Chapter 1 : Lightening Never Strikes the Same Place Twice, Right

I stood there, leaning against my car, parked in front of my fiancé's apartment. I don't know why it was such a shock, seeing her car there, parked next to his. I could feel my heart silently breaking, all ready filling with sorrow and ache, but in a small, dark corner of my being I felt an anger begin to rise.

I clenched my fists and fought back the tears that threatened to fall. "Damn you, Josh, damn you," I muttered as I pushed away from my car. I allowed that small entity of anger grow, and fill me up till it was an intense rage. My body began to shake with fury as I approached his door.

I shoved open the door, knowing he never got in the habit of locking it like I had always begged him to, and kicked it shut behind me. "Josh!"

I heard her voice sputter, "oh shit" before Josh came into view, in nothing but the bottom of his pajamas. His face went slack and he came at me cautiously. "Sarah, I thought you weren't going to be back till tomorrow."

I felt my face curl into a rather unpleasant look. "Well, I guess we're all full of surprises."

He made a nervous laugh, his eyes flicking to me, the door, and then from where he came. "What do you mean, Sarah?"

"Oh don't even try to pretend. I know she's here, Josh." I moved to get passed him and he stepped in my way. "Get out of the way Josh," I growled.

He shook his head and grabbed my arm. "Just go home, I'll talk to you about this later."

"Like hell!" I shoved him off my arm and stalked passed him; he followed at my heels.

"Come on, Sarah, I can explain."

I ignored him and went into his bedroom and found her shrugging on her pants, only fashioning a bra on top. She managed her pants and froze under my presence. I heard a strained laugh erupt through the room. I realized the laugh was coming from me.

I turned towards Josh, who was leaning on the door frame, my laughing dying down. "Go ahead."

"What?" he asked.

"Explain this."

He didn't say anything, at an utter loss for any good explanation.

I began to laugh again and felt my right hand wrenching off the ring on my left. "Why would you give me this if you planned on doing this?" I motioned to the person in question. She had finally got a shirt on and was trying to fit into her high heels. She looked like she had just come back from work at the office.

Josh flicked his eyes to her. "Holly stopped by after she got off her shift for a drink."

"Oh, just a drink? I don't think so."

Josh walked up to me and I took a step back, giving him my own version of the evil eye. "Sarah, I felt lonely and she was just there. It meant nothing."

I laughed, tears threatening to fall once again. "And I suppose we meant nothing?"

"No, we do mean something." He reached out to touch me and I knocked away his hand. "Damn it, Sarah, let me explain."

"Explain what? That you felt lonely and decided to jump into bed with your ex-girlfriend?"

"Well I wouldn't feel lonely if you weren't always out at your job. The last few months you have thought nothing but your job! I barely see you as it is, and when I do you aren't ever in the mood!"

I gaped at him. "So you decided to cheat on me because you weren't getting any from me?"

"I feel neglected. Shouldn't I come first in your life?"

"I should ask the same thing."

"You can really be a bitch sometimes, you know that."

I frowned at him. "Why couldn't you talk to me about this? Why did you have to go into her arms?"

"She cares about me! She was there for me when I needed her."

"She was there when you needed a good fuck."

The Whore of Babylon decided to speak up then. "You both know I'm right here and I can hear everything?"

I turned to her, with a distasteful smile. "You know what happens to girls that fool around with other girl's boyfriends?" I stepped closer to her and then Josh just had to go and make it worse.

"What, Sarah? Does the Goblin King come and take them away to his magical kingdom and turn them into nasty little goblins?" Josh smirked, anger in his eyes as I stalked up to him.

I laid a crackling slap against his cheek. "How dare you! I trusted you!"

"What I should have done was call the loony bin on you."

I hefted the ring still in my hand and held it up with my thumb and fore finger. "I shouldn't have accepted this ring."

"Are you going to wish her away to him, Sarah? To your, oh so evil goblin king! Go ahead, what were the words?" He stepped close to me, in arms length, but I stood my ground.

"Stop it, Josh, don't say another word!" I shouted, clenching my hands together, feeling my nails dig into my palm. If he continued on talking, something bad would happen. I would never have told him about my teenage experience, which I wasn't even sure was real, but I wasn't eager to find out the truth. I didn't think he would ever betray me, but today he was just raking up the disappointment.

"Are you afraid? Why don't I just wish you away to him? That would solve a lot of things."

