| She woke up on the sofa and the TV was still on. She rubbed her eyes, picked up her cup of tea and took sip. She put it down in disgust. It was stone cold. Dom�s room was silent, so she went to check on him. He was fast asleep, with the light on. He was afraid of the dark. She pulled his covers up and stroked his hair. �I love you,� she whispered, and kissed him gently on the cheek. He sighed quietly in his sleep, and she smiled. He was the most important thing in her life now. He was hers. She turned off the light, and tiptoed out of the room and back into their small living/dining room. She didn�t remember leaving the window open. She shut it slowly. �Good evening, Jareth,� she said, and turned to face the Goblin King in all his Glory. Her face stayed as solid as a rock, she did not flinch, but took a breath waiting for him to speak. �You know what I want Michelle.� He was as unflinching as she was. �No,� she said simply. �No one called you, no one wants you to take them away. You�re not needed or wanted here.� �Who�s the boys father?� She smiled. �Wouldn�t you like to know!� �Don�t play games with me Michelle!� �Play games? I would never dream of it.� �Michelle!� She paused for thought �I am,� she answered. �I�m his mother, his father, his brothers and sisters, his friends. He needs no one else.� �Don�t defy me Michelle, I am more powerful than you think.� �Oh are you?� she said. �The big scary Goblin King is worried he might have a son he didn�t know about for seven years, so he�s going to trample all over the boys mother until he gets what he wants. Well, it�s not going to work like that Jareth. Dominic is my son, and you entered my life the same day you left it, seven years ago. There�s nothing more you can do to me.� �I will find out Michelle, if he�s mine I will get him.� �You don�t even know if he is yours, so you can just flutter back off to where ever you came from, and bother some other poor girl.� There was a silence that filled the wall like a tidal wave. She turned her back on him. �Goodbye Jareth,� she said. Then she knew he was right behind her, and she shivered at the closeness. Then he began to stroke her hair, something she remembered Jaden doing. Then he tugged it, so her head leant back, and she could see his face looking down at her. �I am more powerful than you think!� he said, and then he was gone. Michelle stood stock still for a moment, then ran to Dom�s room. He was still there. She kissed him again, and this time woke him up. �Mummy?� �It�s alright darling, Mummy just had a bit of a scare. Everything�s all right now though. Try to get back to sleep, I�m sorry I woke you. Everything�s all right now.� Michelle woke up late the next day, and had to hurry to get both her and Dominic to work or school on time. Dominic sagged into school, head down, and satchel dragging along the floor. Michelle watched him sadly, regretting her choice in school. Maybe he should have gone to one of the poorer schools in Romford; there would at least be more single parent families. But he needed the education, he was very clever, and anywhere else would have been a nightmare for him in that respect. Besides she was more worried about prospective parents in that respect. Getting pregnant at sixteen had ruined Michelle�s chances of going to university. Her mother had helped so she could finish her A-levels, but beyond that was impossible, and a risky career in music was not even an option. She now worked in a small office as a secretary in a local business, for a man named Mr Argent, but she could only work part time, though the pay was decent, and she Mr Argent wasn�t a hard man to work for. Mr Argent was very proud of his young �assistant� as he called her. She always meeted and greeted clients and he was very lax when she had to pick up Dominic from school. He�d even let the boy play in his own office when he was unwell. Today, though, she couldn�t seem to do anything right. She spilt the coffee, she started thinking of other things and stopped listening to clients, and the spelling of her typing was atrocious. Eventually he told her to take the rest of the day off, and she gratefully accepted, and went back to the park she had sat in yesterday. |