Mornings of Gold (a Jareth and Sarah fanfiction)

Chapter Seventeen

A/N: Trigger warning – sexual assault.

They didn't talk. Sarah stayed out of Jareth's way, and he did likewise. He probably wanted to talk to her, but she'd turn the other way whenever she caught a flash of his blonde half-curls in the street. Once or twice she'd see his face before she looked away: mouth drawn down, odd eyes full of regret and longing. She couldn't meet their baleful gaze.

    Weeks passed like this; enough time for Sarah to miss him, though she'd never admit it out loud. She missed his cool intellect and sarcastic humour. The softness in his voice when he was concerned about her. His bravery. Even that lopsided, arrogant grin.

    Only when you don't have something, do you realise how much you took it for granted.

***

"I'm back!" Sarah slotted the key into her door and called in the hallway to Toby. She'd left him for a few minutes as she went out to the neighbourhood convenience store for some cocoa. She went into the kitchen and dumped her grocery bag on the table, then hopped upstairs to the spare room. She knocked on the door. "I'm making your cocoa now, Toby," she said, "so come down in a little while and get it, okay?" There was no answer, but she thought she could hear a light snore through the wood. Sighing, she rolled her eyes and went back down.

   
    Two hours later, Sarah jolted awake. She unravelled herself from her nest of blankets on the sofa – she'd been too tired to go to her own room – and drowsily crossed to the staircase once more. She needed to make sure Toby was tucked up and not too hot; how could she have forgotten before? Her stepmom would kill her if she found out.

    She tried not to remember the dream she'd had, but it came back to taunt her anyway. It'd been a replay of the day when she'd kissed Jareth, only this time he'd been the one who'd started it. And he'd taken it a lot further than just kissing...

    She shook her head to clear the thoughts, feeling a blush spread out hotly over her cheeks. She tried to pretend she didn't like the idea of it, tried to convince herself it revolted her. His hips on hers, grinding himself down deep inside her, his teeth sharp on her neck as he moaned profanities into her skin--

    Swearing, she tripped over the carpet at the top of the landing. It revolted her. It did, honestly.

    She reached Toby's room and put her ear to the door. Now she'd had a little rest, she realised how strange the snoring actually sounded. Not like snoring at all, more like... the wind?

    "Toby?" She pushed open the door and peered at his bed. The covers were drawn up as if there was a person underneath them, but she felt as though something wasn't right. She might've just been being paranoid, but all the same...

    She clicked the light switch on. Nothing happened.

    A sickening knot of dread twisted tight in the pit of her stomach. She'd been here before. Five years ago.

    This time, she didn't slowly tread up to the bed, letting the fear build up. She ran over and tore back the covers.

    Terror prickled through her body. Toby was gone.

    The window was open, the air whooshing through it having been what she'd mistaken for her brother's breathing. She flung her head and shoulders out of it and screamed into the night. "JARETH!" she hollered, rage ripping her vocal chords. She tried for another, but didn't get past the first syllable before breaking down in tears. Her brother had been taken by the goblins, again. And that meant she'd have to go through that godforsaken Labyrinth to retrieve him.