Oh gosh, a girl falls into Middle-earth story. I promise you, she won't be a Mary-Sue, and if she borderlines one, feel free to yell at me and tell me so I fix her before she becomes irreparable. This also follows some of the books and some of the movies. Some references to self-harm and alcohol abuse.
This is unbeta'd, so please excuse any mistakes.
Edit: Thank you to Define X for pointing out the too trusting part, hopefully this is better.
Chapter One
"Hurry up, Kaylee!" My best friend shouts as we hike up the steep hillside. I go as slow as possible, trying not to lose my footing or somehow causing an avalanche. This was a bad idea, a very bad idea. "My parents already beat us, slow poke, so hurry up!" Well, at least he isn't mad that I'm taking my time; instead, he waits for me before hurrying up to the top.
Come on, Kaylee, you wimp, you can do this. "I-I think I'm gonna fall!" I call up to him, now clutching the rocks that are probably spider-infested (at that thought, I nearly release my grip, I am terrified of spiders), and glance down as a few loose rocks tumble down. I know I'm tightly secured by rope, but what if it somehow snaps and I go falling back?
I hear Alex snort back a laugh and feel hands grip at my wrists and jerk me up, causing the two of us to tumble back on top of one another. "Geeze, you weren't kidding when you said you sucked at this kind of stuff." He pushes me off of him and stands up, dusting himself off, red shirt somewhat ripped and jeans covered in dirt and dust. His green eyes sweep over me for a few moments, and I can tell he was trying not to laugh at me. "Well, we'll just follow the trail from here!"
"Great," I answer, trying to sound as cheerful as him. I'm not athletic, I'm far from it and I have little to no upper body strength, since I prefer to hide away in my room reading or lurking on the Internet. I shove a strand of blue hi-lighted hair out of my face, annoyed. "How far are we going?"
"Just a few more miles," My sandy blond haired friend answers as he picks up a stick and poses dramatically. "I'm glad we took you with us."
"Really? Even though I was complaining throughout most of the climb?" I ask as I walk (or limp, but let's ignore that fact, since it was an injury that I sustained at the beginning of this stupid climb) beside him. "I hate heights."
"You didn't have to come," Alex points out, looking at him, even though he has a serious expression on his face, I swear, his eyes always seem to be laughing and his lips quirked upwards.
"But I did, I would have been bored otherwise." I respond. "You're kind of my only friend, after all."
"It's because you spend most of your time in the library, hiding in books instead of socializing. You're not a normal girl." Alex wraps his arm around my shoulder, pulling me into an awkward side-hug. I give him a grin and pull away, "But that's why I like you."
"Quit flirting, you two!" Alex's dad shouts at us. "Hurry up! We're almost there!"
"I can't wait!" Alex exclaims as he grabs my hand and forces me to start running with him. We run for a few minutes and I find myself panting from exertion and it feels like forever but we finally make it our destination: a lake surrounded by a forest. I shrug off my backpack and reach inside for my camera as I turn around as I turn on my camera and step towards the rocks, watching gravel clink down. Below, small forests, sharp rocks and further down, campsites litter about. I look at the screen of my digital camera and I start taking pictures, capturing every little thing that I could. "Kaylee, help set up camp!"
I nod, turning off my camera and heading towards them, "We're camping up here?" I try not to sound worried or scared, but I hear my voice squeak. I am not an outdoors person; I'd rather be at home with my computer and three cats, as well as my dog. In fact, I wish I had said no to this ordeal. "Th-that's cool and everything but um…what about…going to the bathroom?"
Alex's mother finds this funny for some reason and starts laughing, "Well, Kaylee, you use the great outdoors!"
Oh boy, this will be a very long weekend.
"So, when do you plan on telling them?" I whisper to Alex, as we sit underneath the stars and the fire softly crackles in the background. "About you and…him?" Alex shrugs and lays back, on the hard ground. The stars above us shine, the moon bright.
"I will eventually." Alex answers, after a few minutes of listening to the crickets and he sits up. "Hey, Kaylee, how are you doing?"
"Eh? I'm fine." I answer, annoyed as I adjust my light blue pajama pants that have little cloud imprints on them. He gestures to my scar covered arms and I shrug, now feeling exposed. "Oh…I'm…I haven't cut in awhile." I give a weak laugh. "Two months, I think."
Alex averts his gaze, "Alright." He lets out a loud yawn, disturbing the peaceful air. "I'm going to bed. You gonna come?" I nod.
"Give me a few minutes." I tell him as I once more shove a clump of blue and brown hair from my face. I wish I brought a hair band with me…wait, I think I did. I rummage through my smaller bag, and pull out a blue hair band. If anybody hasn't noticed, I have this thing for the color blue. Too bad my eyes aren't blue, I think they're a really pretty eye color but no, I'm stuck with brown eyes. Stupid genetics.
Anyways, bed time.
Except one thing, the wind has picked up and the sky is getting dark. This…is not cool. I love storms (the only thing I really like about nature, really), but when we're miles away from shelter (and civilization, save for the campers who are elsewhere), I hate it. Yes, I complain, shut up.
Thunder cracks above me and I jump, running towards mine and Alex's tent but I trip over a rock and squeal in pain. Just my luck, it has to randomly storm when I decide to grace nature with my presence (kidding, kidding, geeze, don't get your panties in a bunch, people).
I feel a few droplets hit my skin and I wonder if Alex or his parents will wake up now that the wind is picking up. Getting to my feet, I now carefully walk towards the tent and I feel as if someone was gripping my ankles and dragging me back. It's hard to walk and I squeeze my eyes shut as I fall to the ground again, this time, hitting my head on the same rock I tripped on.
I think that rock has something against me, is my last thought before everything goes black.
"Is she going to be alright?" An unfamiliar voice whispers.
