Elrond Peredhil, Lord of Imladris, shook his head slightly and closed his eyes then opened them again. He stared blankly at the book he held in front of him. He squinted as his eyes crossed again, shook his head a little harder this time in frustration, and closed his eyes.

A headache had formed in his head half an hour ago, starting off small then becoming more painful as the minutes wore on.

Opening his eyes, he tried to read the second paragraph of the page for the umpteenth time.

A knock came at the door and Glorfindel stepped inside.

Elrond squinted at him.

"Elrond, how are you doing?" asked Glorfindel, taking a step toward Elrond.

"To tell you the truth," Elrond admitted, looking down at the book before closing it with a sigh, "I'm afraid I have a bit of a headache and I can't...focus...very well at all." Elrond looked up from the book to the left and looked at a blurred Glorfindel.

"You see, I can't see you clearly."

A hand rested on his right shoulder and Elrond started, turning to look at his golden-haired friend.

"How in the world did you get over there?" he asked.

"Elrond...you were looking at a portrait on the wall," said Glorfindel, concerned.

"Oh, yes. ...I knew that."

Glorfindel looked uncertain, but nodded anyways.

"Do you want a glass of water, perhaps? Do you think that will help?" he asked.

"Yes, I would like that very much, Glorfindel."

Glorfindel smiled and left.

Elrond stared down at the closed book, sighed, and stood up. He started to make his way toward the door, but stopped as the pain in his head seemed to double.

His vision blurred again and a dizziness enveloped him. The room around him started to spin and he finally fell, unconsciousness taking him before he hit the floor

*

Mel woke with a yawn and reached over to grab for a Twinkie she had put on her nightstand before falling asleep.

Sitting up and gazing happily at the Twinkie, she unwrapped it and inhaled the yellow cream-puff. A few crumbs fell on her green comforter, but she made no move to wipe them off.

Another Twinkie rested on the floor on the left of her bed and she leaned over the edge to pick it up. Unfortunately, this didn't go according to plan and she ended up with a thud on the ground.

Frowning, she picked up the Twinkie and shoved into her mouth.

"You're disgusting," remarked her sister from the door. "And why are you still in bed?"

"'Cause it's a Saturday, moron."

"Well, now that you're up, get dressed and come down stairs, poop-for-brains-girl."

'At least she didn't call me stupid,' thought Mel happily, chewing on the remains of the Twinkie. 'Today might be a good day!'

"And you're stupid," called Kate as she walked out the door and down the hall.

'Most likely going to brush her blindingly white teeth again,' thought Mel, sticking her tongue out at the door. 'If she keeps doing that, I swear her teeth will fall out. I SUPPORT THE COLGATE CONSPIRACY! Ha, ha!'

Mel had the enjoyment of having the mental picture of a toothless Kate smiling for school pictures.

She giggled and stood up, but her feet got caught in the folds of her comforter, and she fell down again.

"Ah, poo," Mel muttered. She kicked free of the comforter and started crawling out into the hallway toward the stairs. Pausing a moment to see if Kate was in fact in the bathroom--which she wasn't--, Mel reached the stairs, stood up and started to walking down them.

"Elrond's a frog!" Kate declared loudly from the kitchen.

"SHUT UP!"

"Bleh to you, Twinkie dork!"

"I am not a Twinkie dork!"

"...I know that, Mel. But it's so much fun teasing you."

Mel walked into the kitchen and stared at Kate, who was gulping down a glass of Pepsi and munching on a chocolate bar, a goofy yet happy smile on her face.

"...You really mean that?" asked Mel.

"Yepperoonies," replied Kate, biting a large chunk off the chocolate bar.

"Cool! So Elrond's not a frog?"

Silence.

"Yeah, he's still a frog and you're still a Twinkie dork," replied Kate, shrugging.

"Whatever," muttered Mel with a glare.

She found a box of Twinkies and plopped down in a chair by the table and started eating them one by one as Kate got another chocolate bar and started chewing on it.

"...You are aware of the fact that we are going to get very sugar-high, right?" asked Kate after her third chocolate bar and second Pepsi.

Mel grinned happily. "TATERS! Taters, taters, taters...have you noticed how WEIRD that word is? TATERS!"

"It has begun..." She reached for another chocolate bar and popped the tab on another Pepsi can. "...Hmm. What an interesting taste...if I didn't know any better, I'd say I was drinking rainbow plastic thingerdoodles." Kate giggled and took a drink of her Pepsi.

*

"Okay, it's my turn," laughed Kate. "We are going to be surfer dudes, 'kay? Alrighty then!" She cleared her throat. "DUUUUDE! Did you see me ride that totally awesome wave?"

"Like, totally, man!" replied Mel. "It was, like, tubular!"

"I know!"

"Know what?"

"What?"

"Wait, huh?"

"...Dude, stop confusing me!"

"Ohmigod! I am, like, so totally sorry!"

"...For what, dude?"

"Huh?"

"...Dude, you are totally doing it again!"

