The Fifth Age

By Glorfindel's Girl

Chapter 9: Kay

Disclaimer: Oh my!  Another bonus chapter!  Oh yippee skipee! Kay belongs to me.  Use her if you want, just please ask my permission first.  Anyone else in here belongs to Tolkien.  I'm still not making any money off this monster.

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A small coastal town in New Zealand…

At that exact moment, Kay Benson awoke with a start, rivers of white-hot pain streaming across her back.  She sat up in bed, her head wheeling from the shock of awakening in such agony.  She sat still for a moment, tracing a hand across her back to attempt to determine the source of the pain.  Though already fading, it was still excruciating.  

"Fucking hell.  This can't possibly be good," she muttered.

After a moment, she swung her legs off the edge of the bed, and stood.  She brushed her hair back out of her face as she padded quietly across her hardwood floor towards the bathroom.  Sunlight was already creeping through the shaded window, so she drew back the blinds, letting the light flood the bathroom. 

"Shit," Kay muttered as she reached up and tilted the two mirrors on her medicine cabinet towards each other so she could see her back reflected in them.  It was refreshing to not have to move her hair out of the way in order to see her back.  While her shoulder length black hair was by no means short, it no longer hung down past her hips as it once had.  She pulled off her shirt and stared at her back through the mirror for a minute.  Looked no different that it usually did.  Just to be on the safe side, she fished around in her medicine cabinet and produced a large combined dose of Tylenol and Advil.  That oughtta handle anything, she thought, swallowing the pills.  Closing the doors of the cabinet, she leaned forward with a sigh, resting her forehead against the cold glass.  The pain had already dissipated for the most part, and the painkillers would kick in given another 10 minutes or so, taking care of any that cared to linger.  After a moment, she stood back up, regarding her face in the mirror.

"There's no way," she said to her reflection.  "Relax, Kay.  It's just nerve damage or something."  A legitimate and plausible explanation.  But not the only one, a tiny voice said in the back of her mind, and even as she stared at herself and spoke confidently, her intensely bright grey-green eyes remained unconvinced. 

Finally, she shook her head, turned and made her way back to her bedroom, retreating to the safety of her covers again.  Pain or no, she had no intent of getting up before nine on a Saturday.  Not after the week from hell she'd had.  Back trouble was all the more reason to lounge around in bed.  No need to tell her anyone just precisely what kind of back trouble.  Nope, no reason at all to tell anyone she'd awoken feeling like someone was holding a blowtorch to her back.  Checking to be sure the ringer was turned off on her phone, she rolled over and curled up against a huge pillow.  Her back could just wait until later.  She had some important sleeping to do.