What can I say that hasn't already been said? Rest in peace, Goblin King.

Should have took a picture

Something I could keep

Buy a little frame

Something cheap

For you

Everyone says hi

It was 3 AM, or something like it, when Sarah Williams was pulled out of a fitful sleep by a timid knock on the glass of her mirror. For anyone else, this would have been the beginning of a horror movie. She simply stretched, yawned, and mumbled, "What is it, guys. It's late."

Time ran differently in The Underground, but her friends were usually polite visitors who observed her sleep schedule.

"Sawah?" Ludo's low, rumbling voice had a new tremble to it, one Sarah wasn't used to hearing.

She sat up and flicked her bedside lamp on, squinting as her eyes adjusted to the light. Her trio of friends stood before her, staring at her as if they expected her to break at any moment. They were framed inside her mirror, as if afraid to enter her room.

"Are you coming in?" She prompted gently.

She tried not to think too deeply about how her bedroom mirror was a portal to another world these days, nor how the portal had continued to function when she moved out of her father's house and into an apartment. Some things were better left unanalyzed. Moments later, in defiance of logic, Hoggle, Ludo, and Sir Didymus were standing in her room, still somehow looking like shadows of themselves.

"S-Sarah," Hoggle faltered, breaking eye contact and looking at his hands instead. She felt the first tendrils of fear begin to curl around her heart.

"What's wrong?"

"It-It's just that-well..."

"Hoggle," Sarah crawled to the end of her bed to face him, taking his small hands in hers. "Please tell me. You're scaring me."

Sir Didymus cleared his throat. "What Friend Hoggle means to say, my lady," he began, his affectations further delaying the message, "is that," he paused to sweep off his hat and hold it against his chest. "The Goblin King is no more."

For one brief second, Sarah thought she felt all the air leave the room, and then come whooshing back in, freezing her where she sat.

"What?" She whispered. "What do you mean 'no more?' You don't mean-"

"He perished," Didymus clarified, as gently as he could. "As the clock struck thirteen in our world, he breathed his last. He-"

"Stop," Sarah whispered, interrupting his eulogy before it could reach the proportions she knew he was capable of. "That's-that's not right. That's impossible. He's not human. He's not supposed to die."

"Nay, fair lady," Didymus said, hanging his head. "We all must, eventually."

"He's not supposed to die," Sarah repeated, wanting to ask him how he could help but understand.

She sat back on the bed, pulling her knees to her chest. "It's wrong," she whispered. "It's-it's not fair." The fear that has begun to wind its way around her heart clenched it tight now, making her feel like she was on the verge of exploding from the inside out. Hot tears started down her cheeks without permission and she wept bitterly, unable to stop herself or even explain why the tears were coming. She wanted to be angry at him. Angry at him for taking her brother, all those years ago. Angry at him for dying.

In the midst of her sobs, an enormous hand reached out hesitantly to wipe at the tears rolling down her cheeks.

"Sawah sad?" Ludo questioned anxiously. She looked up at him, hesitating before saying "Yeah. Yeah, I guess I am." She shifted her gaze to Sir Didymus. "Can I-I mean, can I see him?" She questioned.

"Soon," he said. By way of explanation he added, "Rituals must be observed."

She had no interest in rituals or rites, and she was about to insist as much when he added, "For now, Lady Sarah must rest."

"I don't want to rest," she mumbled childishly.

"Sarah, please..." Hoggle begged. She bowed her head, abashed.

"We will come for you after your sun has risen," Sir Didymus told her.

She nodded without looking up at them.

"But should you need us..." He continued.

"I'll call," she said hollowly.

When she looked up her friends had disappeared, just as quickly as they had come. She knew that they would stay nearby, always ready should she call for them. The thought did nothing to make her feel less alone.

She curled up small on her bed, tried to remember how to breathe.

Say your right words, whispered a voice in her head.

But there were no right words. Not anymore.

Lying alone, she whispered "Goblin King, Goblin King, wherever you may be..." her words trailed into silence as she realized there was no answer to that question, and no one to respond, even if there had been one.

Sarah cried herself to sleep.