FRODO AND THE FACULTY
Author's Notes : This is supposed to be just for fun. I have only just revisited Elijah Wood's movie "The Faculty" and while my mind was taken over, had the idea to write something humorous involving the Fellowship and the movie characters.
As I watched I was thinking, he gets into these roles where he is supposed to save
everyone else and decided to take the fun out both.
This is a one off thing – just for entertainment and I hope that people who read this and think that the author has lost her marbles will still continue to read my other stories for LOTR which try and stick closer to the original story line.
The Fellowship can see and hear everything that is going on at the school, including making some interesting comments about the new image for Frodo and his use of colourful language. They cannot interact with him and he doesn't know they exist. Gandalf is only along as purely an advisor for the rest of the Fellowship on some of the more modern things about the human world that they encounter.
Where I can I have chosen a more appropriate method of using such colourful
language – i.e. "F…k" and "Sh…" where they are needed. I wanted to be mindful that a lot of people might be offended – others not and will make others up as I go along as needed.
I have exaggerated the personalities of all slightly but please don't be offended – just mean as a poke in fun at them all. You don't need to understand why it happens that Frodo is now a high-school kid, just believe it and read and ignore anything that doesn't usually fit our beloved hobbit.
The story begins after ROTK where Frodo is supposed to be famous for his deeds.
Gandalf comes rushing in to tell them about Frodo's sudden disappearance and that he now dwells in a new world of humans that needs him to save the day again.
If you haven't read the first or second chapters or even if you have – it has had some changes done to it so you might want to go back and revisit them before continuing on with this chapter.
NEXT PART
After another hellish ride so far as the Fellowship members were concerned and
the school building came into view.
Casey looked about and noted that the first bell must have already sounded and
he was already late for his first class with Mr Tate.
"Great, not even 9.00am yet and already it's beginning to be a bad day," Casey
muttered to himself as he sat on the front stairs and changed them over to his
regular sneakers.
He was just about to get up when a thin, pretty looking girl with long blond
hair stood in front of him, trying to attract his attention. Legolas and Gimli
both thought the colour of her hair was very becoming.
"Excuse me could you please tell me where the office is, I am new here today
from Atlanta," she said in a soft voice, smiling at Casey.
Casey couldn't help but smile back and admire the girl's pretty features. Obviously her story must be true because here she was still standing here talking
to her. Any other girl in the school would have normally given him a wide
berth.
"Hi," Casey finally said, forgetting all about the question she had just asked of
him.
"I am Marybeth Louise Hutchinson," the girl said introducing herself.
"I'm Casey," he said, giving a sheepish grin, feeling a little uncomfortable around
somebody who didn't take him for some sort of geek reject from first impressions.
His blue eyes had a happy look about them.
"I guess I will see you around then, if you could tell me where the office is," she
said, repeating her question subtly.
"Oh yeah right, it's just down the hall and to your right there," Casey said turning
around and pointing in the general direction.
"Thanks. You really have pretty eyes you know," she said and walked into the
building to her intended destination.
"She likes my eyes," Casey whispered to himself, unable to hide the grin plastered on his face. He was about to say that things were looking up for the
day when he glanced at his watch and saw that he was another ten minutes late
for class.
"F..k," he said under his breath and quickly went inside to store his skates and
rush to the classroom.
"I think our ring-bearer is slightly smitten with that young lady," Aragorn commented to the others as they followed Frodo.
Not that it was a bad thing, but even after all that had happened in Middle Earth, Frodo had always showed shyness and awkwardness whenever the subject of finding a partner was ever mentioned. He had not been nervous around Arwen
the Ranger recalled, but he knew that she belonged to another.
Sam and the others would be more than happy to see their friend and companion
at last enjoying some of the simpler things in life such as a girlfriend.
Casey had been about halfway along the corridor when he was abruptly pulled up
by the sound of a loud voice behind him.
"Mr Connor I presume," Tate snarled, barely able to conceal his pleasure at being
about to dish out a little self-imposed punishment towards the teenager from his
little prank yesterday.
Casey closed his eyes as he halted and knew what was coming before he even
turned around. "Yes Mr Tate," he said, putting on his best innocent look.
"Don't give me the poor little puppy dog look Connor, I don't fall for that like
other teachers in this God forsaken place. I believe I owe one of these for
your tardiness," he said, holding out a small slip of paper to the teenager.
"Detention!" the teacher said firmly.
