Chapter Two: Ruunya Aara (A Red Dawn)
May whimpered as the sun's brilliant light pierced her thin eyelids. She thrashed in her makeshift bed of cold, wet sand and clinging seaweed to escape the coming daylight, but to no avail; the sun had no intention of letting her rest anymore, if rest was what you could call it. She had spent a fitful night of fever and light sleep. Her damp, cool clothes had made the night all the worse. At least the rising sun would be helpful for something. She opened one bleary, swollen eye and sat up with a gasp.
One of the most frightening experiences is to wake up and have forgotten where you are. The most is to wake up and not know where you are. Alone. May's chest heaved with deep and shaking breaths.
"Where am I?" She asked the ocean. It murmured sympathetically and soothed her with its endless rhythm. She stared in silent horror at the ocean's vastness. The clear blue waters stretched for miles in front of her and met with the unending blue sky on the horizon. The picture of limitless blue was too much for her exhausted, weak spirit. A tear etched a trench down her dirty, salt encrusted face. She sat in the warming sand and stared at the ocean blankly for several minutes.
"Where am I?" she murmured again. May finally ripped her eyes away from the blue landscape and scanned the sandy white beaches. White might have been an understatement. They glistened beneath the rising orb; they glistened so bright that it hurt the girl's eyes to watch them for too long. May had never seen a beach so pure. It was as if the sand had never been touched before. It was clean. It was unspoiled. It was.
"All over me! In my hair, in my shirt, in my eyes." she moaned and grumbled. She looked down into her damp jeans. "Yup, it's even in my pants. Blech."
Despite the protests from her aching bones and sore muscles, she slowly climbed to her feet. She quickly brushed herself off, but soon found her gaze transfixed on the ocean again. She scanned the blue horizon and sighed deeply.
"I wanna go home," she whispered. The ocean chided her repeatedly and she gave the unending blue background a rueful smile. Standing here, staring at nothing was not going to get her home very quickly. Suddenly she felt the urge to rub her nose and.she sneezed. And she sneezed again. And again. And one last time for good measure. After this volley she felt lightheaded and dizzy. She wiped her nose against one of the few possessions she still had: her shirt.
"Great. I'm sick now too," she muttered. She gritted her teeth, unhappily finding that sand had found yet another place to lodge itself, and began to stagger away. She wasn't sure where she was going.well, actually she was. She was quite sure that she was going away from the cold, wet burrow she had slept in the night before, but despite that she was completely lost. She trudged along the beach, grimly contemplating the day before- or so she assumed it was the day before. She could not be sure of anything it seemed.
As she staggered through the thick, white sand she found her thoughts wandering. She wondered where her friends were.maybe they had woken up to the same discomfort and growing illness as she had. She grinned thoughtfully. Not all of them would have. They were smarter than she. Jun Dae would have made sure that he was warm and dry before he slept. Joshua would have struggled all the way to civilization so that he wouldn't have to sleep in the open. Jessica.yeah, Jessica probably would have woken up in the same condition. She gave the beaches another lopsided grin. Then it slowly dissipated into a thoughtful frown. One more.there was one more person with her yesterday. Who was it? Her brow furrowed in thought and she watched the sand for clues as it passed beneath her. Frustration was carving itself deeper and deeper into her heart. This was important. Why couldn't she just remember?
The time passed slowly. Thirty minutes passed. Then an hour. Finally two. The impatient teenager was beginning to give up hope. She had been washed ashore on a deserted island, probably somewhere in South America, where they'd never find her. Her knees grew weaker and her fits of sneezing stronger. Her eyes were continuously watering now and she wiped them with her sleeve. She looked at the debris on her sleeve in disgust.
"Ugh, that's just sick. What I really want now is a box of Kleenex."
She wandered on in silence for another hour, her thoughts taking their free roam again. She began to hum after a while. Then she sang softly to herself.
Hark; I hear the harps eternal, Ringing on the father shore, As I near those swollen waters, With their deep and solemn roar.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah Praise the Lamb Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Glory to the great I AM
May's brow furrowed, again in thought as she tried to remember the rest of the song. It was a choral song she had learned at school.but she had forgotten some of the words. She hummed the chorus a few times to see if that would help jog her memory. To her surprise it did.
