Middle Earth (Title still in progress)

  She woke up like she did every morning. Alarm sounds, she turns it off, then she rushes outside to check the mail to see if her father has written her yet. The usual disappointment came over her as she found only a few  bills and a few magazines. She grabbed the stuff out of the mailbox and laid them down on the kitchen table.  and went to her room and got ready.    She brushed her long, thick hair back into a pony tail and dressed into a skirt and a shirt. "Breakfast."  she said to herself. She walked back down to the kitchen and went to the fridge on which there was a note  for her from her mother it read: 

"Catherine, 
    Please clean out the guest bedroom closet today. Your grandmother is coming to visit                and we need space for her clothes and suitcases in the closet. Thanks!                                                                                          Love Mom.  "     

Catherine rolled her eyes and moaned at the note. "Do this..do that.." she began to say, "Why can't she clean out the closet when she gets home from work..?" She then made herself breakfast and then went up to the guest room.  She opened the closet door and piles of clothes, old toys, and boxes fell out into the floor. "You've got to be kidding me.." Catherine observed the mess and what she had to clean up. She began moving boxes out of the closet and placing them on the bed behind her, when suddenly a box of letters and pictures caught her eye. She rummaged through the piles of old memories. She then picked up a letter that dated back to 1862.

"Why, this letter was written about 80 years ago." She began to read the letter to find that it was a strange letter, a very strange letter indeed.

"Dear receiver of this letter, 
             
    Greetings, you are the next in line for this amazing discovery! You have been chosen                  to find these special letters as well as I, the one before me, and the one before them.                  Generations upon generations have there only been a select one person to be the special key to these  letters.  Now my time has ended, and I write this letter to you in warning about the amazing, wonderful, and unbelievable things that will begin to occur. There is a secret that we all know, and you to soon shall know. This secret cannot under any circumstances be revealed to anyone except yourself. If you shall tell of this, it can no longer continue and all that has happened and is will be erased and cease to exist. Finding this letter is only the first of the many things that will soon begin to happen. I tell you now to carefully and willfully heed these things that I tell you in this letter. Now I am at no power of authority to tell you of what will happen and why you were chosen. The only instructions I am authorized to give you are to, be prepared and do not lose this letter.  Now that I have fairly warned you I must end this letter. Good Luck and Goodbye, your adventure is about to begin.                                                                                                 

                                                                                              Nephil Ty Mona.                                    P.S. If you should choose to ignore this letter, this letter shall choose not to ignore you."         

Catherine stared blankly at the letter not rightly knowing what to think. "Garbage." She said and put the letter back into the box and returned to her cleaning the closet. Time quickly passed and she had finished her chore and went to her room to read a book. She sat in her chair and read quietly. The house stood very silent with only the slight 'Tick-tock, Tick-tock' of the clock echoing. Unexpectedly the sound of the clock stopped and Catherine glanced over to see the clock was not counting the seconds. The hands of the clock were not moving. Catherine stood up and went over to the clock and looked at it. "Oh great, it's broken." But she checked it and reset the clock and it began to work again. So she hung it back on the wall and went back to her reading. Suddenly, the clock fell off the wall and tumbeled to directly in front of her feet. She stared down at it and realized that it had stopped ticking, again.           

"What in the world.." she picked up the clock and studied it. 'Rwwweear' she heard the sound of metal squeak. She laid the clock down on the bed and saw a man putting a letter in her mailbox. She quickly darted outside as the man was walking away. "Excuse me sir, but hasn't the mail already ran today?" But the man did nothing except walking. "Sir." she called out louder, again no reply. She turned to the  mailbox and took the letter. "That's odd..there's not a return address, there's nothing on here."  She opened the letter which only had 3 words on it.  "Nephil Ty Mona..where have I seen that before...Nephil, Neph-" shock then overcame her when she realized that this had been the name of the person who had written the letter she had found.  She glanced up to see that the man has disappeared. She walked down her road and looked but saw no one through the thick, hazy fog. She ran back to her house and went inside, where she picked up the  sound of the clock ticking once again. Catherine looked out the kitchen window and saw the streets crowded with people, and cars. "What is going on here?" she said to herself. She washed her face with water in hopes that she would wake up from a terrible dream, but came to realization that this was all too real.