The Fellowship saw the distaste on Casey's face and knew that whatever was
written on it was not favourable to their friend.
"An hour!" Casey said hotly, thinking the whole thing was unfair not to mention
the length of his sentence.
"Would you like to make it two or three?" the teacher warned.
"I can't do it today because I have to do something for Ms Drake after school
for the paper," Casey offered, hoping it was some sort of excuse.
The teacher paused for a minute, trying to work out if the kid was lying or not.
Probably not he told himself but he didn't like it anyway.
"Okay then Mr Connor, we can change the day to tomorrow afternoon," the
teacher said, knowing the rebellion he was about to get in return.
"But tomorrow's Friday," Casey said, hoping there was no way the teacher
would make him stay behind before a weekend.
"Tomorrow Mr Casey, and let me warn you of the serious consequences should
you not show up on time directly after class," the teacher said, now only a few
inches from the teenager's face.
"Yes Sir," Casey grumbled as the teacher turned away, knowing there was
probably little if nothing he could do about it anyway.
"What is this detention he speaks of Gandalf?" Legolas asked, thinking what
the word meant on his world.
"In this world my elf friend, detention is like here, a form of punishment, but
it is a little less confining. All Casey will have to do is spend it in a classroom
for an hour tomorrow. Don't worry, there is no harsh treatment involved, save
to say that the timing is a little harsher in the ring-bearer's eyes. Friday is
the last school day of the week here, and normally everyone tries to get out of
here as quickly as possible tomorrow," Gandalf explained.
"Don't worry Legolas, we will be right here with Frodo and this teacher fellow,
we won't let anything happen to him," Merry said firmly. He knew he had
the support of the others on this matter.
The rest of the day passed relatively quicker than the one before, and it wasn't
too long before afternoon had approached. Nothing out of the ordinary had
occurred at this stage and Casey had attended and stayed in all of his lessons.
He had stilled eaten lunch on his own back on the grand stand and then went
back to class afterwards. Nothing out of the ordinary had emerged so far
that day.
It soon was time for school to finish, but Casey knew he had to take the photos
for Delilah. She had arranged to meet him outside the office and this was now
where he waited with his camera slung around his neck once again.
"Oh good, you're here, that's great. Let's get this over and done with because
I don't want to spend any more time here than I have to," she announced, flinging
her hair back over her shoulder and watching out of the corner of her eye to see
if Casey was looking.
"Why do you rag on me so much, what did I do to you?" Casey asked totally ignoring her ploys, but getting a little ticked off at the callous attitude that he was
dished out for no good reason.
"Nothing against you personally Casey, but your that geeky odd looking kid that
is in every school. It's your destiny or something," she said, knowing that he
didn't deserve her harsh words or her pity. He had never been anything but civil
and nice to her in the past.
"Come on let's go," she said, leading the way down the corridor. At first Casey
didn't quite know where they were headed, but now they were standing outside
a door that was labelled TEACHER'S LOUNGE.
"We can't go in there," Casey said with a frown and a touch of nervousness
as he watched Delilah put her hand on the door knob and open it a crack to check
that nobody was inside.
"Oh come on, live a little," Delilah said as she rolled her eyes in an over exaggerated look. "It's only a room Casey, not a bar or something."
Casey felt himself being dragged into the lounge, like it or not. Although he would have admitted to being a little nervous at first, now he was in there, the
curiosity got the better of him. What did the teachers do in here during the
breaks anyway? he secretly asked himself.
"I don't think they are allowed to be in here," Pippin said, noting the slightly
guilty look in his cousin's face.
"What's with all of the water?" Delilah asked as she stood in front of a cupboard
that held various sizes and shaped water bottles. There were larger bottles for
the dispenser in the room and then smaller individual bottles towards the top.
"I don't know but I have noticed a lot of the teachers walking around with those
smaller bottles in their hands yesterday. Tate even had one in class with him,"
Casey answered.
"Maybe it's some sort of weird teacher health kick or something," Delilah said,
knowing that there must have been another explanation.
"So what are we looking for?" Casey asked, the guilt coming back again. "I have
already got detention for tomorrow, I don't feel like spending the rest of my
school years in it if we are caught."
"You got detention!" Delilah said with a little doubt in her mind. This was the
kid who usually did all of his homework before everyone else and handed things
in on time as opposed to everyone else. "Next you'll be telling me that aliens
are taking over the school," she remarked with sarcasm in her voice.
