gently in folds of shredded newspaper was the body of a unicorn. He caressed its silver horn.
"You like it?" Sarah asked.
"Yes! Thank you Sarah!" He lovingly hugged her.
"Oh Sarah," her stepmother complained. "You know that I don't want him getting into all that mythical stuff at his young age. It'll give him nightmares." Her dad walked over to object, and the two began to argue about it. Sarah merely smiled at her brother. She then got up, and went back outside to get her bags.

When she came back her parents had taken their argument into the kitchen, and Toby still sat in awe of his figurine. Sarah smiled again and went to her room. She hoped nothing had changed there either, and that it hadn't become a storeroom of some kind. Turning the handle quietly and peeking in meekly, she half expected her younger self to come jumping out at her. No. It was exactly the same: her pictures still decorated her dresser mirror, her stuffed animals were where she had put them on the shelf, and her figures and books were still scattered all over the room. Even her musical princess sat at her place on the desk.

Throwing her stuff on the bed Sarah picked the princess up. For years she had tried to get rid of it, but every time it ended up back in her possession. Hesitating only for a moment Sarah's fingers reached out to wind it up, but a feeling in her chest made her stop. "It is only a doll," she said out loud to herself. She turned it, and heard the screws starting to turn inside. The musical notes were at first welcoming; she even hummed a few bars. She then shook her head, and stuffed it into a drawer. She then started unpacking, but it was no good. There was something different about the room, a certain restlessness. It was the air. Yes, the air was cold and lifeless, and it lingered with the sound of the dancing princess. It bothered Sarah and she shivered because of it. She kept looking around expecting something to happen, and it did. Turning to look at her reflection in the mirror she stopped in horror as the same hurt filled face swelled in the glass. "Sarah!" it called. "Sarah! Sarah! Sarah!" Sarah turned away in fear, but the voice continued. She looked towards her window, and the face showed its image there. Everything that could produce a reflection was projecting the face.
"Stop it!" She exclaimed loudly. She covered her ears. "Leave me alone! I don't want to see you again. Stop it please!" She fell to her knees on the floor.

Before Sarah had time to scream again hands were being placed on her. She could still hear her name being called. The hands forced her up from the fetal position she had taken. Gasping she looked up into the face of her father. He was calling her name, and looking very worried. "Sarah! Sarah you are alright?" Sarah gasped taking in mouths full of air. "Honey, are you okay? What is it?"
"Dad? Oh Dad!" she threw her arms around him. "Dad I'm scared. I heard this voice, an-an-and I didn't know what was going on...an-and-and...Oh Dad!" Sarah felt tears coming to her eyes.
"Shh! It's okay. There's no one here, but you and me." He stroked her hair tenderly. "Come on now, take a look around. No one else here." Sarah timidly looked around the room from her dad's shoulder. There was only the two of them. "Boy, what college stress will do to you. Are you going to be okay?"
Sarah looked around her warily, expecting the voice to return. Nothing happened. "Yeah, I'll be okay."
"Are you sure?"
"Yes. I just need to go...to go...to go and get a shower. I need to relax." Her dad pulled her to her feet. Dumbly she grabbed her bathrobe and went towards the bathroom.

The shower reminded Sarah of the reality she lived in. Accepting her dad's conclusion of "what college stress will do to you", she convinced herself that it had all been a mental projection. Her life as it was had no connection with what took place nine years ago. Besides her psychotherapist had assured her that the trauma of loosing a mother and then gaining a new mother and a brother had probably caused a serious psyche over load. Sarah merely needed to accept her reality and live daily.

Back in her room Sarah sat down and placed a phone call to Eddie. She needed to hear his voice and be assured of her reality. Though it was pleasant to hear him, she couldn't help, but feel awkward talking to him. It was as if something more important was waiting for her if only she would get off the phone. She cut their conversation short and sat in silence. Feeling pregnant with expectation, she busied herself with brushing her hair. With each stroke she knew she was bringing something closer. She glanced about her darkening room. As her eyes came back to her mirror, her brush dropped from her hand. The face was swelling before her and it was calling her name.

