Chapter Eighteen

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Cody laid on her spare blankets and thought about what had happened. She did not understand why the elf woman would not rid of the darkness that laid inside of her. As she laid there she felt the warmth of Frodo's body leave her side and she was instantly cold. She slowly sat up and saw him make his way to a side staircase carved into the tree.

"Frodo! Where are you going?" she hissed. She tried to keep her voice as quiet as possible. She began to follow him when he turned around and looked at her.

"Stay here, I'll be back. Lay back down my love."

She smiled as he said this and curled back up, trying to get warm again. Again, as she laid there, she let her thoughts wonder and she tried to remember things from her childhood. Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard a pair of footsteps trying to be silent on the wooden platform. She looked up and saw Merry approaching her with a twisted expression on his face. It did not seem that he was coming to her but she stood up anyways.

At her sudden movements he flinched and turned towards her.

"Do you need something Merry?" she asked softly. She had to be cautious of her words if she wanted to regain her friend.

"No." he sighed. He seemed worn out, almost as if he had aged from the inside but not the outside. "I was just going on a walk, I couldn't sleep."

"May I walk with you?"

Tears pooled in his eyes but he quickly wiped them away before she could see them. His eyes were dull and his movements were slow but he agreed.

They walked down the tree in an awkward silence but Cody was hoping she could make amends with her childhood friend. Finally, Cody couldn't take it anymore.

"I'm sorry Merry, I didn't mean to hurt you." she blurted.

He was silent and continued to descend the tree with his head bowed. When they reached the bottom she almost cried out the words, "Please, say something."

"What is there to say?" he rasped, even his voice was failing him.

"Please forgive me!"

He stared at her with his brown eyes and tears pooled his eyes once again but he did not have the strength to wipe them away. As he was about to turn away she grasped his arm and begged, "Merry please, you're my brother."

Merry whipped around and a new kind of fire smoldered in his eyes from her words. "I, am not, your brother." he piratically snarled. His eyes dulled again with sadness when her saw her pained face and whimpered, "Is that all I've been to you, a brother?"

This time when he turned to leave she let his arm slip through her fingers. She sunk down on her knees and let the tears come. In a shaky voice she began to sing the one song that came to her mind.

♪ "There will be a day with no more tears

No more pain, and no more fears

There will be a day when the burdens of this place

Will be no more

But until that day, I'll hold on to you always." ♪

Cody looked up and saw Merry standing at the other end of the tree listening to her. When he knew that she was done he shook his head and disappeared behind the tree. Slowly, she got back on her feet and stumbled up the smooth stairs. She painfully crawled under her blankets and tried to drift into sleep.

Before she went unconscious she felt the familiar presence of Frodo beside her. He must have seen the tear stains down her face for he began to softly sing and stroked her hair so she would fall into sleep.

-------------okay, I know some of you recognize that song and I left a part out of it. I hope you don't mind if I did that. Also too the name of that song is called "There Will be a Day" by Jeremy Camp.------------