Exchange Fic #19: Real or Not
Modnote: This is the second of two gift fics themsmine's Mystery Author wrote. The first was Within You.
The actual identity of the writer will remain secret until all the submissions are in and posted.
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Title: Real or Not
Author: lady_kurina
Recipient: Themsmine
Prompt: It’s her senior year of high school, and despite her guidance counselor nagging her about making a career choice, Sarah realizes that she has more pressing things to worry about as she begins to hear voices in the halls and strange things begin to happen. Jareth/Sarah.
Rating: T (?)
Plot Summary/Author's Notes: You are evil themsmine. All the prompts were amazing. I tried to figure out how to bundle them into one but…it didn’t work, sadly. So here is number three. This probably wasn’t quite what you had in mind but…This is what my muse gave me. Me hopes you likez it.
Warnings: Bit angsty…some fluff…more angst..
“Sarah, you really need to choose a career. This is important.” Lorie, her guidance councilor, said to her probably for the millionth time. Lorie was a small woman, barely five feet even with blond hair and kind blue eyes. She was older and had a very open friendly face, though right now it was twisted in frustration. This had been a ritual for the last month at least and the poor guidance counselor was at her wits end of what to do with the eighteen year old.
“I know.” Sarah replied. Trust me I understand I just…don’t know what I want to do.” She had once. She had wanted to be an actress. She had, thank god, grown up since then. She wasn’t even that good at it. All because of that horrible nightmare. With him. It left her at a dead end though. Where did she go from here? There were so many things that she could become, it was difficult to choose and she certainly didn’t know what she’d be best at.
“Sarah…I just don’t understand you.” Lorie said softly. “You’re eighteen and you have such a bright future ahead of you, yet you’re always daydreaming. I would think you would know what you want to be.” She sighed. “Oh very well. I’ll be seeing you again next week. Get some sleep and think on it.”
Lorie tried to help her and always Sarah came up with a big huge blank. She sighed and headed to her locker. Only a couple more months and she was graduating high school. Joy. Then she could go to college, if she could ever figure out what she wanted to be! The hallways were a light blue and the lockers, for some reason, had been painted red. Not only was the interior designer blind, but the person who made this school was too. It was so twisty and curvy and there were too many corners and dead ends.
Sarah… She turned her heard. What…? Hadn’t she just heard something? Sarah… This time behind her but…nobody was there. What the..? She gulped and continued walking. Ignoring the voice. It sounded so familiar. Desperate almost. Sooth and strong and yet so fragile…where had she heard that voice before? Again and again it called her name, always a break in between. She felt the hairs on her arms raise.
She made it to her locker in one piece physically, but she wasn’t so sure about mentally. This was starting to scare her really badly. All she could do was hope and pray it went away. She grabbed her backpack out of her locker and her school books and headed home. Perhaps it was just lack of sleep. She’d heard somewhere that that caused hallucinations.
The next day at school was odd. Strange things happened, yet for some reason only she saw it. The chalk floating and writing her name. A chair moving, the way she would move it so she could sit. None of it seemed sane and had her even more worried about her sanity, and yet none of it was harmful either. She tried to ignore it like everyone else but it made her shudder with fear. Maybe she should drop out. Was the stress proving too much for her? A break might be good for her. She was a good student, she could always get her GED, though to be honest she’d like to avoid that if she could.
Noises, pattering noises, followed her everywhere she went in the school. More strange things that nobody could seem to see happened, such as a book she could barely reach suddenly moved from the bookcase into her hand, or her locker opening all on its own. She hid one day on the rooftop, shaking like a leaf, her back to one of the corners, crying. Every day it only became worse and yet she never saw who was calling her, what was following her.
She missed one day, then two. Then three. She just lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling or wall or crying. She didn’t miss Robert’s or Karen’s concerned looks, but what could she tell them? That she was losing her mind? Oh they would love that! Toby visited her and even slept with her on the second night. It helped make her feel a little better.
Then she went back to school and prayed it was gone. And it was. For that day the school was as silent as could be. In fact, it was so silent it had her jumping at the smallest things, though she could obviously tell it was nothing odd. Perhaps she should have realized that wasn’t the end of it. Perhaps she should have stayed at home the next day. Hindsight is ever 20/20.
The next day everything was worse than before. Much worse. Her brief respite had only made her react to it worse. She started screaming in class when the globe moved, only to realize one of her classmates had run into it. Her nerves were frayed and she was barely sleeping anymore. She couldn’t stand it anymore. Her classmates asked her what was wrong but she couldn’t answer them. She left the room, looking for a place to hide.
She found it once more on the rooftop. It was so calm there, so quite. It always gave her a sense of peace. Unknowing to her, it wouldn’t today. In fact, it was probably the last straw that broke the camel’s back, because He was there waiting for her.
