Jareth's Lament Act 2

Act 2:

Sarah kissed her father and step-mother goodnight and lifted her baby brother, Toby from the living room floor where he had been playing. “I’ll put him to bed.” She offered with a smile as she headed upstairs. “Goodnight!”

“Goodnight, Sarah!” Her step-mother called back. She turned to Sarah’s father with a look of pleasant surprise on her face. “I don’t know what’s changed, but she’s been so different these past few days! Look at how she gets along with us now. And with Toby! She’s so protective of him!”

Sarah’s father just smiled and shrugged. “Maybe she’s finally growing up a little.”

*******

Sarah placed Toby in his crib and kissed him goodnight, pulling the blanket over him and making sure that her old teddy bear, Lancelot, was snugly in his arms. “Sweet dreams, little goblin.” She smiled before turning the lights out and heading for her room. Her step-mother was right about one thing, the past few days had been very different. Sarah no longer took anything in her life for granted. She had loving parents, a sweet baby brother (who seemed not to cry so much now), and she was making new friends at school. After her triumph over the labyrinth everything seemed to fall into place. Something was different now, though she couldn’t put her finger on exactly what was different. She had always imagined that she would have to grow up all at once and all her fantasies would be ripped away from her. But now she thought that maybe growing up happened a little bit at a time, like if she wasn’t looking, she wouldn’t notice it at all.

And as for her adventures in the labyrinth, well she and Toby were the only ones who knew about that, and Toby sure wasn’t talking. She sometimes convinced herself that it had all been a strange dream and hadn’t happened at all. And she would have believed this too, if it hadn’t been for the fact that whenever she felt lonely she could look in the mirror and call Hoggle and her friends from that other world. And there they would be in her room, and they could dance and talk for hours, and remind her that the labyrinth really did exist.

Tonight she was tired, and looking forward to getting out of her jeans and into her pjs, and snuggling into her soft bed. But when she opened the door to her room and the lights didn’t work she realized something was wrong. She was about to call for her father to get a new light bulb, when she saw the snowy white owl on her open windowsill and her stomach dropped. “You!”

The owl jumped from the windowsill into the air and flickered and a second later the Goblin King was standing before her. He wore a long white cape with feathers around the collar and a fitted vest over white pants and knee-high white boots. There was a smirk on his handsome face as he said, “Me.”

Sarah grabbed her door and shut it quickly, pressing herself back against it. She shook her head, her long dark hair falling around her shoulders, and her deep green eyes locked on his miss matched ones. “What are you doing here?” It didn’t seem possible for him to be there. Sure, she still saw the others now and again, but for some reason she hadn’t believed that Jareth had the power to come to her again. Her eyes narrowed and she got protective suddenly. “You can’t have my brother!”

Jareth put his hand up to silence her. “I’m not here for Toby, Sarah.” He flipped his hand over gracefully and a round crystal appeared. He rolled it over in his hand absentmindedly as he spoke. “I only wanted to talk with you.”

Sarah looked skeptical. “And get me to give you something?”

“What would I want from you, Sarah?” He gestured around her room, appraising it. Her canopy bed, her stuffed animals, her poster of the rock star, David Bowie. She had nothing of value that he could see. “Dolls? Toys?…I think not.” He took a step closer to her and she pressed herself harder against the door.

“What then?” asked Sarah. “I-I thought you were…”

Jareth laughed suddenly at this. “Thought I was what? Dead? You can’t kill me, Sarah. You refused me, yes, you escaped my grasp. But I am timeless.” He flipped the crystal over in his hands and made it disappear again. “I will always be.”

Sarah knit her eyebrows. “I don’t understand. You’re angry with me then. You want revenge? You want to give me…some gift that will turn into something horrid as soon as you leave?”

At this Jareth got angry and took another step towards her. “Is that what you think of me? Have you ever known me to be a liar? Think before you answer. I can be generous, tricky, cruel…but one thing I am not is a liar!” He sighed then and placed his hands on his hips. “I told you,” he said in a softer voice, “I am only hear to talk with you.”

Sarah relaxed a little and took a step towards him then. He was right, he had always kept his word to her. In the silence between them she looked him over carefully. He seemed different too. More tired. More sad. She felt a tinge of guilt in the pit of her stomach. “What do you want to talk about?”

