The Lord of the Rings Lovers Chapter 9: Dreams

     Rose came to and opened her eyes slowly. Her vision was blurred so she had no idea where she was. Feeling started to return into her arms and legs and she became aware of something soft underneath her.

    'Perhaps I'm dead,' she thought, 'and I'm on a cloud or something absurd like that.' But then she realised her head was beginning to hurt viciously and the thought of being dead soon disappeared. Some time passed and there Rose lay, in the dark, trying to recall what had happened and trying to figure out where she was. Her vision was more or less back to normal, although it hurt her head to look around, so she remained staring at the white ceiling above her. She stared at the shadows dancing across it.

     After a while she had recovered enough strength to haul her self up against some propped up pillows, for she had figured out that it was a bed she was in and she in hospital. Rose glanced sideways and caught her breath. In the bed next to her lying peacefully in a deep sleep was Orlando Bloom.

    "Ed' I' ear ar' elanea!" She muttered to her self, rather louder than she meant to. It hardly made any difference, as nobody ever understood her anyway, when she spoke elvish and nobody was around.

     Out of nowhere a loud beeping started up. Rose couldn't figure out where it was coming from but then she realised it was from the machine beside Orli's bed. She tried to get out of her own bed to see what was wrong but found she couldn't move. She tried to shout for help but no sound would come to her lips. Then five people in white coats came rushing into the room; but too late. The machine, presumably measuring Orli's heart rate had merged into one single, continuous noise. The five 'white coats' were crowded round him, trying to revive him, but nothing was happening. After several long minutes they declared him to be dead. Rose struggled with all her strength to move or make a noise but it was as if she were glued to the bed. The white coats wheeled Orli's bed away, draping a white sheet over his lifeless body. One white coat stayed behind and approached Rose's bed. She struggled even more but was getting nowhere. To her horror the white coat produced a gas mask and placed it firmly over her nose and mouth. She tried not to breath anything in but it was no good and under the influence of the sleeping gas she slid helplessly into darkness.

     Rose awoke with a start. She was now lying on a floor somewhere, and she felt rather odd. Sort of empty, and her mind was surprisingly clear. She got up easily and found she no longer felt sick, or weary, or drowsy and all her aches and pains had gone. She studied her surroundings but everything seemed dull, almost colourless. She was back in the Limousine.

    'Phew,' she thought 'all that hospital stuff was just a dream.'

Rose looked down to see if the others were still there, they were. All laid on the floor with cuts and bruises from the crash. Then, something beneath her caught her eye and she looked down. Lying lifeless at her feet was her own body. Rose stood, staring, could she really be dead? A ghost?

     She sat down on the Limousine seat, or rather hovered above it, and took in the scene around her. Tears escaped from her ghostly eyes and dropped into thin air. She was dead. What about the others? Could they be dead too? Or had they survived the crash, unlike the driver, Rose noted, judging by the crunching sound as the Limousine had smashed into the wall. It would be a miracle if he survived. Rose caught a movement on the floor. It had come from Sean's body; but it wasn't him moving. A misty figure emerged from his body and he spotted Rose. She was staring open-mouthed. The ghostly figure looked from her to the floor and gasped, seeing his own body. He looked back to Rose and went to sit down next to her.

    "We're… dead?" He said, staring at his dead body sprawled across the limousine floor, lifeless.

    "Yeah…" They sat, or rather floated, in silence.

    "We've lost everyone," said Rose at length.

    "Well, almost…" said Sean, hesitantly taking her hand. She looked at him and smiled, leaning her head on his shoulder; but she suddenly gasped and sat up again staring at the floor.

    "What is it?"

    "Look…" said Rose, pointing to the other bodies on the floor. Several ghostly figures were emerging from their deceased bodies. Realising they were dead had much the same reaction from them all. Once every spirit had left its physical form behind, they all stood facing one another. They were once again all reunited; but now they were dead.

    "I've always wondered what happens to you after you die," said Billy.

Then a strange noise made them turn. The back of the limousine was opening up, flooding it with a piercing light. They watched in fascination as the light dimmed until it was no more than mere daylight. They stepped out of the limousine, not onto a concrete street, but onto luch green grass. They stared around at the world of colour they had stepped into. The limousine had gone. So this was what heaven was like. They recognised the place. It was their heaven…

     And so the ghosts of Rose and Sean; Clara and Lijah; Dezzy and Billy; Kym and Dom; Lou and Orli; and Amber and Viggo walked off into this wonderland; their heaven; Middle Earth.