AN: I do not own any of Tolkiens' characters or of the original plot, everything else is mine.

"Put away that stupid book and get dressed!" My mother's harsh words echoed from the almost empty walls of my room. She looked at me with disgust and before I could react she had snatched the book from my hands and threw it across the room without caring where it landed.

"Yes, Mam…" I replied and moved to my feet to do as she had ordered.

"What did I do to deserve a child like you? You are a disgrace! I dare you to make a fool of me again this evening. You will behave yourself. No books, no talking alas it is asked of you, none of your nonsense, be nice and we might finally find someone with enough money we can get you engaged to." I listened to her going on without showing any emotion. I knew this speech, had known it since I was fourteen years old. My mother hated me. She hated me for my father leaving and getting remarried. She hated me or not living up to her standards. She hated me for not being married to a wealthy man at the age of 24.

I let out a relieved sigh when she threw the door shut behind her. I walked over to pick up my book and put it back on my bed. I hated my life. Sure, I had a nice childhood, was good at school, had a decent job. But strange as it might seem for living in the 21st century, I felt more like a prisoner than a grown up woman.

I had no money for myself except for the few dollar bills I hid away under the loose board of my bed. My mother had somehow managed to have me put under her guardianship for some made-up mental issues that made me incapable of having my own life away from her.

My mother was a surgeon. She had made some money out of the divorce and of course she had my hard earned money. Still it wasn't enough for her. She always wanted more. Offered the right amount of money she would have sold me off without the blink of an eye. She was holding those stupid 'charity' events on a regular base. She made me wear those stupid dresses of which she knew I hated them. The only light in my life was my best friend Caleb.

Today was the day. He would take me away. I had saved enough money to start a new life. We had it all planned out. I was wearing pants under the medieval themed dress, for one we would have to do some running and two because more than once one of those creeps my mother invited tried to feel me up.

A loud knock on my door had me startled for a second.

"Miss Cruse. Your mother said to help you with your hair." I opened the door and let in Maria. She was a maid around my age and we practically grew up together. I hated her. She was as trustworthy as a water snake. I sat down and let her do my hair. When I was finally ready I looked into the mirror. The woman staring back at me seemed unfamiliar. She looked like sprung from a fairy tale and that as sadly how I felt. Like some kind of twisted Cinderella. I desperately clung to the thought that Caleb would finally get me away from all this.

Three hours later I was bored to death. My mother was playing the role of the desperate and self-sacrificing mother as she always did. I did my best to do as she had told me to, I kept my mouth shut and pretended not to be there.

I looked at the clock. Almost 12pm. Almost time to get out of here and be done with all of this.

"You must be Mrs. Cruses' daughter then. She told me about you. What about a dance, my dear." I cringed inwardly and faked a smile at the old man in front of me. His hair was almost non-existent and he was sweating like a pig.

"I would love to, but I think I need some fresh air." With as much respect and grace as possible I tried to round him and make my way to the balcony. To my agony he followed saying something about a lady should not walk outside alone. I stood there for a while and looked at the stars while I was pretending to listen to him.

I flinched when I felt his hand on my behind. I whirled around and looked at him no longer hiding my disgust.

"Stop that, Sir." I pushed his hand off of me and could see that he was getting angry.

"Your mother told me you would need a firm hand. I am going to see what I am buying first, before the old hag gets any money for that piece of meat that is you." I looked at him in shock and backed away until I could feel the railing against my lower back.

When he reached for me I acted in pure instinct and slapped him right across the face.

"Oh you little bitch. I will teach you some manners…" He hit me back with so much force my head snapped back. In that moment the world stopped. I felt myself go over the railing upon the impact and losing my balance.

It was a six storey drop until I finally hit the concrete. I felt pain. An excruciating and mind-blowing pain- I would have sworn I could feel and hear the exact second my spine cracked. My eyes were fixed on the balcony above where I saw several people gathering and look down at my shattered body in horror.

My mother of course looked disappointed as always. And Caleb, oh good god… Caleb looked down at me with horror, his face paler than ever. I couldn't stop the tears as my body grew cold ad limb. I knew my spine was busted and my spinal cord ripped. The worst was that I could feel my lungs fill up with fluid. I wasn't fair. I had almost gotten away. I had almost had my own life. It wasn't fair.

My vision shrank, the black spots getting larger and all above me blurring out. I took a last rattling breath before the blood started filling up my mouth as well. I couldn't breathe anymore, my heart had long since stopped beating. At least I would be free of my mother.

I came to with a groan. My back ached and my head pounded. Why was I still alive? This was wrong. I was supposed to be dead, I had felt every shattered bone in my body and my lungs fill with my blood. I tried to open my eyes with another pained groan.

"Strider, she is waking up." A voice next to me called out to somebody. Strider. Why was that name so familiar? I heard it before. With a little effort I managed to finally open my eyes. When my vision cleared I took a look around cautiously.

I was leaning against a rock and I could make out grass and bushes in the surrounding darkness. The only light was a small fire a few feet away. Next to me sat a teenage boy who seemed rather familiar but I couldn't say where I had seen him before.

"Why don't you make sure the others don't eat up everything, Sam?" Another man was walking towards us. He was tall with long dark hair. Strider, that had to be him although I didn't know why I knew it was. He looked kind of like a medieval outlaw but as well as the boy in a very strange way familiar.

