Labyrinth Fan Fiction ❯ Thirteen Hours ❯ Wish granted ( Chapter 1 )
[ T - Teen: Not suitable for readers under 13 ]
By: Stef hanee 
Non Anime: Labyrinth Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Fantasy | Type: Fanfiction Sequel | Uploaded On: 02.25.2007 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.9K | Visits: 386 | Status: Completed
Non Anime: Labyrinth Fan Fiction | Genre(s): Adventure / Fantasy | Type: Fanfiction Sequel | Uploaded On: 02.25.2007 | Pages: 3 | Words: 3.9K | Visits: 386 | Status: Completed
Disclaimer: The characters of Jareth, the goblins, Hoggle, or any other characters and creatures related to the Labyrinth storyline are the property of Jim Henson Productions. We are in no way affiliated with this company. However, new and original characters, creatures, places within the Underground and evolution of the Goblin King are ours. We do not own any other miscellaneous affiliations such as from shows, books, movies, titles, etc. This story is for entertainment purposes only. So please do not sue.
The content of the fan fiction is written with a mature audience in mind. Comments are welcomed. Enjoy!! ^_^
(Also there are no spelling mistakes in the way Danyelle speaks)
================ O O O ================
Chapter One: Wish Granted
A hand reached out, searching around in the dark. Unknown music was faintly heard through headphones, the red glow of the numbers of the digital clock was the only light in the windowless room. A low groan escaped as fingers tried to find the stop button on the CD player. The player whirred to a stop as the button was pressed. Movement was heard as a figure removed the covers from their body and with a soft thump; the figure moved in the dark room and reached the door with a soft bang.
“Ow!!” Nineteen-year old Stephanie muttered as she opened the door, she stepped into the hall/living room of her apartment. She held her foot in her hands, squinting at her toe in the sunlight from a small window on her right.
“Damn door...” she placed her foot back next to the other on the carpet and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Even though she had lived there for almost a year, she occasionally stubbed her toe on the door or walls of her dark bedroom. She ran her fingers in her tangled long hair and combed out the knots as best she can as she made her way across the living room and towards the small coffee table. She grabbed the TV remote, turned it on and switched it to the weather channel. She glanced at the weather and nodded at the nice temperature.
‘Finally, a nice, warm sunny day,’ she thought as she made her way towards the bathroom. She returned to the living room and sat down on one of the couches. She continued to wipe the sleep from her brown eyes as she drew up her knees to her chin. She then frowned at the hole at the bottom of her green, purple and white plaid pajama pants, which were a bit long for her, slightly covering her bare feet.
Stephanie yawned softly as she lightly scratched at an itch on her bare shoulder. Under her dark blue pajama tank top’s straps, her bra strap slightly shown. It wasn’t that early in the morning. It was nearly eleven. Usually she would have class on Tuesdays and only in the mornings, the afternoon would be off, but today the class was canceled due to the teacher’s illness. She was glad to be off school for the day, the class wasn’t very interesting on Tuesdays.
After searching through the channels for anything good to watch, she made her way to the tiny kitchen to pour a bowl of cereal. Cheerios was the first meal of the day; they crunched loudly in her mouth when she chewed as she watched a few minutes of a kid’s cartoon. She would have preferred her usual cartoons but it was too early. She placed the empty bowl onto the coffee table, the spoon almost falling out, clinking against the ceramic bowl. She turned off the TV just as her landlady asked her to help her with something in the garage. Instead of getting dressed, which she was in no rush to do so, she put on a clean pair of white socks and her sport sandals and went upstairs to see the situation. Her landlady told her it was no rush so she can get dressed but Stephanie said it was all right, besides, it was nice out and she didn’t really mind going out in her pj’s. She also mentioned that she might go out later for a walk, after dressing of course.
Stephanie came downstairs with her sandals on after helping and continued with her daily routine, forgetting the sandals she had on. She turned on the lights in the bathroom, brushed her hair properly, and grabbed her toothbrush for the last thing to do before getting dressed.
“It’s going to be another boring day. Wouldn’t hurt for something interesting to happen,” she added as she looked at her reflection.
_____________________________________O O O_____________________________________
A message box appeared on the screen, announcing that an “illegal operation” had occurred.
“Aw! You suck, yah fart!” The computer restarted itself. After being the third time of this happening, Danyelle finally gave up. She made her way to the kitchen to start the coffee machine, while playing with her light brown, shoulder length hair.
