The Lord of the Rings and all it's characters were made by the wonderful J.R.R. Tolkien.
Chapter 11: A Disappearing Hobbit
I clapped my hands to the music as I watched the hobbits danced happily together. I laughed as Sam was thrown into the dance by his friend to a pretty blonde hobbit women. I saw Frodo smile at as well when he got over the his shy behavior and danced with her. My smile began to deflate when I heard arguing in the tent nearest to me. I turned around and saw two shadows in the tent that held Gandalf's fireworks.
"Give it to me Merry!" I heard from one of the shadows. Merry? When I recognized the name I cannot be good. Right after that last thought I watched as a giant red firework came shooting out of the tent and into the sky. My jaw dropped slightly as the big firework lit up the sky and turned into the shape of a dragon. When the dragon roared my eyes widened and I stood up from my seat and mouthed 'whoa'.
After the dragon looked down at the party it dived through the air in our direction and everybody staring to run away from it screaming 'dragon!'. I tried backing away but I tripped on a rock the size of my fist and fell onto my back. I watched as the dragon flew right over me, surprisingly it wasn't close enough to touch the tents. As its fire shined in my eyes and onto my skin I pushed myself into the ground and looked up at its body as it passed me. The fire lined it from its nostrils and whiskers to all its scales and its claws.
When it went towards the hobbits I looked over my shoulder at them and saw that a grey robe was close to my arm. I looked away from the dragon up and saw that it was Gandalf standing right beside me with a not so happy expression on his face. After I sat up to get off of the ground Gandalf started to help me up.
"Are you alright?" He said. I brushed the dirt away from my clothes and looked back at the dragon.
"Yes i'm fine. But is everybody else okay? That much fire circulating around this many people can't be good." I asked him as we watched it dived at the hobbits.
"Thankfully it was shot high enough to avoid burning anything down. But when I get my hands on the one who released it!" He said loudly, clearly he was irritated to the fullest degree. I watched as he stormed over to his fireworks tent. I turned back around to watch the dragon dive at the hobbits once again, this time all of the hobbits ducted onto the ground because it came very close to touching them. When the dragon went into the air once again it roared and didn't come back down. The hobbits stood as the dragon flew high up to the sky and exploded into a shower of different colors. I sighed as I saw that the danger was over and its cause became something joyful.
I raised an eyebrow at the hobbits when they started clapping enthusiastically for the show it was putting on. It was not even a minute ago that they were running for their lives, now they couldn't be happier! I guess since the danger that they were once in is now out of sight so it is forgotten to them as well. I shook my hand amused and still a at what happened. When I saw this before it did look very exciting, but now feeling my heat beating so fast in my chest... Movies don't have a thing on this.
I remembered that Merry and his cousin was behind this and walked towards the tent and to hear Gandalf yelling at them. Aren't they older than I am, they should know better. After a couple of seconds of listening to Gandalf yell at them I scrunched up my nose and turned away from the tent. I found Frodo laughing in the near the crowd of hobbits, he was just as entertained as they were. When he noticed me coming to him he smiled at me.
"That was close call wasn't it?" He said. I gave him a nervous smile and nodded.
"Yes it was. I thought it was going to burn all of my hair off." I said jokingly and Frodo laughed. We then walked to one of the tables to get something to eat.
When everyone settled down from all of the fireworks and dancing most of them were seated and talking among themselves. If they weren't already stuffed with delicious food they were stuffing themselves. Frodo and I were talking about the fourth of July. I had brought it up when I said that this party reminded me of the holiday. I had already gave him the details on how families unite for this holiday and the different types of food we have.
"So your whole country celebrates with fire works?" He asked with a happy curiosity.
"Yes." I said putting a piece of meat into my mouth.
"What are you celebrating?" He asked. I opened my mouth to answer but before I could even get a sound out of my mouth the sound of everyone chanting for Bilbo to give a speech caught my attention. Bilbo had a happy smile on his face as he held up his hands in surrender. He looked drunk as he rubbed his hands on his red vest before he stepped onto a flat boulder in front of everyone and announced himself. And everyone gladly looked to him to hear what he had to say.
"My dear Bagginses and Boffins, Tooks and Brandybucks, Grubbs, Chubbs, Hornblowers, Bolgers, Bracegirdles and Proudfeets!" He called. Hobbits cheered when they heard their last names being called.