"Doing what, man?"

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Dude, stop it!"

Mel and Kate collapsed on the floor in a heap of giggles.

"DUUUUUUUUDE!" They yelled simultaneously.

After a few moments, Mel stood up and wiped a tear from her eyes, chuckling softly.

"Man, being sugar-high is fun," she said.

"Dude." agreed Kate with a solemn face.

Mel looked down at her, confused.

"What's the matter?" asked Kate, concerned.

Mel's face brightened and she smiled. "Oh, nothing, I just had this feeling in my stomach and I didn't know what it was, but now I do and I'm okay now, so bye."

Kate stared at her. "Well, what is the feeling?"

"I hafta pee."

"Then go!"

"Okie-dokie."

"HANNIBAL LECTOR!"

"There is nothing wrong with saying that."

"EVIL! Evil, evil, evil!"

"...Okay, I hafta pee really bad now, so bye-bye."

Mel turned around and trotted toward the hallway toward the bathroom.

"I'm bored!" declared Kate to herself. "And my head hurts!" She jumped up and walked into the family room and turned the television on to the infomercial channel where a man in a dark suit was holding up a bizarre object and blabbing about how wonderful it was. He blurred for a moment and Kate shook her head.

Kate muted it, leaving the man moving his mouth.

"Do you have a big butt?" she said in a deep voice, trying to mimic a man's. "No, I'm talkin' 'bout a REALLY fat elephant butt. If so, then buy the Ifyouhaveabigelephantbutbuythisstupidmachinethinganditwillmakeitsmaller'O'Matic!"

A woman was now on the television holding the strange doohickey in her hand.

Kate switched to a high voice. "Hi, I'm tour guide Barbie! I used the Ifyouhaveabigelephantbutbuythisstupidmachinethinganditwillmakeitsmaller'O'Matic and---" Kate gasped. "---MY BUTT BECAME SMALLER! Ohmigod! OH MY G---"

A scream came from the bathroom and Kate jumped and dropped the remote.

Panic washed over her and she literally flew out of the family room and into the bathroom.

There lay her sister, unmoving, on the floor.

"She forgot to flush..." muttered Kate for no apparent reason. Her vision blurred again and she shook her head in frustration. "Mel, I am in no mood to play these stupid games."

She kicked her sister with the toe of her shoe, but Mel didn't move.

"Interesting."

Suddenly she felt very dizzy...

Grabbing for the edge of the sink, Kate stumbled and tripped over her sister. She fell toward her sister, closing her eyes and waiting for the hit, but never met it.

*

"Stop complaining, Rùmil," sighed Haldir.

"But it is not FAIR!"

"Just because you are losing, does not mean it is not fair," said Orophin, laying a pair of cards down next to him.

"Easy for you to say, you cheat," muttered Rùmil.

Haldir rolled his eyes and Orophin smiled innocently.

"Haldir, it is your turn," said Orophin.

"It is? Well, um..." Haldir looked down at his cards. "...Rùmil, do you have any red...ugly...things, or whatever they are called?"

Rùmil glared at his brother and reluctantly handed Haldir one of his cards.

Haldir set the pair down beside him.

"This is stupid," grumbled Rùmil. "Why are we even playing this child's game?"

"Because," replied Orophin.

"I hate that answer."

"Yes, well I find it the perfect response to anything involving 'why'," said Orophin with a smile.

"Be quiet."

"Haldir, go again."

Haldir stared at his cards. "Orophin, do you have any red..." He squinted and shook his head as his vision blurred. "Do you have any green...long things?"



Orophin smiled. "Go fish!"



"Very well..." Haldir reached for a card from the pile sitting in the middle of them. "Oh look, I got a green, long thing so I get to go again."

Rùmil sighed.

"Orophin," Haldir said as he set the pair down beside him, "do you have a cow?"

"...A cow? Haldir, this is Go *Fish*," said Rùmil.

Haldir squinted at his cards again and blinked rapidly, trying to clear his vision. He looked up to see his brothers staring at him, concerned.

"Haldir?" said Orophin.

Haldir's eyes widened as his brothers became colorful blobs and the world around them started spinning.

"Hmm," he said, starting to fall backwards. "Rùmil, Orophin, would you mind helping me? I think I'm going to fall..."

And he did.

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Yeah! Thanks for the reviews guys! Count 'em, FOUR! Pretty good... Anywho, I hope you like this chapter. It's MUCH better than the first one. And longer too :D Well, it's sort of a cliffhanger, but not much of one. Um...please review!

Isilwen-Telpefion, Mel doesn't have a clue about Celebrían. Plus she was sugar-high. And just plain weird.

soul, thanks for the review!

Scottish Yukon, thanks for the review!

Faulkner, thanks for the review! I don't really like Twinkies myself, though.

Disclaimer: If I owned LotR I'd be dead. Or rich. Beside, you'd have to be a moron to think that MY writing is any where NEAR as good as Professor J.R.R. Tolkien's. ...Can I have my Elf now?