Through Storms and Seas by Quill-and-Parchment
A mother and her two sons found out that driving through a storm had its bad side effects. Very bad side effects. Now dropped into a world where everyone spoke a language that they didn't understand, where everything was rough, where there was no electricity and few places who would take in a family of three, they would have to survive. Somehow.
The alarm clock rang.
Tang Ly didn't even lift her head from her bed, even though she was indeed awake. She stayed still, her eyes staring straight at the ceiling. She felt so heavy, but she knew physically, her body was fine. She was relatively in shape even when she didn't go to the gym weekly simply because she had to drive and walk all over the place in order to get information for her articles.
But Ly was tired (lazy), and frankly, she didn't want to move at all if that was possible.
The alarm rang its seventh time. Ly still ignored it. She rolled onto her side and hugged a pillow to her right, burying her head under the comfortably soft blanket. She was still cold. Maybe she turned the air conditioner on a bit too high. She should fix that, but not now…
"MOM!"
…On second thought, she would get up and fix it now.
"What's that?" Ly asked groggily, rolling onto her back again even as she heard thundering footsteps running up the stairs. It was Sunday, for the love of God. What on Earth could the little devils sharing the house with her be up to?
Ly had just sat up on her bed when the door to her room burst open to admit two kids, both boys and identical on the first glance. They even wore the same clothes, and the grins on their faces made them look like clones. For a drunk, they might have just been doubles of the same person.
But Ly knew better. As the boys leaped onto her bed and started babbling as one, finishing each other's sentences without pausing and generally making a bad ruckus in the morning, the woman held up her hands in the universal sign for "stop".
"Twins!" she barked. Miraculously, the twins fell silent. The eager looks on their faces didn't slip off, though. Even as she woke more, Ly was getting the feeling this wouldn't be the holiday she was hoping for.
Silently, she started counting to three. As she was getting to two, the boy on the left burst out, "They're having a sale at Barnes and Noble's!"
"And the author of our favorite book's signing it there!" the other finished. "Can you believe it, Mom? Mr. Colfer, at our bookstore! Can you believe it?" He turned and grinned at his brother, who returned it before turning identical puppy-eyes at Ly.
"Can we please go?" they asked as one.
Ly glanced from one face to another. Sometimes she wondered if she'd given birth to the most in-rhythm pair of twins in the whole of United States. Even their begging was the same – and she, sadly, could resist one but not both. It reminded her of that story from back when she was younger…
"Well, don't you want to go to the movies?" Ly tried, even though she knew it was fruitless.
The one on the left rolled his eyes while the other said, reasonably, "We can see that movie anytime, Mom. But this is just for one day. So can we go?"
Ly looked from one face to another. She sighed. "Is there a choice? Go change! Shoo! Down in five, got it?"
The pleasant spring sunlight outside was shamed by the light radiating off the two faces. They leaped off her bed and ran toward the door, exiting it faster than she'd seen her husband escape when she was mentioning this amazing dress she saw in Kohl's. Ly rolled her eyes and shook her head, but got up from the comfy blankets and headed for the bathroom door.
She got it over with quickly: a touch of make-ups, brushing her hair, a pair of jeans, a t-shirt and a jacket. After completing her morning ritual, she headed outside, tugging on her socks even as she walked. For a woman in her late twenties, Ly had never been extremely neat or organized on Sunday mornings. She was Asian, Vietnamese to be exact, and so her belief was in her ancestors, not any real religion. Therefore, no church. A reason for her to sleep in.
As a lone mother, she managed well enough for a living, with the articles she wrote and the publishing she did on the side, along with the usually-fabulous amount of money her divorced husband sent her to take care of the kids. All in all, Ly lived a good life with nothing much to worry about except for her sons' grades in school and the occasional fight both of them got in.
When she stepped into the kitchen, the twins were ready and were starting to look impatient. "You're late, Mom," one declared. He then turned to his brother, who was downing his cup of milk. "By how much, Drake?"
The other glanced at the watch on his wrist. "By fifteen seconds," he reported. Ly rolled her eyes and smacked the one-who-was-not Drake slightly on the head. "Don't get smart with me, young man," she scowled.
"Is Erik even capable of being smart?" Drake piped up.
"Hey, I'm not a nerd like you!"
"You're crazy about books, bro. You are a nerd."
Smiling at the twins' bickering, Ly used the opportunity to put on her shoes. When she pulled out her car key and slung the purse onto her shoulder, the twins automatically moved toward the garage door. As always, Drake let Erik lead the way. Authority wasn't a problem among the boys, because both had grown to accept that Erik is the older and Drake is the younger, and that's that. Whatever else that could be listed into that category was taken care of by their mother, as rarely as they happened.
By the time they left the garage and were on the driveway, Ly could still hear her two sons talking in the back, this time arguing about which book in the Artemis Fowl series was the best. Her smile widened into a grin.
Life is good, she thought pleasantly.
The May morning was exceptionally lovely. It wasn't hot nor humid, but very mild with only the occasional breeze. Although the sky was noew clouded and very little blue could be seen, the weather more than made up for it. Ly wondered if it would rain later on, but she couldn't check now. The iPhone was in her purse, and that was sitting on the shotgun seat…
Ah, well. She'll just check it later.
"Children, what do you want to hear?" Ly called, her hand already inching toward the radio transmitter on the car.
"Enya!" both the twins said at the same time. The lady smirked. Listen to this, fourteen-years-olds demanding Enya music! She shook her head ruefully. No wonder they were being teased at school.
But Ly was glad she raised her sons up that way. She couldn't imagine what would happen if she heard all those swearing songs kids these days play. She just couldn't comprehend the youths in this century. Sometimes Ly wondered if it was she who was moving too slow or the society moving too fast. Probably both.