And my soul, though stained with sorrow, Fading as the light of day, Passes swiftly o'er those waters, To the city far away.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah Praise the Lamb Oh! Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah Glory to the great I AM!
She quieted and hummed a bit before starting from the beginning again, having forgotten the rest of the verses. She looked quite the sight to the quiet island. May staggered through the sand, her dark hair a nest of seaweed and sand, all the while singing. Her golden eyes were swollen and squinted half shut because of the sun, which shone brightly, warming her still damp clothing. She was weak and weary because of exhaustion and the increasing threat of sickness, but she kept walking mechanically despite the lack of will.
"'Tis a pretty song you sing, little lark."
May felt her heart jump nearly as high as she herself did. The voice had come suddenly and May, after hearing only her own voice for several hours, was not at all prepared. May found the owner of the voice had made his way to her side without her ever noticing. She looked at the voice's owner in awe. He was a middle-aged man.and he was very small. She looked him over carefully. He was incredibly small. She had heard that when you reach a certain age you begin to shrink, but this was ridiculous. His hair was now gray, but the remains of dark curls were still noticeable. May noticed that he only had four fingers on his right hand. The middle one was missing. She tried hard not to stare, or crack any opportune jokes about it in her mind. Losing any sort of body part must be painful.even if it is a middle finger. He had large, blue eyes that twinkled in the bright sunlight and he walked along the sand barefoot. She stared hard at his barefoot feet. He laughed when he saw her reaction.
"Yes, quite odd, aren't they?" he asked her, shaking one large hairy foot in the air above the sand. She could only reply with a muted nod. She quickly found her voice, and before long the questions came.
"Who are you?" She asked hesitantly before she sneezed again. "Sorry."
"I am Frodo Baggins of the Shire. And who might you be, child?" May noticed that he seemed to bristle slightly at her lack of finesse with introductions. She sighed slightly.
"I'm Marjorie Grant, but it's much easier to just call me May. Um.I come from Atlanta."
"Well, Miss Grant," May reddened at Frodo's formality. "Both your name and your home are foreign to me. Tell me, how did you arrive in Valinor? I have no recollection of your name or face."
May blinked. "Actually," she began quietly, "I was hoping you could tell me."
It was Frodo's turn to look surprised. May could feel his eyes staring into the back of her head as she turned to face the outstretched sea. Then came the question she had been dreading.
"You mean, you do not know?"
"Last night, this morning, I don't really know when it was, I was washed up onto this beach. I woke up this morning with a bad cold and a pile of seaweed," she explained earnestly. She sneezed again, as if to prove her point. She knew just about as much as he did. She glanced at the sea solemnly. "The last thing I remember before waking up here was standing in the woods.talking with my friends." She turned to him sharply. "Have you seen them? Are they here? Where are they?"
"Just a moment, miss. Just a moment. I am only one hobbit; I do not have all the answers," he tried to calm her. "But I believe I can take you to someone who does." Her imploring eyes dropped to the ground and she watched the sand.
"I'm sorry," she apologized quietly. "It's just."
"I know. I know," he tried to comfort her. He gave her shoulder a gentle, but awkward pat. They both lapsed into silence. May thought it up to her to break it.
"Wait.where are we again?"
The hobbit laughed again. He smiled and stared into the distance.
"You, my child, are in Valinor, or the Undying Lands." He noticed her blank look. "You are in Aman." He tried again.
May stared at him blankly. Valinor? Aman? There was a boy in her chemistry class named Aman, but never an island. Not that she knew of any ways. Besides, what on earth were the "Undying Lands"? She'd never heard of anything about an island on which the inhabitants never died. It was impossible. She could feel the urge to rub her nose again and knew that another fit of sneezing was coming. She stopped and sneezed. Then she sneezed again. Her eyes were watering so much now that it looked like she was sobbing. She sneezed a third time. This time it felt like her brains were trying to make an escape. She sneezed yet again. She reeled around like a drunken man losing his balance on a bar table. Her head was light and the blue sky was beginning to darken.
"Little Miss!" She heard her companion cry out. He clutched her arm in an attempt to correct her balance. She sneezed again. This time she fell to the sand on her knees. She sneezed again and again. It seemed like it would never stop, and indeed it didn't, until she saw the world go black. Then she saw no more.