“God I hate my hair.” She said, making her way to her room to get dressed. She then noticed a spider crawling on the floor of her bedroom. “Ew! Gross!” She ran to her desk, picked up her flower paperweight, and squashed the spider. Four times. She then looked at the very flat spider that was smeared across the bottom of her paperweight, the legs lightly twitching.
“Kay, now that’s nasty.” She scrunched up her nose at the mess. Taking a Kleenex from her dresser, she started to clean it. After returning the paperweight, she started to pick out a simple outfit: blue jeans and a gray, long sleeved shirt with the word “star” written across the chest. She glanced at herself in the mirror. “Gee I wish I looked my age. I don’t look seventeen.” She tried to do something with her wavy hair but gave up and put it in a ponytail along with her dark blue visor. “Pff! Good enough.”
In the reflection of her mirror, she located her empty cup of coffee and returned downstairs to the kitchen. The new house was quiet, having only moved a few months before. She was home alone for the day, her mother was gone to work and she had no school, other than the courses that were sent to her home. Danyelle poured herself a fresh cup of coffee. The girl then sat down at the kitchen table, lit up a cigarette, picked up the newspaper and started to read her horoscope for the day.
Aquarius - Today will be an eventful day. Strange things will happen, often to leading to disaster. Be careful of wishful thinking and expect the unexpected.
“Yah, like anything exciting ever happens to me.” Danyelle said as she rolled her eyes.
She finished her smoke and let her part terrier/beagle dog Cheech out. She made her way to her birdcage to see if her bird, Snowflake was still alive. “Gosh you’re getting old.” The girl commented, looking at her pure white budgie sitting upon the perch. Opening the cage door, she then placed her finger inside the cage and let Snowflake jump on it. She gave the bird a kiss and returned her to her home. Danyelle smiled at the bird and heard the buzzer of the dryer from the basement, telling her that her laundry that she put in earlier was done.
“Oh kewl!” She ran to the basement to retrieve her clothes. Grabbing the basket full of her warm, dry clothes, she started towards the stairs when something caught her eye. She noticed a weird looking book sitting on top of an old, musty looking cardboard box, next to the stairs.
“What’s that?” she put down the laundry basket, walked towards it and picked up the dark, black and white marble colored makeshift book. “Oh kewl, it’s Steph’s Labyrinth book!” she looked at it in excitement as she recognized the strange book and ran back upstairs with it, leaving the basket behind, forgotten, at the base of the stairs.
Closing the basement door, she remembered how her cousin, Stephanie, had visited them for a week last summer and had been reading from it on the day that had a storm. She must have forgotten her book and someone had placed it amongst Danyelle’s unpacked things. While looking at the book cover, she made her way towards the couch. The book was obviously made by her cousin, pages printed on ordinary white computer/drawing paper, cut to the shape of the paragraphs and put together who knows how and with what. She sat down on the couch and opened the small book, glancing briefly at the few pictures of owls, a room with stairs, and then of course, the Labyrinth.
“Hmm, imagine if this Underground thing really existed...” she said while slowly turning the pages, one by one, glancing slightly at the phrases and paragraphs.
“I wouldn’t wanna wish someone away to see if all this is true.” Danyelle said looking at the words that are to be said to wish someone away. “What if I wish for the Labyrinth to come here instead?” she said pondering the idea in her head. She laughed. “This is silly. I know it’s not going to work.” She put the book aside and let her dog back in, still thinking about the book.
“I don’t know why I’m so weirded out by saying it, it’s not like it’s going to work anyways.” She said, standing at the closed door, glancing at the book sitting on the living room table.
After a moment, she walked to the table where Stephanie’s book was lying and picked it up, her curiosity getting the better of her. “Oh what the hell.”
She opened it where the black ribbon bookmark was, just as Stephanie had left it upon the first confrontation of the Goblin King and the girl Sarah; she flipped through the chapter that was saved, found the “right words” that Sarah had said to wish her baby brother, Toby, away. “I wish for the Labyrinth to come to our realm,”
She paused. “Right now.”
The girl looked around, waiting for something to happen. She laughed at how ridiculous all this was. “See, I knew it wouldn’t work.” She put the book back down on the table and went to the kitchen for a glass of water to get rid of the taste of coffee that lingered.
Suddenly the house started to shake. “What’s going on!?” she yelled as she ran to a doorway, along with her dog, Cheech. The house rattled even more as objects started to fall and break as they crashed upon the floors.
