25Well, this is last chapter of my newly revised "Into Middle Earth". I thank you all for staying with me through this interesting endeavor. Reviews/critique would be very much appreciated, seeing as how this is the last chapter and all.
Warnings: none, some language.
Disclaimers: stuff I said before.
Copyrights: please see chapter 1
enjoy the story!
Chapter 10: awaken
I bolted upright. It was bright, and I couldn't feel my feet. I found it hard to breathe, and my arms were tingly.
Am…am I dead?
What had happened? I was on the wall, and it was raining. I was fighting some Uruk-hai and tried to keep up with Aragorn and Legolas. Then I was knocked over the wall. If I'm dead, then that would explain why.
I could hear a buzzing, a murmur around me. Damn that light is bright. I held up my right hand to shield my eyes. But when I saw my arm, it seemed that I wasn't wearing my 15th century attire and chain mail. I was wearing a light blue shirt, and there were tubes in my arm, in my wrists.
What had happened?
Maybe the battle had ended, and somehow I didn't get trampled or speared and my companions had taken me to a hospital-type thing somewhere and I was being treated right now. Still, that wouldn't explain why I had needles in my arms.
I touched my face to make sure I was alive. There were more tubes on my face, a breathing tube of some sort that had been jammed up my nostrils. There were monitors on my chest and arms. Okay, not only was I alive, I wasn't even in Middle Earth anymore.
I started to panic. What was I doing here, wherever I was? Why wasn't I still fighting in that huge battle, with the guys, where they needed me? How do I get back? This was weird and wrong. I don't even know how I got here, what I'm doing here, what all this stuff on me is. What's this throbbing pain in the back of my head? What's this beeping noise I'm hearing? This murmuring, this buzzing? These lights?
"Kendra!"
I know that voice. What the—
"Ohmygod Kennie, I thought you were dead!" screamed a girl, bounding into the room. It was Alicia, one of my friends from band. Behind her was another band buddy, Alexandra. Alexandra was standing outside a door and shouting things before she and Alicia bounded into the room. I stared wide-eyed at them.
"Where am I?" I said quietly.
"You're in the hospital," Alexandra replied. I cocked my head and opened my mouth to ask more questions, but then Lanna and Charlotte dashed into the room, screaming my name. Charlotte promptly hugged me tightly, but I was too confused and bewildered to push her away.
"Oh thank god you're alive, Kennie," Charlotte sighed. "We thought for sure you were a goner."
"I'm…so confused," I said.
"Where are Brittany, Jason, and Kayla?" Alexandra asked.
"They couldn't make it, but I just called them," Lanna answered.
"Hey, what—?" I said.
"Kennie, you were in a coma," Alicia said, nearly crying. Oh, so I was right. I was in a coma, and I suppose my journey through Middle Earth was just a hallucination or a crazy dream of some sort.
"For how long?"
"A little over a week."
I grabbed at my forehead. Things were starting to add up, but just barely. It was taking me a while to grasp everything. How close I had gotten to Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli…now I was never going to see them again.
They weren't real. You were dreaming them.
And what a dream.
"I feel weird," I muttered.
"Well, yeah, you just woke up from a week-long coma," Alexandra said.
"What the hell happened?" I said. I couldn't really remember how I had found myself in this mess in the first place.
"We were going to band practice, and Madison hit you in the head with her tuba," Alicia said, nearly jumping out of her shoes. "She says she didn't see you there (probably because you're so short), but the whole thing was an accident and she's really, really sorry she almost killed you."
Oh yeah. All that. I could kind of remember what had happened now, digging in my memory past the Middle Earth stuff to the real world and what went down over a week ago. I still feel weird. I nodded a few times to let her know that I understood what she said. I remember now when Madison hit me with the tuba, and I blacked out. Of all the places I could have gone to, I had to go to Middle Earth. Of all the times I could have left, it had to be in the middle of a battle where they needed me most.
"How do I go back?" I said. My friends stared at me quizzically.
"Go where?" Lanna asked.
"To Middle Earth," I said. "They need me."
"Middle Earth?"
"What the hell are you talking about?" Alexandra said. I looked around at them.
"Middle Earth," I repeated. "I was there for over a week."
"No, you were here," Charlotte said. "We all came and checked on you every day. You never left."
"Where's Middle Earth?" Alicia inquired.
"It's in the movie Lord of the Rings, Kennie's a big fan," Lanna said. "She must have projected herself into the time and setting while she was in the coma."
