Love Is All in the Past

Chapter 2 (Meeting new people is always great! Right?)
Great just great. I’m lost again.
I had decided to walk in the woods a little ways away from the road and I must have dazed off. So I tried to backtrack to where I started and it all started to looked familiar. And so did the place I just left 5 minutes ago. ‘Good going Katelyn! You always were the sharpest tool in the shed.” I sighed sarcastically. The sun was setting. The sprinkles on my banana split. If it started raining that would be my fudge. And getting murdered or dying well my beautiful bright red delicious cherry. Yummy sounds good right about now.
My feet were starting to kill me. I already took off my jacket and tied it around my waist. My bags were ok on my back just like I told that lady. Speaking of which I’m gonna smack her around for a few minutes next time I see her. I was getting hungry and tired so I decided to sit for a few minutes. ‘Packed to many books and not much food.’ I was beginning to start to wonder when and if I would see that fox again and IT happened. I heard people talking, what about I don’t know but I didn’t care. I started to run towards the voices and tripped twice. Hey! New Record!
I reached the road and practically kissed it. I glanced up at the sound of the talking I heard before. There was one of those houses and the lights were still on. I crept up to the window and listened. All I could make out was ‘Frodo’ and ‘What can you see?’ So this must be Frodo Baggins. Well hopefully its him. I don’t think there are many Frodo’s.
“Nothing. There’s nothing.” Replied the short man. The older fellow sighed in what sounded like relief. Like a great burden was lifted off of his chest.
“Wait. There are markings.” After he said that there seemed to be a whisper that flowed through the air of the hut. I shuddered when I heard it. That voice. That whisper was filled with so much hate and evil I literally felt my blood run cold. This must be what I have to change history for, this, I looked through the window at the two people and saw they were staring at a ring, this evil object. Wow, it sounded like I belonged in a book or movie. Evil Ring ha. I figured I should make my presence known and knocked on the door that was next to me.
The talking stopped and it took I silently counted 1…2…3…4…5…6, six seconds for the old man to walk to the door slowly and raise his walking stick to strike me. I flinched and clutched my bad hand to my chest. I must be a sight for sore eyes. He regarded me for a few seconds and pulled me in.
“Who are you and why are you here?” his voiced boomed. I’m no coward but damn! He’s huge and has a sort of aura around him that was powerful.
“I’m Katelyn sir.” I replied. I was mighty proud of myself since I didn’t stutter or seem scared, though I defiantly was.
He paused and muttered “so this is her,” and he walked away. Ok…I followed after him and saw Frodo staring at me then at the old man with curiosity written all over his face. I introduced myself. Can’t help that I’m friendly and talkative.
“Hi I’m Katelyn.”
He just looked at me shyly almost and said “Frodo Baggins.” I looked at the old man and he smiled.
“Sorry, I’m Gandalf the Grey.” He sat down at the table and put the Ring in the middle of it. Frodo and I followed suit. I just stared at it as Gandalf talked to us about the Ring.
“This is the one Ring. Forged by the dark lord Sauron in the fires of Mount Doom.” He started and continued on explain how Isildur took the Ring after cutting it from the hand of the Dark Lord. I was starting to daze off again since I had no clue who Bilbo, Sauron, or Gollum were. That’s one of my many flaws. If I’m dazing off you know I’m not the slightest bit interested in whatever I’m hearing. That evil whisper brought me back though. We all looked at the Ring for a second before Gandalf continued with the story. I got goose bumps all along my arms as he continued telling how this man Sauron’s spirit is in the Ring and how his orcs had multiplied. What the hell are orcs anyways?
After that I walked away. I didn’t like the way this story was headed so I started to explore the Shire as I learned that that’s what it was called. It was pretty big for little people, oh excuse me, Hobbits. I started looking at books on a table when I heard Gandalf call my name. When he said it, my name sounded funny almost like a person with no English experience trying to have a conversation with someone who does.
When I got back to the kitchen I found instead of 2 people I left behind but 3. I looked at the new comer and decided he wasn’t a threat. Oh now I’m an expert on that? I need a life.
“Katelyn, this is Sam.” Frodo said as I walked into the room.
“Pleasure Sam.” I smiled at the man. He blushed a little.
