Chapter Five: Aftermath Waiting
Disclaimer: You know the deal. I don't own anything except Aila and the plot. Basically, yeah.
A/N: Okay, yeah, I don't think you could learn Sindarin fluently for real, but for the sake of this story, let's say that you can learn it fluently *within reason.* So yea. Oh and I finally got my laptop (YEAH!) so progress will be so much quicker now. It's the weekend, but once I go back to SLS it'll slow down a little, a LITTLE. SLS is Summer Leadership School for AJROTC. If any of you are interested in what the hell AFJROTC is, e-mail me at air_force_fighterpilot@yahoo.com cool?
…
Darkness enveloped Aila's eyes as she stepped through the silvery glass into her own world again. Blinking several times and opening her eyelids wide opened, Aila couldn't imagine why it was still dark in her world. She hadn't been gone for a whole day, it should be bright outside and her mother should be screaming because she couldn't find Aila anywhere.
Immediately, she ran to her luminescent clock, and it read 1:43 am. Her eyes were wide in shock, one question running through her mind: had time stopped while she was in Middle Earth? She watched her clock for a few more seconds and watched it click to 1:44 am. That small movement was enough to finally drill it into her mind that time stopped while she was in Middle Earth.
Surprising drowsiness overtook her and she drifted off into a deep, pleasant sleep.
...
Glowing red met her eyes as the sun beamed through her window, smiling down on her body, which lay spread-eagled on her bed. Slowly, Aila opened her eyes, shading them with her hand against the light. Yawning and stretching, still horizontal, Aila flipped her long brown hair from her shoulder, which fell in waves across her pillow.
Memories of the previous night flooded through her head and a smile spread across her pink lips. Her light brown eyes fell upon the mirror, utterly pleased with her purchase, but she was suddenly disquieted when she noticed the crack in the mirror was indeed lessening.
"Just another wonder of my simple mirror," Aila laughed to herself, whispering in her drowsiness, but smiling in amusement. It was almost eight o'clock in the morning and she realized she had only slept for six hours, but felt quite rested. Standing up, she pushed the boxes to the outskirts of her carpet, to prevent herself from falling again.
Aila's day went quite smoothly, considering no one yelled at her for being in another world for almost half a day, and then returning to the real world as she had left it, exactly WHEN she had left it. She retained her smile for almost the entire day, thinking of what would happen once it was dark and eleven o'clock reigned across her clock. Aila was fidgeting most of the day, barely able to wait until she could visit Arwen and Rivendell again.
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy smiled at her from her white bookcase as she lay in bed early in the morning, not wanting to wake up, but unable to fall back asleep. Aila had never really been a morning person, but she could not help but feel pleasure sweep over her body. The Trilogy was real. It was as real as any of the history books she had studied out of in social studies. Reaching out a hand quivering in excitement, Aila grabbed the Trilogy and hugged them closely to her, thanking her good friend Ben who had started her on the series six years ago.
"Thanks Ben, you're a cool kid!" she whispered to no one in particular, but joyous that she had been to Middle Earth. "It wasn't a dream either," she told herself, remembering the pain of hitting the floor and the heat of the Hall of Fire and so on. She could hardly get over the fact that she had actually saluted Lord Elrond. This was huge! Gigantic! Monumental!
Cartwheels never being something she could do, Aila jumped in the air in her overwhelming joy. Realizing she was making quite a din, Aila calmed herself down enough to sit upon her bed and just smile. For the entire day she was like that, barely able to maintain her serenity while she cleaned the mirror (careful not to fall through it) and polished the scuffed wood. Her smile widened as she told herself repeatedly that this mirror was well worth $37.
She listened to music on her laptop for most of her day, taking breaks to eat some salad or fruit. Aila hadn't used to be quite so health conscious, but becoming a vegetarian made her that. Vegetarianism wasn't something many people thought she could achieve, but she had been a vegetarian for about 8 years now. She was just so military-oriented and tough that nobody even gave a thought to it that she may not eat anything that had a mother. Several times she got up and danced in front of her notebook just for effect of her happy attitude.
