Well despite the graphic violence I'm glad you liked it! Enjoy the next one!
Chapter Twenty-three
Face the Truth
The morning passed away lazily at Camp Glingal. After confirming what Kisha already knew with the phone call to Gwen, she went down to the beach for a swim. Ulmo, Eärendil, Nimrodel, Galadriel, Arwen, Oromë, and various others were in the water for a swim. Manwë sat on the lifeguard chair and watched from above. Kisha laughed and Manwë looked down.
"What's so funny?" he asked.
"You just can't get away from sitting at the highest point and watching everything can you?" she said.
"Well Ulmo didn't want the lifeguard job and so I said I'd do it."
"Figures."
Kisha leaned against the lifeguard chair.
"I called Gwen and she said she had locked Sauron in the trunk. She told me it better be worth it. What are we even going to do?" she said.
Manwë shrugged.
"I don't know. Fëanor and his sons are the ones planning it. They said there would be a big meeting in the staff living room tonight about it," Manwë replied.
"Okay."
She looked at the water and saw that a fierce game of beach volleyball was nearing its end. It finished when Ulmo spiked it and won the game for the staff members.
"Oh yeah! Go us!" danced Tulkas.
Manwë rolled his eyes.
"He's really not acting like a Valar anymore."
Gwen shrugged.
"I think camp life is getting to him."
"That could very well be."
--
Thuringwethil had fallen asleep on Sauron's shoulder and ten minutes later he too was asleep. The two had been snoring loudly for an hour until Gwen smacked them with a flyswatter. Morgoth watched the road through the car window and Gwen turned on the radio to kill the silence. She flipped through the channels until she found Celtic tunes at dial 101.3. The best Celtic collection across the pond- as the channel always advertised. At the moment Celtic fiddle by Gaelic Storm was playing. The song was slow and sad but pretty, really pretty.
"Are you alright Gwen?" Morgoth asked. He had noticed that Gwen was unusually quiet. She never even yelled at the three of them when they acted up.
Gwen never turned her head from the road. She was afraid that the face she would see would not be fair but horrible and menacing.
"Is this about what happened at the rest stop?" he asked.
She nodded. Thuringwethil and Sauron continued to sleep in the back.
"I think we got carried away."
Gwen nodded.
"You're damn bloody right! What were you thinking? You could have just scared the man! You didn't have to kill him!" Gwen yelled.
Sauron and Thuringwethil stirred in the back seat.
"You're probably not used to seeing that. I should have just knocked him out and left."
Gwen nodded again. The song picked up into a beautiful fast fiddle solo.
"I know you're a Dark Lord and I know it's in your nature but still!" Gwen exclaimed.
Morgoth sighed and mulled over the words in his head before he spoke them.
"I've never been sincere about these words in my entire being of existence but I'm sorry."
Now Gwen turned to look at him. She looked into his eyes and didn't see the cold face of a killer but of one who looked truly sorry. She gulped and looked at the road again.
"Thanks," she said.
"For what?" Morgoth asked.
"Saving my life, for the second time," she replied as she pulled the car over on the shoulder.
"What are you doing?" Morgoth asked.
She leaned over and gave him two kisses on the cheek.
"What was that for?" he asked after Gwen pulled back on the road. For a second he had sat in stunned silence.
"I didn't give you a kiss the first time you saved my life."
"Oh." Morgoth managed to mumble.
Sauron stirred and woke up.
"What'd I miss?" he asked sitting up. Thuringwethil still slept on his shoulder.
Gwen smiled and Morgoth laughed.
"I didn't miss out on the kiss Sauron," Morgoth replied.
--
The staff played another game of volleyball and this time Manwë and Kisha joined in. By now half of the campers and most of the staff were at the beach either playing volleyball or cheering on their side. The beach time ended around twelve when a clap of thunder rolled off in the distance. Kisha gave a sigh and told everyone to head in. She didn't want to be responsible for a camper getting struck by lighting in the lake. Kisha went to her room and changed from her bathing suit into a nice pair of shorts and a t-shirt.
Kisha found out that some of the campers were in the arts and crafts building with Celebrimbor forging rings and other jewellery and weaponry. Another group of campers were in the theatre acting out scenes from musicals and plays. Some campers lounged in the Great Hall and watched movies and played board games. Others joined the hobbits in the kitchen for lessons on cooking. All in all everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves on a very peaceful day at camp. Kisha wondered where Gwen and the others were by now but decided not to call. She walked into the living room and saw Fëanor and his sons. They appeared to be plotting.