"Today is my one hundred and eleventh birthday!" He shouted while slurring just a bit. Most of the hobbits shout happy birthday to him and so he held up his hands to silence them. "Sadly a hundred and eleven years isn't long enough to live among such admirable hobbits." The crowd cheered.
"I don't half of you as well as I would like to. And I like less than half of you as well as you deserve." His admission silence them and they looked around at each other wondering if they were insulted. I started to feel really awkward and I looked at Gandalf who had a small smile on his face. I raised an eyebrow at this and looked over to Frodo. His bright smile started to fade as he stared over at his uncle. I hope he's alright I thought turning back to Bilbo.
He started fidget with his hands behind his back. I hope he's not embarrassed over what he said. Those aren't the type of words you can take back. Bilbo kept fidgeting. What is he doing? I know that he's going to disappear but I don't think that a party in front of everyone he knows and just insulted is the right way to do it.
"I uh, have things to do." He said to us. He then looked as if he was whispering to himself, and if I am remembering this right he was motivating himself to put on the ring. Well I guess if you do insult half of your relatives most likely anyone will need an escape plan.
"I..regret to say that this is the end everyone. I bid you all farewell." At this point everyone is very confused as to what he was talking about. Bilbo turned in our direction and nodded to Frodo and mouthed a 'goodbye'. He can't just leave like this. Right before everyone's eyes he vanished. The hobbits were left to stare wide eyed at the rock that Bilbo once stood on.
"Ooh!" The hobbits exclaimed as they got up and became rowdy of the recent event. Looking around I at the shocked hobbits I did find Bilbo's prank a little funny and chuckled a little before standing up and searching for Gandalf with my eyes before I realized that he was no where in sight. I brought my gaze down to see Frodo who had a confused and worried expression on his face while he looked in different directions, most likely for his uncle. I saw Sam looking over to us from one of the tables nearest to the tents. As he waked over to us through the gossiping hobbits he eyed me with apprehension then he looked at Frodo.
"What happened ?" He asked worried. When Frodo tuned in Sam's direction he shook his head while looking just as lost as Sam did.
"I don't know Sam, but i'm going to look for him." Frodo said.
"Do you want any help ?" Sam said. He looked up at me for a second before turning his attention back to Frodo. Sam is one cautious hobbit, I thought slightly impressed.
"Thanks Sam." Frodo said.
"I'll help you look to Frodo." I said. Frodo nodded to me and we started looking for his uncle and thankfully the lights from the party helped us see better. I felt only just a spark of guilt knowing that Bilbo wasn't out here as I helped Frodo search. While we were here Bilbo was at home getting his things ready to leave the shire forever. Okay thinking of it like that makes me feel more guilty.
I put my hand on some bushes to pull its leaves back and pretend to look in them and a frog jumped out at me. I yelped and backed away from the bush quickly as the frog hopped away. I sighed and looked over at Frodo who had a frustrated and lost expression on his face. Sam walked over to Frodo with a sullen expression.
" , I don't think he's out here." He said to him. Frodo turned towards Sam.
"I don't think so either Sam." Frodo said. Sam looked at Frodo with sympathetic eyes.
"Maybe he already went home." Sam suggested helpfully and Frodo nodded at him.
"I'll go home right now and check, see you later Sam." Frodo said.
"See you later ." Sam said before he walked to pathway that lead to more hobbit houses and left. I watched him leave for some seconds before I turned to Frodo and walked over to him.
"We're leaving?" I asked him. He looked up at me nodded.
"Yes. If we haven't found him by now then he must be home." He said.
"Probably." I responded. Then we walked away from the party area where hobbits we still animatedly gossiping among themselves.
When we came to the fence just outside of Bilbo's house we notice from the window that the fire in the fire place was still going strong. Frodo opened the gate for us and jogged up to the front door and opened it. I looked down at the floor when I heard a high pitched whimpering sound. It was Sparkle, she wagged her tail wildly and started jumping up to me on her hind legs. I smiled and knelled down to pick her up from the floor before walking fully into the house myself and shutting the door.
"Uncle Bilbo! Uncle Bilbo!" Frodo called from the near the front door. Since Frodo still didn't her a response he started to search the house and went into the room with the maps. "Uncle Bilbo?" He tried again. Poor Frodo. I looked in the direction he disappeared and sighed before I went into the kitchen to get food for Sparkle. He'll be fine, I told myself. Frodo will meet Bilbo again.
