Okay, so, I thought it might be interesting to tell you that the key-in-foot accident actually happened this summer. :) (It happened to my brother though) and the conversation that took place in the story after it mirrored the real one when it happened. :) Also, my mum gave me an idea yesterday. She says she wants to read my story but she does not have time to read through 350 pages of written word. So, I have begun the undertaking of recording the story. Book-on-tape type thing. (Complete with sound effects!) So, when each chapter is completed I'll be putting it on my website if you're interested. :) Have a great day y'all and enjoy the chapter!
Chapter forty-seven
Forget about the future
After Kisha patched up Gwen's foot, Morgoth helped her to Angband and they went to bed. Seeing as it was around ten at night after such a long and busy day, Kisha then told everyone else to go to bed as well.
After the campers dispersed from the Great Lawn, Kisha walked into Lammoth and went to her room. She opened the door and found Manwë already under his bedcovers and Namo sitting on his bed with a sealed envelope in his hands. He handed Kisha the envelope.
"Do not open this until Gwen dies okay?" Namo asked.
Kisha furled her eyebrows.
"What are you talking about?"
Namo shushed her.
"Stick it in your drawer and forget about it until it happens. Then open it."
Kisha nodded and stuck the envelope in her bottom drawer of her dresser in the far back.
"When will she die?" Kisha asked. Though in her heart she did not want to know the answer.
"I cannot tell you that."
Kisha sighed and pulled out her bedclothes. She left the room and walked down the hallway to the bathrooms. On the way she passed the door of Angband and sighed a second time.
This is just pure insanity.
--
Dennis was up bright and early Monday morning. He stood in the middle of his room with a baseball bat and practiced his swings. Back at home, he played baseball for his school and he was considered their best hitter. Not only because he was a switch-hitter but because he never failed to at least get a triple every time he had gone up to bat.
After practicing his swings for a few minutes, Kash woke up and sat up.
"Morning Kash! Today's the baseball game! The staff may have beaten us in song recognition, the course, general knowledge, and soccer but we will win this baseball game!" he promised.
Kash shrugged and sprawled back down in bed. He pulled the covers over his head.
"Okay, have fun."
--
Everyone couldn't wait for breakfast to end as most wanted to play baseball. The baseball game always held the most enthusiasm from the campers, as everyone always knew how to play. The staff, on the other hand, had no idea how to play baseball and so Kisha and Gwen gave them the quick run down on how to play. Morgoth thought it was the dumbest game ever while Manwë thought it could be interesting. Once breakfast ended, the campers quickly left the dining hall and grabbed some gloves, balls, and baseball bats.
--
The game started with the campers up to bat. Manwë was chosen to be pitcher while his brother opted to be catcher. Since Gwen couldn't really do anything in the game, she decided to be umpire. On first base was Aragorn, second was Arathorn II, and third was Boromir. The outfielders were Legolas, Elrond, Tulkas, Ulmo, and Maedhros. Finally, shortstop was played by Gil-Galad.
Manwë pitched the first ball and Morgoth caught it after Sam swung and missed.
"Strike one!" shouted Gwen.
Morgoth threw the ball back to Manwë. He threw the ball and this time Sam connected with it sending it deep into left field. She dropped the bat and ran for first. She almost was called out at first but the tie went to the runner and Vesper walked up to home plate. She picked up the bat and positioned herself. Manwë pitched the ball and Vesper smacked it clear across the field and she started running. Sam rounded second and headed to third while Vesper touched the first base and then went to second. The outfielders had still not picked up the ball as Vesper passed second base and headed for third. Sam touched home plate and Vesper looked over. She saw that Maedhros had just picked up the ball and threw it to Arathorn II. She made a split-second decision to keep going to home plate. Arathorn II threw the ball to Manwë and Manwë to Morgoth. Vesper collided with Morgoth at home plate. Gwen waited for the dust to clear at home plate. Once it had she saw that Morgoth still held the ball and Vesper's finger was barely touching home plate. She sighed when she knew how to call it.
"Safe!" she exclaimed much to the delight of Vesper.
--
Bottom of the third, two outs, bases loaded and Tim was up to bat. Sauron was at first, Frodo at second, and Arwen at third. The score was four to zero with the campers leading. Dennis pitched the ball and Tim swung, completely missing it.
"Come on loser! Hit the bloody ball!" Sauron roared from first.
"STOP RUSHING ME!" yelled Tim.
