Labyrinth Of Love: Chapter 1

Friendly Love

There are not many people like Sarah. I can imagine if you ever met the Goblin King you’d fall in a faint. Then, once you’ve gotten over the shock, you would ask a great deal of questions as to why a man dressed in very strange clothes could juggle a number of crystal balls in his hand and transport you to a giant maze in less than a second. But not Sarah. She never asked questions, nor did she seem then slightest bit shocked when Jareth first infringed upon her daily life. She accepted whatever the world brought her and dealt with it as if it happened to everyone everyday. It was no surprise that she managed to sail through life since the day she returned from saving her baby brother. Miss Williams graduated high school with ease. Soon after, she effortlessly landed herself as an infant school teaching assistant, a job she loved very much, which was pretty surprising since most of the teachers were really quite mean to Sarah. They didn’t include her in their ‘adult’ conversations. They didn’t treat her as one of them. Obviously they were jealous of her. The kids adored Sarah more than any other teacher and they had every reason to be. She was younger, prettier and much more friendly. Mrs Taylor, teacher of the second grade, often ogled Sarah with the corner of her eye, wishing that her long dark shiny hair belonged to her. She was one of those people that victimized someone just for the fact that she simply didn’t like them. Every wrong move Sarah made gave Mrs Taylor the chance to reprimand her in front of all the other teachers.

“Miss Williams! Miss Williams are you listening?” yelled Mrs Taylor for the third time. She had been asking Sarah to gather the children for five minutes.

“Hmm. Oh, sorry Jean, I’ll do it right away” replied Sarah who quickly stood up from the mud-spattered ground wiping the dirt off her jeans. Then she walked over to the pack of kids who had already gotten filthy just from walking a few yards to the pond at the back of the school field.

“It’s Mrs Taylor. Don’t use my first name in front of the children” she shouted after her.

“Sorry” she shouted back. Then soon enough Sarah had tamed the disorderly children and they were walking single file down to the pond much to Jean Taylor’s astonishment. Everytime she tried to discipline the kids they would rebel against her even more. She wasn’t like Sarah at all. Sarah adored teaching children for the simple reason that she could relate to them. Unlike most adults, Sarah had managed to hold on to her youthful imagination. Her dreams and fantasies didn’t sift through her brain like the other teachers she worked with. That was why the children liked Sarah the best. She could make the dullest of stories seem exciting.

“Here we are then” said Sarah who immediately began to get all the kids kneeling beside the pond, marvelling at the wonders of nature. “That’s a water strider. It skates across the water by using it’s long legs…and look over there at that pond turtle. He looks like he’s just woken up doesn’t he. Look at his lazy eye.”

The kids all laughed but the hilarity was broken by the divertive cough that Mrs Taylor produced.

“Granted, you’ve done your research Miss Williams but that is not how we do it in this school. The children need to be first taught the outside safety rules, then we need to place them into an appropriate seating arrangement. It is only then that we can begin to teach them about the nature of wildlife” said the teacher.

Sarah stood up looking more than humiliated.

“Sorry Mrs Taylor. I’m new to this whole field trip thing. I’m sorry for jumping ahead. I should know better” Sarah said.

“That’s okay Miss Williams. Just watch how I do it and next time you might actually get it right.”

For the next half hour Sarah remained quiet. She watched as Mrs Taylor bore the life out of the second-graders. She spent almost twenty minutes telling them what not to do when observing pond wildlife. Sarah knew that the kids could have learnt so much about nature in that time. Eventually they began to look at the water. Some of the kids got thoroughly excited when they saw all the different kinds of animals. Occasionally they would look back at Sarah and share a secret smile with her, laughing at the fact that Mrs Taylor was saying words that children at that age could not understand and would definitely not remember.

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“Oh no!” shouted Cindy, the cutest little girl of the class a few minutes later. “My paper, my paper! It’s fallen in the water.” Cindy began to cry. “My drawing was on there” she said.
“Oh don’t worry honey, I’ll reach and get it for you” said Sarah who knelt beside the pond and began to stretch out her arm to try and reach Cindy’s sheet of paper.

“That won’t be necessary Miss Williams. Cindy will just have to start again” said Mrs Taylor.

“Oh it’s okay I’ve almost got it said Sarah.

“Miss Williams I told you to leave it alone!” the teacher shouted!

Cindy’s cries rose in volume and it was not in Sarah’s nature to deprive a young child of their own creation. She knew how important simple things like drawings were. “Miss Williams you’re going to fall in if you’re not careful. I said leave it!”

“She’s shouting at Miss Williams” said one of the children as they began to whisper.

“Here we are. I’ve got it” said Sarah who managed to touch the tip of the paper with her fingers. But it was too late! Mrs Taylor had already knelt beside her and tried to pull her away from the pond. But her presence startled Sarah and she quickly jolted around only to hit the teacher in the face. Then, from shock, Sarah lost her balance and fell backwards into the pond! Sarah gasped. The children screamed. SPLASH!! Dirty pond water splattered all over the children, and even worse, Mrs Taylor’s best suit!! They were all filthy, especially Sarah who looked like a mud-monster trying to clamber out of the pond. She looked awkwardly at Mrs Taylor who looked immensely cross. The kids seemed to be having a whale of a time, but Sarah knew that she would not be let off lightly.