“Had enough, Sarah,” Jareth asked. “of these petty, childish games?” He asked her, his voice smooth as silk, a slight smirk on his beautiful face.
“You..what are you doing here?” She asked, not even sure if he was real. She wasn’t sure what was anymore. She backed away from him as He walked forward. Soon her back was to the wall in a corner.
“I have come to claim my queen of course.” He replied as if it was a matter of fact thing. “Or do you need more convincing?”
“You’ve…you’ve been messing with my head…”
“I have not. You refused to see what was right in front of you. Do not blame me for not seeing it was me holding the chalk, or goblins following you.” He frowned. “I’m surprised it took so long. You were such a strong believer before. What changed you, Sarah?”
“I grew up, Jareth. I left it all behind.” She replied, sobbing a bit. She didn’t want to be this close to him, she wanted to get far, far away. Her hands pushed against the stone, almost as it wishing it into oblivion.“I didn’t want anything more to do with my childish fantasies or the Labyrinth and I forgot.”
“Not…entirely.” Jareth smirked confidently. He hadn’t changed. Not one bit. He always had the upper hand, yet still somehow she had won last the met. She didn’t think she would this time…if there was a “winning” or “losing”. “Or else you never would have heard me when I called your name.”
“Maybe not but…but..” She struggled trying to find the right words. “I didn’t want this. I just wanted…to have a normal life.”
“But you don’t.” Jareth said softly, he raised a hand and gently caressed her cheek, treating her almost like a frightened animal. “You don’t want a normal life and you never have. Please Sarah. I need you.”
Sarah continued to cry as she wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Not caring if he was in her head or not. He was her anchor, her sanity and she refused to lose him. Perhaps she had given in too easily, but she had struggled for so long. She was unable to fight anymore, not even against Him.
A teacher found her hugging herself, calling a name over and over again. He sighed. Well, it looked like someone was going to have to tell her parents she cracked under the pressure. At least she hadn’t tried to harm herself or others. One thing he did notice was one the ground there was glitter…and that Sarah looked ecstatically happy. Whatever fantasy she was lost in, must be a pleasant one.
He picked her up and carried her to the nurse’s office. They were baffled. She was such a good student, how could this have happened? They tried to get her attention but she never once noticed, continuing to hug herself and call out one name.
Jareth.
The actual identity of the writer will remain secret until all the submissions are in and posted.
****
Title: Real or Not
Author: lady_kurina
Recipient: Themsmine
Prompt: It’s her senior year of high school, and despite her guidance counselor nagging her about making a career choice, Sarah realizes that she has more pressing things to worry about as she begins to hear voices in the halls and strange things begin to happen. Jareth/Sarah.
Rating: T (?)
Plot Summary/Author's Notes: You are evil themsmine. All the prompts were amazing. I tried to figure out how to bundle them into one but…it didn’t work, sadly. So here is number three. This probably wasn’t quite what you had in mind but…This is what my muse gave me. Me hopes you likez it.
Warnings: Bit angsty…some fluff…more angst..
“Sarah, you really need to choose a career. This is important.” Lorie, her guidance councilor, said to her probably for the millionth time. Lorie was a small woman, barely five feet even with blond hair and kind blue eyes. She was older and had a very open friendly face, though right now it was twisted in frustration. This had been a ritual for the last month at least and the poor guidance counselor was at her wits end of what to do with the eighteen year old.
“I know.” Sarah replied. Trust me I understand I just…don’t know what I want to do.” She had once. She had wanted to be an actress. She had, thank god, grown up since then. She wasn’t even that good at it. All because of that horrible nightmare. With him. It left her at a dead end though. Where did she go from here? There were so many things that she could become, it was difficult to choose and she certainly didn’t know what she’d be best at.
“Sarah…I just don’t understand you.” Lorie said softly. “You’re eighteen and you have such a bright future ahead of you, yet you’re always daydreaming. I would think you would know what you want to be.” She sighed. “Oh very well. I’ll be seeing you again next week. Get some sleep and think on it.”
Lorie tried to help her and always Sarah came up with a big huge blank. She sighed and headed to her locker. Only a couple more months and she was graduating high school. Joy. Then she could go to college, if she could ever figure out what she wanted to be! The hallways were a light blue and the lockers, for some reason, had been painted red. Not only was the interior designer blind, but the person who made this school was too. It was so twisty and curvy and there were too many corners and dead ends.
Sarah… She turned her heard. What…? Hadn’t she just heard something? Sarah… This time behind her but…nobody was there. What the..? She gulped and continued walking. Ignoring the voice. It sounded so familiar. Desperate almost. Sooth and strong and yet so fragile…where had she heard that voice before? Again and again it called her name, always a break in between. She felt the hairs on her arms raise.