"Josh, you're just angry, you don't mean what you're saying. Please, let's just talk about this."

"I wish, I wish," he grinned, anger flitting through his eyes, his tone filled with threat.

Thunder cracked outside, a wave of rain followed instantly. I jumped. I recalled that it was too storming that night when this all began. Somehow, I'm not sure this was just a coincidence.

"Please, Josh, just leave it be!" I pleaded grabbing his hand. He shoved me away and I felt my hips bump into the window sill. Another crack of thunder.

His eyes held such anger that I've never seen before, at least never to be seen in his eyes and directed at me of all people. I thought I knew this man inside and out, but I suppose I have been gravely mistaken.

"Um," miss whore of all whores murmured grabbing her purse, "I'll be leaving. I'm sure you'll want some time to discuss some things." Then she quickly added, "Call me later, Josh."

With that, the sneaky bitch escaped and I wished I could have left right then to, but I have to face the music sometime. This was going to be the fight. The one that ended it all.

I took a shaky breath and looked up at him, meeting his daggering glare. "You know I should be the only one angry right now, Josh. You've betrayed me and you stand there like it is me who has hurt you."

He smiled, but it didn't reach his eyes. "I am hurt. Why else would I go to her? You simply just haven't had the time for me and a guy gets lonely."

I laughed then. "Lonely? Don't you think I've felt the same way? Do you think I enjoy being away from you days at a time? A girl has needs too Josh!" I pushed away from the window, the rumble of thunder ripping in the backdrop. "I can't possibly continue any relationship with you after this." I put the engagement ring next on the nearest surface and turned to him. "I hate you for doing this to me."

He stood there, dumbfounded. I walked past him, out the room, and headed for the front door. However, I didn't nearly get past the bedroom door when he spun me around.

"No! No one ever leaves me!" He pushed me into the wall, his breath ragged and deep. "You will not leave me."

"Josh!" I cried out under his weight. "Let go of me! I want to leave, let go!"

He swung me away from the wall and into the kitchen where I crashed into the cabinets. What the hell was he doing? What does he plan on doing? Has Josh gone insane? Is he going to try and hurt me, or worse…kill me?

No, he couldn't be that upset. After all, he is the one who cheated on me and ruined the relationship. He couldn't possibly believe that I would stay after what he had done. Could he?

Josh stomped into the kitchen, his hair whipping in his face, framing his crazed eyes. Ok, maybe he did believe that and was going to hurt me.

I wasn't about to take any chances. I felt on the countertops, not wanting to turn from him. You never turn your back on a person with that look on their face. The look that reads they are going to hurt you ten ways to Tuesday. Today was only Monday.

My hands glided along the counter, shaking from the terror that was edging closer and closer towards me.

"Josh, please, just let me leave. You don't want to do anything you'll regret."

He shook his head. "Believe me, I won't regret a thing."

Great, just what I needed to hear. My hand found a knife right when his hand shot out and latched around my neck. I gasped at the sudden restriction of breathing and brought the knife around quick and sliced his arm.

He cursed and released me. He touched his wound with his other hand giving me a split second to try for the door. I got as far as the kitchen entry way when he suddenly brought me down flat on the floor. His whole weight was on my back and I couldn't move my arms any which way without straining.

He wrenched the knife from my hand and instant fear ran through my body. What was he going to do with the knife? I heard a clink, clang against the kitchen tile and I knew then he had discarded the knife. Whatever he had planned for me he seemed to know he only needed brute strength, which if that was the case, I was physically unable to defeat him.

The thunder outside roared and the rain grew more intense. I thought of him then, the Goblin King, Jareth. Was he truly a real being and would he listen to me now, after all these years? No, I'm fooling myself. Goblins, fairies, and all those creatures don't exist. I'm grown up now; I can't believe that those types of things exist. And yet, it had felt so real, more than any dream I've ever had. What harm could it do if I do call out to him?

I moaned in agony as Josh added more pressure on my back, grounding my chest into the floor. Damn, everything was hurting like hell. He was going to kill me, worst case scenario, and I was going to let him. This all just isn't fair!

Josh leaned near my ear, his tone husky and brisk. "Oh, Sarah, my dear little Sarah, if I can't have you then no one can."

"Wow, that's original. You must get all the girls with that line," I chided. I was going to die, but I'd be damned if I was going to be submissive about it. I bucked against him, which didn't do anything but make him laugh and grind me more into the flooring.

