.~*~.
Emelie couldn't take it anymore.
Here she was, in the middle of another world, with no one she knew, no
clothes on (except her faithful bathrobe), no shoes, no friends, no television,
and most importantly: No way to go back. So she did the thing any sane
person would do in her position (although at this point, she wasn't sure
if she was sane or not). She cried.
Frodo and Sam were standing
there, watching this giantess collapse into tears. They were not sure what
to do, and for a few seconds they stood there awkwardly as the sound of
her sobs floated in the still air.
"Umm...why don't we go....uh....inside?"
Frodo said uncomfortably. Emelie nodded tearfully and she followed Sam
through the circular door. Frodo shut it behind him. He led them into a
room at the back of the hole, and pulled out three chairs. But the chairs
were made for Hobbit-size bottoms, and Emelie knew that there was no way
she would be able to fit on that. So she sat cross-legged on the floor.
She had stopped crying now, but the tears had done their work. Her face
was red and tear streaked. Her eyes were puffy and rimmed with red. All
in all, she looked awful. Frodo and Sam sat in the chairs and just stared
at her. After a few moments, Emelie cleared her throat.
"Uh...you wouldn't happen
to have any clothes that would fit me, would you?" The hobbits looked at
her robe. They had never seen anything like it before. Emelie followed
Frodo into his bedroom, where they took everything out of his chest of
drawers. Nothing looked like it would fit her. Most of this stuff wouldn't
even fit the kids I baby-sit for. She thought wryly. Sam entered the
room with an extra bedspread in his hands.
"Maybe we could make something
out of this." He said shyly, almost embarressed at having suggested it.
Frodo saw his discomfort and said, "Sam! That's a great idea!" and it really
was. With a thread and a needle, they had made a simple dress, toga style,
within twenty minutes.
For the first time since
she had arrived, Emelie was happy. She ran into the bathroom and slipped
it on. The fabric was white and heavy. The toga reached her knees and it
was very loose and comfortable. There were no sleeves, but since it was
pretty warm in the Shire, Emelie didn't think that would be a problem.
She came out of the bathroom carrying her bathrobe and beaming. The dress
wasn't gorgeous, but it would do. The three then went back into the study
and sat down. Frodo said, "We need to figure out what to do." Emelie nodded
her head emphathetically. "First off, how did you get here, and where were
you?"
Emelie paused, thinking
of how to put this. "I don't know how I got here. In my home, Earth, this
whole place, this whole world is Fantasy. It doesn't exsist. Some
guy, Something Something Something Tolkien invented it. I was just drying
my hair when I fainted. When I woke up, I was here." Emelie's voice faded
out. It was almost as if a little light bulb had gone off in her head.
I was cursing Tolkien. I was saying I wished he'd never been born. Is
this my punishment?
Frodo and Sam just
looked at her curiously. Frodo said, "Well, I don't know how you're going
to get back then. You'll have to stay here until we figure it out." Emelie
paled a little. Frodo had gotten up from his chair and was pacing back
and forth, thinking. "You'll have to stay inside, never come out unless
we say you can, the people in the Shire are very nosy. " Emelie nodded,
but she felt the tears coming back into her eyes.
It had gotten dark, Sam
left and Frodo showed Emelie to the guest bedroom, apologizing for the
size of the bed. Emelie grinned despite her homesickness at the sight of
the shrunken sleeping pad. "It's all right," she assured him. "I usually
sleep curled up in a ball anyways." Frodo said goodnight and left the room.
Emelie crawled into the bed and pulled the covers over her head. It took
an hour for her to fall asleep. She kept hearing the birds and other animals,
she couldn't hear the trucks whizzing by or cars zooming along. It was
very disturbing. In the end, she cried herself to sleep.
Emelie woke up with the
sun. She stretched and almost fell out of the bed. She rubbed her eyes
in surprise. Where the hell am I?! Then her eyes fully opened, and
everything came back to her. Oh yeah. How could I forget? She crawled
out of bed, and found Frodo in the kitchen cooking breakfast. Good old
bacon and eggs. "Thank God you eat normal food around here." Frodo turned
around and saw her bending in the doorway. "Good morning." Emelie nodded.
Frodo scooped a couple of eggs and a few slices of bacon on a plate and
handed it to Emelie. "I'm going out today, I can't stay locked up in here
all the time. You'll have to find something to occupy yourself with." Emelie
nodded again, and spooned a mouthful of egg into her mouth as Frodo sat
down with his plate.
Frodo left soon after breakfast,
and Emelie was left to her own devices. She had found quite a number of
books in what appeared to be the library, and she had found some interesting
titles, and had read a few of them. Frodo came home before dusk, and Emelie
helped made dinner. During dinner, Emelie asked lots of questions. About
the books she had read, about Middle-Earth, about hobbits, and Frodo gave
long, full answers. While they were cleaning up, Frodo announced that he
and Sam were going to the Green Dragon, a local tavern that night. "All
right, don't mind me, I don't want to bother you. Just go on with your
everyday stuff!" Emelie waved the dishtowel at him and he grinned and went
off.
After she finished drying
and putting away the dishes, she took another book off the shelf and went
into her bedroom to read it. About two hours had passed and she heard Frodo
return. She climbed out of bed, and walked through the halls towards the
door, when she heard the voice of someone else. Startled, she peered around
the corner cautiously. There was an old man standing there as Frodo rummaged
through a chest, finally holding an envelope up. The old man snatched the
envelope and tossed it into the fire. Emelie listened and watched as the
man gave a long speech about how the ring (which had been in the envelope,
Emelie remembered) could destroy the whole world. She followed them into
the kitchen, where the old guy continued to tell Frodo how evil the ring
was. Frodo stared at the ring for a few moments in silence, holding his
cup of tea. "First Emelie, now this."
"Emelie?" The old man said
sharply. "What is that?" Frodo pointed toward the doorway, where Emelie
was standing. The man whirled around in his chair and Emelie backed away,
because for a moment it looked like he was going to attack her. "What are
you doing here?" He asked. Emelie shrugged. "I was hoping you could tell
me. You're a wizard aren't you?" The old man's piercing blue eyes stared
into hers. For at least five minutes he stared at her. Emelie stirred uncomfortably.
It felt as though this man was reading her past, and her future.
"You were sent here for
a purpose." Gandalf said (Emelie had remembered his name). "Not to benefit
us, but to benefit you. We have already done everything. You have entered
a memory of the past. You will not change the history books." Emelie narrowed
her eyes, thinking hard. "You mean, those books are history? They're not
made up?" Gandalf looked hard at her. Then he turned back to Frodo and
resumed his conversation.
.~*~.
I noticed that a lot of people have these disclaimers at the top of
their stories. Is this neccessary? I think everyone knows here which characters
belong to Tolkien and which do not. Right?