A breeze brushed over your body.
You mumbled incoherently, twisting your body to the side and blindly grabbing for the duvet. Instead, your hand was met with nothing. You frowned deeply, slowly opening your eyes and blinking through the candlelit darkness.
You lazily lifted your hands and began rubbing the sleep from your eyes, now blinking a little quicker as you tried to adjust your memories with the situation you found yourself awaking in.
You were lying on a cold, stone floor. Lit candles scattered the stone brick walls; tapestries depicting goblins and various creatures were strategically placed. You sat up from the floor, staring blankly at your surroundings as you tried desperately to recall the events of how you'd ended up there.
Babysitting. Yes, you had been babysitting for Mrs Williams because Sarah had failed to show up on time. But then what? You cared for Tobey and put him to bed, made yourself some tea and relaxed while watching some ridiculous show on the TV...
Sarah came home. That's right. Sarah returned home and tracked mud through the house. You'd started to clean it when, when...
Your head throbbed slightly. You winced and gently pressed your fingers into your temple, trying to massage away the stress headache that was quickly forming.
Oh. And what else happened?
Sarah had deliberately woken Tobey up and accused him of stealing her stuff. You came to Tobey's defence, which caused Sarah to lash out on you, too. Then, hadn't she spoken some funny words? A phrase that sounded poetic, almost lyrical. Sarah had pleaded with a fictional entity to have you and Tobey taken away.
Just like she had desired—The Goblin King appeared and snatched Tobey away, then whisked you away too.
You jumped to your feet, your memories now caught up in your mind. You spun around in a circle, frantically searching for some kind of indication of an exit. There was a doorway at the far end of the room, with candles lining the hallway that would only lead to an unknown place.
You had little choice, and so you went with it. You followed the hall quickly. You breathed shallow, trying to keep yourself undetected as you searched for an escape. You knew that you needed to find Tobey too. If you could find the exit first, then you could search for Tobey and make a quick escape.
A glass ball suddenly rolled into your foot. You paused, looking down at the crystal object, wondering how it had found you in this long stretch of a hallway. You frowned, feeling uncertain about its presence.
Then, you reached down and carefully picked it up. Your reflection stared back at you. You looked back at the hall in which you had come from, then in the direction of where you were heading. Nobody was stood nearby, but it was purely impossible for this ball to have just magically appeared like that.
Looking back at the glass ball, you watched with sudden interest as a white mist clouded in the inside of it. You blinked at the phenomenon. Then, the mist cleared and showed Tobey sitting in a room surrounded by goblins. His face was red and contorted as he wailed, his noise muted by the glass ball.
You gasped, clutching the ball tighter to the point you thought it might shatter. "Tobey," you whimpered, "oh, Tobey, where are you?"
You held the glass ball in your hand as you resolved yourself to continue down the hallway. If you were going to find Tobey quickly, you knew you needed to waste no time in hesitating. You couldn't imagine that the goblins would be kind enough to try and comfort Tobey, and from what you saw in the glass ball they were only taunting and making his crying worse.
You then came across several rooms that split off into various directions. Each of them held no distinction to where they would lead, and this only worried you into believing that the wrong choice would be made if you weren't careful.
You turned around, wanting to catch a glimpse of the hallway you had just come from. Only, the hallway was now missing, and in its place was a solid stone wall. You approached it in disbelief, pressing your hands against the stone and pushing against it, but it's foundation was solid and wouldn't budge.
But how could that be possible? Hadn't you just come from that direction?
You huffed, fighting back tears. You turned to face to various hallways again, a cry of despair leaving your throat as more hallways had appeared. All of them without distinction, all of them identical. You ran your fingers through your hair, trying to calm your nerves and racing mind.
It was like someone was playing tricks on you. You felt incredibly vulnerable and small in that moment. How were you supposed to escape and find Tobey if someone was altering your surroundings? No, not someone, but The Goblin King. Was he trying to slow you down? Was he finding your suffering entertaining? Did he enjoy watching you become disoriented and confused as he gleefully added obstacles to prevent you from advancing?