"Whoa cool!" Alicia shrilled. "Kennie, what was it like?"
It was still taking me a while to adjust. I was really out of it, nothing felt real, and I was still really confused. "What? Um, it was…it was really real," I answered. "I first woke up and I was in a forest, and it was cold."
"That would be all the air conditioning in the ambulance that picked you up, probably," Alexandra said. Well that would explain it. I figured I had arrived during Middle Earth's equivalent of winter or something.
"Well, then what?" Alicia asked.
"Well, then I was picked up by Aragorn, Legolas, and Gimli," I said. "They're characters in the movie." I had to explain it to them. I knew none of them had ever seen Lord of the Rings, which kills me a little bit inside. "They took care of me and let me come with them on their journey. It all seemed a bit unrealistic to me, so I figured that I had to be dead or something. I tried to call Charlotte on my cell phone, but I just got loud static."
"That'd be Alicia," Alexandra said. "She was first to the hospital and started screaming at you to wake up. You must have processed it as static."
"Interesting how you guys affect the outcome of my life in Middle Earth," I commented. "So, then, while I figured out that our setting was the second movie, Legolas and Gimli left the cave to hunt. Aragorn and I went to go find my backpack, which had gotten transported there with me somehow."
"Yeah, I brought it with me when I got here," Alicia said. "I figured that if you were around things that you remembered how they felt, how they smelled and stuff, it would bring you back. Did it work?"
"Um, no," I said. "But thanks for that. I got the map out of the back of my book and we used it a lot when we traveled."
"Huh," Alexandra said thoughtfully. "And here I thought that Alicia was just being an idiot."
"Let's see, then we were attack by an Orc once we got to the Glanduin River," I said, enjoying their confused faces.
"Probably Alicia being loud," Lanna said. "Did you kill the Orc?" I nodded. "That was probably the doctor making her leave." Alicia stared at me incredulously.
"You killed me? KENNIE!" she shrieked.
"If I hadn't, you would have killed Aragorn and Legolas!" I retorted. "Then what? I would have been on my own and would have died then!"
"I think Alicia has a new nickname," Alexandra said, grinning.
"It's okay, Alicia's not important," Charlotte said. "Continue."
"Okay, well," I began, ignoring Alicia's faux-hurt look, "after I killed the Orc, we continued on to Fangorn Forest. We came across Gandalf, but everything was really bright, and I got dizzy and fell down."
"They had to relocate you once," Lanna said. "They were moving lights and stuff around, so maybe that's why it was so bright. Then they moved your bed into another room, and spun it a few times in the process, because all the guys who work here are idiots."
"Oh," I said. "Well, after that, I recovered slowly. I made our way into the Westfold, and eventually into Rohan. I kept getting dizzy, and I kept losing my senses. I thought I was sick or not rested enough or something."
"Oh well, you know, you almost died a few times," Lanna said. "In the real world."
"That would explain it," Charlotte said.
"Yeah…" I said, thoughtfully, racking my brain for what came next. "Um, then Gandalf freed Théoden from the spell Wormtongue put on him, and we planned for this massive battle that was going to come. I had already seen the movies, so I knew what was going to happen. So they all thought I had this ability to see into the future, which I thought was the only reason they kept me with them. But I was helpful, so they let me help plan what they were going to do, like evacuate the whole city into Helms Deep. Then I caught Aragorn and Legolas making out."
"Ooo man-kissie action," Charlotte said as Alicia "ooo"ed. "Kennie, you sure have dirty dreams."
"Yeah, I wasn't expecting that either," I said. "Well, after that, we left Rohan and made our way to Helms Deep, and along the way we were ambushed by Orcs. I couldn't believe that I had forgotten that something so important like that was supposed to happen. Maybe I lost some of my memory when I almost died?"
My friends shrugged. "Who knows?" Lanna said.
"Well, we were ambushed by Orcs, and I somehow found myself in the middle of it. But we survived, and all of us who didn't die joined the others at Helms Deep. We went through some battle plans, and I convinced Théoden to let me be up there on the wall fighting with the guys when the battle did come since I knew the enemy's weaknesses and how to save Haldir."
"Keep in mind we have no idea who these people are," Alexandra said.
"Maybe you should keep yourselves up to speed," I said, taking the book from my backpack and throwing it at her. She threw it back to me. "So. Aragorn took me aside to teach me how to sword-fight. At one point, he nearly broke my wrist. Or, that's how it felt."