May whimpered as the sun's brilliant light pierced her thin eyelids. She thrashed in her makeshift bed of cold, wet sand and clinging seaweed to escape the coming daylight, but to no avail; the sun had no intention of letting her rest anymore, if rest was what you could call it. She had spent a fitful night of fever and light sleep. Her damp, cool clothes had made the night all the worse. At least the rising sun would be helpful for something. She opened one bleary, swollen eye and sat up with a gasp.
One of the most frightening experiences is to wake up and have forgotten where you are. The most is to wake up and not know where you are. Alone. May's chest heaved with deep and shaking breaths.
"Where am I?" She asked the ocean. It murmured sympathetically and soothed her with its endless rhythm. She stared in silent horror at the ocean's vastness. The clear blue waters stretched for miles in front of her and met with the unending blue sky on the horizon. The picture of limitless blue was too much for her exhausted, weak spirit. A tear etched a trench down her dirty, salt encrusted face. She sat in the warming sand and stared at the ocean blankly for several minutes.
"Where am I?" she murmured again. May finally ripped her eyes away from the blue landscape and scanned the sandy white beaches. White might have been an understatement. They glistened beneath the rising orb; they glistened so bright that it hurt the girl's eyes to watch them for too long. May had never seen a beach so pure. It was as if the sand had never been touched before. It was clean. It was unspoiled. It was.
"All over me! In my hair, in my shirt, in my eyes." she moaned and grumbled. She looked down into her damp jeans. "Yup, it's even in my pants. Blech."
Despite the protests from her aching bones and sore muscles, she slowly climbed to her feet. She quickly brushed herself off, but soon found her gaze transfixed on the ocean again. She scanned the blue horizon and sighed deeply.
"I wanna go home," she whispered. The ocean chided her repeatedly and she gave the unending blue background a rueful smile. Standing here, staring at nothing was not going to get her home very quickly. Suddenly she felt the urge to rub her nose and.she sneezed. And she sneezed again. And again. And one last time for good measure. After this volley she felt lightheaded and dizzy. She wiped her nose against one of the few possessions she still had: her shirt.
"Great. I'm sick now too," she muttered. She gritted her teeth, unhappily finding that sand had found yet another place to lodge itself, and began to stagger away. She wasn't sure where she was going.well, actually she was. She was quite sure that she was going away from the cold, wet burrow she had slept in the night before, but despite that she was completely lost. She trudged along the beach, grimly contemplating the day before- or so she assumed it was the day before. She could not be sure of anything it seemed.
As she staggered through the thick, white sand she found her thoughts wandering. She wondered where her friends were.maybe they had woken up to the same discomfort and growing illness as she had. She grinned thoughtfully. Not all of them would have. They were smarter than she. Jun Dae would have made sure that he was warm and dry before he slept. Joshua would have struggled all the way to civilization so that he wouldn't have to sleep in the open. Jessica.yeah, Jessica probably would have woken up in the same condition. She gave the beaches another lopsided grin. Then it slowly dissipated into a thoughtful frown. One more.there was one more person with her yesterday. Who was it? Her brow furrowed in thought and she watched the sand for clues as it passed beneath her. Frustration was carving itself deeper and deeper into her heart. This was important. Why couldn't she just remember?
The time passed slowly. Thirty minutes passed. Then an hour. Finally two. The impatient teenager was beginning to give up hope. She had been washed ashore on a deserted island, probably somewhere in South America, where they'd never find her. Her knees grew weaker and her fits of sneezing stronger. Her eyes were continuously watering now and she wiped them with her sleeve. She looked at the debris on her sleeve in disgust.
"Ugh, that's just sick. What I really want now is a box of Kleenex."
She wandered on in silence for another hour, her thoughts taking their free roam again. She began to hum after a while. Then she sang softly to herself.
Hark; I hear the harps eternal, Ringing on the father shore, As I near those swollen waters, With their deep and solemn roar.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah Praise the Lamb Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah
Glory to the great I AM
May's brow furrowed, again in thought as she tried to remember the rest of the song. It was a choral song she had learned at school.but she had forgotten some of the words. She hummed the chorus a few times to see if that would help jog her memory. To her surprise it did.
And my soul, though stained with sorrow, Fading as the light of day, Passes swiftly o'er those waters, To the city far away.
Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah Praise the Lamb Oh! Hallelujah, Hallelujah, Hallelujah Glory to the great I AM!
She quieted and hummed a bit before starting from the beginning again, having forgotten the rest of the verses. She looked quite the sight to the quiet island. May staggered through the sand, her dark hair a nest of seaweed and sand, all the while singing. Her golden eyes were swollen and squinted half shut because of the sun, which shone brightly, warming her still damp clothing. She was weak and weary because of exhaustion and the increasing threat of sickness, but she kept walking mechanically despite the lack of will.
"'Tis a pretty song you sing, little lark."
May felt her heart jump nearly as high as she herself did. The voice had come suddenly and May, after hearing only her own voice for several hours, was not at all prepared. May found the owner of the voice had made his way to her side without her ever noticing. She looked at the voice's owner in awe. He was a middle-aged man.and he was very small. She looked him over carefully. He was incredibly small. She had heard that when you reach a certain age you begin to shrink, but this was ridiculous. His hair was now gray, but the remains of dark curls were still noticeable. May noticed that he only had four fingers on his right hand. The middle one was missing. She tried hard not to stare, or crack any opportune jokes about it in her mind. Losing any sort of body part must be painful.even if it is a middle finger. He had large, blue eyes that twinkled in the bright sunlight and he walked along the sand barefoot. She stared hard at his barefoot feet. He laughed when he saw her reaction.
"Yes, quite odd, aren't they?" he asked her, shaking one large hairy foot in the air above the sand. She could only reply with a muted nod. She quickly found her voice, and before long the questions came.
"Who are you?" She asked hesitantly before she sneezed again. "Sorry."
"I am Frodo Baggins of the Shire. And who might you be, child?" May noticed that he seemed to bristle slightly at her lack of finesse with introductions. She sighed slightly.
"I'm Marjorie Grant, but it's much easier to just call me May. Um.I come from Atlanta."
"Well, Miss Grant," May reddened at Frodo's formality. "Both your name and your home are foreign to me. Tell me, how did you arrive in Valinor? I have no recollection of your name or face."
May blinked. "Actually," she began quietly, "I was hoping you could tell me."
It was Frodo's turn to look surprised. May could feel his eyes staring into the back of her head as she turned to face the outstretched sea. Then came the question she had been dreading.
"You mean, you do not know?"
"Last night, this morning, I don't really know when it was, I was washed up onto this beach. I woke up this morning with a bad cold and a pile of seaweed," she explained earnestly. She sneezed again, as if to prove her point. She knew just about as much as he did. She glanced at the sea solemnly. "The last thing I remember before waking up here was standing in the woods.talking with my friends." She turned to him sharply. "Have you seen them? Are they here? Where are they?"
"Just a moment, miss. Just a moment. I am only one hobbit; I do not have all the answers," he tried to calm her. "But I believe I can take you to someone who does." Her imploring eyes dropped to the ground and she watched the sand.
"I'm sorry," she apologized quietly. "It's just."
"I know. I know," he tried to comfort her. He gave her shoulder a gentle, but awkward pat. They both lapsed into silence. May thought it up to her to break it.
"Wait.where are we again?"
The hobbit laughed again. He smiled and stared into the distance.
"You, my child, are in Valinor, or the Undying Lands." He noticed her blank look. "You are in Aman." He tried again.
May stared at him blankly. Valinor? Aman? There was a boy in her chemistry class named Aman, but never an island. Not that she knew of any ways. Besides, what on earth were the "Undying Lands"? She'd never heard of anything about an island on which the inhabitants never died. It was impossible. She could feel the urge to rub her nose again and knew that another fit of sneezing was coming. She stopped and sneezed. Then she sneezed again. Her eyes were watering so much now that it looked like she was sobbing. She sneezed a third time. This time it felt like her brains were trying to make an escape. She sneezed yet again. She reeled around like a drunken man losing his balance on a bar table. Her head was light and the blue sky was beginning to darken.
"Little Miss!" She heard her companion cry out. He clutched her arm in an attempt to correct her balance. She sneezed again. This time she fell to the sand on her knees. She sneezed again and again. It seemed like it would never stop, and indeed it didn't, until she saw the world go black. Then she saw no more.