How could this be happening? She had just returned home, determined to be happy; determined not to be disturbed. She covered her ears and shut her eyes tight. Could it only be flashbacks? Just a mischievous memory? The voice faded away, and a hand touched her shoulder. Sarah looked up hoping that it would be her father. Instead she sharply gasped. Before her stood a man draped in a long cape and loose hanging clothes. Something shiny, all most like glitter fell about him. All of her fears seemed to be taking shape in some horrid tangible form. It was Jareth the Goblin King. She fell back away from him onto her bed. "What do you want?" she demanded.
"Don't be afraid Sarah." She was not afraid, but was more in a state of shock. After nine wonderful years how dare this infamous man come back. Sarah could find nothing to say to him.
"You're not real!" she finally blurted out. "I don't love you! You're not here! It's impossible!" Her mind suddenly stirred itself into a frenzy and she continued to exclaim and sputter over herself.
"I am not really here," Jareth said in a calm tone, putting forth his hands in a defensive way. He had not even expected such a reaction. "I am an allusion," he went on to explain. "I need your help Sarah."
Despite her state Sarah still knew and understood everything. She remembered who Jareth was and what he had done to her. She returned his calm request with a bitter reply, "You don't deserve anyone's help."
"Be kind to me Sarah please; I haven't the strength to-"
"Be kind? Be kind to the monster who tortured me in his maze of dreams? No! I don't love you... you're not real. I-I..."
"Sarah listen," he said sternly. He changed his non-threatening pose and put his hands on his hips, crossed his eyebrows, and leaned in closer. "I am dying."

Sarah couldn't believe what she was seeing or hearing. He was acting so kind and calm. He was an allusion; she was not crazy. How could this be happening?
"Dying?" she asked timidly. For a moment her heart softened. She thought it far to listen, but still her words were edgy, "If the Goblin King is dying then how does he have the power to project an allusion? I believe you are playing a game with me," she managed to say.
"My power is slowly over taking me: I had barely enough to do this. The little control that is left in me I am using to do this, but even then-" he stopped. Jareth's image flickered as an old movie projector does and began to fade rapidly. "Sarah help me!"
She scrambled to get to her knees to see him better. " How can I help? You're too weak to bring me to the Labyrinth. What's wrong? How can I get to you?" Sarah reached out her hand as if some desperate attempt to grab hold of him, but he was fading fast.
" Think back Sarah...The dancing....princess...My tricks and...games...over. Help me or I die." He was gone.

There wasn't time to think about what had happened: Sarah believed him or at least she thought she did. There was only one slight draw back though: how was she to get back to his world? He had brought her there the first time. She thought for a moment and with fear in her heart Sarah removed her musical princess from the drawer. She set it unsteadily on her dresser. She then felt compelled to dress, to prepare herself for going somewhere. Sarah knew where. Before her fingers had even approached the screw on the bottom of the princess, in her mind, Sarah could hear the music and feel the chill of that other world. "You tricked me once by blinding me with my selfishness. You made me think that I was the only thing in this world that mattered and that I was being treated unfair. That one like myself should have a higher place. But,' her fingers hesitated to wind the doll. 'I believe you this time.' Sarah set the doll down and as the music played she watched the doll spin round and round. Soon Sarah's own world began to turn: her head began to feel heavy, and she fell to the floor.

CHAPTER FOUR:
MEMORIES

As Sarah's world spun around her, inside her mind she was remembering things. Feelings, pictures, and desires. The feeling of jealousy towards her brother Toby could be felt in her chest, the pictures of this other world were constantly being displayed, and the desire to break free was always there. Yes nine years ago this had all happened.

Sarah's real mother had died giving birth to her brother Toby. It had left scares on everyone. The nurses thought it had been a miracle that her brother had survived the birth. Sarah wanted to love Toby, but how was she to love when the person she had loved the most had been taken away from her? Everyone showered Toby with attention. Her dad constantly shoved him into her space and gave him everything his heart could desire. Sarah felt crowded and ignored. She never fully healed from the loss of her mother. Digesting mouth fulls of jealousy Sarah began to cut Toby out of her heart all together. Toby was a brilliant child, but spoiled. Sarah knew it, but her dad ignored it. Not even so much as one year later her dad remarried to a friend of the family. This new addition spoiled him even more.

