THE GAP BETWEEN

REALITY AND IMAGINATION

PART ONE

PROLOGUE

"I call Frodo," Christian shouted over everyone else giving demands. "What? I'm obviously the best Frodo. Christian's too small," argued Stratton. "Christian called Frodo, and you're Pippin, cause he's the only character left," said Trent.

The sixth grade P.E. was outside having a free day. It was three weeks until school was out, and it was burning hot outside. The specific eight sixth graders we're talking about had decided to play Lord of the Rings. That was something they all agreed on was one of the coolest movies ever.

"Well, I wanna be Aragorn!" argued Shae. "Sorry, Taylor's Aragorn, and you're Merry," said Becca. "Who are you then?" asked Trent. "I'm Legolas," said Becca. "A girl can't be Legolas!" argued Clint.

The only problem with this decision of playing Lord of the Rings, is that everyone wanted to be Aragorn, Frodo, or Legolas.

Suddenly, a strong wind started to blow. Becca stopped arguing, and looked at the sky. Then, everyone else noticed Becca looking up, and looked up, too. The sky was almost black, and there were green clouds here and there. There were no birds singing, and everything was silent, except for the howl of the wind.

"What is it?" asked Christian. "Something bad," said Trent. "It's not bad, but it's not good either," said Becca. Then, the wind picked up even more, and rain started to hammer down in large drops. Everyone was soaked to the bone within five seconds.

"EVERYONE BACK INSIDE!" shouted Coach McDaniel over the pounding rain and roaring wind. The sixth grade hurried back towards the school. The wind picked up, if possible, even harder, and hail started to fall along with the rain.

Everyone was inside by now except for Christian, Trent, Stratton, Shae, Clint, Taylor, Becca, and Chris. Just then, the wind changed direction and started pulling them towards the football field.

Christian tripped, and reached for Trent for support. He caught Trent off balance, who grabbed, Shae, who grabbed Clint, who grabbed Taylor, who grabbed Becca, who grabbed Chris, who didn't grab anything. They all fell, and rolled all the way down the hill towards the football field.

By now, the hail had gotten as big as baseballs. Everyone had pretty much been hit on the head by now. The last thing everyone saw before they were knocked out was a humongous, blacker than night funnel cloud touching down on the ground.

With a groan, Becca opened her eyes. Her head throbbed in pain, and there was something sticking her in the back. Sitting up, she looked around at her surroundings. She was in a green forest. The thing that was poking her was a very large tree root.

Also on the ground around her were her friends. Everyone else was also waking up by now, and rubbing their heads. They all heaved themselves upright. "Where in the world are we?" asked Christian. "Well we're obviously in some kind of forest," said Trent. "That's really helpful there, Trent," said Stratton. "Maybe we should ask directions?" said Shae. "From what, the trees?" replied Taylor sarcastically. "That might not be such a bad idea, as either that tree over there is alive, or something is hiding behind it," said Becca, pointing to a tall, fat tree.

Everyone turned in the direction of the tree that Becca was pointing. "Chris, go tackle whatever it is," said Christian. "Why me?" groaned Chris. Trent shrugged.

Taylor crept forward, reached around the tree, and pulled out a person who was about as tall as them. "Let me go!" shouted the person. Taylor dropped the little man, and the little man stared at them. Actually, it wasn't a man at all, nor was it a child.

It was a twenty year old about Christian's height. He had curly brown hair, and was very skinny. All eight of the groups' jaws dropped. It was none other than Frodo Baggins from Lord of the Rings.

"It's...it's...is this possible?" stuttered Becca. "How?" said Chris, turning to look at everyone else. "This is so weird. Frodo," mumbled Christian. Frodo stared at them all. "How do you know me? What are you?" said Frodo, backing away from them.

"We're people from the future," said Trent. "A huge tornado thingy brought us here," said Stratton. "Sorry to scare you," added Shae. "The future? Tornado? What are you talking about?" asked Frodo. "The future is very later in the years. Try like millenniums away," said Clint.

"What are you here for?" asked Frodo. "We didn't come by choice, but we mean you no harm," said Becca. "Right," said Frodo. "Well, we know you're name, so we might as well tell you ours," said Chris.

The group of eight introduced themselves and shook hands with Frodo. "So, now that we're in the Shire, do you know where we could probably find somewhere safe to stay?" asked Christian. "Yes, you could stay at Bag End with Uncle Bilbo and I," said Frodo.

"Wait, shouldn't we be trying to find out how to get back home?" asked Trent. "Any suggestions?" said Stratton sarcastically. "All in favor of making the most out of our stay in the Shire?" called out Shae. "I!" shouted all but one out of the group.

"Lead the way, Frodo," said Clint. "Right. This way," said Frodo, waving at them to follow him. Frodo led them through the forest for a while. Becca trailed at the back with a slight frown. She was the one who hadn't agreed to stay the Shire. She knew what was probably going to happen. This was before the Lord of the Rings movie had started.

The War of the Ring was going to start any day now. They would be caught in the middle of it, possibly forced to fight in the war. This was not a good thing. No matter. She'd just bide her time and wait until someone noticed something. How she had known was that Frodo would be in Rivendell had the war already been over.

Eventually, they could see the edge of the forest, with hills and grasslands ahead. Suddenly, Frodo stopped and held out his arm to tell everyone to stop. He listened for a moment. Becca could hear it too. It was someone...an old man...singing.

The road goes ever on and on,

Down from the door where it began.

Now far ahead the road has gone,

And I must follow if I can.

Frodo turned to look at them with an immense grin spreading across his face. "You've all arrived here just in time. Gandalf is now here," said Frodo.