"Strike one!" exclaimed Gwen.
Dennis pitched the second ball and Tim swung again.
"Strike two!"
"I swear to Ilúvatar, if you miss this Tim you'll be back in the water!" Sauron shouted.
Tim shuddered and stood ready. Dennis smirked as he threw a fastball but the threat of going back in the water made Tim swing and actually connect with the ball. Tim dropped the bat and ran for it. Arwen ran home and Frodo ran towards third with the Dark Lord close behind him.
"Run faster Frodo!" Sauron yelled.
Frodo turned his head and saw Sauron close at his heals. He screamed and ran faster. He touched third plate but noticed Sauron was still behind him so he continued running. Frodo could feel Sauron's breath.
"Run faster little hobbit or I'll put you in a strew!"
Frodo screamed even louder as his tiny hobbit feet passed through home plate. He then staggered to the bench. Sauron patted him on the back.
"Good job Frodo," he said smiling.
Frodo looked up at him and glared.
"Sorry about the threats. I just wanted to get the points."
Wordlessly, Frodo nodded.
"You gonna be all right?"
Frodo nodded again and Sauron smiled.
--
It was the top of the seventh inning. The campers were leading seven to four and Dennis was up to bat. Even though most of the staff at the beginning of the day thought baseball was pretty stupid, they sure were getting into it towards the end.
"Come on Manwë! Strike him out!" shouted Sauron from the sidelines.
Before the game began, Morgoth and Manwë worked out a series of signals to communicate back and forth. From the squatting position, Morgoth gave Manwë the peace sign and Manwë nodded. Manwë rounded up his pitch and threw as fast as he could. Dennis swung and smacked the ball as hard as he could. It flew over the Great Lawn and landed in the water.
"I got it!" Ulmo shouted as he dove into the water. Dennis smiled.
"So, is it in or out Gwen?" Dennis asked.
"Err…I think that's a foul ball."
Dennis sighed.
"Damn."
--
It was around noon and the game was nearing its end. It was the bottom of the ninth with two outs. The bases were loaded; Nimrodel was on first, Pippin on second, and Gimli on third. Morgoth was up to bat and he already had two strikes against him. The staff was behind by two points and so if Morgoth could hit a triple, they would win. So far Morgoth had not been very good at bat so the staff thought they were going to lose the game. From the catchers spot, Kash signalled the play and Dennis nodded as he wound up his pitch. He threw the ball as hard and fast as he could. Morgoth watched the ball with patient eyes and as soon as it was within his strike zone he let out a cry of strength, like one does in a match of tennis, and swung at the ball. Everyone heard the crack of the bat hitting the ball. Morgoth then released the bat from his grip and ran for first. Gimli came into home and scored one point. They would only need two more to win.
The ball was still in the outfield when Pippin rounded third and made for home with Nimrodel and Morgoth in close pursuit. He touched home and scored the second point and a few seconds later Nimrodel touched home plate as well. Now Morgoth thought it would be fun to attempt a grand slam and so he charged for home plate. In the corner of his eye he could see the ball being thrown to Dennis but he kept on running. Releasing a terrible cry, he dove for home plate and knocked the catcher out of the way. Dennis threw the ball to the catcher but the catcher was not standing there to catch the ball. He was on the ground, but Gwen was there. She had been paying attention to Morgoth's slide and so she did not see the ball come at her until it was too late. It smacked her in the head and she fell flat on her back.
--
Why does this always happen to me?
Gwen opened her eyes and saw Kisha and Morgoth staring down at her.
"You okay?" Kisha asked.
Gwen nodded and Morgoth helped her up.
"I'm fine…my head hurts though. Did the ball smack me in the head?"
Kisha nodded.
"Yup, it was pretty loud too."
Gwen smiled and laughed.
"Awesome."
"So, was I safe?" Morgoth asked.
Gwen furled her eyebrows in confusion but then remembered the game. She nodded and Morgoth jumped up and down in celebration.
"Woo! We won! We won! In your face campers!"
The campers sighed and acknowledged their defeat while Gwen rubbed her head and asked Kisha for some pain medication.
"Kisha I was thinking," Gwen began.
"About what?"
"I think it's time I bought insurance…"
--
Gwen held an ice pack to her head as she ate dinner. The campers were still talking about the game even though they lost. They vowed to beat the staff at the swimming competition. I mean, with the staff already out numbered by the campers and the fact that some of the staff did not even want to go near the water; the campers figured they would win the swimming competitions.
