Disclaimer: Go read chapter 1...

Yet again, I apologize...I had a brain fart on what I where I was going from here, so I had to watch The Crow again for inspiration, and damn if I didn't strike gold! Keep in mind that really soon there are going to be transitions from where Arlene is, to back where she come from, and to where the monkey-butt the brought her to M.E. is hiding out at. But maybe I've said too much. Anyways, I got two reasons for not getting this out sooner: 1) My dad worked Saturday, so I couldn't get to the library and 2) I'm voting early, so more than likely there's gonna be a long line...hey just half a million people (including me) are new registered voters in my county alone! So if you can get out and vote, by all means do it!

Enough of my preaching, here's the story.

: :Tears For Two Reasons: :

The room was filled with silence once I finished telling my story. Arwen finally stopped crying, to my relief. I felt so guilty for making her cry. But the fact that no one was talking was putting me on the spot, and I felt like I should say something else, but I couldn't think of a thing. Elrond came to my rescue.

"These attackers, Lady Arlene, did they have any distinguishing characteristics?"

...white...white hand prints?...yeah, that sounds about right...

"Well, they each had a white hand print that was either placed on their face, head or neck. Why?"

Elrond's brows were furrowed in thought. "It sounds to me like the work of Sarumon the White."

"But that's impossible, my Lord!" Aragorn stated, moving over to the Elf-Lord. "Sauron and Saruman have been defeated. How can it be possible that these attackers even exist?"

My temper got the better of me. "Are you doubting my word just because I'm not from around here, is that it? I'm sorry to tell you this, but I am not lying! If you claim me to be a liar, then explain how received these injuries! I'm not the kind of person that is dumb enough to cut themselves just to get attention! So please explain, my Lord." I said.

Needless to say that I caught the attention of everyone in the room with that little rant. Aragorn looked shocked at my outburst. "My deepest apologies, lady Arlene. I have no doubt in your word. I also understand that you are not from here, so let me explain: Saruman the White bred thousands of Uruk-hai that he branded with a white hand print, an insignia of sorts. Now that Isenguard has been taken over, he has no power to breed the evil. That is why I am finding it hard to believe that these creatures could walk the lands of Middle earth again."

"I see, well then, I accept your apology. Now my question to you is this: Is there anyone that could have conjured up those things again, someone that might be linked with Saruman?"

Gandalf shook his head. "We are not sure. Is there someone from your time that could have intentions to kill you.?"

I laughed, something they weren't expecting. If you only knew... "You'll find this hard to believe, but I have family members that want my head on a plate?"

"Why? What could you do that could make your family want to kill you?" Elladan asked.

"Succeed."

"I'm lost."

"That doesn't surprise me, brother."

"It doesn't surprise me, either, Elrohir. I guess you'd just have to know my family, my moms' side to be precise. They feel that if everyone around them is miserable, then they' feel like they've accomplished something. They can't stand for someone to succeed at something, and they are extremely prejudice. They won't have anything to do with you if you're broke, but if you suddenly come into money, they're willing to help out with anything and everything until you're poor again, then they want nothing to do with you. I've lived for 24 years, and it wasn't until I was 16 that I realized that fact. I guess it's better to know the truth no matter how much it hurts than to play ignorant to it."

Again, more silence. Come to think of it, if I was a stranger that had just heard that, it would take a minute for me to comprehend it all.

Out of the corner of my eye, I saw my bag sitting at the foot of the bed. When I made an attempt to grab for it, Arwen pushed me back into the pillows.

"If you wanted your bag, all you had to do was ask and I would get it for you."

"Sorry, I'm not used to asking for help much. I've had to do a lot for myself."

Arwen plopped the bag in my lap and I muttered a thank you to her before unzipping the large black duffel. Oh boy, I don't even remember what's in here...

The first thing that I pulled put was my laptop. I wonder if that even works. Then out came my Halloween costume and the boots that went with it. CRAP! "Um, Arwen, what is today's date?"

"The date? It's the 26th of October. Why do you ask?"

"Because on the 31st, me and some friends of mine get together to celebrate Halloween, and this year we were going to go to a Haunted House called Kersey Valley Spookywoods, then go back to one of their houses and have a party."

"What is this Halloween that you speak of?" Elladan asked.

"And what's a haunted house?" Elrohir added.

"Halloween is a holiday that we celebrate in my time, based on the old myths of All Hallows Eve, saying that it is the one night of the year in which the spirits can return from the dead and walk the Earth. Some people call the day before Halloween Devils Night, for some reason or other, I'm not quite sure. A haunted house is something that groups of people put together that range in size and scariness that others pay to come walk through to get the bejesus scared out of them. Kersey Valley Spookywoods is just that. Me and my friend Amanda went to it last year. There were four parts to it: a haunted house, a haunted tram ride, a corn maze, and then on to Spookywoods itself. We got there early and were one of the first groups to go. The woman sending people in had us wait on the porch of the house. There were signs outside that said that there were cameras stationed all over, so that everything was being recorded, some that said that young children, pregnant women, and people with heart conditions shouldn't continue, some that said that the company wasn't responsible for anyone pissing, shitting, or throwing up due to the effects used. Amanda poked me in the arm, and when I turned around, there was this guy in black with white gloves and a mask on, motioning for me and Amanda to follow. The first room we went in had a long table with what looked like two people sitting there. One voice boomed, 'Come on in! Come on in!' Then there was a loud THUMP! THUMP! THUMP! The booming voice said, 'My grandpa isn't too happy that yall didn't say happy birthday to him. Now it's not good to get Grandpa mad...just look at what happened to the last guy...'"