"Care to join us Kisha? We're creating the master prank…" Fëanor said.
"Yes, the one prank to rule them all!" Maedhros exclaimed.
"Shut up with that!" Maglor, Amras, Amrod, Celegorm, Curufin, and Caranthir exclaimed.
Maedhros shrunk in his chair and blushed.
"I'm sorry, I couldn't help it."
Kisha laughed.
"No thanks, I'll be at the meeting tonight though," she replied.
"Good."
Kisha walked out of the living room and went to the kitchen. Inside the hobbits were teaching some campers how to cook. It wasn't going so well.
"Argh! No! You don't cook that with taters!" exclaimed Sam running to pull the chicken from the boiling pot.
"But…"
"No, fish and taters or rabbit and taters but not chicken and taters, that will just taste nasty," exclaimed Sam.
Kisha decided she needed some place calmer to go and so she took off for a walk in the woods. As she walked up the parking lot she was joined by Oromë and Araglas.
"Good afternoon Kisha. How are you today?" Araglas asked.
She shrugged.
"Doing well I suppose, it's too calm without the constant chaos of Morgoth and Sauron though."
The two nodded.
"Yes, I can't wait for their return sad to say," Oromë said.
"I'm really looking forward to their return. Forty-seven million dollars is enough to get anybody excited," Kisha replied.
Araglas nodded.
"I would have to agree with you on that one."
The three walked deeper into the woods. They lost track of where they were due to excessive amounts of talking and laughter. In the hours Kisha talked with Oromë and Araglas, she got to know them really well and it wasn't until the sun started to dip that they decided it was time to head back to camp.
"Which way back?" Araglas asked.
Kisha looked around and shrugged.
"Um, I have no idea," she replied.
"We can't be lost. That's impossible," Oromë exclaimed.
Kisha looked around. Nothing seemed familiar to her. They had gone past the point of the woods that she had known.
"I can't believe this! We're lost in the woods! What makes it worse is that ones a Dúnedain and the other is a Valar. A Valar of hunting none the less!"
Araglas sighed.
"Well I'm guessing there's only one thing to do."
"And what's that?" Oromë asked.
"HELP!" screamed Araglas. The cry was then taken up by Kisha and then Oromë then bellowed out a very loud cry of help.
--
Gwen checked the digital clock in the car and saw that it read thirteen-thirty. For the past five miles Sauron and Thuringwethil began a chant of 'are we there yet?' Gwen wondered how in the name of Ilúvatar they knew of the annoying phrase. She pulled out the flyswatter and told Morgoth to hit them every time they said that. Gwen had pulled off at a gas station and filled up the car again around eleven and now it appeared to be running on empty again.
"I'm hungry," Sauron exclaimed.
"Me too," Thuringwethil added.
Gwen pulled off the highway and went to the nearest gas station.
"Wow, she actually listened to us for once," Sauron said.
Gwen got out.
"Stay here. I need to fill up the car again," Gwen ordered.
"But we're hungry!"
"Look, we've got a half hour drive till we get to Walisack. We'll get something to eat after they've deposited the check into my bank account."
"Why?"
"Because I only have thirty dollars left and I need that for gas!" she replied.
"Oh."
Gwen filled up the car and went inside to pay for the gas. Five minutes later she emerged and they drove off towards Walisack.
A half hour later they arrived in the big city. The buildings seemed to reach the sky and heavy smog lay on the city. Cars honked, people swore at each other, and dogs barked loudly. In the distance they could hear the sound of police cars and ambulances.
"Welcome to Walisack," Gwen said.
Sauron's face was glued to the window.
"This place is great!"
Gwen rolled her eyes.
"Yeah it is, now let's just get to the lottery building and get this over with. I don't want to stay in Walisack for longer then need be."
Gwen drove down the city streets and finally found the lottery building on the corner of forty-ninth and Main St. She parked the car in the lot and the four got out.
"Now listen, I don't know how long this is going to take so I don't want to hear any whining. Act your age okay? If they ask you your names make something up okay?"
"Why?" Thuringwethil asked.
"Because Morgoth, Sauron, and Thuringwethil sound a bit odd don't you think?"
"Not really."
"Well they do. Now come on," Gwen ordered.
