The Madness Continues
Chapter Three
-
Emily shouted in surprise when she was thrown into a pit. The two elves that had 'escorted' her there looked down quickly and then walked away.
This is the time-out pit. Emily, you will see it my way in the end. And until you do, this is where you will stay.
'There is no way I'll become a bumbling, idiotic person like you.'
There was no answer. Emily waited a few minutes more, and still got no answer. She was gone—for now.
"Damn you, Mary-Sue." She sat with her back against a wall and pulled her knees up. It was after a few seconds that she heard footsteps coming towards her. She looked up to see a dwarf standing in front of her.
"I resent that," the dwarf said. "And if you even call me that again, I'll kill you."
"Who the hell are you supposed to be?" Emily snapped.
"My name is Mary, of absolutely no relation to the bitch whose name you mentioned a moment ago."
"I see you've also met the one and only Mary-Sue."
"Yes," the dwarf said, shaking her head. "It was a long time ago. She dragged me here to 'fall in love and live happily ever after. But, I appeared here as a dwarf. Personally, I love them, I think they're awesome. But it was apparently a problem to Mary-Sue."
"So she threw you in a hole in the ground?"
"Yeah, that's about it."
"How long have you been here?"
"A few weeks, I'd guess. They send down meals and occasionally I can get someone to talk to me. Though, I've noticed lately a sharp decrease in intelligence around here."
"That would be me," Emily said. "They're all just so fascinated by me that they're walking around in a daze up there."
"What next?" Mary said, throwing her hands up in the air.
"I'm Emily," said girl said, extending her hand. Mary took it and shook it. "You have any ideas how we could get out?"
"I've tried. Believe me, I've tried. They threw me down with my bag, so I had some stuff like rope." She paused before explaining further. "I was actually out on a camping trip when I got sent here."
"Rope, huh?" Emily asked.
"Yeah," Mary replied. "I've tried looping it around something up there and climbing up, but they always notice; even in the middle of the night."
Emily sighed; this was going to be a long 'time-out'.
-
"Emily, wake up!"
The girl in question snapped her head up. It was beginning to get dark outside. She looked up, to where the voice had come from. Haldir stood, looking down into the pit.
"I brought you dinner!" He dropped a bag down, and Emily grabbed it.
"Mary," she said, nudging the girl with her foot. "Wake up."
"Eww…" Haldir said. "You're talking to it?"
"Yes," Emily replied coldly. "She's a better, nicer and more interesting person than you'll ever be."
Haldir pouted, and then ran off. Emily could have sworn that she'd heard faint sobbing, too.
"That was cold," Mary said.
"Well, so was he until he became disgustingly happy and in love with me. Now, let's eat."
Emily opened up the bag, and was shocked by its contents. There were fruits, meat, cheeses and (of course) lembas bread, accompanied by even more things that Emily couldn't identify. Mary gave a low whistle.
"Well, apparently they really like you around here. This is enough food for a small army."
"Too bad, let's dig in."
-
Emily and Mary sat, leaning against the dirt wall. The contents of Mary's bag had been laid out on the ground. The two were trying to find a way out, but nothing looked promising. It had either already been done by Mary, or would not work in a million years.
Frowning, Emily concentrated on the rope. There had to be a way out of here. Eventually, though, she sighed and leaned her head back. Her eyes left the rope, and then fell on their dinner leftovers. Particularly the meat stood out.
Emily stood and walked over to it, grabbing the rope.
"Emily, what are you doing?" Mary asked. "I've tried every conceivable idea that involves the rope."
Emily ignored her, and picked up a bone that had (before they'd gotten to the meal) had chicken on it. She turned around, the bone in one hand the rope in the other, and faced Mary, a grin on her face.
"Ever seen silence of the lambs?"
"Yes…"
"Well, all we need is a bucket, now." Emily laughed.
"Emily, I hate to break it to you, but I don't think anyone's going to be all that enticed by a bone."
"It's the principal, Mary. We just need to find something that everyone wants." She frowned, looking at the items that were spread out on the floor once more. Then she noticed Mary, who was giving her a funny look.
"What?"
"You know what, Emily. You said it yourself. Everyone's in a daze because of you. Haldir's got some false sense of love towards you."
"Mary, if I could throw myself up out of this pit, do you think I would still be here?"
"Right, right, but it would work on principle."
"Damn gravity and physics," Emily said, a small smile on her face.
"Do you have anything that someone would want?"
"No, I don't have anything that I can think of."
"Damn," Mary said.