“Stop! STOP!” She screamed at the top of her lungs, covering her head as best she can while having a tight grasp on her dog’s leash. She slowly started to cower down closer to the floor, her eyes shut tightly.
The shaking stopped as though her plea had been answered.
Danyelle got up slowly and stared at the damage that was done.
“What was that?” She said, seeing if her bird was okay. Snowflake fluttered around nervously as she made a few attempts to calm her pet. “It must have been an earthquake.” She shook her head, closing the birdcage. But she dismissed the thought, for it was very uncommon to get earthquakes in Northern Ontario. She glanced at the book. The realization struck her. “No way!!! It couldn’t be...” She was frozen in place, staring at the odd book.
“I—I need to call Steph!” she stuttered as she finally moved, rushed to the phone and picked it up. “What am I doing? She doesn’t even have a phone.” She put the phone back down. “Now what?” She asked herself, trying her best not to cut herself on the broken glass scattered on the floor. She got to her shoes and put them on.
“Come on Cheech. Go outside, I don’t want you to hurt yourself on all this glass.” She walked to the back door, letting her dog out, that’s when she noticed something in the tree, just outside her backyard fence.
“What is that?” Danyelle said as she tried to make out the figure. The figure then swung out of the tree and landed on the wooded fence that closed in the backyard. A small laugh escaped from it.
“Holy shit! That looks like a—a goblin!”
She quickly called her dog back in the house as fast she can, closed the door and locked it. Pointing to the couch she said: “Cheech, go on the couch.” She ran to the front door and locking that one as well. She leaned against the door, breathing heavily.
“Oh my god, it worked!” As she thought of what she had just seen, she walked to the hall closet and got the broom. “God they’re ugly.” She started picking up all the glass and said repetitively, “What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?”
Putting the broom back in its place, she sat on the couch next to Cheech, playing with his floppy ears. “What am I gonna do?” she said again. “Oh man, where’s Steph when you need her?”
Something passed by the window, catching Danyelle’s eye. The movement was too quick. When she reached the window, a single white feather with a golden tip had floated gently down.
“What was that?” she said, looking out the window. She walked slowly towards the door and looked outside. “There’s nothing there.” She reached for the lock and slowly unlocked it. “Cheech, stay there.” She slowly opened the door and peeked outside. Taking one step and then another, she finally reached the three stairs leading to the ground. Glancing to her left then to her right, she spotted the object, beneath the window, where a moment before she had been.
“A feather?” she walked toward it and picked it up to examine it. She shrugged. “It’s kinda pretty. So from what did this come from?” she asked, looking up into the sky. She was in the front yard; a retirement’s home was across the street. The houses were all connected to each other.
“Obviously the feather came from a bird. And don’t you mean ‘where?’” A deep voice said behind her, a strange accent was faintly heard.
Danyelle gasped and quickly turned around and she backed away slightly.
“You!” Danyelle pointed to the figure, eyes wide.
“What about me?” the Goblin King said. His wild blondish hair glistened in the sunlight. He was leaning against the house, arms crossed over his chest.
“I know who you are! You’re the Goblin King, right? Jareth!” the girl exclaimed, still clutching the feather in her hand.
“Indeed.” he said with a slight nod of his head.
She continued to stare at him for a moment. With a shake of her head, she snapped out of it. “Um, I’m Danyelle. Pleased to meet you!” she smiled and held her hand out to shake his.
“I already know who you are,” he said looking at her hand. She slowly put her hand down with the look of embarrassment all over her face.
“Um, do you wanna come in?” she asked, nervously waiting for his response.
“No thank you.” He moved away from the house, arms still crossed. “I am not here for a social confrontation but for other reasons. I believe you’ve already guessed what that is.” He stopped, his back to Danyelle.
“Um, does it have something to do with the fact that I kinda, sorta wished the Labyrinth to our realm?” she said nervously, looking at the back of his head.
He turned around, his dark, knee high boots making a soft noise on the grass. Placing his hands behind his back, he approached the girl. “Indeed.”
Her eyes widened as she swallowed hard. “I’m sooo sorry! I didn’t think it was gonna work! I really wanted to see the Labyrinth but didn’t wanna wish anyone away to do so! But I honestly didn’t think it was gonna work! I’m sorry!” she kept insisting putting her head down, fiddling with her fingers.