“Same here m’lady.” He looked down and saw my hand. “What happened to your hand miss?” he looked aghast.
“Oh, this? I fell down and landed the wrong way. It’s nothing really I can’t even feel the pain.” Which probably isn’t good in the first place. Gandalf left the room for a minute and came back toward me with a long piece of cloth and wrapped my hand as best he could without hurting me and told me we had to leave to go to the Prancing Pony. There he would meet us.
“Gandalf?” I asked
“Yes Katelyn?”
“Why do you trust me so easily? I could be one of those evil people you were talking about.” I probably shouldn’t have said that but it was weighing on my mind for a few minutes now.
“Oh, lets just say a little birdie told me.” There was a sort of mysterious glint in his eyes as he said that.
No shocker there. It was probably true to that a bird told him. Well whatever we had to move on soon. After a short nap though we would soon be leaving before the dawn.

Waking up was to soon for me, but it had to be done. We left the Shire and headed back toward the woods. Great.
“Be careful, all of you. The enemy has many spies. Birds, Beasts…”He started to name off “Is it safe?” He turned around and asked Frodo. He just patted his shirt pocket. “Never put it on or the agents of the Dark Lord will be drawn to its power. Always remember Frodo the Ring is trying to get back to its Master. It wants to be found.”
He got up on his horse and rode off. I was a little uncomfortable walking since I didn’t know the way and I was still in my 3 inch ankle breakers. Every noise made us jump and every twig breaking made us look around. We stopped very little since the Prancing Pony was a good ways away. I know I complain a lot but you would to! No pain meds for my hand, no shoes my size because these people were small, blisters on my feet because the shoes weren’t meant to be on this long, and no shower. That I believe is the worst thing for me. We crossed fields, a beautiful waterfall, more fields with mountains in the distance. Here Frodo and Sam had to pull me because I was in awe of the size of the mountains. We got to the beginning of a field of waist high grass before Frodo and me realized that Sam had stopped.
“This is it.” He said.
“This is what?” Frodo questioned. I paused and watched the two closely just in case someone tried anything funny.
“If I take one more step…it’ll be the farthest away from home I’ve ever been.”
Frodo walked back toward Sam and said “Come on Sam.” Sam hesitated for a moment before he took that one step. Frodo started to talk to us after that.
“Remember what Bilbo used to say: ‘It’s a dangerous business, Frodo. Going out your door. You step onto the road. And if you don’t keep your feet…there’s no knowing where you might be swept off to.’” Sounds like a wise man to me. The sky was beginning to darken and we were getting tired so we decided to stop for the night.
Sam who I now believe is the best friend Frodo could ever have was cooking us dinner. He kept asking Frodo if he could carry his bags. Then he offered to cook us dinner which I said I would do, but he said no. He was basically waiting on Frodo hand and foot. His food was also phenomenal, better then what mine would have been. We soon turned in for the night underneath a tree.
“Night Frodo. Sam.” I said yawning before turning over on my side and hugging my bag of clothes. I was using it as a pillow since we had none.
“Night Katelyn.” And “Sweet Dreams.” Were my answers back. I smiled before closing my eyes and drifting into my little world of dreams. Or more like nightmares tonight. I don’t know how to explain it but all I saw was big fiery eye staring at me and saying “I see you Katelyn. You can’t hide from me. I will kill everyone you love and care for.” Then it seemed to laugh. How is that possibly? It was an eye with no mouth for God’s sake? After that it faded away and everything turned black and then I fell into a state of nothingness. No dream and no clear memory of the dream before.
I awoke to Sam gently shaking me. “Time to get up miss.” I just groaned and sat up. I never was a morning person. I packed up the blanket Gandalf had given me the day before and went to the pot of water that we had boiled last night. I brushed my teeth and combed my long hair into a ponytail. I was pissed at myself because I had grabbed clothes but I didn’t grab shoes and I didn’t think I could walk much further today since my feet literally felt like they were going to fall off.
I followed after the boys in a sort of daze. I was trying to remember the dream from last night and all I got was a flash of a giant eye on fire. What did it mean? There was something threatening about that eye but I didn’t know what? Sam calling our names woke me up from my sort of ‘daydreaming’.