"Hey, you don't know who I really am," Casey said in self-defence. "I don't
always play the study freak you know."
"You tell her Mr Frodo," Sam said out loud, although he knew his master couldn't
hear his words of support.
Delilah walked over to where some of the teachers kept their personal belongings and without consent started going through some of the bags, looking for anything
she could make into a story for her paper.
"Hey you can't go through things like that," Casey said, not approving of the practice at all. "There has to be something else in here other than going through
their personal stuff."
"Oh please Casey, don't give me the good Samaritan speech. These teachers
all have their own secrets and weaknesses. At the moment we just don't know
what they are. The only way to find out what they are hiding is to have a look
around," Delilah stated.
"God you can be such a………..," Casey said, turning away slightly, afraid of
what he might say out loud for a second.
Aragorn noted the dislike look on the boy's face. He had seen it a few times
himself when there were those who thought themselves better than everybody
else or only having the purpose of hurting others through actions and words.
The surroundings and the time might have been the same, but the disfavour
Frodo felt towards such grandeur and faith in one's own self-preservation
over others was still just as evident.
"What!" Delilah demanded seeing him turn away before finishing the sentence.
She knew he didn't approve, but she wasn't about to let him beat her over
the head with his version of what was right and wrong.
The Fellowship knew enough about Frodo's personality to think that Casey
would forget the words he wanted to say and just walk away from the situation.
They were mistaken though and now wondered what was about to unfold as
he turned back towards the girl.
"You would find people thinking more of you if you just looked at yourself
in the mirror once in a while and didn't act like a grade A b…ch," Casey
said firmly.
Delilah was clearly shocked to hear such words come out from the boy, as
too were Sam and the other hobbits. Frodo was the most gentlehobbit
they knew and he had never said harsh words to a girl before.
"Um what brought this on," Delilah said, not being able to say much in
return.
"Nothing, I am just sick of people here at this school that act like they are
more important than anybody else," Casey said, explaining his reasons behind
such an outburst. He didn't feel like she deserved a fuller explanation but
he gave it anyway.
Before anymore words transpired between them, Casey looked towards the
closed door and saw shadows approaching as well as the sound of shoes on the
other side.
"Sh.t" Delilah said out loud as she saw the door handle begin to rotate.
"Quick," Casey said to Delilah as the two rushed to find a hiding place before
they were found out.
The two teenagers concealed themselves in a storage cupboard. There was a slat window on the front so they were still able to breath in the cramp conditions and see what was going on inside the lounge.
The Fellowship could see Casey's face wondering what they were going to do
to get out without being found out. His friends were unable to think of a way
to help him and had to be content with just watching on with worry on their faces
as to what might happen to him.
"It's Coach Willis and Mrs Olsen from drama," Delilah said to Casey. He nodded his head at recognizing which teachers had come into the room.
"Are all of the teachers accounted for?" Coach Willis asked the larger woman
before him.
"Mostly, there is one or two others, but for the most part they are all now with
us," Olsen said in reply.
Casey couldn't help but look at the two teachers and see a change in the way
they stood and spoke. They no longer looked like the Coach and the drama
teacher he had come to know at school.
Their manner was as though they didn't have thoughts of their own. Both of
them were now standing near the water dispenser, continually filling their paper
cups and drinking.
"Why are they drinking so much water?" Delilah whispered to Casey.
"I don't know, but I don't like it," Casey answered back quietly, truly afraid now
that they were going to be discovered.
"Mrs Brumel didn't take, her body was too old," Coach Willis now said to the
woman teacher.
Delilah hadn't been taking too much interest in the details of the conversation.
As she looked back towards Casey, she noted that he had a strange look on
his face.
"What is it?" she whispered. But Casey help up his hand, telling her to keep
quiet so he could listen.
Just then, the school nurse Miss Harper opened the door to the teacher's lounge
and walked in.
"Hello," she said, briefly glancing at the two colleagues at the water dispenser.
Willis and Olsen looked at each other and then started to walk towards the
unsuspecting young woman. Willis went all the way to the door and made
sure it was securely closed so that there would be no interruptions.
"Nurse Harper, there is something Coach Willis and I need to discuss with you,"
Olsen said, moving closer and closer to the woman. Harper found herself
seated on a couch in the room, Willis and Olsen on either side.
"Sure, want do you want to talk to me about," Harper asked, but she couldn't
help but feel a little intimidated.