The Goblin King lightly smiled at the girl’s nervousness. “What said is said. No one truly believes it until they do make the wishes.” He paused, regarding the girl before continuing and said it a different tone. “‘I didn’t mean it.’ or ‘You mean, it’s real?’ No one takes heed of words these days, especially in this realm for that matter.” He shook his head as he walked around her, goblins scattered from behind her and towards the streets. “Now, not only is this a predicament for you, but it is also one for me. No one had ever done a wish like this one.”
“So, what do we do?” her eyes following the several goblins scattering around.
“We?” Jareth raised an elegant dark eyebrow. “Oh no my dear girl, I am entitled to do nothing. It was your wish; therefore, a challenge must be given. But for this situation, which is rather odd, I shall see how we can resolve this.” he slowly took a step forward to pass Danyelle.
Danyelle looked at him for a moment, and then replied. “Okay, but I really am truly sorry.” she quickly looked into his eyes and put her head back down.
“Very well.” He said continuing to pass her, his dark clothes lightly brushing against hers. He stood still, sorting out his thoughts. “I see no other way for the situation at hand. You must restore your realm to its rightful status. In order to do that is to basically traverse the Labyrinth and solve it. Unless you wish for the two realms to be forever mingled.”
“I understand.” Danyelle replied.
The Goblin King nodded and stepped onto the empty street, except for the few goblins that continue to create chaos around the buildings, trees and sometimes people. Jareth smirked slightly.
Danyelle followed quickly and looked at Jareth. “What are you smiling for?” A puzzled look came across her face as she stopped next to him.
“The goblins seem to really amuse themselves.” he shrugged.
“Ah, I see.” she said, looking at the goblins who continue to jump and yell. The goblins tested the material of vehicles, which they have never seen before, by prodding the vehicles with sticks, jumping on them, testing the glass to see how breakable it was. The Goblin King started walking down the street, stopped at one point and waited for Danyelle to catch up.
“Your journey starts here.” he said, arms still behind his back. “I suggest you hurry. The time starts the moment you reach the Labyrinth. But this does not mean to take your time to reach it of course. Solve the Labyrinth in time, and this realm and mine will not be trapped together; fail and face the consequences. And I will make sure that if you do fail, you will suffer the consequences.” He threatened.
He gestured for her to pass him. Further down the blocks, more goblins were seen. The small town Danyelle lived in, stretched off a bit until far into the distance, the Labyrinth and the small figure of the castle can be seen.
Danyelle looked in the direction of the Labyrinth, squinting to make out the castle. She turned towards the Goblin King. “Um, okay.” she took a deep breath. “Do you think I can get some help in this? I mean I don’t really know about all of this. I don’t know what to expect or what to do!”
The Goblin King regarded her for a moment, his face expressionless. “I suppose, considering the situation at hand. If this had been a normal wish, I would have disapproved and had let you figure it yourself. Very well, then.”
“Oh great! Thanks!” she said with a huge smile on her face. “Are you gonna help me?”
Jareth looked at her, blinked once, a smile formed and he laughed.
“What?” she said looking at him, puzzled.
“I am not helping you, it would give the game away. Besides, that’s not how things are done.” He smiled, keeping his composure. He crossed his arms.
“Oh...okay.” she said looking slightly away, feeling embarrassed. “Then, who’s gonna help me?”
“Whomever you want to help you,” he said with a slight shrug. A sound made him glance behind him. Two goblins had jumped onto a car and now the alarm went off, causing them to block their ears. He shook his head with a slight laugh and returned his attention to Danyelle.
She kept her mind off the goblins and looked back at Jareth. “Okay. Can I get Steph to help me? She’s my cousin. She knows, like everything about all of this stuff.”
“Very well.” he nodded and held out a hand, while a crystal rolled down the length of his arm.
“Woah! What’s that?” Danyelle asked, looking at the glimmering crystal.
“A crystal, nothing more. But turn it this way, it will show you your dreams.” He spun the crystal around in his fingers. “But in your case, it will bring your cousin here.”
“Oh kewl!” she continued to stare at the crystal.
He tossed the crystal to Danyelle. “Wish for your cousin to appear, my sense for people are not with me at the moment. It will know which person you are speaking of.”
She lightly fumbled but managed to catch the crystal and held it gently in both hands, careful not to break it. She looked up at him. “So, I just wish for my cousin? Aloud?”