My head hurts. "Hnng, Alex…?" I whine out, but it probably sounds more unintelligible and funny. Their faces are blurry, but I think I make out a guy with curly hair staring down at me.
"I am not Alex," The voice says. "My name is Frodo, of the Shire."
"Kaylee," I groan out but that probably didn't sound understandable to them as the person stares at me, confused.
"I am sorry, but what?"
Maybe I should crawl into a hole and live there for the rest of my life. "K-Kaylee," I manage out. There you go, girly, form syllables and you can talk! "I-I'm Kaylee. Where am I?" I do not remember heading down the mountain, or being around four…midgets. Was I kidnapped? But I don't think midgets would be able to kidnap somebody.
"Just a few miles from the Shire, we found you unconscious." Frodo answers as I look at him, or more specifically, his ears. They're pointed. "It's strange to see big folk near the Shire."
"Big folk?" I question as I continue to stare dumbly at his ears. They're pointed; I find it weird, so sue me.
"It's what we Hobbits call humans." A bigger midget answers, speaking up for Frodo, whom I'm sure I've made uncomfortable by staring as he's now touching his ears. "We mean no offense by it."
What the hell is a Hobbit? Uh, Kaylee, think before you speak, don't ask that out loud. Don't ask that out loud. "What's a Hobbit?"
I should really start listening to myself more. Time to find a hole and die in it.
"Halfling," Another midget answers, he looks so confused. Poor thing. He's probably as confused as I am. "You really don't know what a Hobbit is?"
"Pip, she hit her head, she might not remember!" The fourth midget hisses. It's then that it dawns on me, I am far away from home.
Very, very far away from home.
Frodo stares at me for what feels like forever, then again, I don't blame him. Considering that I probably fell out of the sky, which I am assuming it doesn't ever happen, at least, I should hope not. "Are you lost?" He finally asks and I nod. "And are you certain that you can't remember anything?" I nod once again, trying to look as serious and believable as possible. Well, I am lost, that's the truth but uh, my memory is perfectly intact! Unless this is like...some weird, twisted joke and I'm actually in a psych ward or something. Why am I so weird? No wonder I don't have any friends besides Alex. "...Maybe Gandalf can help you..." He mumbles. The hell is a Gandalf? "Come to Bree with us, a friend may be able to help you. I don't trust you, but I can't just leave you out here by yourself."
Collective 'what's are all around, including me. Love, you don't just ask some stranger who randomly falls out of the sky (I am assuming that is what happened) to travel with you and your friends. You crazy.
"Mister Frodo, why are you asking her this. what if she is some sort of spy?" The bigger midget exclaims, his eyes wide. Jerk, I am no spy! I am the most awesome person you will ever meet...yeah. Um.
Whoa there, sweetheart, calm down. "I-I'm not." I stutter out. "I have absolutely no memory of…well, anything." Kaylee, they had better believe you because you are a horrible liar with horrible social skills. "H-honest."
"Then how do you remember your name?" He asks suspiciously. "And who's 'Alex'?"
"L-luck…and I-I don't know. I don't remember. Just…the name." Oh hey, he believes it! Yay! Well, he's still looking at me suspiciously. Wonder what crawled up his ass and died? "Um, it's okay if you don't believe me…"
"Sam, she's coming with us." Frodo says, his voice quiet. "Perhaps Gandalf can tell us what's wrong with her." At my confused look, he clarifies, "A wizard, he's really friendly." After a pause, "I don't trust her, like I said, but it's too dangerous to leave her out here, alone and unarmed..."
This has to be a dream, wizards don't exist!
And if I'm remembering correctly, a hobbit is some sort of weird creature from this guy's fantasy series. I think Alex called the author Tolkien and the series he geeked over was something called Lord of the Rings. I couldn't get him to shut up about it for weeks upon end after he had read the books (and saw the movies); even his basketball team teased him about it.
In conclusion, this has to be some sort of dream (or maybe, nightmare). Yeah, that's it, Kaylee, it's just a dream because of that evil rock that knocked you out!
"Why is your hair a weird color?" Sam asks, suddenly. "And your clothes so strange?"
"Uh…" Quick, think of something! "Because I'm just so awesome?" He doesn't find that funny, okay then. "I dyed it." Eh, it's just a dream, so what does it hurt to tell him this? "Don't ask how I remember that, I just do."
"Then you must have used blueberries!" Pippin comments, as he reaches up and touches my hair that was coming undone from it's binding. "'Cause I don't know how else you would have colored it!"
You know what, I give up. Let's just play along with this dream. "I guess." I mumble. "I made my clothes myself, I think." Well, at least that's somewhat believable. Except, the designs, you freak. At least, they didn't ask about that. As we get going, I quickly grab my small bag that had come with me, thankful for it.
"We are about six days away from Bree," Sam announces after a few hours of walking and was about to say something else but a loud screeching noise fills the air, and the first thing all of us do is panic and hide. See, we're amazing. We'll live this through! Black cloaked figures float or something about, their presence isn't comforting and near me, is Frodo, breathing hard and clutching something that hangs around his neck.
Okay, it's time to wake up, Kaylee or something bad will happen.
The things stop walking for a few minutes, standing right there, in front of the tree that I was hiding behind. Kaylee, wake up!
Come on girl wake up…
Um.
The thing drifts away, letting out another shriek and I jump out of my skin as someone, Merry I think, speaks up. "Are they gone?"
"I-I think so…" Frodo whispers as he comes out from his hiding spot and I follow the suit, remaining quiet. "Let's hurry up and get out of here."
This is going to be a very, very, very long weekend, isn't it?
How was that? Good? Bad? Let me know! I love constructive criticism and I do learn from it. I tried to keep everyone in character, but let me know if they weren't!