"Get out of here," Casey said as loud as he dared. The hairs on the back of his
neck were now on end with fear and his eyes were wide with the realisation that
something bad was about to happen. He didn't know what, but there was something inside him trying to warn him.
"What are you on about?" Delilah asked, knowing that he had spoken of the nurse
but not understanding why he was so worried about her.
"This will all be over in a minute," Olsen said as she roughly grabbed the nurse's
face with both hands and turned it at an awkward angle.
Harper was about to scream out for help with Coach Willis now moved to the end
of the couch she was laying on. He opened his mouth and Casey and Delilah
watched helplessly as a small slimy creature emerged. It fell on the young woman's face and started burrowing its way through her ear canal.
There was a lot of blood and the nurse looked like she was dead. Her eyes were
open but unseeing as if in death. Casey clamped his hand over his own mouth
to muffle the scream caught in his throat and took a step away from the shutters.
Delilah had done the same and now closed the shutters as if to block out the
horrific scene they both had just witnessed. Casey looked at the girl and she
at him, both pale and with wide eyes from their fear, but seeking answers from
each other that neither had.
Casey didn't think he could have screamed even if he wanted to. The air in
his lungs was paralysed from his fear. Just when they though it couldn't get
any worse, Delilah had taken a step back further towards the back of the
storage cupboard.
She felt something fall towards her and scarcely could believe the sight of the
partially decomposing corpse of Mrs Brumel that rested on her shoulder for
a few seconds before hitting the ground as she jumped away in fright towards
Casey.
The woman was obviously dead. Both of them could see that. Casey and
Delilah looked at each other with fearful gazes.
The Fellowship were desperate somehow to help their friend. They knew
that Frodo had unfortunately been seen death a number of times during his
journey to Mordor. But in this world as Casey, it was clear from the expression on his face and the fear radiating from him that this was his first real experience
in this time.
Footsteps alerted Casey and Delilah to the fact that somebody was now approaching the cupboard. They had been heard. The footsteps were heavy,
indicating it was probably the coach coming.
"What the f..k do we do Casey?" Delilah demanded, not realising that he didn't
really have any plan of escape either.
Casey noted the presence of a broom on the other side of the small space. He
now grabbed it and held it out in front of him as if it were a long javelin pole.
"When I say, get ready to run," he said, stepping protectively in front of the
girl with the broom in hand. Delilah nodded in agreement, knowing it was their
only chance to get out of there and avoid the fate of Nurse Harper.
"Now Frodo," Aragorn said as he watched the teacher turn the handle and
open the closet door.
Casey jammed the end of the broom into the Coach's stomach as hard as he
could before dropping it and trying to make a break for it, "RUN," he shouted
back to Delilah who was already doing just that.
Delilah was about to be confronted by the drama teacher and so shoved the
heavier woman Mrs Olsen back against the couch. She got a clear view of
the now very obviously dead school nurse, the fresh blood still running down
her face.
Casey and Delilah managed to run out into the hallway and didn't bother
to look back to see if they were being followed. They came to a corner
though and had to pull up abruptly as they now came face to face with
Ms Drake, the principal.
"What is going on here, why are you people running?" she asked in an
authoritive voice.
"You gotta call the police, they just killed Nurse Harper," Delilah yelled
whilst Casey was also trying to say what had just happened.
"Whoa, wait a minute," the principal said, putting up her hand and trying
to get the teenagers to talk one at a time. At that moment, Mr Tate also
happen to come along the trio and stood beside the principal.
"What is going on here Ms Drake, who killed who? Tate asked, his eyes
looking directly at Casey as he asked the question.
"I don't know, I just got here myself, in the middle of this whole conversation,"
the principal said, as though she thought the whole thing terribly funny.
"Coach Willis and Mrs Olsen just killed Nurse Harper, you gotta call the
police, there is blood everywhere," Delilah said in an exasperated voice.
"Why would they do that?" Drake asked simply, her face not showing much
emotions at all to the story they were being told.
"Just go there and you will see. They killed her," Casey said, trying to back
up Delilah's story.
Casey turned around and now saw the figures of Coach Willis, Mrs Olsen
and a very alive looking Nurse Harper standing a short distance away from
them. There was no sign of blood on the young woman, but all of the
teachers now had faceless expressions.
It was about now that Gandalf and the other members of the Fellowship
saw that Casey and the girl were in real danger. "None of them are human
any more," the wizard said, sensing that the adults had somehow been
altered.
