Disclaimer: I don't own Labyrinth, but you can't blame a girl for wishing.

Author's Note: Okay this story may or may not be completely done by Halloween, seeing that its only a few days away, but oh well. This is only a little story I thought up back in September (guess I should have started writing it then, huh?), and is the first Laby story with actual chapters in it that I'm putting up. Yay for me! Anywho, like I said, this is only supposed to be a little story, but if you all like it, I may make it longer and take in other holidays as well. Of course, if that happens, I'll have to change the name to something else. We'll see... Please review and let me know if you like it so far, all one chapter of it. Now, on to the story!

Halloween: Chapter One

It had been a year, that much she knew. A year since she took her trip through the Labyrinth, a year since she last saw him, but he was haunting her. Everywhere she looked she saw him, felt his presence. She dreamed of him almost every night.

The only times she could go without thinking of him was when she would sit in the park with her dog, Merlin. And that's just what she was doing as the sun was setting, but for some reason unknown to her, the sixteen-year-old Sarah Williams could not get a certain Goblin King off her mind. "I don't want to think of him, Merlin! Please help me?" she held the sheep dog's face between her hands, then laughed at the oh-so-obvious look of 'I have no idea what you're saying' written in the dog's brown eyes. "Oh, Merlin."

Sarah scratched the dog's head, then leaned back against a tree. She closed her eyes to relax a bit, but how could she? Every time she closed her eyes, she saw him and her eyes would pop open once more. This time, however, she didn't even have her eyes shut a second before she heard her name being called.

"Sarah!" it was her best friend, Alice, from school. Sarah watched as she ran, as best she could with heels on, toward her. "Sarah, I need your help."

Sarah sat up straighter as her friend stopped to catch her breath in front of her. To be honest, Sarah was glad for the distraction.

"What do you need my help with?"

Alice had a mischievous look in her eye, one that Sarah had seen many times before and it was never a good thing.

"Alice..." Sarah warned, "Whatever you've got planned, forget it."

"Oh come on, Sarah! You know as well as I do that Halloween is less than a week away, and I have an idea about how we can spend it." Alice pleaded, "Just hear me out, will you?"

"It won't do any good, I have to take Toby Trick-or-Treating." Sarah leaned back against the tree once more, for once glad that her step-mother was making her do something with her brother. Although, it wasn't completely against her will, she loved doing things with her baby brother now. But usually Karen just dropped him on her at the last second, especially when she had something to do or somewhere to be.

"It doesn't have to be on Halloween, then." Alice stated. Sarah was at a loss.

"Fine." Sarah sighed, finally giving in, "What's your idea?"

Alice smiled, "Well, you know that house over by the school? The really run down one that is supposedly haunted?"

"Yeah..." Sarah didn't like where this was going. "What about it?"

"We're going to see if it's really haunted, that's what!" Alice was grinning from ear to ear now, so excited was she about her own plan she could barely contain it. "So what do you think?"

Sarah was definitely not thrilled about it, but seeing the look of hope on her friend's face, she couldn't say no. Letting out another sigh, she replied, "We could go after the school's Halloween party this Saturday."

Alice grinned even more, if that was possible, "Thank you, thank you, thank you!!! You won't regret it, I promise!"

Sarah watched as her friend got up to leave. She had the distinct feeling that she was going to live to regret it, despite what Alice said.

"Well, Merlin, I guess I'm going to a haunted house." Sarah sighed, once Alice was out of sight. The sheep dog looked up at her in such a way that it sent tingles down her spine. It felt so familiar.

But should you need us.

The memory of her friends hit her hard.

I need you---all of you.

"Does that include me, Sarah?" the voice of Sarah's dreams asked in her mind. He sounded sad to her, somehow, not like he usually did.

Jareth.

Standing up, Sarah hugged herself to keep out the cold that was creeping over her, "Why can't I forget you?"

Looking back at the tree, Sarah shuddered. Something was going on with her, she just wished she knew what it was. Why was all this coming back to her now? The thoughts, the feelings, the occasional paranoid fear that some one was watching her or touching her when nobody was there, it was beginning to be too much for her. She was afraid she was losing her mind to the past, and to the Goblin King.

"Come on, Merlin, let's go home. It's getting really late." Sarah shuddered again, the cold still trying to overcome her. "I don't like it here anymore."

Glancing back once more before heading home, she shook her head. "I'm just being silly, Jareth isn't haunting me! Is he? No! No, I'm putting all of that, and him, behind me. And that's where it's going to stay."

As she walked away, however, she had a nervous feeling in her stomach that he was there, somewhere close, and she was right.

Once she had crossed the bridge toward home, an owl flew across the moon.

So you're putting me behind you, are you Sarah?

She heard and saw nothing, but continued on her way home, none the wiser.