The Fifth Age
By Glorfindel's Girl
Chapter 4: Chris
Disclaimer: If they're not Tolkien's characters, then they're mine. Either that or they're real. I don't own Tolkien's characters, you don't own mine. Please give me credit if you want to use my characters. Chris, Sarah, and Adrienne like to think that they own themselves. If you want to use them in a story, you'll have to take it up with them. Also featuring a cameo by the Hideous Orange Blanket. It's mine. You cannot have it. Period.
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Sherman, Texas, USA. A midsize town, about sixty miles north of Dallas……
Chris forced his feet to keep up with the directional arrows on the game screen. He was determined to win this time. After blowing five bucks already on the stupid game, he had better win. Dance, Dance Revolution was his absolute favorite game in the mall arcade, and he was completely, hopelessly addicted. He was actually quite good at it, and a pretty large crowd had amassed around the game, watching him as he played. It was mostly because of the crowd that he found himself in his current situation. He had decided to impress them by performing the most difficult song in the game, and using both playing boards. He had never made it more than halfway through the song – using only one playing board – before.
Chris realized just how bad he must look. He might be getting all the moves right, but he had no style whatsoever, and style was 9/10 of the game.
"I'm actually going to make it through the whole song!" he thought, with a surge of excitement. He would have too, had he not overstepped one of the last side steps, and fallen off the playing board with a loud crash, nearly falling on top of someone's five year old who was watching him play. The crowd erupted in laughter, and everyone in the arcade turned to stare at him.
"Hardy, har, har," he muttered in response to the laughter, as he picked himself up off the dirty floor.
"Marney! I've never seen that dance before! What's it called?" yelled a girl from the food court. Chris turned around to see who had spoken. Three girls in their late teens or early twenties sat at a table, looking like they were straight out of a Hot Topic ad, and laughing, presumably at him. The first girl had red-brown hair that fell neatly to her waist, and was wearing a red shirt that laced up the front and was adorned with a Celtic-knot style design. The second was wearing a tank top with a picture of a very gothic black winged angel gracing the front. She had dark, curly hair that fell past her shoulders, and black rimmed glasses. The third girl had – of all things – silver hair, and the front of shirt was devoted to an image a red-haired woman bending over a fairy ring. Some old painting or something.
Chris recognized the three instantly. Adrienne, Sarah, and Kelly. "Well, hell," he thought, checking his watch. He was supposed to have met up with them a quarter of an hour ago.
Deciding he'd had enough games for one day, he picked up his Spencer's bag from beside the game, and left the arcade to join them. His crowd of admiring fans had left, anyway.
"'Sup?" he asked, and sat down at their table. He stared at Sarah for a moment. "I like the new hair color," he said. "Something almost normal for a change."
Sarah laughed. "You like it? I was tired of purple. You were supposed to meet us here fifteen minutes ago, by the way."
Chris shrugged. "Well, I got a little distracted……." he said, indicating the arcade with a nod of his head.
"What? Did you run into Ian McKellen?" asked Adrienne with a laugh.
"Actually…" He reached into his Spencer's bag, pulled out a rolled poster, and let it fall open.
"You SUCK!" all three girls said in unison. It was a Lord of the Rings poster. Drawn in black and white, it showed Gandalf with Frodo and Sam standing on a hilltop with dead Orcs piled around them. Very cool.
Kelly tossed her gleaming silver hair over her shoulder. Many people thought she dyed her hair, but it had been silver ever since she was a baby. Some genetic flaw or something. Strangely enough, the look worked for her. "They had that poster at Borders," she said. "Almost got it, but I figured I'd wait and find one like Sarah's." Chris shook his head, and rolled the poster back up.
"Well," Adrienne broke in, "I got something cooler than any of that!" Sarah nodded in agreement. Kelly shook her head. Adrienne smiled. "I got some SOCKS!"
Chris just stared at her. She pulled a bag out from underneath the table, reached in it, and removed the most horrible pair of socks he had ever seen. They were toe socks. They were furry. They were orange.
"They match the Hideous Orange Blanket!" she exclaimed happily.