After what seemed like decades, the sun finally made the impression of setting. Red streaked the sky and illuminated the clouds that floated randomly through the periwinkle sky. It gave an eerie feeling that even Aila couldn't ignore in her good mood. She shivered as she looked up into the sky, but it wasn't of fear, more of longing to be one with the foreboding sky. Always had she wanted to fly. To spread her imaginary wings and soar with the fluffy clouds that crowded the sky. That was why she had joined AFJROTC: she had wanted to fly. However, it wasn't for her, the military requirements were too much for her. Her sight wasn't up to par and she could not fly. Instead, she decided to pursue an education at Yale, for achieving her 1600. Knowing whatever she chose to do would be a successful life for her.
However, it wasn't finding something you're good at that was her problem. It was finding something she loved. Someone she loved. These proved much too difficult for her. The sky was darkening to purple as she thought of all of this, lost in her thoughts, she reclined on the hammock, relaxing in the soft light. The sun threw its final rays over the earth in a last ditch effort to cover mother earth in its light.
Sighing as the clock ticked to 10:30 she logged back into her laptop and sent a few e-mails to high school friends, saying how much she would miss them and that they should stay in touch. They never would, she knew. After high school, everyone just loses touch. The only person she had even kept in touch with from her 7th grade year, in which she was in northern California instead of southern, she kept in touch with her good friend Ben through e-mails, but that was basically it. She still called Michelle every now and then, but not quite as often as Ben. He was the only one who really responded though, so it was cool. She sent another e-mail to Ben, telling him that he had to get his own computer so that he could e-mail her from college. Ben was going to Harvard, he was a genius like her. He also got a 1600 on his SAT.
11 o'clock finally rolled around on her clock and she sat at her computer for a few more seconds, not wanting to seem too desperate to go to Middle Earth, knowing she was being ridiculous. Punctuality was a quality that she took pride in, though she was certain that Arwen wouldn't mind if she was a few minutes late. Breathing deeply, Aila prepared herself to step through the mirror once more. This time, however, she was purposely going through it and she smiled to herself at her own luck.
Disclaimer: You know the deal. I don't own anything except Aila and the plot. Basically, yeah.
A/N: Okay, yeah, I don't think you could learn Sindarin fluently for real, but for the sake of this story, let's say that you can learn it fluently *within reason.* So yea. Oh and I finally got my laptop (YEAH!) so progress will be so much quicker now. It's the weekend, but once I go back to SLS it'll slow down a little, a LITTLE. SLS is Summer Leadership School for AJROTC. If any of you are interested in what the hell AFJROTC is, e-mail me at air_force_fighterpilot@yahoo.com cool?
…
Darkness enveloped Aila's eyes as she stepped through the silvery glass into her own world again. Blinking several times and opening her eyelids wide opened, Aila couldn't imagine why it was still dark in her world. She hadn't been gone for a whole day, it should be bright outside and her mother should be screaming because she couldn't find Aila anywhere.
Immediately, she ran to her luminescent clock, and it read 1:43 am. Her eyes were wide in shock, one question running through her mind: had time stopped while she was in Middle Earth? She watched her clock for a few more seconds and watched it click to 1:44 am. That small movement was enough to finally drill it into her mind that time stopped while she was in Middle Earth.
Surprising drowsiness overtook her and she drifted off into a deep, pleasant sleep.
...
Glowing red met her eyes as the sun beamed through her window, smiling down on her body, which lay spread-eagled on her bed. Slowly, Aila opened her eyes, shading them with her hand against the light. Yawning and stretching, still horizontal, Aila flipped her long brown hair from her shoulder, which fell in waves across her pillow.
Memories of the previous night flooded through her head and a smile spread across her pink lips. Her light brown eyes fell upon the mirror, utterly pleased with her purchase, but she was suddenly disquieted when she noticed the crack in the mirror was indeed lessening.
"Just another wonder of my simple mirror," Aila laughed to herself, whispering in her drowsiness, but smiling in amusement. It was almost eight o'clock in the morning and she realized she had only slept for six hours, but felt quite rested. Standing up, she pushed the boxes to the outskirts of her carpet, to prevent herself from falling again.