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A few hours later when school had finished Sarah arrived at her home.
“Oh it was horrible!” she yelled as she slammed her apartment door shut, knowing perfectly well that her roommate had gone on vacation already. She threw down her bag and coat and groaned to herself when she faced the mirror. Then she began to undress herself until she was completely naked, not that it mattered. Nobody was around! She went into the bathroom and turned on the shower. Before she hopped into the bathtub she turned to face the mirror.

“What have you done?” she said to her reflection. “If she fires you, which she most likely will, you’ll have nothing. Then what are you going to do?”

She sighed, then took her shower. While she was washing herself she could have sworn that she heard someone moving around in her bedroom, rummaging through her things. Eventually she smothered herself in her thick fluffy robe and walked into her bedroom. She must’ve imagined it. Nobody was there.

Now that she was home she could act however she wanted, and Sarah chose to act a little childish. It was her way of dealing with stress. She turned to her dreams and fantasies every time her day got her feeling down, which unfortunately was quite often. She lay there for a while, staring at the ceiling on which she had smartly placed posters of fairytale scenes. She became so lost in her thoughts that she almost failed to notice the creak of her bedroom door. Her eyes suddenly grew wide at the awareness of an intruder. Who was there? The footsteps began to walk slowly up to her bed. Her alarmed expression swiftly turned to a childlike smirk.

“I’m glad you’ve come” she said, still lying down, facing the ceiling. Then she sat up and turned around to face the friend who always came to her when she felt frazzled. “Come here Hoggle. Give me a hug!”

The ugly little dwarf’s eyes lit up as he scrambled onto the bed and collapsed into the arms of his best friend.

“I’ve missed you Sarah. It’s been a long time” said Hoggle to which Sarah responded with a giggle.

“It’s only been a week” she laughed.

“Seems like a year to me” he said.

She embraced him again.

“So where are the others? It’s not like you to come alone” she said.

“Here we are my Lady” called a voice from behind her.

A noble fox and his cowardly dog, along with a big friendly chestnut giant came marching through her door. Her face glowed like a child at Christmas. She ran up to her friends and squeezed them so tightly they could hardly breathe.

For the rest of the night the friends exchanged stories and told each other how they’re lives were going. Sarah revealed her troubles about her job and consequently her friends tried to comfort her.

“It’s not fair though! I worked so hard. The kids love me, they say they learn so much more from me than what that stupid Jean Taylor teaches them. And now I’m going to be fired, just for trying to bring a little fun into the classroom.”

“You don’t know that Sarah. You’ll prob’ly just be let off with a warning. That’s all” replied Hoggle.

“No, you don’t know that teacher. She can win over the Principal of the school easily. I think they might have a thing going on between them. I might as well face it. I’m unemployed.”

“Well who needs a job anyway” said Sir Didymus.

“Job bad…friends good” said Ludo. Sarah smiled.

“If only it was that easy. In this world it’s all about the work. If you haven’t got a job, you’ve got nothing. Not like in the Labyrinth” she said.

“Don’t be so sure about that Sarah. We ‘ave to work too. Jareth is always makin’ me do load of jobs. Guarding the entrance, spraying the fairies, looking out for enemies. And he’s always watchin’ for me to slip up so he can threaten to throw me in the Bog Of Eternal Stench” said Hoggle.

“Well he hasn’t changed much then has he” said Sarah. “Why don’t you all just confront him?”

They all gasped at her comment.

“Scared” said Ludo.

“He’s right. We could never challenge our master like that. He has too much power” said Sir Didymus.

“Well then I’ll talk to him” said Sarah. “It’ll be good to see that place again.”

“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that Sarah” said Hoggle. “Jareth said he don’t want you anywhere near the Labyrinth. He don’t wanna see your face ever again.”

“I don’t care what he says. He can’t be still holding a grudge after five years. Besides, he doesn’t have to know that I’m there, just let me come into the Labyrinth with you. Just for one day. I want to meet some of the strange creatures I saw last time. The nights get so lonely for me after you leave. Please.” Sarah begged.

Hoggle thought for a second but then he realised that he had to put his foot down.

“No. I won’t let you. If Jareth finds out you’re there I don’t know what he’ll do to you and I’m not gonna take you there just to find out” said Hoggle. “Now, lets talk about something’ else…Say er’ have you got yerself a boyfriend yet Sarah?”

“No” she scoffed. “The only boy who’s asked me out in the last few months was one of the fourth-graders. I mean, he was sweet, but just twelve years too young.”

“Well that’s good” said Hoggle. Then he coughed. “Well, I mean yer don’t want to be rushing into anything don’t yer.”

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As this conversation was in occurrence, another individual was also brooding about being bored and lonely. Imagine how forlorn you would feel to be completely isolated from every living person in the entire universe, to be forced to dwell in a secluded castle, having so much power but sharing it with nobody and having so much love to give but sharing it with nobody. He sat on his throne, the place where he always sat when he was in one of his moods. His platinum wiry hair mirrored through the crystal ball that he twiddled about in his gloved hands. He didn’t even bother to quiet the unruly crowd that paraded through his court. It was a sign that he was bored. He wanted love, but who would he get it from. And…who would he decide to give it to?


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