“Yes.” he replied, shifting his weight to his other foot as he crossed his arms again.
“Okay” she said, looking back at the crystal. She then said aloud, “I wish for my cousin Stephanie to appear.”
The crystal glowed for a moment and vanished.
“Woah! Where’d it go?”
“It does not matter, the task has been done.” he gestured with a slight nod behind her a bit further down the road, to a figure standing in the middle of it.
Danyelle turned around and sees her cousin. She beamed.
“Stephie!” She shouted and ran towards her.
The content of the fan fiction is written with a mature audience in mind. Comments are welcomed. Enjoy!! ^_^
(Also there are no spelling mistakes in the way Danyelle speaks)
================ O O O ================
Chapter One: Wish Granted
A hand reached out, searching around in the dark. Unknown music was faintly heard through headphones, the red glow of the numbers of the digital clock was the only light in the windowless room. A low groan escaped as fingers tried to find the stop button on the CD player. The player whirred to a stop as the button was pressed. Movement was heard as a figure removed the covers from their body and with a soft thump; the figure moved in the dark room and reached the door with a soft bang.
“Ow!!” Nineteen-year old Stephanie muttered as she opened the door, she stepped into the hall/living room of her apartment. She held her foot in her hands, squinting at her toe in the sunlight from a small window on her right.
“Damn door...” she placed her foot back next to the other on the carpet and rubbed the sleep from her eyes. Even though she had lived there for almost a year, she occasionally stubbed her toe on the door or walls of her dark bedroom. She ran her fingers in her tangled long hair and combed out the knots as best she can as she made her way across the living room and towards the small coffee table. She grabbed the TV remote, turned it on and switched it to the weather channel. She glanced at the weather and nodded at the nice temperature.
‘Finally, a nice, warm sunny day,’ she thought as she made her way towards the bathroom. She returned to the living room and sat down on one of the couches. She continued to wipe the sleep from her brown eyes as she drew up her knees to her chin. She then frowned at the hole at the bottom of her green, purple and white plaid pajama pants, which were a bit long for her, slightly covering her bare feet.
Stephanie yawned softly as she lightly scratched at an itch on her bare shoulder. Under her dark blue pajama tank top’s straps, her bra strap slightly shown. It wasn’t that early in the morning. It was nearly eleven. Usually she would have class on Tuesdays and only in the mornings, the afternoon would be off, but today the class was canceled due to the teacher’s illness. She was glad to be off school for the day, the class wasn’t very interesting on Tuesdays.
After searching through the channels for anything good to watch, she made her way to the tiny kitchen to pour a bowl of cereal. Cheerios was the first meal of the day; they crunched loudly in her mouth when she chewed as she watched a few minutes of a kid’s cartoon. She would have preferred her usual cartoons but it was too early. She placed the empty bowl onto the coffee table, the spoon almost falling out, clinking against the ceramic bowl. She turned off the TV just as her landlady asked her to help her with something in the garage. Instead of getting dressed, which she was in no rush to do so, she put on a clean pair of white socks and her sport sandals and went upstairs to see the situation. Her landlady told her it was no rush so she can get dressed but Stephanie said it was all right, besides, it was nice out and she didn’t really mind going out in her pj’s. She also mentioned that she might go out later for a walk, after dressing of course.
Stephanie came downstairs with her sandals on after helping and continued with her daily routine, forgetting the sandals she had on. She turned on the lights in the bathroom, brushed her hair properly, and grabbed her toothbrush for the last thing to do before getting dressed.
“It’s going to be another boring day. Wouldn’t hurt for something interesting to happen,” she added as she looked at her reflection.
_____________________________________O O O_____________________________________
A message box appeared on the screen, announcing that an “illegal operation” had occurred.
“Aw! You suck, yah fart!” The computer restarted itself. After being the third time of this happening, Danyelle finally gave up. She made her way to the kitchen to start the coffee machine, while playing with her light brown, shoulder length hair.
“God I hate my hair.” She said, making her way to her room to get dressed. She then noticed a spider crawling on the floor of her bedroom. “Ew! Gross!” She ran to her desk, picked up her flower paperweight, and squashed the spider. Four times. She then looked at the very flat spider that was smeared across the bottom of her paperweight, the legs lightly twitching.
