Labyrinthine Heart (Only For Forever)

Sarah was out of the restaurant and back in the car on her way home within minutes, her worries about her date, let alone the date itself, long forgotten.  

Gaby's fine, she kept trying to tell herself, despite the racing of both her mind and her heartbeat.  She was probably just hiding, playing a trick on her uncle, for which Sarah would give her a stern talking to.

She drove as fast as the speed limit would allow - even a little faster.  Being pulled over by the police for speeding was the least of her worries at the moment.

It had started to rain while she was in the restaurant - she had been staring out the window at the steady drizzle while trying to calm her nerves over her date. But now it was a steady downpour, and windy on top of that, making for quite the storm. 

Sarah was struggling to see out the windshield, the windshield wipers whipping back and forth across the glass to clear it of the rainwater, but she did see when something - a large bird, it looked like - swooped in front of her.

Sarah gave a cry, slamming on the brakes. She sat, still and silent in the middle of the road for a moment before pulling the car to the side of the street and jumping out into the rain. 

The bird seemed to have disappeared - it was nowhere in sight. 

Sarah jumped back in the car and continued on her way.

She had been certain the bird had been the owl.  

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Toby was standing on the front porch awaiting her return when she pulled into the driveway minutes later.  

"Where the hell did this storm come from?" he yelled over the downpour and howling of the wind as they both rushed into the house.

"Any sign of her?" Sarah cried as soon as they set foot inside.   

"No, I've practically torn the house apart.  She's not here.  I thought - hoped - she was hiding somewhere, but she's not."

That was what Sarah had been hoping for as well. 

"Where did you last see her?"

"She was running around the backyard in your princess dress - I was readying her dinner, so I was watching out the window.  I literally turned around for a second and she was gone." Toby's voice was just as panicked as she felt.   "She seemed to be chasing an owl-"

"Owl, what owl?!" Sarah spun around.

Toby was clearly taken aback.  "I don't know, some barn owl that was flying around the backyard-"

Sarah's heart instantly sank - she hadn't wanted to believe it, but, deep down, it was just as she had feared.

"I'll kill him." 

"I'm sorry, what?" cried Toby.  

"I know where she is."

"Where?"

"Or who she's with."

"Who? Sarah?  Should I call the police?"

"No, no they won't be able to help us."

"Uh, I'm pretty sure that's their  job-"

"Shh!" Sarah suddenly shushed him, upon  hearing a faint rustling.  

"What?" She was clearly confusing poor Toby. 

"Do you hear that?" The rustling had grown steadier now, and louder. Now, not only was it a rustle, but overlapping voices as well.  

Both jumped when pots and pans and cupboard doors in the kitchen began to rattle, as though something was disrupting them.  They could now clearly hear giggling. 

"Is someone in the kitchen?!" Toby whisper-hissed, looking extremely uncomfortable.

Sarah had a good feeling of who it was. 

The voices grew louder, an assortment of giggling, hissing, and chatter. 

At the next sign of movement out of the corner of her eye, she dove forward, catching something as it moved under the rug.  That something now struggled in her arms, giving a shrill cry - a small goblin. 

"Where is she?! Where is she?!" Sarah demanded, struggling to keep her hold on the little creature. 

The goblin's beady little eyes fell upon Toby.  "Baby! Baby!" he cried while flailing his little arms. 

"Gah! What the hell is that?!" Toby cried, jumping away.

"He's not a baby anymore! Where is my daughter?! Where is she?!"

"Castle! Castle!"

"How do we get there? Tell me!"

"Uh, S-Sarah..." Now Toby was shaking. 

When she saw what he was pointing too, Sarah gasped. Her grip on the goblin fell away and he slipped from her grasp, rushing off and disappearing within seconds.  The kitchen had grown silent once again, signalling the other goblins had vanished as well. 

 Sarah got to her feet. A long shadow stretched down the hallway - displaying wild long hair and a spiky cloak. 

He was here.

 The shadow remained still for a moment before disappearing down the hall, as though whoever's shadow it was was moving, despite she and Toby only seeing the shadow, not the person it belonged to.  This was all the more sinister.  

Sarah wasted no time in following the shadow until it disappeared beneath the closet door at the end of the hall. 

Sarah reached out and turned the knob, swinging the door open.

It wasn't the closet she found inside. Instead, they now faced the inside of a castle. 

(Jareth himself will appear in the next chapter, yay! :D 

Thank you so much for reading and I hope you enjoyed this chapter! :))