The adventure of a lifetime- The Lord of the Rings

They're gone

Frodo rushed off to Bag-End, and Gandalf had gone soon after too. I however, stayed behind to calm people down and make sure nothing got too crazy. Soon after, the subject of Bilbo suddenly disappearing soon faded and everyone started to cheer up again. I then realised it was getting quite late and then I realised something else. Bilbo was probably leaving tonight. How on earth did I forget!?

I raced back towards Bag-End, the wind whipping my hair back and it was hard to see because it was all in my face but I didn't care. I couldn't do anything about it. When I finally approached gate, I practically jumped over it instead of going through it. I burst through the door and saw Frodo sat down opposite the fireplace, an envelope in his hands.

"Bilbo's already left, hasn't he." I said, sighing.

Frodo nodded, still staring at the fire, then at the envelope in his hand in turns. Then he finally looked up at me as I approached him.

"What's in there?" I asked, looking down at the envelope in his hand.

"I... I really don't know." He said hesitantly.

"And where's Gandalf?" I asked, heating the kettle over the fireplace.

"He left early."

"Why? Will he be coming back?"

"He said he will, but when that is I don't know." Frodo said and came over to the table.

After having a cup of tea, I said goodnight to Frodo and headed to bed. But I just couldn't sleep. For what seemed like hours I laid in bed, staring out the little window in my bedroom.

What had happened that night kept replaying over and over in my head. I spent ages thinking about what trick Bilbo could have used to make it seem like he disappeared, eventually I accepted that it couldn't have been a trick. He had quite literally disappeared into thin air. He had something behind his back, what it was nobody knew yet. But I would soon find out that what Bilbo was holding was far worse than I expected. Far, far worse indeed.

Eventually I yawned and my eyes drooped. I turned over to face the bright small fireplace in my room, blew out the little candle on my nightstand and dozed off to the sound of the slight crackling and popping of the fireplace.

The next few weeks were very stressful. The Sackville-Bagginses hanging on the bell all day. Since many of Bilbo's possessions and treasures had been left to Me and Frodo, we had no idea what to do.

Luckily, Lobelia didn't find any of the hidden objects in Bag End, and I had to stop her snooping through some of Bilbo's old ancient books.

We finally managed to get her, and the other rude 'visitors' who came snooping around Bag End, trying to claim anything they came across, out of the door. Why did so many people want our hobbit hole!?

On a few occasions, Frodo asked Merry to come over to help keep away unwanted guests.

There was a knock at the door one morning.

Frodo slowly made his way to the door and turned the handle, and hesitantly opened the door.

"Look, I'm sorry, but we're not open for-" Frodo stopped when he realised it wasn't who he thought it was.

"Oh hello Merry. Come in." Frodo said and opened the door for Merry.

I had just been out at the market. I was making my way back up when I saw Lobelia-Sackville Baggins. What was she doing?

She was just stood at the end of Bagshot road, as if she were keeping watch. I quickly dashed up to the door of Bag End and shut the door quickly behind me when I got in.

I dropped the bags when I saw Merry and Frodo stood in front of me. I bent down straight away to hide the blush on my face.

"Oh, hello Frodo, hello Merry." I said and picked everything up.

"Maisy are you alright?" Frodo asked.

"Er... well... Lobelia is literally right outside... so yeah! Have fun with that!" I said and went to the kitchen to put the food away.

A minute later there was another knock at the door. Frodo and Merry looked at me.

"I am not answering that." I said and stepped back.

"I will then." Frodo said and opened the door a bit.

"Hello Lobelia, I'm very sorry but the shop is closed for today."

"Oh, really. Then why did I see that Brandybuck at the door again?" Lobelia said. "And then after I saw-"

"I don't know what you mean."

"Yes you do! I have the right to-"

Merry went up behind the door and slammed it right in Lobelia's face, and Frodo locked it.

We shut Lobelia out and she shouted something at Frodo through the door about him 'not being a true Baggins and being a Brandybuck', and I laughed at how that was even meant to be an insult.

"Was that meant to be an insult?" I couldn't help but ask.

"It was a compliment." Merry said. "And of course, not true."

Merry spent the rest of that day at Bag End with us, and I made lots of tea.

Merry told us about what he had read about the Ring before. He said that he saw Bilbo
holding it when he disappeared. Merry had always been quite intelligent, even though he and Pippin always managed to get in some sort of trouble.

When we finished our third load of tea and biscuits, Merry said he'd head off home. We went with Merry to the front door.

"Thanks for helping today, Merry. It means a lot." I said, opening the door for him.

"That's alright. Hey, er... do you and Frodo wanna come down to the green dragon later?"

I looked at Frodo and he nodded. "Sure!"

"Great, well I'll see you later." Merry said and went back down the front garden.

I shut the door and I had a smile on my face. Frodo was chuckling at me.

"What?" my face we a bit red. "Frodo, seriously-"

"Oh, Maisy." Frodo chuckled."We better get ready for later."

"Yes, but we can't go without having our afternoon tea!" I said and headed to the kitchen.