"And this is a good thing?" Chris asked.
"Soooooo," Kelly said, rolling her eyes, "That means that we now have not only a Hideous Orange Blanket, but socks, pajama bottoms, and let's not forget a stuffed turtle that all match it."
"That's right," said Sarah, "Are we Hot Topic-ing this weekend? I'm in desperate need for some new shirts. And we could catch Two Towers at the dollar show while we're at it. I haven't stared at Hugo Weaving in a while, and I think I'm getting withdrawal."
Adrienne grinned. "Agent Smith the cross-dresser? Come on. He's old, and he's ugly."
"Hey, watch it!" she replied, "Elrond is hot. And he was hot as Agent Smith and Tick/Mitzi. You want to talk about ugly and old, then talk about Gandalf."
"You watch it, both of you," Chris said, "that's My Gandy."
Adrienne laughed. "Yeah, Chris. Try telling that to Saruman. It shimmers, baby, it shimmers!"
Kelly joined in. "Yeah," she spoke in a deep voice, "Speak friend, and enter…..Oh, Saruman!"
Chris rolled his eyes. "That was my joke first, I hope you remember."
"Well," Kelly said, "I plan on going Hot Topic-ing on Saturday, regardless of what you are doing. And I never pass up the chance for Two Towers."
"Well…I guess the only question now is who's car we're going in." Sarah said. "Chris, your driving quite frankly frightens me, so all in favor of counting Chris out as a possibility say 'aye'."
"Aye!" replied Adrienne and Kelly simultaneously.
Chris shook his head. "Love you too, sweethearts."
"Well," Sarah began again, "The Fine 'Lil Red Car might make it all the way to Dallas without being squashed by someone else. But I really don't want to risk the tin can on wheels in Dallas traffic. Plus we can only fit one person in the back seat comfortably. So should we count it out?" The others nodded in agreement.
"Well, then," Adrienne, said, eyeing Kelly. I guess it's between you and me."
"Paper, scissors, rock?" Kelly asked.
"Sure," Adrienne said. "Ready? One…Two….Three!" Adrienne had scissors, Kelly paper.
"Well damn," Kelly said. "I thought you'd do rock. Ah well. Your car it is." She stood, stretching languidly. "I need a Coke. Anyone want one?" Chris, Sarah, and Adrienne shook their heads. "All right, your loss," she said, and walked off toward Chick-Fil-A.
Suddenly, she stopped, and brought her hands up to her head, as though she was in pain. She staggered, falling off-balance. She put out a hand to catch herself, grabbing hold of the edge of a nearby table. Kelly sank down into a chair, bringing her hands back up to her forehead. Chris could see that she was trembling. All three stared blankly for a moment. It was Sarah who finally broke the silence.
"Kelly?" Sarah called, standing up. Kelly didn't reply. Sarah frowned, and jogged over to the table, followed closely by Chris and Adrienne. Sarah knelt down beside Kelly's chair, looking up at her friend. Her eyes were open, but unfocused.
"Kel? Are you all right?" she asked. Still no reply. "Kelly!" she said, reaching up and touching her shoulder. Kelly looked over at Sarah, still shaking, her breathing heavy, her eyes wide with fright and confusion.
"Im hir ntúl si, sinome," Kelly said, her words soft and trembling. She tried to stand, but could not seem to gain her balance. Sarah and Adrienne quickly caught her before she fell. Kelly leaned heavily against Sarah for balance.
"What the hell was that about?" Chris asked.
"I don't know. Just shut up for a minute," Sarah replied, shortly. She tried to get Kelly to speak again, but could get no response from their friend.
"Man, we need to get her to a hospital or something," Chris said, getting out of the way as Sarah and Adrienne carefully led Kelly toward the door. "I mean…look at her eyes. She's not there."
"Oh no shit, Sherlock!" Sarah snapped. "Did you have to consult Doctor Watson on that one?"
Kelly looked over at Chris, her gaze seeming to clear, a gleam of recognition visible for a split second. Then it was gone.
After a moment, she spoke once more, her words halting and unsure. "When am I?"
