Arianna Gage grinned as she sat down on the couch between her friends, setting the bowl of popcorn down on the table in front of them.
“Are we ready?” Kelly Anderson, who stood in front of the TV with a remote in her hand, asked.

There was a chorus of, “Yes!”, from the teenagers in the room, and she hit play, sitting between Lindsey Shaw and Iola Milligan.

The Lord of the Rings, the Fellowship of the Ring film, began.
They occasionally glanced down to reach into the bowl for popcorn, but overall, their eyes were trained intently on the movie in front of them.

A few minutes into it, Pamela Jennings, the girl whose parents owned the house they watched the movie in, stood to go downstairs and get drinks for them all.
She had barely closed the door, when the remaining teenagers’ heard a voice behind them: “Where am I?”

They all spun around at the unfamiliar voice.
“What?!” Elizabeth Brice shrieked. “Oh my word!”
“No…” Arianna gasped. There, before them, stood Peregrin Took!

*****

Pamela entered the kitchen. She heated up coffee, pouring it into several glasses. Putting them on a tray, she headed back upstairs. When she opened the door, there stood before her the most amazing and strange sight she had ever seen.

She gasped, nearly dropping the tray in her hands.
On her bed, lay Thorin Oakenshield, groaning as if in pain. Kelly was sitting on the floor, beside the bed and speaking softly to him.

Pippin Took and Bilbo Baggins were sitting on chairs, talking to each other and looking as surprised as Pamela did at this moment.

She finally managed to find her voice. “What...what is going on here??”
Kelly looked up. “We were kind of wondering the same thing. Meet Frodo Baggins and Samwise Gamgee?” She asked, smiling, and pulling Frodo and Sam forward from behind her. They both looked like...like they did when they had just gone through Shelob’s Lair. Cobwebs clung to their clothing, as well as dirt.
Pamela rubbed her eyes--this was a dream...wasn’t it? It had to be!

“Okay, Kelly. What exactly happened? How did...Frodo get here? And Sam? And all of them?” She glanced around the room, noticing Findekano Astaldo and Maedhros and Faramir were present as well, but apparently wounded, as was Thorin.

“Um…” Kelly began, wondering exactly how to explain this all to her friend. “Well, you went out to get the drinks, and before we knew it, well, they,” she gestured toward the ‘guests’ with a wave of her hand, “just...appeared here. From out of no where. Apparently, Thorin and Bilbo were fighting the Battle of the Five Armies, Frodo and Sam were in Shelob’s Lair, Findekano and Maedhros were fighting, Faramir was in the middle of the battle for Osgiliath, and Pippin was singing to Denethor.” She shrugged, totally incredulous of the incident.

“No way...How in Arda?” Pamela murmured, walking into the room the rest of the way and setting down the tray.

“Yes way,” Arianna said, totally baffled.

Pamela raised an eyebrow. "What about the wounded one's? What will we do about them? And, oh, Dad and Mom! They'll back tomorrow. How will we explain...this...to them?"

Silence was her only answer. "How bad are they?" She asked, referring to the wounded people.

"Thorin is unconscious. He has a terrible knock to the head. Other than a terrible headache, he should be okay," Lindsey said. "Findekano has a stab wound. We have wrapped up in a sheet. It wasn't too deep, so he wasn't losing too much blood. Maedhros is okay, though he has a pretty long gash from a knife or sword down his arm. We fixed it up as best we could."

Pamela still couldn't believe her eyes. Could this really be happening? It was so exciting, yet...creepy. She plopped down on a chair. She had to think this through.

"Does anyone know of a place we could take them? I don't know how my parents will react to this, but guaranteed, it won't be good. So we need to get them somewhere else. Any suggestions?"

"My sister is at her friend's house for a couple of days, and my parents went out on a vacation for a few days. We could take them there," Elizabeth suggested.
"Hmm," Pamela said thoughtfully. "That's a possibility. But what would people think?"

They all shrugged. "Um...I don't kno. They probably wouldn't think too much, would they?" Iola asked.

"It would be kind of strange," Arianna admitted. "Perhaps you could drive them over to Lizzie's house?"

"I don't exactly have a licence," Pamela admitted ruefully. "I'm not old enough. Though I do have a permit. And it's only a couple of blocks away from here..."
"Right!" Kelly chimed in. "And the Police would have no reason to pull you over. So why not?"

Pamela nodded, still thoughtful. "Yes...why not? But there are only four other seats, so we'll have to take...at least three or four trips. Iola why don't you and Kelly come along on the first, with Maedhros and Fin?"

"Can you two walk?" Pamela asked Maedhros and Findekano. They nodded, and the three girls helped them out. "Just wait for us!" Pamela called back to her friends. "I'll be back in a few minutes."

They helped the two wounded people into the car. "What is this?" Maedhros asked.

"It's a...thing that helps you get places," Kelly explained lamely, shrugging.
Pamela got into the driver's seat, cranking up the car. She took a deep breath as she put it into gear. "Here goes nothing," she said quietly, pressing down the gas pedal.

Maedhros and Findekano were white with fear as the car sped down the street. It seemed like eternity to the two cousins before Pamela finally parked the car in Elizabeth's Driveway.

She helped her friends get them into the house, and then left to get the others. The reactions of the other Middle Earth people were much the same as Maedhros and Findekano's.

Faramir had wondered how it had moved without horses pulling it.
Arianna had attempted to explain, only managing to confuse the young Steward further.

Finally, they were all together in Elizabeth's house.
Kelly picked up Elizabeth's violin, and began playing 'the Edge of Night', while Iola offered to make sandwiches for anyone who was hungry.
As it turned out, everyone was hungry. So she set about making them, and Kelly continued to play the violin.

After they had all eaten, they decided that they should probably get some sleep. It was, after all, two hours past midnight.

*****

Kelly awoke to her alarm playing the Bridge of Khazad-Dûm. She slammed her hand down on top of the sleep button. She didn't wan wake up--she was too tired.

Suddenly, she remembered what had happened the previous night.
She grinned, shaking her head at the silly dream.

She stood up to go into the kitchen. Until she realized that this wasn't Pamela's house. It was Elizabeth's. Her eyes bugged as she noticed the characters Middle Earth lying on couches and chairs, fast asleep. She appeared to be the only one who was awake.

She yawned sleepily, walking into the kitchen for a glass of water.

Pamela walked out of one of the bedrooms. She grinned at her friend.
"I thought maybe it was a dream," she said, her brown eyes scanning the sleeping figures in the room with awe.
Kelly returned the smile. "So did I...mellon-nin."