Sarah's Labyrinth

Goblin Games

It was the following day, and Sarah was in the living room, ignoring her stepmother as she went on and on about what Toby could and couldn't watch. No horror movies, no movies with explosions. Any action movies were also out of the question, which left Sarah with the Back to the Future trilogy, 101 Dalmatians, Beetlejuice, and a couple of teen-flicks, such as Ferris Bueller's Day Off.

Once her father and Karen left, she turned to the young seven-year-old. "Alright, what do you want to watch? There's Back to the Future, Beetlejuice-"

"I wanna go see the play that's showing in town!" he squealed, trying to make his way for the door.

"Oh no you don't." She wrapped an arm around his torso and pulled him back onto the couch. "No movie, you heard your mother. How about I put on the first Back to the Future and you tell me what you want for dinner."

He pouted but relented to her orders. Sarah grabbed the VCR from off the end-table and walked over to their huge, box television. She opened the VCR player and stuck the movie in. The end credits turned on and she groaned. Of course her family couldn't rewind the movie before putting it on. She hit the rewind button, and it started it's slow reverse back to the start of the movie. 

While it was rewinding, she turned her attention to Toby. "So? What do you want to eat?"

"Macaroni and cheese!" he said excitedly. "Make extra for my friends. They say they're hungry."

Her eyebrows scrunched together in confusion. Not once in the seven years that Toby had been alive had he ever shown any interest in imaginary friends. "Oh? I don't know if your friends will be able to eat macaroni and cheese."

"Well, you can ask them. They say they're king doesn't feed them anything except rats and chickens and that they would like to try something new."

She huffed out in annoyance. Somehow, his friends had a full story behind them. But how did Toby imagine such a story for them? They were almost treated the same way that the goblins were treated in the Labyrinth...

"Fine. I'll make one extra box of Kraft. If they don't eat it, I'm not cooking for them again. Do I make myself clear?"

Toby nodded, and Sarah left to the kitchen. She started a pan of water boiling on the stove, and grabbed two boxes of Kraft Mac and Cheese from their small pantry, setting them by the stove. From the living room, she could hear Toby as he giggled. She smiled as she busied herself with grabbing things that she would need later, such as butter, milk, and a spoon to stir the noodles.

As she waited for the water to boil, something crashed in the living room. She instantly ran outside to see Toby sitting on the couch, a pile of rocks beside him. The blue vase that was sitting by the television was now on the ground, purple lilacs scattered everywhere.

"Toby!" She quickly picked up the flowers. "Go get a broom and dust pan." As the young child left, she shouted a final comment over her shoulder. "And what were you thinking? Where did you get the rocks, any way?"

"From the potted plant," he said as he retreated. Sarah set the flowers down on the end-table and picked up the pile of rocks, returning them to the potted plant. Meanwhile, Toby returned with his broom and dust pan, handing them to Sarah so she could clean up the ceramic. "I'm sorry... My friends wanted me to play king and they gave me the rocks so I could throw them at them."

"Toby, why would your friends ask you to do that?" she questioned.

"Because they say their king is going to have me as his heir!"

She bit down on her bottom lip. So maybe he had imaginary friends, and maybe he would become king. But throwing rocks in the house was beyond acceptable. "Toby, that's great and all, but you broke Karen's vase! What is she going to do when she gets back home?"