The boy he had called Sam got up and walked over to the fire where three more teenage boys were sitting an eating. I looked back at the man who was now crouching down in front of me. It hit me when I finally saw his face. I knew why he seemed so familiar.

"Jesus H. Christ… This is impossible." My voice was barely a whisper and the man before me looked at me in confusion. I could just stare at him in disbelief. One: I was not dead. Two: I was in the fucking Lord of the Rings universe, my favourite book that got me through so much.

"How are you feeling?" He looked at me with suspicion when I needed a moment to process what he just asked me.

"I… I don't know. My back and my head hurt. I… What happened?" My head started spinning a little and instead of answering he put his rather cool hand against my forehead, as if checking if I was sick.

"Good. The fever lessened. We found you two days ago, lying unconscious at the foot of a small rocky hill. Apparently you fell down and hit your head pretty bad." He explained with a low voice never taking his eyes of my face. What was he talking about?

"That's impossible. How would I end up on a hill?" I was totally confused. My head hurt more every second and the more I tried to understand how I ended up here the more confused I got.

"That I cannot say. As well as I cannot say why a woman would travel all by herself in these times especially in this inhospitable environment. We found you bleeding, barely alive. I had to cut you out of your dress to make sure you'd be able to breath." I listened to him but my mind still refused to accept what he was saying.

"This isn't real. I am supposed to be dead. You are not real." He furrowed his brows. I couldn't make much sense to him according to the look on his face.

"I… I know this seems crazy considering I hit my head when you found me. I am not supposed to be here. This all isn't real. It is a book. A story. You are not real. You are not supposed to be talking to me, that is not what is supposed to happen. I was dead. I died. I fell and crashed my spine upon the impact. I died with my lungs full of my blood. I am not supposed to be here! This is some cruel joke! This is all just my mind seconds away from giving out. What sane person dies and wakes up in their favourite book?! Nobody! I am dead!" I started hyperventilating the world around me spinning and my vision clouding with hot tears. Strider tried to somehow calm me down while the other four looked over at us in alarm.

"What are you talking about girl? Neither are you dead nor is all of this in a book." I shook my head and almost let out a hysterical laugh.

"You know… I was supposed to get away. To finally have my own life and then that asshole shoves me over the railing and instead of freedom I get my funeral. And instead of staying dead I wake up in freaking Middle Earth which is a book in my world!" His eyes turned dark and something changed in his face. Faster than I could process his hand was on my neck and he looked at me with angry eyes.

"Who are you? And who sent you? You better start making sense, girl." His gaze was no longer soft but now harsh and cautious.

"I… Nobody sent me. I don't know how I ended up here. But I wasn't lying. Where I come from Middle Earth is the creation of a man who wrote several books about it. In my world there is no magic, no elves, no Orcs… All I know is one second I am dying and the next second I wake up here." I prayed to whatever deity that would listen that he would believe me.

"Why should I believe you? You could be a spy of the enemy for all I know." My mind was running at full speed. What could I say to make him believe me? I needed him to believe me. If he didn't, would they tie me up and leave me here?

"Because I speak the truth. I am not lying to you. You need to believe me, please. I am no spy. I know things. Things about you, what happened up until now and what will happen." I could tell that he still didn't trust my words and the tears kept running down my face.

"Please, I am telling you the truth." I lowered my voice to a level at which I was certain only he could hear my words.

"I can tell you some things and then you can decide if you still don't believe me. I can't tell you what is about to come. I might change everything, hell me being here might already have triggered and altered so much of what was supposed to happen… There goes nothing. From the books I've been telling you about, I know your real name isn't Strider. You are Aragorn, son to Arathorn and heir to the throne of Gondor. You are on the way to Rivendell, to meet with Lord Elrond. Your companions are four Hobbits from the Shire. Samwise Gamgee, Peregrin Took, Meriadoc Brandybock and Frodo Baggins. Frodo is carrying a ring. The ring forged by Sauron. You came from Bree where you were supposed to meet a wizard named Gandalf but he never showed. And you have four Ringwraiths hot on your trail." His eyes hardened and his jaw clenched.

"You should be careful to whom you speak of such things. I don't know if I should believe your story. An enemy could have found out all of this, even who I am. We will take you with us to Rivendell. Lord Elrond will know what to make of this. But know this, if you are to pose a threat to the Halflings I will not hesitate to drive my sword through your heart." I nodded slowly with a sick feeling in my stomach. I couldn't really blame him for his mistrust. Who would believe the girl that claimed to be from a different world and knows so much about what is going on? Maybe the elves could help me figure out what happened to me.

"Good. What do I call you, girl?"

"Kayleigh… Thank you for letting me stay with you."

"We can't really leave you out here all by yourself, can we?" He got back to his feet and walked over to the fire. When he came back he had a bowl with some stew and a blanket in his hands. He dropped the fabric over me and held out the bowl. It was hot and filled my stomach, not that I would have tasted anything at the speed I wolfed down the food.

"Get some sleep. We have some ground to cover in the morning. We are still far from our destination." He left me sitting against the rock and alone with my thoughts.

I was glad that I had put on some leggings and a long shirt under the dress my mother had forced me into- And with my leather boots I was at least partially dressed for some hiking. I rolled over onto my side facing the fire and tried to find a somewhat comfortable position. Maybe I would wake up tomorrow and all of that had just been some nightmare. While the four Hobbits were still battering around and Strider watching them thoughtfully I slowly drifted off into sleep.