The two were so wrapped up with each other that they never realized how much Sarah was suffering inside. Sarah's heart was still slashed, and with no one to talk to she either took it out on Toby or locked it up inside her where it grew. Jealousy crept up upon her slowly as she would watch her parents run to Toby at the slightest whine or sniff, but ignore her when she most needed someone. When she complained they told her that she was too old to be acting so, that only hurt her more. "I can't do anything right, can I?" she had bellowed at them. Sarah was still a child inside, a child who had no one's attention, a child who wanted her mother back, a child who wanted the past back.

One is very vulnerable when one is jealous, and Sarah was no excuse. She tried to wrap herself up in her dreams; she kept telling herself that life was not being fair to her, and that she could never be happy without her mother. She allowed herself to be bullied at school, and ultimately for life to take full advantage of her. She would never allow her heart to love that deeply again, even if that meant sacrificing the happiness of those around her.

Jareth looked on in complete desire of the young girl. She was so immensely stubborn, and yet at the same time so uncontrollably graceful. As an animal of prey lies in wait so did Jareth for the right moment to seize her. Looking upon her one evening and finding her reaching her limitations with Toby, he landed in owl form outside her parent's window. Sarah said the words. She made a wish: a wish that her baby brother Toby would disappear forever and that she could live in her dream... "Goblin King...take this child of mine far away from me!" In what seemed like a flash of black silk moving over the sun, Sarah found Jareth before her and her wish coming true.

In her youth and innocence Sarah wanted to take her wish back. Never in her life had she imagined that some melancholy spell from an old book would actually work. Jareth refused, laughing inside himself at her confusion. Controlling every urge in his body to do with the boy as he pleased and to claim Sarah, he offered her the option of going to get him herself..."He's there, in my castle." He had pointed out to his kingdom. The land opened up before Sarah and she faced the Labyrinth, the realm of the Goblin King. "Do you still want to look for him?" Sarah's proud heart flared- allusion or not she would never reject a challenge.

She faced obstacles; she met creatures; she fought goblins; she endured spells. Her young mind and body went up against all that Jareth could muster. In the end it was a battle of wills. Who was in control and who actually loved? Jareth's feelings had morphed into some mutated form of love- selfish and consumable. His will was stronger. Sarah could not let Toby become a goblin, no matter how much her own heart was scared. She had the stronger will and the stronger love, "Give me the child...I have been generous up until now...What have you done that's generous...I have done it all for you...Through dangers untold...Stop! Wait...Take back the child that you have stolen...And you can have everything that you want...For my will is as strong as yours...Fear me, love me, do as I say...You have no power over me."

Breaking the ice that so long had encased her conscience, Sarah was a renewed being. She was in control; her love was strong; and she wanted her brother back in her life. Jareth writhed inside at such a proclamation- it crushed every once of his power. It was the taste of a pure love against a tainted one. He had wanted her to stay with him, and he had expected her to shiver and obey his wishes, but she hadn't. Full of rage Jareth sent her and her brother back with an oath that he would never rest until she loved him back.

.........

Jareth murmured in his sleep. In his mind he was with Sarah as she permeated into the underworld. He caught glimpses of every thought and emotion: such memories pierced his conscious. Will she believe me? He aroused himself from his thoughts and sought one of his crystals. "I need to see where she is," he said to himself leaning on an elbow. He cringed and looked around him; there wasn't one available. Using what power he had he formed one of them in the air. It shivered and bounced where it floated as Jareth's power wavered. Gathering his thoughts together, he steadied it. "Show me the girl." Colors gathered in the ball: they mixed and swirled together to show him her image. Her body lay in total darkness; that told him that she was still on her way to the outskirts of his kingdom. "This time, Sarah it isn't a game. You are on your own. You won't have me to cause problems or to confuse you. The creatures and disasters you find are their own masters, and I cannot help you. Oh Sarah, believe me," he then said falling back onto the blankets. The crystal dropped from the air, landed on the floor, and rolled away. "Please believe me." He stopped there too weak to think.