Delilah looked a little closer at the faces on the teachers as did Casey. They
both swallowed hard and looked at each other as if to confirm what each
other thought was true.
"Oh F..k," Delilah said out loud.
"Run Delilah Run," Casey shouted as the two now took off running at full
speed down an adjacent hallway.
Delilah was faster on her feet and was almost out the door to safety when
Casey slipped on the floor and went skidding into a wall.
"Delilah wait!" Casey cried out as he fell.
The members of the Fellowship cried out in alarm as they watched the
ring-bearer fall. But were quickly relieved to see him get up just as fast
again and follow the girl out the door to relative safety.
Casey seemed to be rubbing and favouring his left shoulder as he exited
the building, showing a slightly grimace at some minimal pain he had.
About twenty minutes after they exited the building, Casey and Delilah now
walked back into the school building towards the office, two police officers
in tow.
"Who are these people Gandalf," Aragorn asked, pointing to the uniformed
officers.
"In this world Aragorn, they are the law and are supposed to protect others
from harm and crime," the wizard explained.
A few minutes later, the Fellowship saw Casey's parent's arrive in addition
a woman they over heard referred to Delilah's mother.
Casey was standing with his parents, trying to tell them about the death
of Nurse Harper and the body they had found in the closet of Mrs Brumel.
He left out the part about the slimy creature, trying to make it sound a little
rational. At one point he had even led the police over to the cupboard he
and Delilah had sheltered in.
When he opened the cupboard though, no body could be found and there was
no trace that anybody had ever been in there.
Ms Drake had come over to Casey's parents and spoken for a brief period.
Casey made sure that he kept as much distance between himself and her as
possible, but he was forced to stand under the estranged looks he got from
both parents.
Casey had spoken briefly again to the police officer about the body he claimed
had definitely been there. The man didn't really seem to believe his story, but
was pleasant all the same.
Ms Drake led the police officer into her office, whilst his partner continued to
inspect the alleged crime scene. Casey heard his mother and father talking
to him and each other in the back ground, but wasn't really focusing on what
was being said.
He watched the police officer as he and Drake came out of their brief meeting,
and instantly knew that she had somehow gotten to him. He thought about
telling Delilah then about the cops not being an option, but with his parents
and Delilah's mother both looking at them and shaking their heads in disappointment and bafflement, now was not such a good time to mention it.
At one point Drake had tried to have a private meeting with Casey's mother,
but the teenager had seen what was about to happen and tried his best to
convince his mother that he was under too much stress from it all and just
wanted to go home.
The ploy seemed to work, he had no trouble trying to give a convincing look
of fear on his face or a look which said he wasn't coping very well with what
he claimed had happened.
Drake had assured his parents that Nurse Harper was just fine and had been
taken home already. She had simply laughed off the accusation of the
dead teacher as the boy having an over active imagination.
Casey was being led away to their car by his parents and Delilah by her
mother. Both looked at each other briefly, their eyes telling each other
that they needed to sort this whole thing out.
Casey sat in the middle seat in the back of the car on the way home. The
conversation with his parents had begun with them demanding to know
what was wrong with him and why he was acting like this.
Partly thought the conversation though, the shouting had been deflected
off him and too each other as his parents blamed each other for their
lack of supervision over their son and allowing him to have such ridiculous
notions about the teachers at his school.
Casey placed his hands over his ears, trying to block out the shouting and
yelling, while he tried to decide if what he had seen that day had been
real or fantasy.
The car pulled up at a red traffic light, but his parents were still accusing
one another of every subject under the sun, the real reason they were yelling
at each other, now truly forgotten.
"You know, I just can't take this from either of you two right now," Casey
said angrily. "I walk the rest of the way home," he stated and quickly got
out of the car and headed down the footpath.
His parents were about to stop him, but the light had already changed and they
were forced to continue driving. It wasn't much of a walk left, they decided
silently that they would confront him when he got home.
"Why doesn't anyone believe me," Casey asked himself as he walked alone
towards his house. His camera, school bag and skates were all still in his
locker at school. He hadn't even bothered to retrieve them when his parents
come to claim him from the office.
The Fellowship looked just as trouble as their friend as they travelled silently
along with him. They didn't have any answers to give him either.
"Some one has to do something," Aragorn declared out loud. He immediately
saw again that Casey had heard his statement.
"Great, give everyone another reason to think your f…king nuts," he said harshly
to himself, not knowing how he was hearing his own words told back to him in
a different voice.
