Labyrinth 1. Clear skies start the day

Disclaimer: I do not own Labyrinth it belongs to Jim Henson and company.

Sarah stood in the foyer of her home as she went over her checklist of everything she needed for her trip. "Let's see I have my tent, chairs, grill, first aid kit, food, wood. I think that's everything."

"Did you remember to bring thermals, and extra pair of socks?" Irene asked as she walked up to Sarah and her growing pile of supplies.

"Oh I knew I was forgetting something!" Sarah turned toward her stepmother surprised she already had the aforementioned objects in hand. "How is it you always seem to be on top of things?" Sarah asked jokingly.

"Comes from raising a rambunctious little boy." Irene smiled at Sarah as she handed her the items she was missing from her list. "Sarah, are you sure you don't want a graduation party instead of camping?"

"Yes Irene I am sure, this weekend trip with my friends is exactly what I want for my graduation." Sarah said as she put the clothing into her duffle bag.

Sarah took a last look at her list and compared it to the pile in the front hall; this trip was exactly what she needed. She had just finished high school and had graduated with honors. In honor of completing school she and her friends decided a weekend trip camping in the local nature preserve was a great way to celebrate their entering into adulthood. Now that everything was packed it was just a matter of time till her girlfriends arrived. They had decided they were going to take Nikki's car as she had a big enough car to fit all the supplies.

Sarah thought about her friend's as she waited for them to arrive, Carrie had been new sophomore year and shared Sarah's passion for plays and literature. They hit it off instantly and had become best friends before the year was out. Nikki was a different story she had been with Sarah since elementary school. They had, had a bit of a falling out when Sarah's mother Linda had run off with Jeremy. At the time however, she had retreated into her shell in order to protect herself from her emotions.

Sarah's mind drifted back to that time after her mom had left; now she could tell now that she had lashed out at those in her anger at the situation. That first year of high school was pretty much wasted and had left others with a bad impression of her. She had lost many a good friends because of the way she acted. Then came that fateful night in which she had almost lost something more precious than her friends. The night she almost lost Toby and had to run the Labyrinth changed her life forever, she learned a lot in those thirteen hours.

Solving the problems she had created during her period of anger was not something easily fixed, it had taken most of the rest of her high school years to mend the bonds she had broken. Now as she was headed off into her adult life she had her two closest friends back with her and was ready to conqueror the world, or at least this camping trip. She was brought back into reality with the sound of a horn honking.

Nikki sat in the driver's seat of her 1981 with the Talking Heads blasting from its speakers. Carrie stuck her head out the passenger window, "Hey Sarah let's get a move on we haven't got all day!"

"Got it, be out in a minute!" yelled Sarah as she gathered up all her equipment, "See Monday Irene." With headed out the front door and out to the car with her waiting friends. She dropped the gear in the trunk of car and hopped in the back seat. "Alright ladies let's punch it!" Sarah cried as she fastened her seat-belt.

Nikki laughed as she double checked her mirrors and cranked the radio, "You got it hun'." With that she hit the gas and they were headed on their way.

The drive to the camp site was going to take a while so the girls entertained themselves with singing along with the radio, and laughing about past expeditions. "Remember that time when Bobby tried to get Shaun to jump off Devil's peak that nut actually considered doing it just to impress Anna." Carrie was laughing as she told the story.

"I know. I am glad he didn't do it though that would have been terrible given that she didn't even like him in the first place." Nikki said as she kept her eyes on the road.

"Not to mention the fact that he could have been extremely hurt." Sarah said as she sat in the back seat of the car. She was drinking a Coke and was watching the scenery as they drove on relaxing and reveling in the fact that she was on a much needed break. "Hey Nikki, how much longer do we have till we reach the campsite?"

"Don't know ask Carrie she's the one with the map.", Nikki still had her eyes on the road but was trying to change the radio to find some music to listen to.

"Not much longer Sarah we only have 30 minutes left.", Carrie said as she checked the map.

Sarah sat back and looked out the window at the horizon and watched the clouds go by happy that the camping adventure was about to begin.


	2. But clouds are on the way

The girls arrived around noon and started to set up camp, it took them about an hour to set up and get the fire started. They decided that for today it would be best for them to just relax and that they would take a hiking trip tomorrow to explore the scenery.

As the girls got settled they gathered around the campfire to just relax and enjoy the peace and quiet of the nature around them. Carrie broke the silence between the three of them, "So Sarah have you decided what you're going to do now that we are done with High School."

"Well I got accepted into Shadebrook University, which means that I should be starting in the fall. What about you guys?" Sarah sat back in her camp chair and looked at her friends.

"I got in at GulfCoast, what about you Nikki, did you get into Carrollwood?" Carrie turned to look toward Nikki.