After dinner Kisha dismissed the campers. Even though it was only a little after six at night most of the campers went to bed as they wanted to get enough rest for the swimming competition. After the baseball game, the swimming competitions came in at a close second of importance.
"I think I'll sit the swimming stuff out this year," Gwen said.
Kisha smirked.
"Is it because of the headache or the fact that you keep getting hurt?"
"The latter."
Kisha nodded.
"Thought so."
--
Gwen woke up from another nightmare. She couldn't remember this one but she knew it involved Morgoth and it had been bad. She looked over at the window and since she could see the light streaming through the window, she decided to get up and get ready for the day. Morgoth was still sound asleep and so were Lalaith and Sauron. She looked at them and took in the sight knowing that this would soon go away. While she was lost in thought, Morgoth woke up and sat up in bed. He looked over at Gwen.
"Good morning," she said with a smile.
"Mornin."
"Are you going to participate in the swimming competition today?" she asked.
Morgoth shrugged.
"I don't know. Water was never really my thing. That was more of Ulmo's area."
"But don't you share in everything your brethren have?"
He nodded.
"Yeah and it also means I can forge things, see for distances, hear for miles, and know when people are going to die but I don't specialise in it and nor do I want to."
"Spoil sport."
"Powerless human."
"Ungrateful Dark Lord."
"Sickly human."
"Idiot!"
Morgoth rolled his eyes.
"Wow that was such an insult."
Gwen huffed.
"Oh shut up."
She grabbed her clothes for the day and headed down the hall slamming the door behind her. Sauron then woke up.
"What was that about?" he asked.
Morgoth didn't say anything but threw on some pants and headed out the door. He watched Gwen enter the bathroom and so he waited outside. He heard her turn on the shower and so he went back to Angband and changed for the day.
"Would you mind telling me what's going on?" Sauron asked.
Morgoth growled.
"It's none of your damn business."
Sauron nodded and said nothing else on the matter. Lalaith then woke up.
"Where's Gwen?" she asked.
Morgoth rolled his eyes and walked out before mumbling 'she's in the bathroom' to Lalaith.
--
Gwen left the bathroom renewed and refreshed. Her headache was gone for the present moment and her foot hardly gave her any pain at all. She wasn't paying attention when she left the bathroom and so she completely passed by Morgoth waiting for her. He grabbed her by the arm and spun her around.
"What is your problem?" he asked.
Gwen furled her eyebrows.
"My problem? My problem? You're the one who can't respond to a simple tease!" she exclaimed.
"What?"
Gwen pulled her arm free from his grasp.
"I was only teasing when I said spoil sport but you can't seem to comprehend that now can you?"
Morgoth said nothing and Gwen turned around and walked back to Angband. Morgoth followed her inside and watched as she put her dirty clothes in the clothes pile.
"Look…" began Morgoth.
"Just stop okay? I don't want to talk at the moment," Gwen interrupted.
"But I…"
Gwen walked out of the room and down the hall. Morgoth emerged from Angband.
"Why don't you want to talk to me?" he hollered.
Gwen stopped and turned around.
"Because I just don't! Now leave me alone!"
--
Gwen didn't even go to breakfast Tuesday morning. Morgoth sat grumpily at the end of the table and didn't even say a word during breakfast. He mumbled a few incoherent phrases to himself. Manwë pulled up a chair next to his brother.
"You want to talk?"
"Shut up," he said threateningly.
"Now isn't this the reversal of roles," Manwë commented.
Morgoth lowered his eyes at his brother.
"Why would she do this? Why now?"
Manwë shrugged.
"Maybe she's just having a bad day that's all."
Morgoth crumpled his napkin.
"This conversation is over," he said.
"It's over when I say it's over. Now you helped me with Varda and we went finishing so let's go do something brotherly again."
Morgoth rolled his eyes.
"I rather not."
Manwë shook his head.
"Nope, we're going to do something brotherly. Come on, what about fishing again but this time we use a boat?"
"Oh whatever."
--
Kisha dismissed the campers and told them to get into their bathing suits for the days swimming competitions. She then told them to head to the beach at around ten, as she wanted to find Gwen and talk to her.
Kisha entered Lammoth and walked down the hallway. She knocked on the door of Angband and then opened it. She looked inside and saw that Gwen was not there. She furled her eyebrows.
