DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT OWN THE LABYRINTH IN ANY WAY SHAPE OR FORM

Warning contains some rape/abuse

"He's late again," Sarah muttered to herself as she lay in her bed looking at her clock radio on the night stand next to her bed. The time clearly said 10:45 pm and that put her husband Michael at least five hours late coming home, and that meant there was a good chance that when he did finally make it home he was going to be drunk again. It was bad enough that he'd come home late so often, but the fact that he came home drunk just made it worse, especially if Sarah wanted to talk to him, and Sarah really wanted to talk to him!

To be perfectly honest Sarah had never even thought about getting together with someone like Michael. The only reason they had was because Sarah's step-mother and Michael's mother were friends and had shoved the two of them together. And Michael had always come across as a nice guy so Sarah had gone along with it to the point of marriage, even though both had still been in college at the time.

Sarah had majored in the theater and literature even though everyone kept telling her it wouldn't get her far in the job field. And, even after Sarah wrote her first book and it got to be a best seller and she was able to use the profits from it to buy a house and car for her and Michael, most everyone still thought she was foolish. To make it worse Michael didn't like the idea of his wife working like that. In his opinion a woman's job was to keep the house in order while it was the man's job to bring home the bacon.

Just then she heard the door open and then slam shut loud, followed by a loud thumping sound that lead to the stairs and up to the bedroom. Sarah kept looking as the door opened and in stumbled Michael laughing his head off. He looked over at Sarah who shot him a glare. His smile started to dwindle.

"What?" he said.

"You're late," she said.

"Am I?" said Michael looking over at the clock on the bedside table. "Oh what do you know, I guess I am. Oh well no harm done right?" He quickly ran over and jumped on the bed and onto Sarah.

"No, Michael stop!" shouted Sarah trying to push him off.

"What?" asked Michael trying to take her night shirt off.

"Michael stop, I need to talk to you!" said Sarah.

"Oh you talk too much!" said Michael as he crashed his lips down on to hers. Sarah could easily taste alcohol from his mouth. It made her feel sick. But Michael wasn't stopping no matter what. Any time Sarah tried to move or push him off he just hold her down even harder.

"Michael, stop please," Sarah pleaded trying desperately to get him off once he had moved his mouth from her lips to her neck.

"Will you shut-up?" said Michael.

"You, you have no right to do this to me!" shouted Sarah.

"Why not, you're my wife and I'm your husband and this is what a husband and wife do with each other right?" said Michael not showing any sign of stopping.

Sarah could feel tears coming from her eyes as Michael continued his assault on her body. She looked out the window and thought she could see what looked like a white owl in the tree outside her window.

"I wish, I wish," she muttered softly as she watched the owl in the tree.

"Wish what, wish that I would keep going," said Michael smugly as he kept thrusting into her.

"I wish you would stop right now!" shouted Sarah.

Suddenly the window busted opened and a huge gust of wind filled the room.

"What the hell?" shouted Michael as he rolled off Sarah, both trying to shield themselves from the wind. Sarah managed to look up in time to see the same white owl fly into the room. It circled the two for a few seconds before flying down and started what almost seemed like an assault on Michael.

"Ah! Ah!" Michael shouted as he tried to brush the bird away. The bird, however wouldn't relent and kept diving and scratching at him. "Get it off, get it away from me!" Michael jumped and ran around the room, but the bird stayed on him.

"Will someone do something about this crazy bird?" he shouted.

"Stop!" Sarah shouted at last, "Leave him alone!"

The bird stopped and went and landed on the bed. It looked at Sarah with his big eyes.

"It's fine, just leave him alone please," she said.

The owl turned and looked at Michael. If he didn't know any better he could have sworn he saw the owl glaring at him. The owl then took off back out the window. The minute he did, the wind died down and everything seemed to become calm again.

"What the hell was that all about?" asked Michael.

"I don't know. It probably just got scared," said Sarah.

"Whatever," said Michael as he went and shut the window. He walked back over to the bed and laid down next to Sarah. To Sarah's relief he didn't try to assault her again. Before long she could hear her husband snoring loudly. She looked out the window and saw the same owl from before still looking at her from the tree.

