I look into Sam's eyes. I see his fear; he knows what I am thinking. It would be so easy to let go. My pain would disappear as the lava extinguished my life. The ring has been destroyed. My job has been completed. My burden has been lifted.
My hands are so sweaty. Sam is hanging on with all of his might, but I am slipping from his grasp. I begin to fall, but Sam catches me and pulls me back up. Back on the edge, I breathe a sigh of relief because the quest has finally ended. I can go home and have a normal life.
The next thing I know, I am awake in Rivendell surrounded by my friends. I don't know how Sam and I ended up with the elves. Something doesn't feel right; something is missing.
The Fellowship runs into my room to greet me. Everyone is laughing and smiling. We did it. Sam and I threw the ring into Mount Doom. Good triumphed over evil. We saved Middle Earth. Everyone in the room is happy, but something isn't quite right. Time seems to be going by too quickly.
IT seems we are split up too soon. We hobbits returned to the Shire. Everything and everyone is exactly as I remember it. The Shire remained untouched by Sauron and his orcs.
The years fly by blissfully uneventful. It feels almost like a dream flitting by like a dream on the verge of ending.
Sam, Merry, and Pippin eventually get married and have children. I do not find someone and get married. The Shire can never be the same as before the quest; I can never be the same as before the quest. Something isn't right. I leave the Shire because after the quest, none of it seems real; I sail away to live with the elves. I live out my days happily and at peace.
I begin to feel the heat; it is burning my skin. I have been called back to my reality; I was happy and at peace. I was taken from my dream. My hands are slick with sweat. I can no longer fight it. I let go and fall into the lava hanging onto the life I should have lived.