“Kay, now that’s nasty.” She scrunched up her nose at the mess. Taking a Kleenex from her dresser, she started to clean it. After returning the paperweight, she started to pick out a simple outfit: blue jeans and a gray, long sleeved shirt with the word “star” written across the chest. She glanced at herself in the mirror. “Gee I wish I looked my age. I don’t look seventeen.” She tried to do something with her wavy hair but gave up and put it in a ponytail along with her dark blue visor. “Pff! Good enough.”
In the reflection of her mirror, she located her empty cup of coffee and returned downstairs to the kitchen. The new house was quiet, having only moved a few months before. She was home alone for the day, her mother was gone to work and she had no school, other than the courses that were sent to her home. Danyelle poured herself a fresh cup of coffee. The girl then sat down at the kitchen table, lit up a cigarette, picked up the newspaper and started to read her horoscope for the day.
Aquarius - Today will be an eventful day. Strange things will happen, often to leading to disaster. Be careful of wishful thinking and expect the unexpected.
“Yah, like anything exciting ever happens to me.” Danyelle said as she rolled her eyes.
She finished her smoke and let her part terrier/beagle dog Cheech out. She made her way to her birdcage to see if her bird, Snowflake was still alive. “Gosh you’re getting old.” The girl commented, looking at her pure white budgie sitting upon the perch. Opening the cage door, she then placed her finger inside the cage and let Snowflake jump on it. She gave the bird a kiss and returned her to her home. Danyelle smiled at the bird and heard the buzzer of the dryer from the basement, telling her that her laundry that she put in earlier was done.
“Oh kewl!” She ran to the basement to retrieve her clothes. Grabbing the basket full of her warm, dry clothes, she started towards the stairs when something caught her eye. She noticed a weird looking book sitting on top of an old, musty looking cardboard box, next to the stairs.
“What’s that?” she put down the laundry basket, walked towards it and picked up the dark, black and white marble colored makeshift book. “Oh kewl, it’s Steph’s Labyrinth book!” she looked at it in excitement as she recognized the strange book and ran back upstairs with it, leaving the basket behind, forgotten, at the base of the stairs.
Closing the basement door, she remembered how her cousin, Stephanie, had visited them for a week last summer and had been reading from it on the day that had a storm. She must have forgotten her book and someone had placed it amongst Danyelle’s unpacked things. While looking at the book cover, she made her way towards the couch. The book was obviously made by her cousin, pages printed on ordinary white computer/drawing paper, cut to the shape of the paragraphs and put together who knows how and with what. She sat down on the couch and opened the small book, glancing briefly at the few pictures of owls, a room with stairs, and then of course, the Labyrinth.
“Hmm, imagine if this Underground thing really existed...” she said while slowly turning the pages, one by one, glancing slightly at the phrases and paragraphs.
“I wouldn’t wanna wish someone away to see if all this is true.” Danyelle said looking at the words that are to be said to wish someone away. “What if I wish for the Labyrinth to come here instead?” she said pondering the idea in her head. She laughed. “This is silly. I know it’s not going to work.” She put the book aside and let her dog back in, still thinking about the book.
“I don’t know why I’m so weirded out by saying it, it’s not like it’s going to work anyways.” She said, standing at the closed door, glancing at the book sitting on the living room table.
After a moment, she walked to the table where Stephanie’s book was lying and picked it up, her curiosity getting the better of her. “Oh what the hell.”
She opened it where the black ribbon bookmark was, just as Stephanie had left it upon the first confrontation of the Goblin King and the girl Sarah; she flipped through the chapter that was saved, found the “right words” that Sarah had said to wish her baby brother, Toby, away. “I wish for the Labyrinth to come to our realm,”
She paused. “Right now.”
The girl looked around, waiting for something to happen. She laughed at how ridiculous all this was. “See, I knew it wouldn’t work.” She put the book back down on the table and went to the kitchen for a glass of water to get rid of the taste of coffee that lingered.
Suddenly the house started to shake. “What’s going on!?” she yelled as she ran to a doorway, along with her dog, Cheech. The house rattled even more as objects started to fall and break as they crashed upon the floors.
“Stop! STOP!” She screamed at the top of her lungs, covering her head as best she can while having a tight grasp on her dog’s leash. She slowly started to cower down closer to the floor, her eyes shut tightly.
The shaking stopped as though her plea had been answered.
Danyelle got up slowly and stared at the damage that was done.