"Damn is right."
"Why don't you just write him some corny love letter?" Mary asked sarcastically.
"Got a pen?" Emily asked, with the grin back on her face.
"You honestly think it would work?" Mary asked, handing her a pen and paper.
"Of course, they're all bumbling idiots out there." Emily leaned over the paper, pushing her hair out of her face.
"I didn't mention earlier, but, you have a very… interesting… shade of green hair there."
"Long story short, I did it to get Legolas to stop harassing me." She paused. "It didn't work. So now I've go puke hair until it grows out. Or until I go home and dye it to something different. But I kind of like it, it reminds me that there are some sane people around here."
"Really? I don't believe that for a second."
"No, it's true. In Rivendell, or as it's being oh-so-affectionately called, 'Riverdale'. They actually exist. I think we may have even been friends, but I'm not sure."
"Not sure?"
"Lots of arguing happened."
"I see."
"So, let's get this done before it gets dark out." Emily said.
"Wait, I think that it may be better dark."
"Why?"
"It's more romantic at night. It's cliché."
"Romantic?"
"Well, we are using the fact that he thinks he's in freaking love with you to our advantage, are we not?"
"I guess you're right."
-
A few hours later, Emily and Mary were ready. The letter was tied up in the rope. Mary had looped the rope around a stone, and then thrown the stone out of the pit to land on the ground with a soft 'thud'.
"And now we wait," Emily said, sitting down.
"Uh, no," Mary said. "Now you do something to get him to get his ass out here."
"Like what?"
"Try singing."
"I do not sing."
"Uh, when I have the chance of getting out of here, you sure as hell do sing."
"Fine," Emily said reluctantly.
"I promise not to make fun of you."
"What the hell do I sing?"
"I don't know, something angsty. I've noticed that everything around here seems to be filled with cruddy and annoying teen angst… Hey, know any Simple Plan?"
"Unfortunately, yes. You're going to hold this over me forever, aren't you?"
"Oh no, I plan to go home and consider this all just an insane nightmare."
"Fine," Emily said. She took a deep breath and started humming.
"Louder," Mary said, and she obliged, humming louder.
"With words," Mary added.
"No."
"Yes."
"I refuse to spread the words of their teen angst crap."
"Fucking do it, Emily."
"Fine, but I sing only because it will get us out of here."
She took another deep breath and added all of the words that she could remember to her humming. Mary stepped back, and stood on the opposite side of the pit, hidden in a shadow. After a minute or so, Haldir's head appeared over the edge of the pit. He dropped down to his knees and looked down at her.
"Emily," he said. "You song is beautiful."
"Actually it was horrible. It was a stupid song ab—" She was cut off after being hit in the back of the head by a small dirt clod. "I mean, was it not a beauteous song? I wrote it myself, about my old life before I came here… before I met you." Emily was for once thankful for the drama classes that she'd taken in high school.
"Emily," he said with an unreadable expression on his face.
"Quiet, no one must know that you are speaking to me. They would most probably be upset. There is a letter for you… follow the rope… follow your heart."
Haldir turned and walked a few steps away. Emily quickly turned around and looked at Mary. The dwarf girl had her hands closed over her mouth, trying to suppress laughter. Emily grinned and mouthed the words 'I'm good', while giving her the thumbs-up sign. She turned back around as Haldir returned.
"I have found it… a letter."
"Haldir," Emily said, trying her best to sound depressed. "I am a prisoner here. It could never be. Keep it, and remember me always." She hung her head, forcing herself to cry.
"Emily… I will…"
"I am glad," she said, wiping away her tears. She picked up the end of the rope and tied it around her wrist.
"It symbolizes trust in my old home. I trust you. Do you trust me?"
"Of course," he said. He tied the rope around his wrist.
"Then you're more of an idiot that I'd thought before." A grin quickly grew on Emily's face. Mary quickly stepped out of the shadow, and the two girls pulled as hard as they could on the rope. Haldir came tumbling down into the pit. Emily quickly got the rope off of her wrist, pulled a knife she had hidden in her boot and grabbed Haldir. She pressed the knife to his throat, and in the dazed, in-love mode he was in, he couldn't think of any way to react. Mary grabbed two pots and started banging them together as hard as she could, waking up most of the inhabitants of Caras Galadhon.
"Emily, what are you doing?" Haldir asked. "I thought that we had something special!" He started sobbing, and Emily had to hold him up so that he wouldn't fall on the ground.