"What, a sharp stinging pain?" Alicia asked. I nodded. "That was this." She tapped the IV needle in my hand. "The doctor probably poked your wrist bone, because like Lanna said, all the guys who work here are idiots."
"I see," I said, staring at the needle. "Well, a while later, I found myself crying in a corner with no idea as to how I got there in the first place, and no idea about what I was crying about."
"Oh Kennie, you're so emo," Charlotte said.
"Well, obviously," Alexandra said. "But no, actually Kennie, you died for about four seconds."
I stared at her, trying to comprehend what she was saying. "I…was dead?"
"For a little bit," she said. "The doctors brought you back, but then you went right back into your coma."
Wow. That's…kind of scary. Makes sense why I was crying then. I don't like to think about dying, really. "All right then," I said. "Um, well, after that, the Elves came to our aid."
"You got a lot of visitors," Lanna said. "Your band friends came, your parents were hysterical, and your sister drove down here from her college to see you." I cringed. I hated people worrying about me.
"Great," I muttered. "So after that, we all got up on the wall to wait for the Orcs/Uruk-hai to come. It started raining."
"Alicia splashed water on you," Alexandra said. "For some reason, she thought it would wake you up."
"I see…" I said. "Well, the Uruk-hai came and attacked, and I was scared stiff. We did a lot of fighting, and then I got knocked over the wall. I woke up right before I hit the ground."
My friends nodded slowly. I had expected one of them to crack a joke about that, but no one said anything.
"Is that why you wanted to go back?" Lanna asked. "Because you woke up during the middle of the battle?"
"Yeah," I said. "I wanted to go back and finish fighting. I saved Haldir and whatnot, but I figured that the others still needed me."
"Kendra," Alexandra said. "They're not real."
"Well obviously," I shot back. "It's taking me a little bit to adjust to…to being here again. That's all."
"Well no one expects you to recover quickly," Lanna said. "You did go through a lot, you know."
"Yeah, I know," I said. Lanna rubbed my shoulders.
"Someone should get the doctor," Alexandra said. "They'll call your parents, and they'll get you checked out." I nodded once, slowly. She and Alicia left the room.
What an ordeal. Just as I was feeling wanted in Middle Earth, like I belonged, just when things were feeling right, I get dragged right out. At least things were exciting over there. What do I have to worry about here? College? Yeah, that's pretty scary, all right. Too bad I woke up when I did. I would have liked to have seen that battle through.
And now I'm back here. Back…where I belong, I guess. But now that I'm here, I'm feeling out of place again.
I wonder how long it'll take me to adjust again.
.xXx.
I was back in school two days later. There had been no mourning or prayers for me when I was gone, and there was no celebration when I came back (I wasn't expecting any). My friends were all the celebration I wanted or needed. Some "Welcome back"s from other classmates, some "How do you feel?"s from my teachers.
My teachers didn't expect me catch up on or make up the material I missed quickly, but then again, they didn't expect me to take my sweet ol' time on it either.
I was forced to drop out of marching band. In the week that I was gone, my band mates had finished learning the third movement, and with championships looming on the horizon, we decided that there wasn't enough time for me to learn the music or the drill in time for championships. Alicia and Alexandra were sad to see me go, but I assured them that I would be back next year.
On the plus side, drumline season would be starting up in about a month. My director joked around, asking if I was going to be well enough in time for it. I waved it off and said I would.
No tubas in drumline, but there are guys walking around with big bass drums on. If I get attacked again, would I get projected back into the battle where I left off?
Heh.
.xXx.
Several hours later, I was at home instead of at band practice. It was kind of a weird feeling. After dinner, I blew off homework and said that my head was hurting. For some reason, I was in bed by 11pm. Aside from my head actually hurting, I guess I was just tired.
It didn't take me long to fall asleep.
And then just as quickly as I had fallen asleep, I was awake again. Everything started out white, but then died down to a gloomier pallet. It occurred to me then that I was back on the wall in Helms Deep. My instant reaction was that I was back in the battle and that I was dead again. But it so turns out that the wall was completely empty. No soldiers, no Orcs, no rain or fire, and no bodies anywhere. I was totally alone on the wall.
Or so I thought.
"Well there you are."
I spun around. Aragorn was standing a few yards from me. Why hadn't I heard him approaching? Yet it was such a relief to see him again, to hear him again. I tried moving forward, but I was frozen.