  "Hi darling." Catherine heard a voice say from behind her. She dashed around and let out a slight scream.  Her mom looked her confused, "I'm sorry, I didn't mean to scare you Catherine." Catherine let out a sigh of relief. "Oh it's you, thank goodness." Her mom then looked at her even more confused. "I mean, I'm so glad to see you, it's lonely around this house when you're out doing something." Her mom laughed at her, "Well it's good to know that I'm missed. Now I need you to do something else for me, I need you to run into town and get some bread for dinner tonight." "Yes Ma'am." Catherine replied. She put on her shoes and grabbed her coat and began walking into town.
  As she was walking, she noticed that town bell was ringing before schedule. She thought it must have been broken. Catherine stopped walking when she heard the sound of sticks breaking in the woods next to her. "Hello, who's there?" she asked, but no reply. She shrugged it off and began walking again. She had made it to town and walked into the bread      shoppe. "Hello Mr. Weisel." Catherine said while selecting a basket of bread on the shelf.          "Hello there Catherine, I'm suprised your mother let you out of the house this late, and after what happened." he said. Catherine walked up to the counter and handed him the basket. "What do you mean?" An odd expression came over his face. "Haven't you heard, the Germans counterattacked one of our platoons and pushed our men back about 30 miles West."       

"Does that mean they're getting closer to England?" she asked Mr. Weisel. "Unforunately..yes." he replied.  Catherine felt almost sick to her stomach, she could only wish that her father and brother were okay. Catherine ended her conversation with Mr. Weisel, bought the bread, and began to walk home, when she once again heard the sound of leaves and twigs breaking. "Who's there?" she yelled loud this time. At this, a man walked out from the bushes and replied, "Ello there, me apologies miss, didn't mean to give you a 'eart attack."  Catherine smiled, "No worries, now if you'll excuse me, I should be getting home." The man nodded his head. "Ah yes, 'tis dangerous to be out 'ere this late. By the way, names Cappy but me friends call me 'Ol Cap." Catherine smiled, "Uh well it's nice to meet you Cappy, but I really do need to be getting home." He took his hat off and stepped aside allowing her to pass. "Nephil Ty Mona." she heard him say behind her. She quickly turned around to see that he was gone. Her heart began to beat faster and faster, and she ran as fast as she could to her house. The cold, winter wind had begun to pick up and she could hear the hooting of owls taunting her as she ran through the woods. 
 
  Finally peace! She thought as she could see the light from her house through the trees. She had made it home safe and sound and she stopped to catch her breath. She opened the door to her house to see her mother and grandmother drinking tea and sitting by the fire. "Catherine, darling what's wrong..you look flushed!" Her mother said while rushing over to her. "Darling what happened?" Catherine sat the basket down on the table. "Oh nothing, it was just getting really cold and I was rushing to get home, that's all." Her mother gave her a hug and sat her down in a chair. "Well you just rest now, I'll set the table." Catherine then turned around and saw her grandmother sitting in a chair. She got up and walked over to her.      "Grandmother!" she cried out and gave her a hug. "Yes, yes Catherine dear, now stand up, let me have a good look at you." So Catherine stood up in front of her grandmother. "Now turn my dear." Catherine spun around in a circle. "Mary, my dear, your daughter is the spitting-image of you, when you were that age."   

  Catherine's mother smiled. "Of course, you were much more well kept, and dressed like a lady." Catherine and her mother's smiles directly turned into frowns. "-but mother, times are different now, we're in a war and we can't afford fancy clothing for her while her father and brother are away." Catherine's mom cut in. "Well, then it's a good thing I'm here to help you with that, by the time her father gets back he won't recognize his daughter she'll look so much like a proper woman." Catherine's heart sank as her grandmother continued talking about it during dinner. It was late, and Catherine's grandmother had already gone to bed, while she and her mother sat up and talked by the fire. "Mother, I don't want to be a grown and pristine lady, I'm not like that." Her mother laughed, "Don't worry my daughter, you be who you want to be, I will love you no matter what." She leaned in and kissed her daughter on the forehead and went to bed. Catherine sat by the fire and listened to the sound of the night. 'Tick-tock, tick tock' the clock went, and then Catherine heard that familiar noise before. Silence. She looked around behind and was waiting for what was to happen next. 