“What was that?” She said, seeing if her bird was okay. Snowflake fluttered around nervously as she made a few attempts to calm her pet. “It must have been an earthquake.” She shook her head, closing the birdcage. But she dismissed the thought, for it was very uncommon to get earthquakes in Northern Ontario. She glanced at the book. The realization struck her. “No way!!! It couldn’t be...” She was frozen in place, staring at the odd book.
“I—I need to call Steph!” she stuttered as she finally moved, rushed to the phone and picked it up. “What am I doing? She doesn’t even have a phone.” She put the phone back down. “Now what?” She asked herself, trying her best not to cut herself on the broken glass scattered on the floor. She got to her shoes and put them on.
“Come on Cheech. Go outside, I don’t want you to hurt yourself on all this glass.” She walked to the back door, letting her dog out, that’s when she noticed something in the tree, just outside her backyard fence.
“What is that?” Danyelle said as she tried to make out the figure. The figure then swung out of the tree and landed on the wooded fence that closed in the backyard. A small laugh escaped from it.
“Holy shit! That looks like a—a goblin!”
She quickly called her dog back in the house as fast she can, closed the door and locked it. Pointing to the couch she said: “Cheech, go on the couch.” She ran to the front door and locking that one as well. She leaned against the door, breathing heavily.
“Oh my god, it worked!” As she thought of what she had just seen, she walked to the hall closet and got the broom. “God they’re ugly.” She started picking up all the glass and said repetitively, “What am I gonna do? What am I gonna do?”
Putting the broom back in its place, she sat on the couch next to Cheech, playing with his floppy ears. “What am I gonna do?” she said again. “Oh man, where’s Steph when you need her?”
Something passed by the window, catching Danyelle’s eye. The movement was too quick. When she reached the window, a single white feather with a golden tip had floated gently down.
“What was that?” she said, looking out the window. She walked slowly towards the door and looked outside. “There’s nothing there.” She reached for the lock and slowly unlocked it. “Cheech, stay there.” She slowly opened the door and peeked outside. Taking one step and then another, she finally reached the three stairs leading to the ground. Glancing to her left then to her right, she spotted the object, beneath the window, where a moment before she had been.
“A feather?” she walked toward it and picked it up to examine it. She shrugged. “It’s kinda pretty. So from what did this come from?” she asked, looking up into the sky. She was in the front yard; a retirement’s home was across the street. The houses were all connected to each other.
“Obviously the feather came from a bird. And don’t you mean ‘where?’” A deep voice said behind her, a strange accent was faintly heard.
Danyelle gasped and quickly turned around and she backed away slightly.
“You!” Danyelle pointed to the figure, eyes wide.
“What about me?” the Goblin King said. His wild blondish hair glistened in the sunlight. He was leaning against the house, arms crossed over his chest.
“I know who you are! You’re the Goblin King, right? Jareth!” the girl exclaimed, still clutching the feather in her hand.
“Indeed.” he said with a slight nod of his head.
She continued to stare at him for a moment. With a shake of her head, she snapped out of it. “Um, I’m Danyelle. Pleased to meet you!” she smiled and held her hand out to shake his.
“I already know who you are,” he said looking at her hand. She slowly put her hand down with the look of embarrassment all over her face.
“Um, do you wanna come in?” she asked, nervously waiting for his response.
“No thank you.” He moved away from the house, arms still crossed. “I am not here for a social confrontation but for other reasons. I believe you’ve already guessed what that is.” He stopped, his back to Danyelle.
“Um, does it have something to do with the fact that I kinda, sorta wished the Labyrinth to our realm?” she said nervously, looking at the back of his head.
He turned around, his dark, knee high boots making a soft noise on the grass. Placing his hands behind his back, he approached the girl. “Indeed.”
Her eyes widened as she swallowed hard. “I’m sooo sorry! I didn’t think it was gonna work! I really wanted to see the Labyrinth but didn’t wanna wish anyone away to do so! But I honestly didn’t think it was gonna work! I’m sorry!” she kept insisting putting her head down, fiddling with her fingers.
The Goblin King lightly smiled at the girl’s nervousness. “What said is said. No one truly believes it until they do make the wishes.” He paused, regarding the girl before continuing and said it a different tone. “‘I didn’t mean it.’ or ‘You mean, it’s real?’ No one takes heed of words these days, especially in this realm for that matter.” He shook his head as he walked around her, goblins scattered from behind her and towards the streets. “Now, not only is this a predicament for you, but it is also one for me. No one had ever done a wish like this one.”
