Welcome to my attempt to write a 'girl falls into Middle Earth but is NOT a Mary Sue'. I am by no means a professional writer, and I will not always be able to update with new chapters regularly (fair warning, chapters will most likely vary in length frequently) but I will do my best to keep things going, especially if I get feedback, positive enlightenment or corrective criticism both. In fact I gladly encourage you to please leave your honest opinion in the comments regarding how things are going, if you have any concerns for my OC becoming a Mary Sue, or if you just want let me know how I'm doing as a writer. Thanks!

(just a heads up so that it won't be confusing, if you see this print: hi, how are you, it signifies the OC's thoughts)

Chapter one

The café was crowded that day, more so than usual. Sarah wiped sweat off her face with the back of her wrist so as not to 'dirty' her plastic gloves and have to change them.. again. I hate sweat, it's so.. sweaty. "Jóse, I thought you said the AC unit was going to be fixed two weeks ago. What's the hold up?" She spoke loudly, but avoided shouting as shouting was largely looked down upon here.. mostly because everything was largely looked down on in this café. When Sarah had first applied to work here, she had been told by the barista who was interviewing her - who in hindsight had looked rather frazzled and more than a little exhausted - that the only rule in the café was to keep the customers happy.

Within four days of working here Sarah had come to find out the truth, which was that the CEO of the company had written over 400 rules that were to be strictly enforced at each of her branch cafés by the local managers, and if they were disobeyed.. it didn't end well for the perpetrator.

"I'm not in charge of when the mechanics come, I'm already a half day behind stocking the back room because 'crazy hat lady' spilled her extra-large coffee again, and I'm still three weeks behind on back logs that Morgan has been hounding me about, I really don't have time to keep track of someone else right now," Jóse snapped back, but he popped his head out of the back room long enough to throw her a wan smile to cut the bite from his response.

Jóse was her compatriot in arms as it were, the only other employee besides herself who had lasted longer than the first ninety days. He was also the only other one who shared a much more personal obsession of hers: a book reading club that focused on fantasy stories, but much more specifically, a book reading club that frequently read her and Jóse' favorite series: Lord of the Rings.

"Hey, do you wanna join the gang for a reading marathon tomorrow night? Since we missed the past couple of scheduled meet-ups due to people being sick, we're trying to finish them before I have to get my copies back to the library on Monday," she called to him from where she sat on a bar stool behind the counter for her ten-minute break.

"Sure thing! Can I bring anything to drink? Please don't say coffee, if I smell coffee outside of work, I will vomit," his voice was muffled from the other room, but she could hear the amusement in his voice. "Sure thing, a caffeinated soda would be great," she stood up and stretched before moving to the register to help a customer that had just walked in.

"I didn't realize that Tasha's Café of 74th Street had become so deprived that the busgirl can't be bothered to do. Her. Job." The stiff woman in a too-tight suit seemed like she had a stick up where didn't belong and a snarl that appeared to be a permanent fixture on her face. "Excuse me ma'am, but I am a barista, and I was on my break, the busboy will be back from his break in just a minute. How may I help you?" Sarah worked very hard to maintain a pleasant tone of voice, seeing as rule #57 was very clear on the treatment of the café's clientele, even if said clientele verbally abused you. Heaven forbid you so much as throw in the occasional snarky comment when things get a bit touchy.

"No, you may not help me. In fact, you will not be helping anyone for a very long time. If I have things my way, which I am sure I will, seeing as I am the CEO of this company, you will have trouble ever finding a job in this town again!" The woman ended on a high screechy high note, and quite red in her face, but in spite of how ridiculous she looked, her words sunk in. What?! "Ma-ma-madame Victoria?" She stammered, as Jóse walked out from the back room, wiping his hands on his apron and looking very pale.

"Yes, I am ma-ma-madame Victoria," the woman sneered in reply, "And you are f-f-fired! Grab your things and go! Or no, I wouldn't want you to be tempted to steal anything from the back. Just leave, someone will bring your things to you later," when Sarah hesitated to move, the woman became even angrier. "Leave now, before I call the police!" The woman was screaming now. "Go, Sarah, I'll bring your things by later," Jóse quietly told her, gently but firmly pushing her towards the door. Sarah nodded numbly in response and left.

Sarah startled at a knock on her studio apartment door. Had madame Victoria actually called the police? Some people really are crazy! She looked through the peephole and felt almost limp with relief when she saw it was just Jóse standing outside with a couple of boxes and some grocery bags. Oh thank goodness, I can't have one more thing on my record. She unlocked the door and ushered Jóse in with a dramatic flourish. "Welcome to my humble abode.. which I will not be able to afford in a week," her voice croaked as she worked to not start crying again. Jóse put down the boxes and bags on the table in the middle of the room and turned to her.

"We're gonna figure this out! I promise. In the meantime, we could have a yard sale or a mini flea market or-" Sarah cut him off, "No, Jóse, there is no we. If that madame Victoria finds out you're helping me, she might make trouble for you too, and I know that you are still trying to help your girlfriend pay off her medical bills from her surgery. Let me handle this, I'll give my mom a call and see if she can help me out with this," Sarah turned from him to put away the groceries while she spoke.

"Only if you can convince me that you actually believe your mother will help you, let alone answer your call in the first place! You guys have been estranged for years, and I am not so easily convinced that she will apologize for being an absent mother and start helping you now," Jóse was starting to ramp up. "Calm down, big guy! Have some ice cream while we talk this out," Sarah tried to placate him. Man, this guy is like the big brother I never had!

"My sister Olivia reached out last week and said that mom has been doing better since she started taking medication for her bipolar disorder, and that she might react pretty well this time if I tried to reach out. I'll just start things off with 'happy holidays! How was your Christmas? Mine was fine, thanks for asking! Say, by the way, can I borrow a thousand bucks to pay my rent next week?' Yup, that'll end well. What am I going to do?" Sarah groaned as she sank into her futon that served double duty as a couch and a bed.

Jóse ran a hand through his hair in mutual exasperation. "Well, I'll come over tomorrow night as planned for the book club meeting, and after we indulge in the fantastical and slightly mind numbing experience of the council of Elrond, we can discuss the less fantastical and much more mind numbing experience of finances. Have a good night then, m'lady," Jóse nimbly doubled over into a severe bow, to which Sarah chuckled before showing him out and locking the door behind him.

It was only in the dark hours of the night, when Sarah had had a chance to fully comprehend the reality of how difficult and dark her next few months would be until she got her feet under her again.. That's when the shaking started. It began in her fingers, she tried to shake it off, walk it off. She counted backwards from one hundred by three's. She sat down on the floor and put her head between her knees and tried to take slow deep breaths. But soon her arms were shaking, and then her entire body. She began hyperventilating, and was rapidly drawing and expelling great breaths until she was light headed and had dark spots in her vision, there was a faint ringing in her ears and everything sounded fuzzy and far away. Her panic attacks had never happened at home before, Jóse had always been with her when it happened, and he always knew how to help her calm down. But she was all alone now. I just need to calm down... just...have to...

Thanks for reading this chapter!