Labyrinth Dancer

Chapter Nine: Confessions of Heart Break

Even as she had dialed the number she couldn't help but feel the bile rising in her throat over the fact she was asking for help with her father. The man who mocked her and had murdered her mother; and here she was trying to get him home safely and calling her friend to do it. 

Jared answered on the third ring, sounded awake despite how late it was. He agreed without much hesitation, and surprisingly did not ask any questions about why he was meeting her at the Cemetery in the middle of the night. 

As she waited for him to arrive she stepped over to her mother's grave and stood before it. She simply stared at it for a moment and then slowly but surely she quietly began to speak. 

"Hey, it's been a while mom. As you can see daddy dearest is back at his usual." She paused and then sighed running her fingers through her hair as she struggled to keep her cool. 

"I wish you had gotten away, that you had left him while you had a chance to do so. I'm praying that Karen can do what we weren't able to do Mom. That she can get her children out of here and vanish...like we should have a long time ago." 

Staring at the stone she traced the elevated words etched into the cool surface of the stone as if attempting to draw comfort from it, to draw the strength she needed to have. 

She missed her mother so much, and the burdens she had been carrying for so long since her death were almost to much to bear, the secrets the lies...

It was all just so overwhelming and there was no one around who could understand any of it. No one knew the burden of having the curse she had to carry. 

Being the descendant of a witch had more curses than blessings at times. And for Inara she had more weight on her shoulders than her ancestors before her could ever imagine. 

Things would never be normal for her, and for that she had already decided that the burden of the bloodline would not go beyond her. She could not bear the thought of her children or her grandchildren possibly being harmed because of their ancestry.

She snapped out of her thoughts as she hear the sound of a car pulling up at the entrance to the cemetery; Jared had already arrived.

Standing back up completely she stepped towards him, looping her thumbs in her belt loops she watched him walk over as he got out of the car. 

"Sorry to have bothered you with this, I'm afraid I didn't have anyone else to call..." She trailed off as Jared merely smiled and nodded. 

"It's honestly no trouble Inara; I'm happy to help as I can." 

That honestly threw her for a loop and if Jared noticed that he had pretty much broken her for a second he didn't let on as he headed for her father still lying there unconscious. 

Both of them together got in into the backseat and climbed into the front seat, leaving behind the cemetery. 

***

For sometime through the drive, silence lay between them with only the faint sound of the radio playing what sounded like classical rock music in the background. 

It was finally Inara who broke the silence, her voice quiet and her arms crossed over her chest like she was very uncomfortable breaking the silence. 

"I'm sorry for dragging you into my problems." 

Jared shook his head. "I'm happy to help, you don't have to apologize." 

Inara though shook her head, staring dead ahead through the windshield as she spoke up once more.

"This never should have gotten this far with him; if I'm lucky, Karen and the kids are already gone when I get him back..." 

She trailed off and her hands dropped into her lap as if she suddenly realized how tired she was of everything. 

Jareth glanced at her, watching her out of the corner of his eye as he saw that look he had seen on her face before flash for just a second before it vanished back into the emotionless state she held in public.

That look of utter defeat and hopelessness that he had seen on her face the night her mother had been killed by the very man she kept tabs on in the backseat.

"If I may be so bold Inara, you aren't responsible for what he does." 

She glanced at him and much to his surprise she smiled at him sadly and shook her head ever so slightly.

He barely heard her response but he could nearly physically feel his heartbreak as she spoke. 

"No, I'm the only one left who can be..."