"Yeah I got in, so I guess that means after this summer we won't be around each other anymore at least until breaks." Nikki looked at both girls with a glum expression on her face with the realization that they would soon be separated.

"That's right we really won't be able to see each other much anymore after this summer." Sarah said as she sat back in her chair, the thought really hadn't occurred to her until just now.

Carrie broke the glum silence between the girls with a burst of laughter, "Well guys I guess that means we just have to party like there is no tomorrow this weekend then, and I have just the thing to do it." With that Carrie pulled out three beers from her cooler next to her. "Here's to our future girl's may it be a blast."

"Carrie you sly dog where did you manage to score beers at." Nikki asked gleefully while she took one of the offered beers for herself. Sarah paused for a moment before deciding to take the offered beer for her-self.

"My brother got them for me in order for us to celebrate our transitioning into adulthood." Carrie grinned as she cracked open a beer and took a swig.

"Why not, it's not like we get to do this every day." Sarah said as she opened her beer and took a drink relishing in the fact that this day could not be any more perfect. At that point a warm and gentle breeze passed through the clearing ruffling her hair.

"So who's up for a little music?" Nikki asked as she went over to her car to retrieve her boom box from the trunk of her car. She brought it back over to the campfire and set it on the ground, "Any requests ladies?"

"Oh do you have any mix tapes of The Bangles?" Carrie asked as she finished off her beer and reached for another one.

"Just for you hun'." Nikki said as she put the tape in the player and pressed play.

"Well I think it's time for us to have a dance party wouldn't you say?" Sarah said as she set down her beer and moved away from the fire in order to have room to dance. 'Walk like an Egyptian' blasted out of the speakers and Sarah started to move to the music. Nikki and Carrie laughed as they moved over to where Sarah was to join her. The girls laughed as they danced around basking in the warm sunny day.

A few hours, and many beers later the girls were still dancing around listening to music. "_ You made me Promises, Promises you knew you never keep." _Sarah sang as she spun around before landing back in her chair. Nikki and Carrie joined Sarah by the campfire out of breath from all the dancing.

"Well that was a blast, but now I'm hungry so let's get this fire rolling again." Carrie said as she stumbled a bit due to her drunken state.

"Careful Carrie don't get burned." Sarah said from her camping chair closing her eyes and relaxing, "Oh everything is spinning; I had way too much beer."

"Don't worry Sarah I've got this." Carrie said as she slowly placed the wood on the fire.

"Now that the fire is going again let's get cooking" Nikki stumbled over to the cooler to grab some hot dogs for the girls to eat. Sarah got up from her chair and carefully made her way over to the edge of the clearing to get some sticks for them to cook with. She tripped a bit on her way back to the campfire but managed to catch herself.

"Watch it Sarah, you don't want to fall." Carrie laughed as she looked up from the campfire.

"Wouldn't happen if the ground wasn't spinning." Sarah bit back as she sat back down in her camp chair and handed the girls their sticks. Cooking utensils in hand the girls got to cooking their dinner.

"Oh look a barn owl." Carrie pointed out at the edge of the clearing in the trees where an owl was perched on a high branch overlooking the campsite.

Sarah's back stiffened looking frightened at the mention of the owl, "What? Where?" glancing over to where Carrie had pointed to the owl. "Oh I hate owls." Sarah said as she glared at the owl as if it had committed some great offense.

"Why do you hate owls Sarah they are harmless creatures." Nikki said as she watched the owl.

"Careful Nikki your hot dog is on fire." Sarah said as she moved to put her hot dog on a bun.

"Oh shoot!" Nikki moved to blow out the fire on her rapidly burning dinner.

"No really Sarah why don't you like owls?" Carrie asked as she got her hot dog ready to eat.

Sarah sighed as she turned to look at the fire, "When I was younger and visiting mom on one of her performances one of the owls they were using bit me, ever since then I stopped liking them." She knew she was lying to her friends, but she couldn't tell them the truth they wouldn't understand.

"Really Sarah, you never mentioned that before, but I guess that would make sense." Carrie said while munching on her hot dog.

"Yeah, getting bit by an owl does not sound like fun to me, but I still think it's though" Nikki said as she continued to watch the owl.

"More like creepy it's like it's watching us." Sarah said as she looked back at the owl again its eyes seemed to be focused on the girls rather than looking for prey. For her it was too much like a certain someone's familiar form.

"That is just the beer talking Sarah it probably has a nest somewhere nearby" Carrie said as she watched the owl. At that moment the owl took flight silently gliding off into the setting dusk, leaving the girls to their meal. As Sarah watched the owl fly off her alcohol hazed mind wondered if a camping trip was really a good idea.


End file.