They hit the highway, and Ly stopped thinking, instead concentrating on the road. The soft piano music from the CD player and her sons' continuing voices in the back washed right over her. She caught fragments of it, but nothing from the conversation stuck around for long.
"And so, brother, meet my dear imaginary friend Bobby!" Drake's voice said from the back, oozing sarcasm. "He is very nice, since he spied on your diary for me – Mom, is that lightning?"
Ly frowned at the last question, which she managed to catch. Her eyes flickered to the horizon briefly, and she found that, indeed, there was lightning. A rumbling bout of thunder followed. "Uh-oh," the mother said, watching the sky warily. "It seems like Mr. Colfer wasn't lucky planning his schedule, wasn't he?"
"MOM!" two indignant voices rose from the backseat. The twins had been a bit of fanboys to the author of Artemis Fowl ever since they found out about the series. Of all the people those two could worship…
More lightning. More thunder. The already-cloudy sky darkened rapidly, and Ly could see right away that this wasn't turning out to be a lovely day after all. A few raindrops beat against her windshield, and she turned on the wipes. Ly decided it was time they leave the highway before things get worse out here. Quickly, she found a familiar exit and veered that way, waving her hand at a car that slowed down to let her take it first. In the mirror, she saw the driver waved back.
"See? Nice people didn't die out over the century," Ly said to nobody in particular, but there were chuckles from the back. The twins resumed their conversation, this time switching to profanities they used. Ly spoke a few warnings, but soon her attention was taken by the road once again, and she didn't hear a word the twins said.
The few drops of rain quickly led up, and Ly turned off the windshield wipers, frowning. Although there was no precipitation, it was still thundering and flashes of lightning could be seen from time to time. And she was just commenting that the weather was the best all years…
"ROAD!"
The panicked shout tore her out of her thoughts, and Ly focused just in time to see that she was running straight into a tree. Swerving dangerously, she managed to avoid it and got back on track. A few cars honked, but Ly was too caught up in her own fright to pay any attention. Eventually, she calmed down enough to resume her traveling, even though her heart was still beating fast.
Silence dominated the car for a few seconds, then, from behind, "Well, that's a new lesson today. Never take your eyes off the road." It was Erik.
"I'll remember that when I got my girl and have a family," Drake commented.
"And we shall thank chocolate to our mom on this day every year for the invaluable message she delivered to us so realistically," Erik said solemnly.
"And buy her flowers, too."
"And bring her to the mall for the new coat even when she was too old and had to use a wheelchair –"
"And even when she started to mistake us with each other, not that she hadn't already –"
"Twins!" Ly called, but the last of her fright was melting away. She shook her head. "What are you talking about? I've never mistaken either of you for each other."
Erik faked thoughtfulness, and Ly could see him rub his chin in the mirror. "Hm…there was that time she thought the seventy-five test was mine when it was Drake who bombed it…" he said considerately. Drake, for once, let the subtle jibe slip and nodded in agreement.
Ly allowed herself to roll her eyes briefly. "Right. Of course." She couldn't say Erik was wrong. She did mistake the no-name test for Erik's instead of Drake's, but she had good reasons to do so. Erik had always been the creative one with his writings and music while Drake the science- and math-guy. She'd never thought Drake would get a grade that low on anything, let alone a test.
According to Erik, the grilling afterward had been – quoting him directly –"epic" and Ly had very nearly made Drake cry. But the fact remained that she was very strict about education, and so…
They drove in peace down another lane before something strange happened. The car began to shake. Ly froze on instinct while her left foot slammed down on the brake, but the car didn't stop. Instead, it kept moving forward and the shaking became stronger. Frowning, she tried again, and again she failed. It just wasn't responding.
"Stay calm," Ly called even as she was trying to control the sudden panic that was attacking her. She alone would be fine, but with the twins on the car…if anything serious happens, she wouldn't forgive herself. "Stay calm!" she repeated, more to reassure herself than anything.
"We're trying!" Erik replied, his voice quivering slightly. Ly risked a glance at the mirror and found that they were clutching each other, identical fearful dark eyes staring at her. Ly bit her lip. She wasn't going to let the car get out of control when her sons are in it.
"Obey, you stupid vehicle!" the journalist growled, slamming on the break with all her might.
This time, to her triumph, it stopped. But Ly was given no time to celebrate. Five seconds after the thing paused, it started to drop. Straight downward. Fast.
All members in the car screamed. Ly remembered seeing darkness overtake the world as they dropped further and further and further, twisted faces and hollow eyes peering into the car, grinning nastily or even looking sympathetic.
At some point, her vision started to go dark. When the car finally stopped, Ly was already unconscious, blissfully submerged in her own darkness.
AN: So, I've been wandering the LotR fandom for quite awhile now, looking for something to read. The result had been a fairly large amount of OCs (typical), but also hundreds of amazing stories. This fandom is the best I've seen. So cheers to all you good writers out there! I've got to review more often.
This is a little project I'm trying out. I've seen lots of "girl-into-ME" fanfics and 10th Walker and such, these girls bringing with them everything from a backpack to a pet horse. But I have yet to find anything that detailed a family getting thrown in, so…
I hope this could pass off as acceptable at the very least. Feel free to suggest, criticize and overall point out errors for me to fix. I know there are lots of it. Just don't know where.
By the way, if you are curious, the right way to spell Ly's whole name, Vietnamese-style, is Lý Thiên Tang. No, I'm not lying. I'm Vietnamese. I know my folks' names. Note that Ly is in fact her last name. You know how we Asians put first name last and last name first. Confused me like hell when I first got here.