The three followed Gwen inside the lottery building. It was a very large building filled with people in suits. Gwen felt very out of place as she walked up to the receptionist desk. The lady behind the desk was typing something into a computer. Gwen glanced down and saw the name plate on the desk. The lady was a Mrs. Abigail Fremantle.
"Good afternoon Mrs. Fremantle," Gwen started.
Mrs. Fremantle looked up and smiled.
"You must be Gwen Mosé," she said.
Gwen nodded.
Mrs. Fremantle extended her hand and shook Gwen's.
"We got a call from the Stop N' Go telling us you would be here. If you would, please come this way so you can begin filling out paperwork," she said politely as she stood up and led the group to a door. She opened the door and ushered the four in and handed Gwen a pile of paperwork.
"You may sit in here and fill out the paperwork. Your three companions might get a bit bored so there are books and magazines on the coffee table and the remote for the TV is also there. Let me know when you're done with the paperwork," she said as she continued to smile. Gwen smiled back and gave a nod in response. The lady left the room and Gwen sat down to begin filling out the paperwork.
"How long is this going to take?" Thuringwethil asked as she flopped on one of the chairs and picked up the TV remote.
Gwen flipped through the papers.
"I'm guessing a half hour."
--
"They're never going to let us live this down," Kisha said after she called out 'help' for the thirtieth time.
"Well I'm not the one who got us lost, you did," stated Araglas.
"Shut up."
Kisha had tried using her cell phone but the battery had died before she could get the number in. The sun had now gone down and the three were lost in the darkness of the woods.
"HELP!" bellowed Oromë.
"I don't think they can hear us," Kisha said in disgust.
"Well why don't we keep walking? Maybe we will reach the end of the woods," Araglas suggested.
Kisha shrugged.
"Fine by me," she replied.
The three began walking in the woods aimlessly.
"You know this shouldn't happen," Kisha said.
"And if we were in Middle-earth this would not have happened," added Oromë.
It started to get cold and the only light was from the full moon that rested in the sky amid the many stars.
After an hour of walking they came across the lights of camp.
"Oh thank Ilúvatar," exclaimed Kisha running forward.
Araglas and Oromë followed suit and pretty soon they were out of the woods and in the parking lot of the camp. Aragorn was sitting on the porch of Lammoth smoking a pipe.
"Well where have you three been?" he asked.
"We had a very pleasant walk in the woods," Kisha replied.
"You didn't get lost did you?"
All three turned and shouted, "NO!"
--
Two hours later Gwen still sat in the same position filling out the last of the paperwork. She seemed very dishevelled and ticked off. Thuringwethil and Sauron were engulfed in a show on CBC called 'What it's like being alone' and Morgoth had read all the magazines and now was now reading book number three. It was a quarter after five when Gwen put the pen down.
"Done!" she exclaimed.
Morgoth put his book down and looked over her shoulder.
"You missed a signature there, there, and there," he said as he pointed to them.
Gwen grumbled.
"Stupid paperwork," she said sighed her name for the fiftieth time.
She checked over everything she had signed and went to the door. Upon opening it she found the receptionist typing on the computer again.
"I'm done," she said.
Abigail looked up and smiled.
"Wow, that's record timing. Now I'll just take those," Abigail said.
Gwen handed her the paperwork.
"Okay now the only thing that remains is how you want the money. Would you like one lump sum of forty-seven million transferred to your bank account or would you like a million dollars a year for forty-seven years?"
"One lump sum please," Gwen replied.
She typed something into the computer and looked up.
"Okay that's it. The money is in your bank account and due to the massive amount of money in it; a password will be required every time you go to withdraw money."
"What kind of password?" Gwen asked.
Abigail shrugged.
"Any kind, though a name and a number attached to it might work."
Gwen thought for a moment.
"I got one; Morgoth," she replied.
The lady typed it in.
"That's an odd one. Nobody will ever know that one so I don't even think you need numbers with that. Have a good day Miss. Mosé," she said.
Gwen nodded.
"Thank you very much Mrs. Fremantle," Gwen replied.
She poked her head through the door.
"Come on, let's go get something to eat now," Gwen said to them with a smile.
Sauron and Thuringwethil jumped out of their chairs and Morgoth set his book down.
"It's about time, what it is? Five thirty?"
Gwen checked her watch.
"No, it's closer to six."