Aila's day went quite smoothly, considering no one yelled at her for being in another world for almost half a day, and then returning to the real world as she had left it, exactly WHEN she had left it. She retained her smile for almost the entire day, thinking of what would happen once it was dark and eleven o'clock reigned across her clock. Aila was fidgeting most of the day, barely able to wait until she could visit Arwen and Rivendell again.
The Lord of the Rings Trilogy smiled at her from her white bookcase as she lay in bed early in the morning, not wanting to wake up, but unable to fall back asleep. Aila had never really been a morning person, but she could not help but feel pleasure sweep over her body. The Trilogy was real. It was as real as any of the history books she had studied out of in social studies. Reaching out a hand quivering in excitement, Aila grabbed the Trilogy and hugged them closely to her, thanking her good friend Ben who had started her on the series six years ago.
"Thanks Ben, you're a cool kid!" she whispered to no one in particular, but joyous that she had been to Middle Earth. "It wasn't a dream either," she told herself, remembering the pain of hitting the floor and the heat of the Hall of Fire and so on. She could hardly get over the fact that she had actually saluted Lord Elrond. This was huge! Gigantic! Monumental!
Cartwheels never being something she could do, Aila jumped in the air in her overwhelming joy. Realizing she was making quite a din, Aila calmed herself down enough to sit upon her bed and just smile. For the entire day she was like that, barely able to maintain her serenity while she cleaned the mirror (careful not to fall through it) and polished the scuffed wood. Her smile widened as she told herself repeatedly that this mirror was well worth $37.
She listened to music on her laptop for most of her day, taking breaks to eat some salad or fruit. Aila hadn't used to be quite so health conscious, but becoming a vegetarian made her that. Vegetarianism wasn't something many people thought she could achieve, but she had been a vegetarian for about 8 years now. She was just so military-oriented and tough that nobody even gave a thought to it that she may not eat anything that had a mother. Several times she got up and danced in front of her notebook just for effect of her happy attitude.
After what seemed like decades, the sun finally made the impression of setting. Red streaked the sky and illuminated the clouds that floated randomly through the periwinkle sky. It gave an eerie feeling that even Aila couldn't ignore in her good mood. She shivered as she looked up into the sky, but it wasn't of fear, more of longing to be one with the foreboding sky. Always had she wanted to fly. To spread her imaginary wings and soar with the fluffy clouds that crowded the sky. That was why she had joined AFJROTC: she had wanted to fly. However, it wasn't for her, the military requirements were too much for her. Her sight wasn't up to par and she could not fly. Instead, she decided to pursue an education at Yale, for achieving her 1600. Knowing whatever she chose to do would be a successful life for her.
However, it wasn't finding something you're good at that was her problem. It was finding something she loved. Someone she loved. These proved much too difficult for her. The sky was darkening to purple as she thought of all of this, lost in her thoughts, she reclined on the hammock, relaxing in the soft light. The sun threw its final rays over the earth in a last ditch effort to cover mother earth in its light.
Sighing as the clock ticked to 10:30 she logged back into her laptop and sent a few e-mails to high school friends, saying how much she would miss them and that they should stay in touch. They never would, she knew. After high school, everyone just loses touch. The only person she had even kept in touch with from her 7th grade year, in which she was in northern California instead of southern, she kept in touch with her good friend Ben through e-mails, but that was basically it. She still called Michelle every now and then, but not quite as often as Ben. He was the only one who really responded though, so it was cool. She sent another e-mail to Ben, telling him that he had to get his own computer so that he could e-mail her from college. Ben was going to Harvard, he was a genius like her. He also got a 1600 on his SAT.
11 o'clock finally rolled around on her clock and she sat at her computer for a few more seconds, not wanting to seem too desperate to go to Middle Earth, knowing she was being ridiculous. Punctuality was a quality that she took pride in, though she was certain that Arwen wouldn't mind if she was a few minutes late. Breathing deeply, Aila prepared herself to step through the mirror once more. This time, however, she was purposely going through it and she smiled to herself at her own luck.