"I get all who I like." He grabbed my hair and pulled it back, arching my neck in an uncomfortable angle. "So pretty," he released my hair suddenly, making my face plop onto the floor. "Can't let all that go to waste."

That's when I heard a zipping sound, the sound of a zipper. Then he was tugging at my jeans. Oh my god, was he about to rape me? Fuck. Getting raped and then killed was not the way I wanted to go.

Thunder sounded again, making my heart speed up more than it all ready was. At this rate I might be lucky and get a heart attack and miss all the excitement. No, I wasn't that lucky.

"Why don't you call out to your Goblin King, Sarah? I'd love to hear you call out for help that will never come while I fuck you."

Gee, Josh here really is a sicko. How the hell did I not know this before? Was I sheltered from this side of him? Better to have found out now, but seeing as he was intent on raping, then kill me at the moment, I wasn't sure the information was real helpful.

Hmmm, though calling out to the Goblin King wouldn't hurt anyone, and I did say it was worth a try. Probably wouldn't work, but what the hell.

"Fine. Bastard. I wish the goblins would come take you away…right now!"

The lights went out just like it did that day and the thunder was more than overwhelming again.

Josh shifted above me, chuckling almost. "That's quite a funny coincidence. Power goes out right when you asked for help." He laughed. "Just gives me more motivation."

Coincidence, sure as hell had to be. If the goblins were real and were acting as they did last time, Josh wouldn't even be sitting on top of me right now but in the castle beyond the goblin city. Funny, I had myself going there that maybe they were real and that I would be saved.

Josh then flipped me onto my back, crushing my legs into the ground with his own legs as his hands held down me arms. "Now, where were we?"

I heard snickers then, all around us. Josh looked at me with confusion filling his eyes. He looked to his left and right. "What was that?"

Then cabinets started opening and shutting, I couldn't see them but I heard them. Scuffles came around us, but we saw no one. Thunder and the rain carried on, leading the orchestra of sounds around us.

"What the fuck is going on!?" Josh said looking everywhere around him but me. The sudden distraction had made him loosen his weight and grip on me. I slid my knee up and pushed all my energy into hitting his nether regions.

His painful grunt let me know I had hit my aim and he keeled over to his side, fully off of me. I got to my feet even as every muscle in my body protested. I went to the front door and frantically trying to open it but it wouldn't budge. "What the hell!" I screamed, pounding at the door in frustration. I heard Josh moan in the kitchen and movements that meant he was coming over to where I was. I tried to door one last time and it denied me access. I then ran into the bedroom, hoping to get out through the fire escape through the window.

As I reached the bedroom I heard Josh cursing and stomping his way towards me. The kitchen noises followed him as he came at me. So little time.

I ran to the window, unlatching it fast, and throwing it upwards. The stormy winds roared at me, whipping the curtains around me.

"Sarah." I turned and Josh was there, right behind me. He punched me in the cheek and I went to the floor. The noises seemed to be closing in around me and my head began to pound with instant pain.

I looked up to find Josh towering over me, his body being sharply outlined with each thrust of lightening from the window. This was it. He was going to kill me and there was no one here to stop him. At least that's what I thought.

Everything went silent, leaving only the rain and thunder to rein free in the distance. I could no longer hear my own heart thudding rapidly in my chest, but I sure as hell felt it.

My vision swam and I was suddenly wondering if the blow to the face has given me a concussion of some sort. Was I about to black out? Hell, maybe I do have luck and I won't have to see what Josh has in store for me.

I blinked in long strokes, as Josh bent towards me. I saw something fly through the window but I wasn't sure if my mind was playing tricks on me. The tunnel of my sight began to grow smaller; filling with the promise of darkness. I blinked and held my eyes shut for maybe a few seconds longer than normal and opened to find Josh was gone and no longer above me. I resisted the urge to blink and tilted my head to the left and my nose made a new friend and thy name was fancy leather boots.

I'd seen these boots before. I tilted my head and followed to whom those boots belonged to. Sure enough, it was him. Jareth, King of Goblins, the man that had haunted my dreams since I was a teen had come to life right before me. "You?" I said breathless. My vision was going faster than I would have liked, but I saw his mouth curl into a smile as he nodded. The next thing I said was the only thing I could think of. "Fuck." Then, darkness swept over me and then…nothing.