Labyrinth: Resurgence - C1 A Wish is Made - Pt. 1

Asha brushed her wavy brown hair from her eyes as she leaned forward over the saucepan of pasta she was cooking. The steam from the boiling water fogged her glasses, and she giggled.

“I’ve been wearing glasses for years, and somehow I still manage to forget I’m wearing them.” She chuckled to herself as she removed her glasses and wiped them clean. “Let’s try again.”

Removing a fork from the drawer to her left, she lowered the utensil into the saucepan and speared a piece of pasta. Blowing it cold, she ate it and chewed slowly, deciding whether or not it was completely cooked. Satisfied that it was, she drained the pasta in the sink.

“Nathan, pasta’s nearly done! Go and wash your hands, please!” she called to her younger brother.

Though Asha lived on her own, she was often entrusted with the care of her younger brother, Nathan, whilst her mother and stepfather jetted off to some foreign country. This time, they were visiting Turkey for three weeks. Just thinking about this made a burning resentment bubble up within her; Asha did not have any children of her own, but if she did she would certainly spend as much time with them as possible, and she definitely wouldn’t leave them for weeks at a time.

As she was adding the sauce to the pasta, Asha’s brother Nathan hurtled into the kitchen; he was only two years old, and was born when Asha was already twenty years old. This caused a lot of confusion for many people, as they often assumed that Nathan was her son and not her half-brother. She had to admit it was a strange situation, but she loved her brother nonetheless (she never referred to him as her half-brother, and always insisted on calling him her brother).

“Ashy,” he began, drooling slightly “is it basgetti with tomatoes?” he asked, mispronouncing ‘spaghetti’ in an extremely endearing way as he sat himself down at the small kitchen table.

“Yes, Nath, it’s with tomatoes. Now, let me put a cushion under your bum so you can reach.” She smiled, lifting him from the chair, sliding a thick cushion onto the seat, and sitting him gently onto the cushion.

Grabbing the two bowls of pasta from the countertop, Asha walked over to the small kitchen table and placed the smaller bowl in front of her brother, whose eyes lit up at the sight of his favourite meal being put in front of him.

“I love staying at your house, Ashy!” He exclaimed, red sauce dribbling from his lips.

Asha smiled again and grabbed a nearby napkin to wipe Nathan’s mouth.

“I’m glad you like it, Nath,” she said “but don’t you miss mommy and daddy?”

Nathan seemed to ponder this question for a moment, as though it were a silly thing to ask.

“Kind of,” he began “but I love staying with you, big sis!”

Asha smiled sadly, glad that her little brother enjoyed staying with her, but still angry with her parents; this was the third time this year that they had left Nathan with her, and she was beginning to tire of the responsibility. She did enjoy looking after her brother, but she had other responsibilities! She had hoped that, by moving into her own house, they would perhaps stop expecting her to look after her brother. This, however, had clearly not worked; if anything, she was looking after Nathan more than ever, and it was beginning to severely irk her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

After they had eaten their supper, Asha and Nathan watched some TV; namely, they watched ‘In the Night Garden’ and ‘Teletubbies’, which were two of Nathan’s favourite programmes. Asha didn’t really mind, she simply read a book whilst her little brother watched Iggle Piggle totter around the TV screen. Eventually, though, it was time to put Nathan to bed.

“Come on, little dude. Time for bed” she said, once In the Night Garden had finished.

Nathan let out a big yawn, rubbed his eyes and nodded his head. He lifted his arms up high over his head in a gesture to ask Asha to pick him up. Relenting to his request, Asha slid her hands underneath his arms and picked him up, resting him on her hip.

Walking to the spare bedroom where Nathan slept when he stayed with her, Asha smiled once more; he really was quite cute. She opened the door, and lowered Nathan into the small bed, tucking him in firmly just how he liked it. He sighed and snuggled himself into the bed, smiling contentedly. As Asha went to leave the room, he opened his eyes sleepily.

“Ashy,” he said groggily “can you read me the king book, please?”

Stopping in the doorway with her hand hovering over the light switch, Asha relented once more.

“Okay, Nath, we can read the king book, but only for a little bit. It’s late.”