She made it to her locker in one piece physically, but she wasn’t so sure about mentally. This was starting to scare her really badly. All she could do was hope and pray it went away. She grabbed her backpack out of her locker and her school books and headed home. Perhaps it was just lack of sleep. She’d heard somewhere that that caused hallucinations.
The next day at school was odd. Strange things happened, yet for some reason only she saw it. The chalk floating and writing her name. A chair moving, the way she would move it so she could sit. None of it seemed sane and had her even more worried about her sanity, and yet none of it was harmful either. She tried to ignore it like everyone else but it made her shudder with fear. Maybe she should drop out. Was the stress proving too much for her? A break might be good for her. She was a good student, she could always get her GED, though to be honest she’d like to avoid that if she could.
Noises, pattering noises, followed her everywhere she went in the school. More strange things that nobody could seem to see happened, such as a book she could barely reach suddenly moved from the bookcase into her hand, or her locker opening all on its own. She hid one day on the rooftop, shaking like a leaf, her back to one of the corners, crying. Every day it only became worse and yet she never saw who was calling her, what was following her.
She missed one day, then two. Then three. She just lay in her bed, staring at the ceiling or wall or crying. She didn’t miss Robert’s or Karen’s concerned looks, but what could she tell them? That she was losing her mind? Oh they would love that! Toby visited her and even slept with her on the second night. It helped make her feel a little better.
Then she went back to school and prayed it was gone. And it was. For that day the school was as silent as could be. In fact, it was so silent it had her jumping at the smallest things, though she could obviously tell it was nothing odd. Perhaps she should have realized that wasn’t the end of it. Perhaps she should have stayed at home the next day. Hindsight is ever 20/20.
The next day everything was worse than before. Much worse. Her brief respite had only made her react to it worse. She started screaming in class when the globe moved, only to realize one of her classmates had run into it. Her nerves were frayed and she was barely sleeping anymore. She couldn’t stand it anymore. Her classmates asked her what was wrong but she couldn’t answer them. She left the room, looking for a place to hide.
She found it once more on the rooftop. It was so calm there, so quite. It always gave her a sense of peace. Unknowing to her, it wouldn’t today. In fact, it was probably the last straw that broke the camel’s back, because He was there waiting for her.
“Had enough, Sarah,” Jareth asked. “of these petty, childish games?” He asked her, his voice smooth as silk, a slight smirk on his beautiful face.
“You..what are you doing here?” She asked, not even sure if he was real. She wasn’t sure what was anymore. She backed away from him as He walked forward. Soon her back was to the wall in a corner.
“I have come to claim my queen of course.” He replied as if it was a matter of fact thing. “Or do you need more convincing?”
“You’ve…you’ve been messing with my head…”
“I have not. You refused to see what was right in front of you. Do not blame me for not seeing it was me holding the chalk, or goblins following you.” He frowned. “I’m surprised it took so long. You were such a strong believer before. What changed you, Sarah?”
“I grew up, Jareth. I left it all behind.” She replied, sobbing a bit. She didn’t want to be this close to him, she wanted to get far, far away. Her hands pushed against the stone, almost as it wishing it into oblivion.“I didn’t want anything more to do with my childish fantasies or the Labyrinth and I forgot.”
“Not…entirely.” Jareth smirked confidently. He hadn’t changed. Not one bit. He always had the upper hand, yet still somehow she had won last the met. She didn’t think she would this time…if there was a “winning” or “losing”. “Or else you never would have heard me when I called your name.”
“Maybe not but…but..” She struggled trying to find the right words. “I didn’t want this. I just wanted…to have a normal life.”
“But you don’t.” Jareth said softly, he raised a hand and gently caressed her cheek, treating her almost like a frightened animal. “You don’t want a normal life and you never have. Please Sarah. I need you.”
Sarah continued to cry as she wrapped her arms around him in a hug. Not caring if he was in her head or not. He was her anchor, her sanity and she refused to lose him. Perhaps she had given in too easily, but she had struggled for so long. She was unable to fight anymore, not even against Him.
A teacher found her hugging herself, calling a name over and over again. He sighed. Well, it looked like someone was going to have to tell her parents she cracked under the pressure. At least she hadn’t tried to harm herself or others. One thing he did notice was one the ground there was glitter…and that Sarah looked ecstatically happy. Whatever fantasy she was lost in, must be a pleasant one.
He picked her up and carried her to the nurse’s office. They were baffled. She was such a good student, how could this have happened? They tried to get her attention but she never once noticed, continuing to hug herself and call out one name.
Jareth.