It was Jareth’s turn to look surprised. He hadn’t actually expected her to agree, and was therefore not prepared to talk about anything in particular. “May we sit?” He stalled. Sarah nodded and he sat in an armchair in the corner, spreading his cape out behind him. Then he moved awkwardly and removed a stuffed animal he’d sat on and threw it aside. “Hmph.” He sniffled a bit and rubbed his nose. Sarah went to the window and closed it. The wind outside was picking up and it was beginning to rain. She moved to her bed a few feet away from the king of the goblins and stared at him in awe.

Jareth coughed slightly into his fist and clasped his hands in front of him, elbows resting on his knees. He stared at her for a moment and then just decided to come out with it. “Why did you leave me, Sarah? Why did you turn down my offer?”

Sarah blinked. She hadn’t expected it to go this way at all. “I had to, can’t you understand? You gave me no choice, I had to save Toby.”

“But you said yourself that you wanted him out of your life.” He sniffed and brought a hand up to rub his nose carelessly. He was doing that a lot, Sarah noticed. “Why would you say the words and then change your mind?”

She sighed, “Do you really want to know?”

“Yes.”

“Because he’s my family, and even though sometimes I don’t like him, I’ll always love him. Sometimes people say what they don’t mean-”

“-That can be very dangerous. I always say what I mean.”

“-And sometimes you have to sacrifice what you want for those you love. You would know that if you understood love at all.”

Jareth cocked his head to the side and opened his hands, confused. “On the contrary, I understand love very well.”

Sarah looked at him sadly. “No, I don’t think you do.”

Jareth sniffed again and stood up, coming to her. “I love you, Sarah.” She bit her lip and leaned back a little. She wasn’t sure if she was more excited or afraid. Either way there were butterflies in her stomach. Jareth kneeled down in front of her and took one of her hands in both of his, gloved hands. “Come back with me to the labyrinth. Be my queen.” Sarah gulped. Her head was spinning. A few days ago she would have jumped at the offer. “My parents…my brother…” She whispered.

“Forget about them. You said that sometimes you have to sacrifice what you want for those you love. Does that mean that you wanted to accept my offer?”

“Oh…Oh yes…” Sarah whispered breathlessly. “A part of me did very much.”

Jareth smiled wickedly and leaned closer to her. “Give in to that part of you, Sarah. Come with me.” She felt fuzzy now as she leaned closer to him, staring in his strange eyes, their hands clasped together. “Jareth…” She whispered, saying his name for the first time. It made him shiver. “…are you using your magic?”

“No, Sarah.” He reached out and crooked a finger under her chin, raising her face to his. “I’m using yours.” Sarah closed her eyes. They were only inches away from each other… Jareth suddenly took his hand away from her and broke the tension between them. He jerked to the side quickly, stifling a sneeze unsuccessfully into his fist. “Hiiih-GrrsHH!” Sarah blinked. The Goblin King sniffled quickly and she thought she heard him growl deep in his throat in aggravation.

“Are you sick?”

“I’m sorry, no, I’m fine.” He pulled a lacy handkerchief out of his pocket and dabbed at his nose which was beginning to look a little pink at the edges. He stood up and backed away from her, sneezing again into the cloth. “Hehh-Rrrshhuh!”

“Bless you!”

“Forgive me, Sarah.” He sighed and put the handkerchief away. “Come. I will take you to my castle and we can…continue our conversation.”

“I can’t.” Sarah said resolutely, standing up.

“What do you mean, you can’t!” He demanded, and began to pace the small area in front of her window. “You cannot obey me in this one thing? I can bring your brother too! I can make him my heir! I can make you my Queen, Sarah!”

Sarah put her hands on her hips angrily. “I knew it! I knew you didn’t understand.”

Jareth turned and grabbed her harshly by the shoulders. “I love you.” He insisted.

“You want to possess me! And more so because you can’t have me and it’s killing you!” Jareth looked stricken. “Leave now, Jareth, and don’t come back. We have nothing else to talk about.” She tried to push him off of her, but she was pushing at smoke and thin air, and there was again an owl flapping its wings in front of her. The window was open somehow, and in a fury the owl was gone, soaring above the houses in the rain.