Nathan beamed, happy that his big sister was going to read him his favourite book. Asha walked over to the bookshelf that resided in the spare bedroom, on the opposite side of the room to the small bed. Running her finger over the spines of the plethora of books that she owned – and kept in alphabetical order – Asha located the small red book.

She wasn’t sure exactly how she had come to own this particular book; most books she owned had either been given to her as a present, or given when their previous owner had finished with them, but this book had seemingly just appeared in her collection around two years ago.

Asha picked up the small red book and sat herself on the foot of Nathan’s bed – there were no pictures in this book, so she didn’t need to sit where Nathan could see. Opening the book to the first page, she began to read the story of a king who stole young children and turned them into goblins; she wasn’t really sure why Nathan enjoyed this story so much, but Asha was just glad that he enjoyed books as much as she did.

Once Nathan’s breathing had changed into that of someone in deep sleep, Asha closed the book and returned it to its place on the shelf, still pondering where she had come across it. She switched the light off and went to leave the room, looking back at her little brother sleeping soundly in his bed. Resentment for her mother and stepfather bubbled within her once again – how could they leave this sweet little boy so often? Was travelling the world really more important than their own child?

Asha shut the bedroom door and made her way downstairs once more. As she passed the clock in her hallway, she could see that it was 9pm – she had put Nathan to bed slightly too late, but it didn’t matter; it was the school holidays, and she was off work tomorrow, so he could sleep later if he needed to.

Sitting herself on the sofa, she picked up the book she had been reading before she put her little brother to bed. She read for a few minutes, but she kept thinking about that little red book; she had only ever read the first few pages – that was usually all it took to get Nathan to sleep – and she had never actually read the entire story. Snapping the book in her hands shut, she put it down on the coffee table and made her way back upstairs, being sure to be quiet so that she didn’t wake Nathan.

Once she had retrieved the little red book from the spare bedroom, she sat herself down on the sofa and began to read – she had to admit that the story really was quite interesting, and though it seemed to be aimed at a younger audience, she was enjoying the tale. Soon, she reached the part where the main protagonist wished away her younger brother, and the Goblin King came to steal him away; Asha thought it was rather childish, wishing away your sibling, though the idea itself was rather intriguing.

She read the story of the girl running the King’s labyrinth in an attempt to save her brother, of her meeting various friendly inhabitants of the Underground, and finally rescuing her brother by declaring the King’s lack of power over her. Raising an eyebrow, Asha was surprised to see the power that words held in this story – it seemed that words and the meaning behind them were extremely powerful in the Underground.

Closing the book, Asha stretched and looked at her phone screen – it was now 11pm. She had been reading the book for the past two hours. Yawning, she decided it was time for her to go to bed, and she made her way upstairs to brush her teeth and get changed. As she passed the spare bedroom where her brother slept soundly, she noticed that the door was still ajar (Nathan couldn’t go to sleep with the door closed). Nudging the door to open it wider, she could see the outline of him lying in the bed, curled into a ball and sleeping peacefully.

For some reason, Asha felt a compelling urge to try something as she stood there looking at her precious little brother. The disdain she had for her parents, as well as a strange intrigue within her, made her want to attempt something that, in her mind, was ridiculous.

“I wish the Goblin King would take you away…” she said quietly “right now.”

Nothing happened.

Asha wasn’t surprised, she knew that it was a silly thing to even attempt, but then again, she had always had a childlike imagination – it was what allowed her to be a brilliant artist and writer after all.

She left the room, quietly shut the door, and made her way to the bathroom to brush her teeth. Once she was done, she went to go to her bedroom, but something made her want to check on her brother one last time.

Walking to the spare bedroom, she tentatively reached out for the door handle; there was a sense of trepidation all of a sudden, and Asha wasn’t sure why. Shaking off the feeling, she grabbed the round, brass handle and turned it.

Entering the room, the first thing she noticed was how cold it was. She was sure that it hadn’t been this cold in here earlier; the window was still firmly shut and locked, so there was no logical reason for it to be so cold. Casting her eyes about the room, nothing seemed out of place. Nevertheless, she walked over to the bed and reached for the duvet, intending to pull back the covers to verify that Nathan was still safely tucked in bed. Curling her fingers around a handful of fabric, she slowly peeled back the covers and was horrified at what she saw. Or, more accurately, what she couldn’t see.

Nathan was gone.