The Hobbit: A Twisted Return

“Now Bilbo, I need you to relax.  Go back, go back.”  The slightly nasally, deep voice of a man held a steady beat like a ticking clock.

Bilbo fell into the darkness, slipping further and further down.  His heart hammered as he screamed. Surely he was to die! The wind whipped past him yanking at his curls and tangling them, the speed he was going was immense, crushing at his chest and stealing his breath away.  He squeezed his eyes shut for fear of what may be in the darkness to catch his body and reduce it to a crumpled sack of jelly.

“It’s safe Bilbo, relax, relax.”

“Where am I?! Who-”

“Bilbo you’re in Middle Earth, calm yourself, calm yourself.”

Suddenly the wind stopped, the falling came to a halt.  He ventured to open his eyes just as he came weightlessly down to the ground.  His toes mingling in the cool grass of a summer’s day.  He looked around, the rolling hills of the shire greeted him.  Though, it was deadly quiet.  No Hobbit was there.  No birds to sing, no cicadas to chirp before switching off with the night mountain cricket.  

“Are you with anyone?”

“No... I... I’m at the shire.”

“What?”

Suddenly the sky tore.  Falling from the heavens came black drops that pelted down on him hot as sparks from an anvil and smelled of smelting iron.  The black rain left rails of red as the sky burnt.  Thunder clapped above his head filled with screams of a war long passed held, ending in a roar of a dragon.

“No.” He held his ears, the pain from his palms smashing his skull not enough to stop the pressure in his head. “No. Please. NO!”

“You must forget Bilbo Baggins.  You must forget.”

He fell to his knees, tears shedding, mixing with the red rain.  He looked up to seek help in this land of torn madness that screamed at him.  Broke him into shambles.  Someone was standing far away.  Someone he knew but he had no name.  The name long forgotten, placed away behind a door that had no lock, no key.

“H-help me.”

“What do you see Bilbo?”

“Please!” He reached out to the unmoving figure. “Help!”

His hands grew heavy, he was holding someone with no face only the darkness of forgetfulness. His heart seized, his mind wailed with grief.  He shook the person in his arms. “W-wake up. Wake up.  WAKE UP!! WAKE UPWAKEUPWAKEUP!!!”

“...two... and three.” There was a snap of fingers and Bilbo woke out of his trance with a start.  His sweat trickled from his brow down to his chin as he took in greedy gulps of air.

“My dear Bilbo, if you wish to be helped you must LET me help you.”

Bilbo felt his whole body shake from tremors as he looked to his supposed helper.  The man was tall and thin with a trimmed black beard that clashed with his white hair.

“I-I am sorry Mr. Saruman.  I-”

The man rounded his large oak desk and took a seat in the overstuffed, claw footed chair.  He let out a deep sigh as he took a fountain pen and proceeded to make notes on their session.  “This... fantasy of yours is of the utmost disturbing nature. It continues to make your integration into society a fearful one.  How am I to release you from this institution without cooperation?”

“I am shamed ser.” Bilbo took his sleeve and wiped his brow with it.

Saruman shifted in his chair looking up at the small man for a moment while making a noise of conformation that he had heard Bilbo yet he did not believe in the sincerity of the words.  He went back to writing his notes.

“Have the pills from the chemist improved your condition since our last session?”

“I do believe so.”

“Elaborate for me.”

“I no longer see the gray wizard.”

“When was the last time you saw him?”

Bilbo thought about this inquiry for a moment.  He could not put a distinct time when the hallucination of a tall man dressed in gray robes and a pointy hat had ceased.  The best time frame he could place was a week after his new medication had started.  Thus he told his doctor as so.  Dr. Saruman seemed to be satisfied and once his notations had finished he got up from his seat.

His brown suit, worthy of top coin for their time, seemed odd on him.  It was as if his image should be garbed in something else to Bilbo.  It settled a small pressure in his mind that he had grown accustomed to after his first fit as a child.  Some thought it was the edge of a cart that had clipped him but Bilbo couldn’t remember why he stood at the edge of the road.  Sometimes he thought he had been watching someone, other times he thought he had not been on a road at all but in a green field.  Despite what was the cause the end result was to be placed in the Idiots Ward in the Shaftesbury House hidden away on a vast amount of land away from Liverpool and other cities in hopes that the fresh air would keep the insane held within calm and out of sight of “respectable” people.

“Mr. Baggins, I would like you to collect another alotment of your prescription from the chemist down the hall.  Let us hope that after longer exposure of this medication you will improve more.  Now be on your way, and send in the next patient.”

“Yes ser.”

Getting off the therapist couch he went to the door.  Upon opening it up a man crawling on his hands and knees skuttled into the room.

“Enough times for Baggins’es.  Baggains’es is f’eifs.”

“Now Smigel we have been over this, you never had a ring for Mr. Baggins to have taken.”

Bilbo let out a heavy sigh, he always had trouble with that one.  Closing the door behind him he moved through the hall, long accustomed to the sounds of the moans and random shouts.

He ventured to the chemist, a gated window built into the wall with a small office with medicine on shelves beyond the intricate bars.  Usually there was a nurse that would pass out the pills, an unpleasant woman with greasy hair with the thick smell of rotten tobacco.  This time there was someone else.  A strange woman he had never seen before.  Her long blonde hair had been tied and pinned up as high as possible.  Her long skirts were of cleaner quality than anyone elses and her apron was properly pressed and starched without a blemish.  Her uniformed hat pinned into her hair.

She didn’t look like she belonged.  She was very beautiful and he felt uncomfortable for her.  There were people in the men ward that would take advantage of that.  They would target her and do terrible things all because they were not in their right minds.

“E-excuse me?” He approached the window.

“Yes?” Her voice was deep and soothing.

“I... Please do not take this the wrong way madam, but I do not believe you should be working here.”

Her face remained gentle, eyes becoming softer than before. “Why would that be Bilbo Baggins?”

“Because,” he stepped closer to the window, nervous that anyone would hear them. He looked one way then the other before whispering, “Please do not be offended but you are a beautiful woman and several of the men here would may not be able to control themselves.”

She smiled and slipped some pills under the iron bars for him to take. “Thank you, but I believe my stay is temporary.  Take your medicine my dear Bilbo.”

“Thank you.” He took the pills and dry swallowed it. “I-I’m sorry but, how long will you be here?”

“For the next few days.”

He took a few steps back, nodding as if he was leaving before going back to the window and saying, “J-j-just be careful.”

“I shall.”

He went a few more steps away before coming back. “Do not leave the chemist office unattended.”

“I shall be escorted do not worry.”

“Make sure that you stay close to your company.”

He smile doubled as she nodded. “I will be extra careful my friend.”

“V-very well.” He looked around once more to the empty halls still feeling uncomfortable about the situation.  She was a vulnerable woman.  He knew that the women staff in the Shaftesbury House slept in an adjoining room to the chemist office unless they were escorted by an orderly or two.  Just in case he would venture out of his room tonight and stand watch if she was still in the asylum.

To Be Continued....