Guess what?  Here's another cliffhanger.  And I hope the whole kissing thing wasn't too upfront.  Personally I think it was sweet...but I'm the author.  THANK YOU SOOOOOOOOOOOOOO MUCH FOR ALL THE GREAT REVIEWS!

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            Chapter 11:  Drowning

            I think it was the moment I saw the rocks close that I actually could see my life flash before my eyes.  Lot's of people say it doesn't happen, but the water was rising above my knees, and surely to God I was seeing some crazy stuff.  I banged on the rocks with my fists but they were like a closed door.  I wasn't getting out, and neither was Tobias.  Great, I thought.  Just great.

            "What the hell?!"  I screamed at the rocks.  Half of me knew they weren't listening.  The other half was telling them to open and still believed that they would.  Tobias was too busy looking at the wall.  I doubted he even knew there was water up past his knees now.  He was moving his fingers over the elvish.  I groaned and pushed my hands against the solid wall.  "DAMN IT!" 

            "Wha....HEY!  When did the tide come in?  What did you do with the door?"  Must contain feelings of rage for Tobias....Must contain feelings of rage for Tobias.  I groaned again and tried pushing at the rocks.  Tobias looked back at the elvish, shaking his finger.  He was decifering it.  "Delaney?"

            "What?!"  I shouted back, my voice echoing and making it hard to think with the booming sound of my voice everywhere.  Tobias barely noticed.  He continued to look, moving his finger over the writing on the wall. 

            "Look.  This writing here is taking about gateways from one world to the next."  He said.  "I can't read it for certain but there's talk of well placed portals.."  He put these in quotes, "That would allow the passage of believers in the Valar."  He sounded like Moses or something, speaking of Middle Earth like it was the freaking Bible.  I pushed against the rocks again.  Tobias finally turned around.  "Once again, when did the tide come in?"

            I groaned again, thinking quickly and mumbling, "Must containg feelings of rage for Tobias...Must contain.....DAMN IT THE TIDE IS COMING IN AND WE'RE STUCK AND WE'RE GONNA DROWN!"  My voice echoed again, less this time because of the rising water.  Tobias looked confused, but he shrugged and turned around, looking at the writing again.  I pushed against the rock wall again, starting to cry a little.  I can't die!  I cannot die!  I'm not going to die this young without losing and gaining a couple of things!  And I will not die with a Priest of the Tolkien BROTHERHOOD/SISTERHOOD!

            "Delaney."

            "What?" 

            I turned and looked but there was nothing there.  Nothing and no one.  Tobias was gone.  I looked around.  Where could he have gone?  Was he under the water?  If he grabbed ankle and made me scream I'd kill him.  Literally, I'd kill him.  I would put my hands around his neck and squeeze off the Tolkien-loving head of him.  But he didn't grab my ankle.  He didn't even show up.  He wasn't there.  He was in Middle Earth while I was going to die 23 years old.  What would Edith say in my Eulogy?  "She was a good friend but she didn't believe in Tolkien so she wasn't worth a dime?"  I can see it now.  As she mentions that I hated Tolkien all my family and friends leave mumbling something about me being a stupid girl.

            NOOOO!!!!!!!  Nobody leave my funeral!  PLEEASSE!  And then there, in the afterlife, at the gates of heaven, there's St Peter.  "Sorry you can't come to heaven because you Bad Mouthed the real God."  And I'll look all confused as Tolkien comes down from sky in a ball of light and says, "To hell with you, unbeliever!"

            And then I'll fall to hell, but the Devil down there will be a giant flaming eye with a white haired dude as his sidekick and they'll say, "To heaven with you unbeliever!"  And I'll spend the rest of my eternity going between Heaven and Hell being called an unbeliever.  And all I can see is going by heaven with Tobias on the other side, macking on Edith with vodka martinis and cigars, while I get called an unbeliever forever.

            I sat down on the ground, in all the water and everything.  I just sat there, thinking about the vision of Edith and Tobias making out and drinking and smoking and....and....WHERE WAS I!?  Edith that guy stealing BELIEVER!  I was going to kill her when I got home!  If I got home.  I'd be here for a while, waiting for me to die.  Unless...  NO!  I was not just going to believe in Middle Earth out of selfishness and my own good.  The water reached my neck.  "I BELIEVE IN YOU TOLKIEN LET ME IN PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE!"  Nothing.  I was still in the cave.  "PLEASE!"

            I walked over to the wall.  Alright, I thought.  How does Tobias do this.  Does her just believe or does he really Believe?  Does he think about anything in particular or...Okay enough guy thoughts.  I do not think Arwen is hot. 

            I tapped on the walls.  Come on....come on....  "IS THIS PUNISHMENT FOR NOT BELIEVING IN TOLKIEN!  HUH?  COME ON!  IS IT OR ARE YOU JUST BEING A BASTARD BECAUSE YOU LEFT ME FOR NOTHING!  YOU LEFT ME FOR SOME FICTIONAL WORLD!  YOU LEFT ME OKAY!"  I took a deep breath.  "AND I HATE YOU AND I WANNA KILL YOU AND GUESS WHAT?  I DO BELIEVE IN MIDDLE EARTH...I ALWAYS DID!  ALWAYS!"  I banged on the wall.  "I HATED IT BECAUSE IT REMINDED ME OF..."  There was a violent wind.  The world suddenly spun.  The water started filling unnsturally fast.  It hit my hip.  "IT REMINDED ME OF YOU!"  The water hit my neck.  "I HATE YOU!"

            And then the water covered my head.  I pushed upward, trying to breathe.  There was no more air.  There wasn't any other space.

            "I hate you..."  I thought, and then there was a bright light.

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            MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAH!  Another Cliffie!  Wait....NO!! Not the Cookie torture!  EEEKKKKK!!!!!