My Unexpected Journey

Into the Forest

I woke up, my eyes had a hard time opening as I blinked. I saw someone in my door frame, it was Bilbo and it startled me.
"Oh my god!" I said surprised.
"Oh I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to wake you, or scare you," he said while he blushed a bit.
"It's fine, I need to get up anyways," I got out of bed and looked for something in my closet.
"Sorry it's just that I don't like to be late," he said.
I laughed, "haha I know."

oOoOo

I walked quickly to the dryer to retrieve Bilbo's clothes that were sitting in there overnight.
"Here you go, there nice and dry," I handed them to him and he went off to change.
I grabbed a few things in my backpack; some water, a thermometer to see if there are any climate changes I suppose, an umbrella if it starts raining, and The Hobbit the book.
Bilbo came out and put his things on his back.
"Are we ready?" I asked aloud.
"Yes we are," Bilbo said and opened the door for me.

We started walking towards the forest, and I my hands began to shake, because we didn't know what would happen and what we would find.
"What if it doesn't lead anywhere? And what if it does lead back to. Back to the Shire?" I asked.
"Well if it doesn't lead anywhere then I am in trouble. And if it does then I suppose I'll be on my way back home," he said. Then I stopped walking, and paused in my place.
"So you don't want to find out why this even happened?" I asked him.
He paused for a moment.
"I do but there isn't much to go off of," he looked at me and could see that I was stressed. "Look. Let's go in there and see what's there, and we can decide from there," he said to reassure me.
"I'm just afraid," I said.
"Afraid of what?" He asked.
"Afraid that I'll go mad if we don't find out why or even how this happened," I said honestly.
"I won't let you go mad," he smiled at me.
Bilbo was just as the book tells, so kind and considerate. I looked at him while we continued walking and reminded myself of the fact that a fictional character that I had only read about, is walking with me in the flesh.

We were approaching the forest and I felt a vibration through my body, probably just anxiety. We stopped and stood before the tall tree, the forest was still and we couldn't hear any signs of wildlife.
I took out the thermometer, and realized I didn't know what or how I would put use to it.
We began walking deeper into the forest, and there was no sign that it would lead anywhere else. Bilbo walked ahead of me, it seemed like he knew where he was going so I didn't say anything and just continued to follow.
"Here," he said and stopped.
"Here is where I came. I don't recognize the trees beyond this. I came out into the forest at this point," he pointed to a smaller tree, it was leaning to the left, and looked sad.
"Okay so what now?" I asked him.
He looked up with his hand under his chin and thought.
"Maybe I should uh read the book perhaps?" I said.
"Oh yes. That would be a good idea," Bilbo said as he stepped to me as I looked through my back pack. I brought it out and began to read the first page.

I read on and on, and Bilbo and I waited for something to happen, but not the slightest breeze came.
"When that storm came, I noticed that all the birds flew away, and I don't think they have returned. Is that significant at all?" I asked him.
"Perhaps it is, but why did they leave? Were they frightened?" He said allowed.
"Maybe they need something or someone to return to the forest to come back?" I added in.
"This is and obscure thing quite frankly. And there is zero magic in this world?" He asked me.
I shook my head, "Not here. The only magic that exists are in fictional books," I said as I tapped the book in my hand.
"That can't be true though," he said "given the fact that I am here right now. So there has to be magic."
"Maybe the magic has leaked from your world into mine, but we don't know where the source is," I said.
Bilbo sat down on a tree stump, and pulled out his ring.
"I don't know how to explain this," I fiddled with the book, and felt silly that I still held the thermometer in my hand.
"The book, this forest, and that storm is all the clues we have," I repeated.
Bilbo let out a frustrated groan, and I began to wonder about the story, The Hobbit, and remembered whom died. Was Bilbo on his way from Erebor? Of course I didn't want to ask, but the questions bounced in my mind still: what time was it in his world, because there are the other books Lord of The Rings. But it was all too confusing to think about right now, especially with a bigger mystery to figure out.
"Now. We have tried reading the book. We walked all this way, but I haven't a clue what to do next," Bilbo said as he threw his arms in the air.

"Yesterday was a Monday, at least in this world, maybe we could check the moons position?" I suggested.
He beamed a smile at me and jumped, "Yes! That is a good start! Where do we go to acquire this information?"
I giggled, he probably was not aware of the technology in this world, I pulled out my smart phone to show him.
"This," I handed it to him. He had a bewildered look on his face, for this was another new thing to him.
"What is this," he said as he pushed the button and it lit up.
"It's a phone. We use it for communicating, I can call someone and we can talk to each other. We can also write messages too," I showed him some apps on the phone, he was intent and interested.
"And where is the moon on this?" He scrolled through it (he got the hang of it quickly).
"Here I'll do it," I said and he handed it to me.
I typed into the search browser "Moon Rotations" and then yesterday's date.
"It says it was a full moon last night...why is it always a full moon?" I said quietly to myself.
"Well when is the next full moon?" Bilbo asked.
"Last night was the full moon's last phase. So that would be a month," I said and put my phone back into my pocket.
"So I am here for another month?" Asked Bilbo in disbelief.
"I just want to be back at Bag End," I could tell by his voice he was stressed.
"I'm sorry," I tried to console him. And I wondered again if the book's story had stayed true, was he coming back from Erebor? Is Thorin dead? It was too soon to ask him, so I decided to let things fall in place.

Assuming that this was the end of our investigation, I suggested that we head back to my house.
"How about some tea?" I asked, and Bilbo smiled and said "That'd be lovely."