“So, what do we do?” her eyes following the several goblins scattering around.
“We?” Jareth raised an elegant dark eyebrow. “Oh no my dear girl, I am entitled to do nothing. It was your wish; therefore, a challenge must be given. But for this situation, which is rather odd, I shall see how we can resolve this.” he slowly took a step forward to pass Danyelle.
Danyelle looked at him for a moment, and then replied. “Okay, but I really am truly sorry.” she quickly looked into his eyes and put her head back down.
“Very well.” He said continuing to pass her, his dark clothes lightly brushing against hers. He stood still, sorting out his thoughts. “I see no other way for the situation at hand. You must restore your realm to its rightful status. In order to do that is to basically traverse the Labyrinth and solve it. Unless you wish for the two realms to be forever mingled.”
“I understand.” Danyelle replied.
The Goblin King nodded and stepped onto the empty street, except for the few goblins that continue to create chaos around the buildings, trees and sometimes people. Jareth smirked slightly.
Danyelle followed quickly and looked at Jareth. “What are you smiling for?” A puzzled look came across her face as she stopped next to him.
“The goblins seem to really amuse themselves.” he shrugged.
“Ah, I see.” she said, looking at the goblins who continue to jump and yell. The goblins tested the material of vehicles, which they have never seen before, by prodding the vehicles with sticks, jumping on them, testing the glass to see how breakable it was. The Goblin King started walking down the street, stopped at one point and waited for Danyelle to catch up.
“Your journey starts here.” he said, arms still behind his back. “I suggest you hurry. The time starts the moment you reach the Labyrinth. But this does not mean to take your time to reach it of course. Solve the Labyrinth in time, and this realm and mine will not be trapped together; fail and face the consequences. And I will make sure that if you do fail, you will suffer the consequences.” He threatened.
He gestured for her to pass him. Further down the blocks, more goblins were seen. The small town Danyelle lived in, stretched off a bit until far into the distance, the Labyrinth and the small figure of the castle can be seen.
Danyelle looked in the direction of the Labyrinth, squinting to make out the castle. She turned towards the Goblin King. “Um, okay.” she took a deep breath. “Do you think I can get some help in this? I mean I don’t really know about all of this. I don’t know what to expect or what to do!”
The Goblin King regarded her for a moment, his face expressionless. “I suppose, considering the situation at hand. If this had been a normal wish, I would have disapproved and had let you figure it yourself. Very well, then.”
“Oh great! Thanks!” she said with a huge smile on her face. “Are you gonna help me?”
Jareth looked at her, blinked once, a smile formed and he laughed.
“What?” she said looking at him, puzzled.
“I am not helping you, it would give the game away. Besides, that’s not how things are done.” He smiled, keeping his composure. He crossed his arms.
“Oh...okay.” she said looking slightly away, feeling embarrassed. “Then, who’s gonna help me?”
“Whomever you want to help you,” he said with a slight shrug. A sound made him glance behind him. Two goblins had jumped onto a car and now the alarm went off, causing them to block their ears. He shook his head with a slight laugh and returned his attention to Danyelle.
She kept her mind off the goblins and looked back at Jareth. “Okay. Can I get Steph to help me? She’s my cousin. She knows, like everything about all of this stuff.”
“Very well.” he nodded and held out a hand, while a crystal rolled down the length of his arm.
“Woah! What’s that?” Danyelle asked, looking at the glimmering crystal.
“A crystal, nothing more. But turn it this way, it will show you your dreams.” He spun the crystal around in his fingers. “But in your case, it will bring your cousin here.”
“Oh kewl!” she continued to stare at the crystal.
He tossed the crystal to Danyelle. “Wish for your cousin to appear, my sense for people are not with me at the moment. It will know which person you are speaking of.”
She lightly fumbled but managed to catch the crystal and held it gently in both hands, careful not to break it. She looked up at him. “So, I just wish for my cousin? Aloud?”
“Yes.” he replied, shifting his weight to his other foot as he crossed his arms again.
“Okay” she said, looking back at the crystal. She then said aloud, “I wish for my cousin Stephanie to appear.”
The crystal glowed for a moment and vanished.
“Woah! Where’d it go?”
“It does not matter, the task has been done.” he gestured with a slight nod behind her a bit further down the road, to a figure standing in the middle of it.
Danyelle turned around and sees her cousin. She beamed.
“Stephie!” She shouted and ran towards her.