Stranger in a Strange Land

A Lord of the Rings Fanfic

By Cairo Sinclair

Prologue

"Lily, you need to stop moping around all day. It can't be healthy, being cooped up inside for hours at a time."

"I'm not 'cooped up', Jenna. I do go outside, you know."

"Oh yeah? Aside from classes?"

"Well-"

"And fencing?"

"I-"

"And work?"

Silence.

"I thought so."

Lily and Jenna were cousins and roommates. They had been best friends growing up, so nobody was really surprised when they decided to go to the same university. Jenna's mom had set them up with the apartment they shared, and the two girls worked at a restaurant nearby to pay the rent.

"All right, Lily, here's the deal. Either you and me go out for dinner with Jake and his brother..."

Lily cringed at the thought. "Or?"

"Or you and me stay home and we watch a movie marathon."

"What movies?" Lily asked nervously, hoping her suspicions were wrong.

Jenna took that as agreement. "All three Lord of the Rings movies in a row!" She was a huge Lord of the Rings fangirl.

"Hmm, they're both so tempting! Which should I pick?" Lily said sarcastically. Lily had neither seen the movies nor read the books, and she preferred to keep it that way.

"Aw, come on, Lily! You'll like it! They talk all old-timey like that author guy you like!"

Lily's eyebrows scrunched up as she tried to puzzle out Jenna's statement.

"You mean... Shakespeare?"

"That's the one!"

"How about this: we don't watch your stupid movies and we drive up to Aunt Lydia's for dinner?"

Jenna feigned disappointment, but she was secretly glad. "All right, all right. But I get to drive."

The two girls were speeding down the road at sunset in Jenna's blue Mustang.

"I'm really glad you got out of the apartment, Lily. You've been so depressed lately, what with the whole Jonathan thing and all..." Taking her eyes off the road for a minute, she noticed Lily staring out the window blankly.

"Lil? You want to talk about it?" she asked softly, putting her hand on the younger girl's shoulder.

Lily shrugged. "Not really," she answered.

"Are you sure? You can always-" the rest of her words were cut off by a loud honk. The Mustang had drifted across the divider line, directly into the path of a tractor trailer!

Jenna turned the wheel frantically, but it was too late. The last thing either girl heard was the crash as the two cars collided.

I just want to say that I'm kind of a noob when it comes to this whole fanfic thing, and that this is my first Lord of the Rings fic. I also don't have a beta, so could anybody tell me how I would go about getting one? And what I would do if I had one?

This chapter's really kind of pointless, but I thought I needed it to set up the characters. If you don't like it, review and tell me.

Thanks for reading!