"Emily!" Jean shouted, running over and sticking her head over the edge of the hole. "What do you think you're doing, young lady? I was baking you cookies, but now, no cookies for you!"
"I don't want a cookie," Emily said. "I want the hell out of here."
"Or some lotion," Mary said. "My skin has been feeling dry and un-pretty lately… It rubs the lotion on its skin…"
Emily turned around to glare at her, but couldn't do it. The two girls broke out laughing. Emily dropped the knife, and Haldir jumped away.
"Crap," Mary said. She quickly moved around Emily and tackled Haldir. Emily cringed when they both went down. Mary, seeming unfazed, picked up the knife that Emily had dropped and pointed it towards him.
It was a minute before anyone moved. Eventually, Haldir sat up on the ground, rubbing the back of his head. Mary handed the knife back to Emily, who stood behind Haldir, and pulled him up. As she had done before, Emily pressed the knife to his throat. Sadly, his reaction was quite different this time. She wasn't sure how exactly it had happened, but in a second or two, Haldir had the knife, and she had fallen down on the ground. Mary ran at him, but he heard her and turned around. Emily swung her leg around and hit the back of his knees.
Again, he fell to the ground and the knife went flying. Mary spun around to follow it. Emily lunged forward and managed to grab Haldir's foot.
"What do you think you are doing?" Haldir demanded. With his other leg, he kicked her cleanly in the jaw. But Mary had already gotten the knife.
"You want to know what the fuck I'm doing?" Emily asked, standing. "I'm trying to get myself the hell out of here."
"Emily," came a voice from outside the pit. Emily looked up to see Galadriel (and a large crown of elves that she'd never met before) looking down at them, with an annoyed look on her face. She sighed and rolled her eyes.
"If you wanted some time alone, you could have chosen a more appropriate place." Galadriel said, shaking her head and mumbling something about 'silly, young people'.
"That's it," Emily said. "I'm going to smack her. This is getting ridiculous." She grabbed onto a low tree root and tried to climb up out of the pit. It ripped, and she fell down. Not to be put out by a tree, she felt around until she found another root.
"Emily! Stop it!" Mary said. "You're being stupid."
Paying no attention to her, Emily pulled herself up and reached for another root. But a halt was put to her progress when someone grabbed her and roughly pulled her down.
"You are being stupid, Emily," Haldir said, dropping her on the ground. "I hate to say it, but I do not know what is going on here. But I do not think that you acting like a child is going to fix any of it."
"Oh," she said, turning around to face him. "I suppose you haven't been acting stupid, yourself, have you?"
"Trust me," he said. "Though I do not know exactly what happened, I am positive that I did not mean to do any of it."
"Good to know!"
"Oh my," Mary said dryly. "The drama—it's just too much. Emily, I seriously think that you need a visit to Dr. Phil. You're yelling for nothing."
"Mary," Emily said, turning on her friend. "I've been here for two days, and it's already been two of the worst days of my life. I have been shot and shot at. I have had to kill things, which opens up an entirely new layer of buried emotional problems that will probably drive me to do something insane in ten years. I have had to constantly try to get rid of a pair of idiots who think that they are in love with me. I have—"
"Okay stop!" Mary said. "That's enough complaining. I have been in a freaking hole for the past three weeks."
Emily stared at her feet, suddenly unable to think of anything to say.
-
Okay,
this is for anyone who didn't get the reference to The Silence Of
The Lambs. Warning: if you haven't seen the movie and really want
to and don't want to know anything, don't read this. But, it
won't give away the main plot or the ending or anything.
Basically,
this psychotic serial killer is killing people and taking their skin
to make clothing (think 101 Dalmatians, but with people). So, he gets
people and puts them in a pit for three days and then kills them
because it makes their skin nicer or something. Periodically, he will
lower down a bucket on a rope with a bottle of lotion ("It rubs the
lotion on its skin.") so that their skin is nice. What one woman
who was in this pit did was she tied a bone (or something of that
sort) to the rope with the bucket and threw it up out of the pit. The
man's little dog tried to get the bone, and the woman pulled it
down, trapping the dog in the bucket and pulling the dog into the
pit, to be used as a bartering tool.
Mary was for Mary. You are my hero. I'm not even sure why, you just freaking are. Mary will be in one more chapter, if all goes as planned.
Anyways, thank you to everyone who has reviewed this story. I will be writing you all review responses soon (so if you do it anonymously and particularly want a response, leave an e-mail address). School is a butt this semester, much more homework, so writing time will be quite cut.