I found some beef out on the counter top, probably Bilbo left it there accidentally in his haste to pack food and leave leave. I put Sparkle onto the floor and took a piece of meat with a napkin in my hand. I laid the napkin onto the table and started ripping the meat into strips for her and laid them down onto the napkin. After I was finished I then I put on the floor for Sparkle and she started to eat.
As I watched her furry little head bend down repeatedly to eat her meal the silence of the kitchen and my lack of activity caused the worry that I put in the back of my mind to surface. I have had some thoughts about my situation so far but every time I start to panic I shake them off.
The Lords of the Ring... I'm The Lords of the Ring. Realizing this again I don't know whether to laugh at the irony of it or to have another panic attack. I know for one thing that I am not getting involved in the war. It's obviously far to dangerous and I know that I will die. I'll just have to avoid it at all cost. But how..? I could stat here in the shire while Frodo's gone. I'm sure that he would let me stay here and it's not like Gandalf will force just anyone to come along. That's what i'll do. After all I was brought here to Middle-Earth to live again, staying here in the Shire free of technology and distractions will help me do just that. I smiled a little as I came to my conclusion. But then my thoughts took another turn.
What will happen if I don't learn what i'm supposed to? Will I ever see my family again? That thought scared me way to much to continue it so just like those other times I pushed it out of my thoughts. I guess I could learn how to socialize. It would be greatly needed if i'm going to live here. I went over to the sink to get myself a water but then I heard Frodo's voice raise once and Gandalf's voice following sometimes after it.
I went down the hallway to see what was up but then I caught myself. Most likely Frodo will be taking to Gandalf and I don't want to be caught over hearing anything that i'm not supposed to hear. I was about to turn around and head back into the kitchen but at that time both Frodo and Gandalf came out into the hallway near the front door with worried expressions on their faces. Gandalf put one of his hands onto the door and looked down at Frodo.
"Keep it secret, keep it safe." I heard him whisper the familiar words to Frodo that sent my heart sinking into nervousness. I was about to turn around and hurry into the kitchen but Gandalf caught me.
"What are doing Jessica?" Gandalf asked me with his eyes narrowed in my direction and his usual friendly voice hardened. He didn't take to kindly to my ease dropping.
"I heard raised voices. I came to investigate but I realized it was you so I knew that you could handle what ever it was. So I didn't disturb you. I didn't hear anything." Gandalf stared at me for a couple of seconds before letting up and then he gave me a nod. I looked down at Frodo saw that he still had a worried expression on his face.
"Is everything okay?" I asked Gandalf and he looked back up at me with serious eyes and nodded.
"I am fine, but, I would have to leave you here." He said opening the door. That came as a surprise to me for some reason. I guess I didn't expect to be with out the most familiar person here so soon.
"What?" I asked with a demand of explanation implied.
"Yes, I have an engagement that cannot wait. And i'm afraid you cannot come along." He said. Come on Jessica don't be so hurt, a lot of people depend on him, I reprehended myself in my head. And since I didn't want to seem ungrateful after he took me in and let me travel with him, so I reluctantly nodded.
"I don't know how long I will be gone but I will be back as soon as I can." He said. Then he nodded to me and Frodo before leaving. I looked down at Frodo who didn't look to comfortable so I walked over to him.
"Are you alright Frodo?" I asked. Frodo nodded slowly, however behind his eyes I saw how nervous before he was before he looked down at the small white envelope in his hand.
Hello my beautiful loyal readers! Thank you for being patient and waiting on this chapter. I was going to update a week or to ago but I lost the page that I was supposed to type after the first eight hundred words. Sad I know. After the next chapter i'm proud to say that I have the next chapters written in my composition book. Yay! So no more losing pages for me. Anyway yeah...I had to come up with stuff to fill in the spot I lost, which is easy... It's just really annoying to back track when i'm far away from the feelings that I had wrote down and now my imagination is experiences other things.
Anyway! Please! Please! Please review! I really love to receive them! It is very encouraging to know what i'm writing is having any effect on the ones that are reading my story. So please review or please PM I would love to answer any questions that you may have about the story. See ya next time!