Casey stood outside his house for a few seconds, looking at the back door. He
wondered what was going to play out when he walked inside. He knew it wasn't
going to be pretty.
"They can't ground me forever can they?" he asked himself. "There has to be
some law against locking me up," he added, knowing that there was going to be
a considerable amount of time without freedom.
"What does he mean ground him Gandalf?" Pippin asked, amazed at all the new
terms he was coming to hear. He could tell by his cousin's own voice that he
knew he was in serious trouble with his parents.
"It is a punishment that parents use in this world Pippin to ensure that their children are made to stay at home and do as they are told except when they
are supervised," Gandalf said.
"I will have to explore this concept some more when we return to Middle Earth
Gandalf. I could think of two young impetuous hobbits that it would suit well.
It would also help to keep a certain ring-bearer in his chambers at times when
he is supposed to be resting and not moving about," Aragorn mused, much to the
displeasure of Merry and Pippin. They were sure that Frodo would be just as
upset as Frodo to hear of such a threat being handed down.
"Here goes, into the lion's den," Casey muttered as he opened the back door
and walked in. You could have knocked him over with a feather though when
the kitchen and the lounge room were completely empty.
"Mom, Dad?" he called out, thinking it was a little odd that they weren't waiting
to pounce on him as he walked through the door. Casey now walked upstairs
towards his bedroom, and could hear noise coming from within, indicating that
they were in there.
"What are you doing in my room?" he asked hotly, feeling a little angry that his
parents chose now to invade his own personal space. For the time being all
thoughts about the creatures he had seen and the murder that he and Delilah
were put aside.
"It would be easier if you told us where you keep it son," his father answered
as he moved from a cupboard that had been pulled apart. Nothing it seemed
was getting away from his scrupulous gaze. He even picked up a couple of
his son's books and looked intently at them, looking for an answer.
"Keep what?" Casey asked, entirely confused as to what his parents were
looking for. He had thought they would be ranting and raving about him,
but this current behaviour was definitely perplexing.
"Look in the spine too Frank, I read somewhere that they hide it inside sometimes," Casey's mother said, moving closer to her son as he watch his
belongings being inspected.
Frank Connor now tore one of the books down the spine as if to answer his
wife's direction. There was nothing there but paper.
"They are school books Dad, now they have to be replaced……..," Casey
began to say when it suddenly dawned on him what his parents must of
been looking for.
"You have got to be joking Mom," Casey said, feeling his temper rise again,
but this time at the shame of being accused of such things. "You don't think
I do drugs," he asked accusingly.
The members of the Fellowship were just as outraged as Frodo that the boy's
mother would put such blame on her own son.
"Hey I am bending as far as I can her son, but if you push it," Frank Connor
warned. This was the first time in a very long time that he could remember
having to act to sternly towards his teenage son.
"I am telling you something is going on at that school today," Casey said,
trying to retell the story he had already tried to get them to listen to five or six
times.
"Okay that does it, no more privileges," his father said. "No phone," he announced and confiscated the cordless phone Casey had used the night before.
"No Internet," he added, removing a small portable box from the table.
"No music," he said, looking at his son each time he took something to make
sure he understood that it was a punishment.
The members of the Fellowship though had no misconceptions that what Casey's
father was doing was indeed a punishment. The teenager was leaning up against
a wall just inside the bedroom door and couldn't hold back the gasps of frustration
he was feeling as he watched his father move about the room, taking his stuff away. He kept moving around restlessly, unable to comprehend when the unfair
treatment would end but not wanting to make things worse by voicing a verbal
objection.
"His porno collection," his mother whispered to his father and pointed to the
double mattress.
"His porno collection?" his father said almost in disbelief, not angry but surprised
that his son had kept such a thing secret. He lifted the first mattress and discovered two magazines there, concealed from view up until now.
"Sorry pal," his father said, waving them in front of them. Casey's face changed
from one of frustration to shame and then embarrassment at the thought that his
mother knew he had them in the first place.
"What is in them," an innocent sounding Pippin asked, trying to get a look at the
pictures on the front. Sam had seen them first though and gasped out in shock,
attempting to cover Merry and Pippin's eyes from such a site and looking back
at his master. "I didn't think it was possible Mr Frodo," he uttered, not meaning
to sound to harsh as to his friend's liking of such material.
"You are grounded," his father now said, standing in front of him. "You will come directly home each day after school," he began adding.
