The Veil Lifted

[Esgallhugwen]

Tonight is especially important to me, maybe more important then Christmas. When the veil is thinnest, it seems I can feel things that people can't or things they choose to ignore. I call them 'things' because I don't even know what they are. Ghosts, spirits, the memories and feelings of a past life. A gift my spirit carries granted by the powers that be. Was I meant for something in this world?

I've always felt like I don't belong. This isn't my time, I cannot tolerate humans, my heart is numb and sick. Have I lost something , am I not human like them? What am I, there is something inside i can feel it gnawing away.

The red head looked up from her reverie her bangs almost in her eyes. A grey wizard and a blue wizard laughing alongside eachother. Children. One was even wearing the quintessential bluish-grey pointed felt hat.

She smiled at their innocence, happily shovelling sugar into their faces, more then likely not even knowing what this night was intended for. She left food and water out for the deceased before she left her house for the evening, a custom to ease their passing in mortal lands.

All Barrow's Eve was a mingling of emotion to be sure. Sadness and mirth, she could be both. Questioning one's self was not all together a bad thing. Her long leg swung out in front of the other. The woman's graceful body turned into the tight corner of an alley way, her thick mane of hair flagging out behind her.

Her pale complexion disappeared into the darkness like a phantom. All the while smiling to herself the way she did when no one was looking. The sudden threat of realization made her stop, the tingling of others. "Help me!", the voice of a living girl.

It came from the end of the clutterd alley. She hurried her pace finely hopping over a misplaced garbage bag to find a girl hanging haphazardly by one leg from a tree. She cocked her head to the side and stared at the girl a moment a grin of subtle amusement on her face.

[littlemanpoet]

Sid cleared his throat. "Uh, Becca, ma'am, all the kids think you're a witch because of your cat. If you invite them into your house for a cup of cider, they're sure they'll be thrown in your oven."

Raven's and Tucker's eyes widened, as if Sid had 'hit the nail on the head'.

"Well that's just plain silly," Becca said.

"Mebbe," Sid said, "these little hobbits ought to just go trick-or-treating some more and leave off cat stealing. Here, I'll show you two the way. I'm Aragorn son of Arathorn. You're safe with me."

[Firefoot]

Raven's suspicion turned from the stern lady to this Aragorn. "Is that your real name, or are you trying to trick us, too?" she asked. She knew of a story with an Aragorn in it, but he was a heroic king. This skinny boy was allied with the strict old lady.

"Well, it's my real name for tonight," he said.

Raven frowned. What kind of answer was that? "What's your real name? Mum said we weren't supposed to listen to strangers."

He was starting to look the way Dad did when she asked too many questions - exasperated Mum called it. That was a big word. Raven giggled. "Sid," he said.

She giggled again. "Sidagorn. Arasid." She thought for a moment. "Okay. You can come with us. But you can't tell us what to do. And -" she gestured for him to stoop down so she could whisper in his ear, "Make the witch lady go away."

[littlemanpoet]

This little nip of a girl was trying to give him orders! Make the witch lady go away!? Sid couldn't keep from retorting.

"She's not a witch, silly! She's a nice lady who gave you candy and you stole her nice little cat! She's not even old so she can't be a witch! Come on!"

He looked back to Becca who was petting her cat, a smirk on her face. "Sorry about these kids. I guess they just don't know any better."

Sid tried to get Raven and Tucker to follow him back to the street but they just stood there.

"You'll miss out on all the caaaannnnndeeeeee!"

That got them going. They started running back to the street. Sid waved to Becca and she waved back. She really was a nice lady. Sid decided that he would stop by and say 'hullo' some time.

[Esgallhugwen]

The tall girl made her way over to the tree. She pressed her long fingered palm up against it's bark. Please don't let me fall.

She hesitated for an instant then attempted to grab the nearest branch. "Too short", she jumped up pulling her leg up against the tree while extending her arm again. This time she caught hold kicking her foot out into a knotted clump of bark she inched herself along until she was sitting atop one of the stronger limbs of the tree.

"Almost there", she half whispered to herself, closing the gap between them was easy. "I'm terribly sorry but it just occured to me I actually have no clue as to how to get you down from here".

She looked about thoughtfully, her eyes narrowing as a thought struck her. "I shall return shortly" while she climbed down the tree she slid half way down the rest abruptly stopping when her feet hit the concrete.

The girl recalled from the alley way a large folded lump of something that looked soft enough to fall on. She pulled it forward into the lamplight. It was a mattress.

After a couple of rough starts trying to pull it the distance necessary she finally edged it up to the tree. "It may be dirty but it's better then driving your head into the stone walk way".

[Kath]

The two brothers had followed the Little people as they made their way out of the side street. Sam grabbed Billy's hand as they stepped out of the shadows, not wanting to lose him among all the other kids milling about. He knew if he did that his parents would never let him out of the house on his own again, and how embarrassing would that be? Of course, it would be no less embarrassing if his friends found out that he had spent the night chasing after kids dressed up as Hobbits because he believed them to be real.

"Billy," he began, "you know those people aren't really Hobbits don't you? So there's really no point in following them. And we won't get any treats at all if we just trail around after them all night."

Billy turned to look at him, his big brown eyes wide in the dark.

"They are so really Hobbits. They're dressed proper, look, they don't even have any shoes on! If I was dressed as a Hobbit I'd have shoes on, mum wouldn't have let me out if I didn't. And we can follow them and get treats, we just stay a few doors down from them."

Sam shrugged in defeat and allowed Billy to pull him on toward the first house. At least this is keeping him entertained, he thought to himself, we might actually make it through without screams and tears this year.

Standing in front of a house a little way down from the one the Hobbits were currently at, Billy instructed Sam to keep an eye on them while he did the trick'r'treating. Knowing his brother would be able to get more candy than he would Sam agreed, and watched as some sort of argument broke out. Strangely enough, it seemed to be about feet.

[Feanor of the Peredhil]

Tish laughed.

Alone in her dark, candle lit house, with only a cat and chopsticks for company, she laughed and tried to flick her hair out of her eyes, forgetting, as always, that she had short black hair now, not long blond hair. It made her stop laughing.

With cold eyes and no candy, she took her cloak, her beloved full-length, black, embroidered, purchased-for-way-too-much-off-EBay, cloak, and slipped out the back door toward the cemetery for her annual stroll.

If she ever could have guessed what horrors awaited her, surely Tish would have dressed as a fairy princess and stayed home with Twix and Skittles. If she could have known - and known that they'd reached a time of human existence wherein epics and death chants and songs of heroic deeds pretty much stopped existing - she never would have stepped onto the dark road.