“Katelyn? Mr. Frodo?” we looked at each other and followed Sam’s voice. “Mr. Frodo? Katelyn?” We were close by now since we heard his rapid footsteps. “Frodo? Frodo!” We stepped out of the corn rows separating us from Sam. He sighed, “I thought I lost you two.”
“What are you talking about Sam?” I asked, “You were right behind us, you wouldn’t have lost us or us you.”
“It’s just something Gandalf said.” He said walking towards us.
“What did he say?” Frodo asked.
“’Don’t you lose them, Samewise Gamgee.’ And I don’t mean to.”
“Sam, we’re still in the Shire. What could possibly happen?” Frodo jinxed us when he said that. Two people ran into Frodo and me while the other into Sam. Whoa! For small people they sure aren’t light.
“Frodo.” The one on Frodo and me said with a smile. “Merry, it’s Frodo Baggins and some strange girl.”
“Hello Frodo and strange girl.” The other replied. “Get off of me!” I yelled at them, “You’re hurting my hand!”
“Get off of them.” Sam yelled and yanked the guy off of us. My hand was pounding and I felt the tears sliding down my face. I just keep getting hurt in the same place and soon I may not be able to use it. Ok that was a little over dramatic but I was in that much pain.
I looked down, “What’s the meaning of this?” I asked the two guys that rammed into us. They had lettuce and carrots in their arms and were piling them onto Sam’s arms.
“You’ve been into Farmer Maggot’s crops!” Sam looked panicked. We heard a dog barking after that and I ran dragging Frodo with me. I faintly heard a man yelling ‘Get back here!’
“I don’t know why he’s so upset. It’s only a couple of carrots.” The one named Merry said.
“And some cabbages.” The other one said. Oh so it was cabbages not lettuce. My bad.
“And those three bags of potatoes that we lifted last week. And then the mushrooms the week before.” I giggled as I ran at hearing them name off things they stole.
“Yes Pippin. My point is he’s clearly over reacting.” Merry continued.
I stopped at the side of a hill and Frodo stopped because I yanked him back from falling over the side. That was a really long drop. I looked back as I heard “Run!” and was about to say stop but I was to late. Pippin slammed into me, Merry into him, and Sam after that causing us to tumble down the side. I tucked my hand into my body so I wouldn’t damage it even more. We finally hit the bottom and I fell onto Pippin and Sam. ‘Sorry guys’ I thought but I was actually grateful since I didn’t break anything else in my body.
“Oh, that was close.” Pippin said. I looked up and cracked up laughing since Pippin’s face was a mere 5 inches from landing in horse poop.
“I think I’ve broken something.” Merry moaned and pulled out a carrot stick that was snapped in half out from underneath him. I got up and helped pulled Frodo and Sam up.
“Trust a Brandybuck and a Took!” Sam huffed as he brushed himself off.
“What? That was just a detour. A shortcut.” Merry said oblivious to the evil stare I was giving him. “A shortcut to what?” I asked sarcastically.
“Mushrooms!” Pippin answered. I felt so unloved as Merry, Pippin, and Sam pushed me out of the way to get to the disgusting fungi growing out of the dirt. Frodo started looking down the road and looked back towards the boys and me as they fought over food. “I think we should get off the road.” He said. I looked down the road and felt the hair on my body stand on end all of a sudden. “I agree.” I whispered.
“Get off the road!” he shouted and grabbed my good hand and pulled me to the side of the road and jumped down over tree roots. He pushed me into the farthest corner of the little shelter since it went slightly deeper and because I’m taller than them, though not by much. The rest of the guys followed and they started digging through there bag of mushrooms. I held my breath as I heard a horse walking toward where we were hiding.