  She turned her eyes toward the window and noticed the crackeling sound of the frost that was rapidly covering the windows. "What in the-" she quickly stopped speaking when the warmth of the fire had dispersed and she turned to see the fire was no longer blazing. She quickly turned and ran up the stairs to her mother's room. "Mother, mother..something very strange is-"

But her mother did not move. Catherine began to yell even louder, and still no response from her mother. She saw her mother just lay there asleep breathing quietly. "Mother..I-" she attempted to put her hand on her shoulder to shove her slightly to wake her up, but her hand went directly through her. "Oh my..wha-but how?" she kept asking herself questions. She then gasped. "The letter!" she thought and she quickly rushed to her grandmother's room. She flung the door open to the closet and began to search for the letter. "It's not here!" she yelled. "Ooh..what was that name..what was the name..?" she kept saying as she paced back and forth across the room. "Nep-Nephi...that's it!" she yelled as she ran down the steps. She dashed outside and stood in the middle of the road. There was not a person or animal in site. Just the hazy, thick fog once again, and herself.

"Oh boy..here we go.." she said and took a deep breath. She stood her ground,  prepared herself and yelled very loudly and prolonged, "Nephil Ty Mona!" Once she yelled this she waited for only a few brief moments, when suddenly the wind started to pick up. The wind was extremely powerful and the trees swayed as their tops almost touched the ground. Extreme frigid air thus began to blow and snow was pouring out of the mouths of the clouds.

"Nephil..Ty...Mona.." she said once more into the wind, and fell into a deep slumber. 

She awoke to the sound of voices "Eh...I think she's alive."

"Well why don't 'ye give 'er a push to see if she is?" another voice spoke. Catherine then felt a slight shove on her shoulder. "She ain't movin', give 'er another push." Catherine was shoved once again, and at this she sat up and stared at the faces of two small boys. The boys screamed out of fear. They ran behind a small bush, and peeked their eyes over the top of the bush. Catherine just stared at the boys, "It's alright." she said reassuring the boys. "And yes, I'm alive, it's alright boys, come on out." The boys hesitantly walked out from behind the bush. She smiled at the small boys, and asked them if they knew where she was.
  " 'ye don't know where 'ye at?" the smaller of the two boys asked her. Catherine shook her head no. "Well 'ye in Cobbletwine." Catherine looked at them in bewilderment. "Cobbletwine? Where's that at?"

"Well in Cobbletwine of course!"the other boy answered. "I know...it's called Cobbletwine, but where is Cobbletwine located, what's the country?" The boys just stared at her with confused expressions across their faces. "Follow us." the smaller boy said, and grabbed her hand. Catherine was led into a town, that looked very poor, and flithy. "Wait till 'ye meet me mum. She's real pretty, like 'yeself." Catherine smiled at this comment, but payed no other attention to the boys. She studied the town she was in. Everything, and everyone was very drab. Every person in the town stopped, and stared at her with the look of pain, yet also hope in their eyes. The boy led her to a small house that was surrounded by a barbed wire fence.

  The boy saw her staring at the strange arrangment of the fence, "Keeps that Groffin's out." he said. "Groffin's? What on earth is that?" she thought to herself. She was then led into the house, then to a smaller room where a woman sat at a sewing wheel. "Mum, look what I found." The mother turned her head slightly revealing the most beautiful face Catherine had ever seen, yet familiar. The woman smiled slightly at her. This woman was dressed differently than the rest of the town. Her clothes were beautiful, and colorful. Her hair was a dark, golden brown and curled down to the middle of her back. " 'Ello there dear." Catherine curtsied at the woman and said hello also.

"This is me mum. Told she was bew'iful!" The mother smiled, and hugged her little boy. "Hi...I suppose you would like to know where you are?" the lady asked her. Catherine replied, "Well your boy, and his friend told me I was in Cobbletwine, wherever that is."
The woman told Catherine that she would explain where she was, and why she was here over dinner.

  The mother placed plates and cups on the dinner table, while the little boy placed bread, butter, and grits on each plate. "Why thank you." Catherine said to him, when he scooted her chair in for her. "You're welcome miss." the boy said as he took his chair also. Catherine waited for the mother to be seated, and then they all began to eat.

"So, what is it exactly that you want to know?" the mother asked Catherine. Catherine asked the woman where exactly Cobbletwine was, and why she was there. "Cobbletwine is the land between your world, and our enemies world. It seperates the bad from the good. If we weren't in between...your world would be conquered by them."


This is the first chapter. Second Chapter will be added soon.