Everyone's attention was focused on the story, so I continued. "and out of nowhere, this bright green light was cast over this, this thing that looked like it had been turned inside out. We fled from that room, and walked down the hall. The bookcases and old chest of drawers creaked and moved and made moans and wails as we passed them. Finally we made it to the last room. It was a rickety old bedroom, with some guy sitting by the bed calling for us. 'Yall come over here and meet my old uncle Nicholas. Nah, don't stay back there, come to the foot of the bed, Uncle wants to give you girls a present.' Right when me and Amanda got the foot of the bed, this shrill scream rang out, and the thing in the bed was hooked up to cables that pulled it up over our heads. Just then a chain saw went off, and Amanda screamed. We both ducked on instinct, then the guy sitting by the bed got up and showed us to the door that had flung open." I attempted to make the best chain saw noise I could, but it wasn't the greatest. "Well, after that, came the tram ride, it's kind hard to explain how that works, I'm not evens sure what to call it. Anyways, Michael Myers, that's a make believe murderous character, hitched a ride with us for a little while. He got off before we reached the corn maze. A witch was waiting for us when we got there, and she showed us in. The first guy we came up on called himself 'Turd Man.' Real polite though. Well, there were different sounds going off and screams wailed and people hiding in places that you'd least expect. Putting it bluntly, Amanda almost yanked my arm out of socket she pulled on it so hard trying to get out of there. Well, my memory's kinda fuzzy when we passed through Spookywoods, but I do remember this one woman asking us to look for her brother, I think his name was "Cajun Bocephus Bo Cledus, or something like that. Once we made it through there, we were on our way back to the gates when we had to pass through a mock cemetery. But that's basically what Spookywoods is."

"That sounds like fun," Pippin sad.

"Yeah, it was. But my mom and grandmother told me about one that they went through when my mom was 16. They told me that they stopped running it because several people got hurt. The way it was set up was like this: You have to crawl on your hands and knees through this tunnel that is just a little more than shoulder width wide. And all along the sides there are windows that open up with scary images or people or sounds that try to scare you as you pass by. My grandmother, my mom, her brother Mike, who keep in mind was about 6 foot tall at the time, her sister Cheryl, and their cousin Robin went through it. My grandmother went in first, followed by Cheryl, Robin, then my mom and Mike was bringing up the rear. My mom said it wouldn't have been as scary if Cheryl and Robin weren't screaming so much. Then out of nowhere, something started coming up that tunnel after Mike, and when they got out, he was the first one. To this day they haven't figured out how he got past them so quickly."

The image from that story makes me laugh every time I think about it. I found that the next thing that I pulled out was a photo album. I laid that beside the laptop. There were also a couple pairs of jeans and some shirts and the basic necessities a girl needs. I found some tiny speakers that hooked up into the laptop along with an extensive collection of CDs that ranged from Gretchen Wilson to Kenny Chesney to Nickleback to Cher to Britney to Backstreet Boys to Alanis Morisette to Bare Naked Ladies...well, you get the idea. There were also a bunch of DVDs, some anime, like Sailor Moon, Yu Yu Hakusho, Love Hina, Tenchi Muyo, Gundam Wing, and Inuyasha, all 3 EE of the LOTR, Pirates of the Caribbean, Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, Blue Collar Comedy Tour, Candyman, things like that. There was also a couple of bags of Halloween candy, a can of Pringles, a bag of Cheetos, and my sketchbook with a few drawing pencils. Told you that duffel bag was big.

The evening went well, to say the least. I was up and walking around, with different people showing me around the palace. They went out of their way and had a room prepared for me, where they took my things. It took me a couple of tries, but I was able to navigate my way around the palace...somewhat.

At dinner, a toast was made to the new King of Gondor, and his soon to be Queen. That's right, he proposed, and she accepted. And like everyone that gets proposed to, she cried tears of joy. But something like a pang of jealousy shot through me for a split second. I don't know why. I've never been jealous of any of my friends having a boyfriend. Could it be that somewhere deep down I long for that kind of romance? Nonsense...it's not meant for me...

That night I lay awake in my bed for hours it seemed like just thinking. Nothing in particular, just random thoughts. Arwen and Aragorn's wedding would be the day after tomorrow. Then realization dawned on me: There was no surefire way that I would be getting home any time soon. What about Amanda and Sharon? Would they know if something happened to me? Of course they would, they're your friends. What if I never get home?

I had always dreamed of traveling back in time to Middle earth, and now I got my wish. But the first night I was there, I cried myself to sleep. Even though I was surrounded by lots of people, I have never felt so alone in my entire life then at that moment.

So you know, I changed the names of names to protect the ahem not so innocent. But the retelling of the trip to Spookywoods and the 'incident' that my mom and grandmother told me about is real, so I wanna thank them for giving me a mental image that I will forever laugh at. Don't forget to review, oh, and vote if you're of legal age!