“Be quiet!” I whispered toward them and grabbed Frodo’s hand since it was closest. The guys stopped and listened as a rider jumped off the horse. Frodo was looking through a hole the roots made and I turned my head to look at what he saw. The horse was all black with, and no lie, red eyes. The rider was dressed in armor and a black cloak with a sword at his side. I was creped out enough so to add to that I felt something crawling on me. I slowly glanced down and nearly cried out in fear. There was spider about the side of my hand, legs included, walking across my arm. Then there were centipedes creeping up my legs. I was about o give us away when Frodo put his hand over my mouth. He looked up and I followed and saw the rider leaning over where we were. He seemed to be sniffing the air around where Frodo was. I looked back at Frodo as he pulled his hand away from me. He looked like he was in the middle of an internal battle as he took the ring out of his shirt pocket. The rider stopped sniffing and paused as if the ring was what he had been sniffing for. I glanced at Frodo and saw he was about to put the ring on. Oh no you don’t mister. I grabbed his hand to stop him from doing what Gandalf said not to and that seemed to snap him out of his trance. The rider must have noticed since he shifted and snapped his head toward my direction. Merry noticed this and threw the bag of mushrooms away from us so the rider might be distracted. It worked to since the rider ran after the bag and we ran away from the rider. We were running through the trees and jumping over roots that were trying to sprain our ankles. We rolled down another hill this time on purpose though.
“What was that?” Merry asked as he tried to catch his breath. I was holding my hand again since me running and my heart pounding 4 miles a minute didn’t make it hurt any less. Frodo must’ve decided not to tell us or didn’t know since he never answered.
It was soon night again and we were trying to find our way toward something. Nobody told me anything, but the constant sound of horses neighing and walking around told me that the rider wasn’t far behind.
“Anything?” someone asked behind me. I didn’t turn around since I was doing something I thought I would never do no matter what. I broke off the heels on my boots so I could run faster in case I had a horse right behind me. I felt as if the world may end. Ok not really but I was a little depressed.
“I’m sorry but I had to.” I whispered to myself. I heard Frodo say “Nothing” answering the question someone had asked before. I sighed as I threw the heels away over my shoulder.
“What is going on?” Pippin asked walking towards Frodo. I saw Merry out of the corner of my eye as he walked toward Frodo also saying, “That Black Rider was looking for something. Or someone. Frodo?”
Gee, he doesn’t miss anything does he?
“Get down!” Sam yelled and we all dropped to the ground though me more lightly since I couldn’t fall on BOTH my hands. I looked toward were Sam was staring and saw one of those riders walking along side the edge of the woods. He stopped for a few minutes and walked on continuing his search for us.
“I have to leave the Shire. We must get to Bree.” Bree? I thought we were going to the Prancing Pony? It must be inside Bree. Ok Katelyn not your finest moment there huh?
“Right.” Merry said, “Bucklebury Ferry. Follow me.” And he ran with us following him. What we didn’t expect is one of the riders coming out from in between trees cutting off Frodo and Sam from our group. Merry grabbed my hand to keep me from going back to get them. Sam got around the giant horse and ran towards us with Frodo following after him. Now I’m kind of glad that I took my heels off because I was sprinting towards a fence with a sort of flat platform of a boat behind it. Merry jumped over the fence with me behind him and Pippin after me. Sam was sort of waiting for Frodo while still running. I jumped back over the fence and ran towards the rider. I stooped down and grabbed a couple of rocks and started tossing them at the rider to get his attention off Frodo and onto me. Well it worked and Frodo started running for the boat with me behind him. The rider was pissed at me I’m sure but he still wanted only Frodo and I wasn’t going to let him get the little Hobbit. I started sprinting again glad I played flag football as a kid and caught up with Frodo. We jumped over the fence and practically flew over the ground toward the boat. The others were yelling at us to hurry up and come on. They had already untied the boat and pushed away from the dock. I grabbed Frodo in my arms the last 10 feet of the dock and leaped for the platform. I made it but landed on my back with Frodo on top of me. I didn’t want him getting hurt so I did what I had to.
“Katelyn? Katelyn, are you ok?” Frodo was asking me.
“Yeah fine, Just sore is all.” I replied. I sat up breathing heavily from my run and glanced at the short. The rider that was chasing us was running back away from the water and towards another group of men on horses. Great there are more of them? My day just got a whole lot better.
“How far to the nearest crossing?” Frodo asked.
“The Brandywine Bridge. Twenty miles.” Merry answered.
Ok just enough time to catch up with some sleep. I laid back down and closed my eyes. The sound of the water lapping against the side was like a lullaby to me and I started to drift off. Then my fudge to my sundae. It started to rain. I freaking love today!