"It's okay," she whispered to it before falling asleep herself.

The next morning Sarah got up early and made a nice breakfast for Michael. Hopefully this would put him in a good mood and she could finally have that talk with him that she had wanted to last night before all of the chaos had started. She was a little bit nervous talking to him on mornings when he had a hangover. He could get kind of angry when he had a hangover.

Before long Sarah could hear his footprints moving around upstairs and before long he was down in the kitchen. "Good morning Michael," she said timidly, "Breakfast?"

Michael moaned before looking at the plate of food Sarah had prepared for him. He slumped down into his chair and hastily started to eat.

"Where's the coffee?" he muttered.

"Right here dear," said Sarah putting a mug down next to him. Michael grabbed and chugged it down.

"More!" he ordered. "Now!"

"Yes dear," said Sarah as she stood up and walked back over to the coffee maker to pour him a cup. She quickly walked back to him and put it down in front of him. Michael chugged it down too, before he returning to his food. Sarah waited a few minutes before she spoke, "Michael?"

Michael didn't say anything. Instead he kept eating.

"Michael?" she said again.

"What?" he said with his mouth full of food, "Can't you see that I'm eating?"

"Michael we need to talk," said Sarah.

"Can't it wait, I need to get to work," said Michael.

"No you don't," said Sarah.

"What are you talking about?" asked Michael.

"Michael, I know the truth," said Sarah.

"What truth, what are you talking about?" asked Michael.

"Michael when were you going to tell me you lost your job?" asked Sarah. Michael stopped eating and slowly looked over at her.

"What are you talking about?" he asked.

"When were you planning on telling me you lost your job?" asked Sarah.

"How did you…," Michael asked.

"I called the office yesterday and you know what they told me? They told me you had been let go almost a month ago!" said Sarah.

"What were you doing calling the office?" asked Michael mad.

"You've coming home so late recently I wanted to know why! I wanted to know why and if you would be coming home late last as well! But guess what they told me, they told me you went and got yourself fired, apparently you assaulted your boss over not getting the promotion you wanted! You told me you had! Why were you lying to me this whole time?" asked Sarah.

"I didn't want you to worry!" said Michael.

"Well what were you planning on doing in the mean time? How were you planning on paying the bills or buying food?" asked Sarah.

"I've been looking for a new job," said Michael.

"Well why didn't you say anything to me?" asked Sarah.

"Because I knew you'd be doing things like this!" said Michael mad jumping up from his seat.

"Michael, please don't do this to me," said Sarah as she too stood up.

"Well what would you want me to do?" snapped Michael.

"Talk to me, let me know what's going on, Maybe I could go back to writing and sell another book. You know my publisher is still on me about possibly writing again," said Sarah.

"No, no, no wife of mine is going to be working out of the house!" said Michael.

"Well what would you suggest we do in the mean time to help pay for everything?" asked Sarah.

"I'll get a new job soon don't worry," said Michael.

"Michael, please, I love to write. Plus, don't forget that it was my first book that helped buy both the house and the car in the first place. Let me write another book just to tide us over so you can have more time to look for another job," said Sarah.

"I said no!" Michael shouted as he came and smacked Sarah across the face. Sarah gasped as she held her face. Michael stared down at her, shock and fear on his face.

"I, I, I'm sorry Sarah, I didn't mean…," he stared to say.

"I think you should go," said Sarah softly.

"Sarah please, I really didn't mean to all right, I'm sorry," said Michael.

"That's fine, but please just leave," said Sarah.

Michael nodded. "I'll be back home tonight. I won't stay out late. You'll see, I'll come back home tonight with a new job and everything," he said as he hurried to the door. Sarah slowly got up and followed him to the door. She watched him back out of the driveway and drive out of sight. She felt her cheek that was still burning from Michael's slap. Tears were starting to form in her eyes. She knew things were only going to get worse before they got better as things kept going this way.

"I wish, I wish," she muttered softly to herself, "I wish he would never ever come back!"

From his perch in his tree the white owl watched Sarah on her porch before flying off after Michael's car.