You picked a random hall and bolted down the stony path. You paused midway to catch your breath, eyes darting around the nondescript hall with no markings. Then, a pair of eyes drew you closer. Imbedded inside the wall, unblinking and strained; they followed your every movement, watching with a strange intensity.
You stared into the eyes for a moment longer, finding yourself stepping stupidly close. Then, when you were inches away, a trap door opened underneath your feet.
The wind billowed your hair and a frightened scream ripped harshly through your throat.
You tried to grab at anything to slow your fall, but as you neared the bottom you found yourself floating slowly. You released small noises that indicated to your fear, and as your feet brushed the ground your legs gave out, causing you to collapse in a pathetic heap.
You crouched forward, leaning into the floor and pressing your forehead into the stone.
What on Earth is going on?
You didn't like being played with. The Goblin King was actively messing around with you, making you out to be a complete fool. And the worst part is that you were falling for his unsuspecting traps. It's like he knew you were gullible, scared and curious, and he was happily playing on it.
You sat up, now sitting on your knees. You assessed your surroundings, taking note that you seemed to be trapped in some sort of well. You tilted your head back and longingly looked back at where you had fallen through, just in time to see the trap door slam shut. You flinched at the noise, whining at the idea of being stuck in a small hole.
You pushed your arms out, feeling for a way out, but found yourself completely trapped as the walls surrounded you in such a tight space.
"Hello?" You called out, voice raspy and shaky. You blinked through the darkness, listening with a wince as your voice echoed off the walls. "Can anyone hear me?"
You didn't want to admit that you were scared, even though the evidence was rather glaring. You couldn't hide your emotions very well at all. You were a completely open book. You used to love that about yourself, but how you were starting to believe that I was going to be your downfall.
A tapping against your foot caught your attention. Startled, you looked down to see the glass ball again. You curiously picked it up, watching as the white mist formed on the inside, and then cleared to reveal Jareth, The Goblin King. He smirked as you made eye contact, and you gasped at the realisation that he could probably see you.
"What happened, [Name]?" Jareth cooed rather cruelly. His fingers drummed along the arm rest of his curved throne. "Are you stuck somewhere cold and dark? Do you need help at all?"
"You're the one who trapped me down here!" You readily accused, baffled by his ability to be so cruel. You felt exasperated. Defeated. "Why are you doing this?!"
Jareth scoffed and rolled his eyes, the drumming of his fingers coming to a halt. "I didn't trap you down there. You did that yourself. You're clearly not grateful for my offer of help, perhaps I should retract it?"
"No!" You shouted before you could even consider what you were saying. Was it wrong to seek help from The Goblin King like this? You couldn't see any other way to escape from this hole, and the cold was starting to seep through your thin layer of clothes. But did you really want to depend on him like this? What would that mean? Would you therefore owe him?
Jareth seemed to sense your inner conflict. He could only smile at your distress, as if it was somehow endearing to him. "Then ask. That's all you should need to do."
You opened your mouth to do just that, to ask for help out of the dark, cramped hole, but something caught your attention. As your eyes had begun adjusting to the darkness, you could see a small hole that led into a tunnel of sorts. Your eyes flickered back to Jareth, but he was already gone.
Deciding not to waste anymore time in this dark space, you made yourself as small as possible and began crawling through the gap. It was a tight fit, but you managed to pull yourself through to the other end.
You released a triumphant laugh, suddenly feeling as though you could truly navigate this castle without Jareth's help. Even with him toying and messing with its layout, even though he said he wasn't the cause of anything, you started to believe as though you'd find Tobey and be able to leave.
Unbeknownst to you, far beyond the Goblin City, through the mystical Labyrinth at the very beginning, Sarah paced up and down in search for an entrance. Because, The Goblin King had met with her shortly after whisking you away, and Sarah had refused to believe that she'd truly caused your and her little brother's disappearance. The Goblin King offered a solution; Sarah must enter the Labyrinth and complete it within 13 hours, or else Tobey would be turned into a Goblin, and you would be forced to remain at The Goblin King's side forever.