"Am I dead or in some sort of coma again?" I asked, though I didn't expect him to know. And somehow he did.
Aragorn shook his head. "No, just asleep," he said. "You put yourself back here, because you kept wondering what happened with the battle. Is that right?"
"Yes, very," I said. "I've been dying to know. When I woke up in the hospital, I actually asked how to go back. I hated knowing that I had left that battle in the middle of it."
"You didn't miss much," Aragorn said. "Haldir survived, thanks to you. We held off the offense long enough for Gandalf and the Riders of Rohan to arrive and clear out the rest. But Kendra, don't worry about missing out on the action. You were our most powerful asset and most useful weapon not just during the battle, but throughout the entire journey up until that point."
I smiled and sighed. It was so refreshing to hear him say that.
"You didn't have a choice, waking up when you did," he said. "Legolas says you were knocked over the wall."
"Yeah, I was," I replied. "I woke up right before I hit." I looked around. "Speaking of which, where is Legolas? And Gimli?" Aragorn shrugged.
"I'm only a figment of your dream," he said. "I guess you wanted to talk to me more than you wanted to talk to them."
I blushed, slightly angry at myself. I would have liked to see them as well, but I guess it's true that I wanted to talk to Aragorn the most. It was always easier to confide in him. Wonder why that was…
"I guess so," I said. He smiled and nodded his head at me.
"How's the head?"
I put a hand on the back of my head. "Um, it's okay, I guess. I'm getting better."
"Would it have been worth it to sustain another injury just to stay in the battle and see it through?" he asked. I was kind of surprised by his question.
"Maybe," I answered. "The injury I would be sustaining might cause brain damage later on down the line (depending on what it was), but I really wanted to stay in the battle."
"It was dangerous," he said. "I was worried just to have you there, even when you were standing so close to me."
"I was aware of the danger, and I still would rather have been on the wall than down in the mountains," I said. "Everything I went through was worth it. But it kills me that I wasn't there for you guys, that you weren't there for me." He laughed slightly.
"Oh, Kendra," he said, walking over to me. "Don't beat yourself up about it. You did all you could, and we're more than grateful. You couldn't help waking up when you did, and we were sad to see you go too. But the battle ended like it should have." I nodded slowly.
"So what now?"
"The rest of us have moved on to Isengard," Aragorn said. "Anything else we should know about?"
I thought this through. I wanted to tell him to keep Pippin away from the Seeing Eye, but if Pippin never has that confrontation with Sauron, then he and Gandalf will never go to Gondor, and Gondor will get screwed over without them. Plus, if Pippin never lights the beacon on fire, then Rohan won't go to their aid and Gondor will definitely get screwed over. I looked at Aragorn and smiled.
"I'm sure you guys will do just fine," I said. He cocked his head at me and raised an eyebrow.
"Oh, I still have your map," he said. "Would you like it back?"
"Nah, go ahead and keep it," I replied. "I have another one just like it. Besides, you guys could use that on your journey. I'd hate to keep it from you, after it's helped you so much already."
"All right, then," he said. "I don't know if we'll ever see each other again. So thank you for all your help, Kendra. Take care of yourself, and don't do anything too stupid, right?"
I closed my eyes as he took my face in his hands and kissed me on the forehead.
When I opened my eyes again, I was in my bed. It was nighttime. I glanced at my clock. It was just after 3am. I rolled over and sighed. I had to take his words into consideration, among other things. That dream I had while I was in the coma wasn't real. I'm still grateful for the experience, though, to have experienced everything first-hand rather than just reading about it or watching it on the big screen.
I can't say I'd ever want to repeat the experience, because that would most likely require me being nearly dead again. So if I never see the guys again, I'm okay with that. I can always just watch the trilogy over and over and smile, knowing that I was once there with them.
Content, I closed my eyes and fell asleep again.
End Chapter 10
End "Into Middle Earth"
I can't exactly say that I'm happy with the way this ended. But everything went as according to plan, so I'm happy with that. above everything else, I'm SOOOO glad I finally finished revising this stupid story! Now I can go work on everything else I've been neglecting DX
Thanks to everyone who stuck through with me during this story. i appreciate you guys taking the time to read this. It'd be even better if you reviewed, too. : )
So please review, tell me what you think. And I hope you enjoyed this story as much as I enjoyed writing it.