So, where would I be in a bad mood? Not the tree as everyone knows where that is now. Hmm…oh! The theatre!
Kisha quickly left Lammoth and strode across the Great Lawn. She opened the door to the theatre and walked in. The lights were off but she had a feeling Gwen was inside. The last time Gwen was in a bad mood was when she and Erik broke up the first time. Kisha had found Gwen sitting on the catwalk with her legs dangling over the edge.
Silently, Kisha climbed up the catwalk stairs. Through the darkness she could make out Gwen's form sitting on the catwalk. She walked over and sat next to her.
"What's wrong Gwen?" Kisha asked.
"Nothing."
"Something's obviously wrong as Morgoth's in a funk and you're up here. Last time you were here was when you and Erik broke up the first time."
It was then that Gwen started crying. Kisha leaned over and gave her friend a hug.
"Kisha, I don't know what to do. Something happened before camp started this year. Something big and now that camp is almost done I'm afraid."
Kisha furled her eyebrows.
"What happened?"
"You remember when Erik and I broke up the first time right? Well two years ago we decided to try again. You know it had been going smoothly. Well, the day before everyone disappeared he proposed to me. He got on one knee and everything. I don't know what to do. I love Morgoth, I don't know why I do but I just do. But what about Erik? I don't know if I love him anymore. This morning I tried to push Morgoth away because I thought that if I pretended not to love him then everything would be okay but it's not happening."
Gwen sobbed into Kisha's shoulder. Kisha patted her friend's head.
"Shh…it's okay."
"No it's not okay. I hate love!"
"A lot of people do dear."
"I need to be alone for a bit okay?"
Kisha nodded and checked her watch. It read a little after ten.
"I have to start the swimming competitions anyway. Come down and join us whenever you want to okay?"
Gwen nodded and whipped a tear from her eye.
"Okay."
--
Morgoth cast out his line into the water. He then set his pole in the holder and pulled out a beer. Pulling the tab off, he guzzled it down and then belched.
"I hate this. This is why I didn't try to find love in Middle-earth," Morgoth said.
"Now, now brother. I'm sure she's just in a bad mood."
Morgoth watched the swimming competition from the boat. He watched as Kisha fired the fake gun in the air and a competitor from the staff and campers jumped into the water and began swimming. He took another sip of beer.
"Just throw me in the void now…"
Manwë smirked.
"Well that's no fun. We haven't even had the War of Wrath yet."
Morgoth sighed.
"Don't remind me."
--
At two o'clock the one hundred meter freestyle race began. It was also around this time when Gwen decided to leave the theatre and walk to the beach. She stood in the trees and watched the campers and staff compete. Out in the distance she also saw a boat with two fishing poles.
Fishing, the solution to everything.
Kisha shot the gun in the air and a group of competitors jumped into the water and began their swim. Now it was also when Morgoth cast his line again. He misjudged his line and ended up snagging Ulmo, who was swimming for the staff, on his bathing suit. All would have been fine if Ulmo was not the best swimmer in all of Camp Glingal. He did not even notice that the line was attached to his swimsuit.
Morgoth, thinking he had caught a fish, tried to real it in to no avail. He struggled to keep the fishing pole.
"Let it go! Let it go!" Manwë hollered a little too late.
Morgoth and the fishing pole fell into the water. Morgoth hit the bottom of the lake with a thud. His hand released the fishing pole and it floated up to the surface along with Morgoth.
From the beach Gwen watched in horror.
"MORGOTH!" she roared as ran to the edge of the water. Kisha stopped her from entering the water.
"Manwë will pull him out. It's okay Gwen," Kisha said.
From the beach they watched as Manwë jumped in and grabbed hold of Morgoth. He swam with him to the shore and laid him on the beach. Gwen ran over followed by Kisha, Aragorn, Sauron, and Gandalf. Morgoth had a large gash on his forehead and it didn't appear as if he was breathing. Gwen began giving him mouth to mouth in an attempt to resuscitate him.
"Gwen, even if he lost his body he'll come back like Sauron did remember?" Kisha said.
Gwen didn't, or pretended, not to her Kisha as she continued to give him mouth to mouth. She heard Morgoth gasp for air and she stopped giving him mouth to mouth.
"Are you okay?" she asked.
"I need a beer," he replied.
She smiled and hugged him tightly.
"I'm so glad you're okay," she exclaimed.
"Hey Gwen?"
"Yes?"
"You're crushing my ribcage."