"I am not going back to that school," Casey said as his fear began to rise again
as to what he had seen. "They are waiting for me, I know it."
There was no way that the Fellowship wanted the ring-bearer to go back to
that place of evil either, but they were unable to stop any of the madness that
was ensuing.
"Oh you will go back, even if I have to tie to the bloody desk myself," his
father said, making it a statement rather than a request.
"We are going to get you some help," his mother said, trying to convince herself
that it was definitely a problem for a specialist.
"We love you son, but we are going to have to be tough to help you," his father
said. "Clean up your room," as both of them now went downstairs.
"What are we going to do Sam," Frodo said as he sat down on his bed and tried
to sort out the various thoughts roaming around his head. The little dog had
taken to hiding under the bed whilst the room was searched, only coming back
out when Casey was left alone.
"I have to get out of here," Casey announced to himself, grabbing a jacket
and putting it on. He now went to the bed and began arranging the pillows
in an unusual fashion.
"What is he doing?" Merry asked out loud.
Casey had heard the question and while thinking that he was hearing voices
again, decided to answer the question anyway.
"Hopefully it will be good enough to fool them that I am in bed if they come
in to check up on me," Casey said, now placing the blankets over the pillows.
It then began clearer to the Fellowship what he was trying to do.
"Now, I need some distraction," he said and looked about the room for something
that would work. His portable stereo had been taken so that was out. The TV
maybe, but he had that on every night so it might be too much of a risk. His eyes
finally settled onto the computer and printer on his table and an idea came to him.
Aragorn and the others what in confusion now as Casey raced to the keyboard
and his hands began flying over the letters. His eyes kept on the printer beside
him until it began making odd noises and spitting out paper. The machine
continued to work once the teenager moved away from the table.
Frodo now lifted the window to his room and prepared to let himself down the
drain pipe.
"You can't go out there Mr Frodo," Sam said, worry over his master creeping
through in his voice. He saw his master pause with one foot still in the room,
and thought that his words might have somehow gotten through to him.
As they moved to the window though, Frodo's friends saw that something else
held the boy's attention at present. As Casey looked out over the roof of
his house and down to the street below, he saw three shadowy figures just
outside his house.
"They followed me here," he voiced in fright, recognizing Coach Willis,
Ms Drake and Mrs Olsen standing on the footpath.
The fear in him made him loose his footing and instead of pulling his foot
back inside the room for safety, the Fellowship watched in panic as the
teenager fell, landing on the iron roof and then sliding unceremoniously
downwards.
"Ah………. ah……… oooofff," Casey exclaimed as he completed a most
spectacular dive into the shrubby below his window. He was laying on
his stomach and trying to get his breath back when he realised that the
teachers had seen him fall and were possibly close enough to grab him.
Casey jumped to his feet, his unseen friends, sighing audibly in relief that
the ring-bearer seemed no worse for wear after his dramatic fall from the
window.
"What the hell are you doing out here?" came a voice behind him. Casey
turned to see his Dad had heard the noise from the roof and had come
out into the front yard to see what it was.
"Dad, their here, they followed me………." Casey said looking back
to where he had seen the three standing only a few minutes ago.
Only trouble was, there wasn't anybody there now. The area was illuminated
by the streetlight on the corner and there was nothing there now but an
empty footpath.
"Get in the house," Frank said to his son, looking around for what his son
was talking about. He couldn't see anybody.
Casey walked back into his room and closed the door, closing his eyes briefly
as the fear in him began to subside. It didn't go away altogether though.
"I have to go back tomorrow," Casey said aloud to himself. "I have to talk
to Delilah," knowing that she was the only other witness to what had happened.
Casey grabbed one of his videos from his library and put it into the machine
and pressed play. He knew that sleep would not be coming easily tonight
as he kept looking back to the window. He had to try and take his mind
away from the images plaguing him.
He hadn't really been taking any notice of which movie it was. The next
few words he heard, chilled him to the core as he realised just what they meant:
"Cannot get out…………. they are coming."
TO BE CONTINUED……….
Sorry but I couldn't seem to put too much different into this chapter from the
movie except to entirely change the way the teachers were infected.
The lines are not entirely correct, going from memory. Anything else is
entirely made up. Not much happened in this chapter.
Time for some hurt Casey in the next one as I change what happened in the
classroom with Furlong a little (heheh) LOL.
Just for fun. Hope you like.
JULES