This is a self-insert, ok? Ok. It's fairly original, ok? Ok. Now to the disclaimer…

Lord of the Rings belongs to many people including J.R.R. Tolkien, Hollywood, the world, British people, and artists. Out of some strange loophole in the copyright body of law however, it does not belong to me. The spells used by inserted main character are from the Tales of series by Bandai Namco, which also does not belong to me. Go figure. Florida belongs to Floridians, and alligators belong to Mother Earth and the people who raise them for shoes, bags, jackets, and gator tail meat.

Names have been changed so that people don't try to find us in phonebooks in order to send flames by phone and snail-mail. Not like people actually do that but…whatever.

Sinkholes and Apparitions

A few months ago I was walking along the sidewalk with my friend Kia and my sister Sakura. I had invited Kia on a walk, and my sister had tagged along. It was good to be back in the states, even if it was for only a week.

"When are you going back the Japan again?" asked Kia, watching a pip-sqeak alligator swim lazily across the surface of the lake that we passed.

I turned to watch the gator as well, wishing that the quaint little creatures lived in Tokyo, too. I missed finding them so casually everywhere I went. All I ever saw in Tokyo were wild koi fish (which are an appallingly boring shade of gray) and pigeons pecking at the gray dirt. Everything seemed gray in Tokyo compared to the wonderful swamplands of Florida. The streets, the parks, the buildings, the people, everything was gray in Tokyo. At least, the metropolis seemed that way to me.

"Soon," I said, shrugging as the alligator disappeared back under the water, "I want to stay, but I have college over there, obviously. And a job at a bakery and everything."

Sakura, who was obviously bored, skipped ahead so that she would get there, wherever we were going, faster, "I haven't met everyone yet! So let's hurry and go meet everyone, Lisa."

"Yeah, yeah," she began pulling on my sleeve. I tripped as she did and caught myself before touching the sidewalk with my face. She was so much older and stronger than the little baby sis that I remember, "Be nice. I'm old now remember?"

Old at eighteen? Maybe. I felt like I was already forty. Life is half over by the time you enter college, that's what people say. And for woman it's usually go to college, get a job, then quit the job in four years because you have to have kids. I suddenly had the horribly painful feeling of wanting to start over at about age four. Or maybe twelve, since I didn't want to waited a few years to ride the fun rides at Disney World if I was going to go back and do everything over.

Kia turned to me again as if she was about to say something when we felt the ground shake. Although we all probably knew what an earthquake felt like, it scared us. Earthquakes in Florida were rare, and rare meant dangerous. The thought of a giant sinkhole crossed our minds. The image of it opening under us to swallow us down into an underground lake. I felt tears of fear burn my eyes as I reached for my little sister's hand. The earth shook and cracked under our feet. The cement of the sidewalk groaned and screeched as it tried to settle on the shifting soil beneath. A few feet away, the sidewalk crumbled and fell into a black something. The falling spread, and unluckily towards us. I looked at Kia, knowing that running wouldn't help if the water far under us was huge, which it probably was. We stood staring at each other's fearful eyes before the ground yawned its mouth and took us in.

I don't exactly remember falling, but I remember something surreal. I was holding my sister in a desperate hug. Maybe if I hit the ground first, she could survive. Maybe we'll hit the underground lake, and maybe it'll be deep enough for all of us to survive. Maybe, this, maybe that. I was thinking, just thinking, when I saw a small girl with brown-green eyes. She seemed to be standing next to us, dressed in a medieval tunic with an elegant sword at her hip, looking at me, a smile on her face. If I was falling, she seemed to be rising, but somehow, we were right next to each other. She opened her mouth. No sound came out but the words resounded in my head.

Don't be scared, everything will be alright. Just be yourself, and everything will work out.

I tried to answer, but she suddenly shot upwards and disappeared from my sight. Nothing remained and everything went dark.