Dear Mother and Father,
You know I have seen some frightening things in my travels with Rua. But I think I can safely say that nothing I ever experienced before can quite compare to the Haunted Burrow under Bag End! And the irony of it is, I was trying to teach Jardic a lesson! I had it all planned out; I mentioned the Haunted Burrow to Jardic, and especially the treasure that is rumoured to be hidden somewhere inside it. He quite literally jumped at the chance to go exploring and find it! I thought everything was going well, but when we arrived at the Party Tree, we ran into a rather prim and proper hobbit called Tulpi Wigglefoot. Of course, Jardic couldn't be quiet and blurted out where we were going. Miss Tulpi insisted on accompanying us and had us talk to the Gaffer about some old letter he was supposed to have, so we did that before asking permission of Lobelia to enter the burrow. I wasn't too happy Tulpi joined us at first, but the more I heard from her, the more I thought she deserved a lesson too!
This Tulpi Wigglefoot turned out to be a close friend of Lobelia Sackville-Baggins, which I think says enough about her. She was more courageous than Lobelia though, who didn't dare enter the burrow after saying she had heard odd noises and seen strange things. No, Tulpi led the way and made notes of everything we saw and heard so she could write a letter of complaint to Mayor Whitfoot.
The burrow itself was dark and full of cobwebs and every door we came across was locked. I was beginning to think we might be forced to give up our search then and there, but Miss Tulpi tripped on the flooring and fell against the bookshelf, which opened up and she fell through! We went through as well, and found doors leading off in every direction. Most of these were locked too, so it took some time before we found one that we could enter. All this while there were odd moaning and groaning noises and when a fake goblin jumped out of its barrel, Jardic nearly jumped out of his skin. I admit I got a bit of a fright too, but I was expecting something. He wasn't.
We made our way through so many doorways and down so many hallways before we reached what looked like a basement. There were all sorts of barrels and boxes stacked up against the walls and the air had an awful smell to it. The floor was damp and Miss Tulpi dropped her hat in a mucky puddle. She wasn't happy about that, I can tell you, saying it was one more thing to add to her letter to the Mayor. In her annoyance, she bumped a stack of barrels which swung away, showing us a secret room with a chest!
I have to admit, even I thought we might have actually found the treasure everyone talks about. But when we finally managed to pry the rusty old thing open, it was full of moth-eaten blankets and rags! Such a disappointment. The air was so bad we decided to get out as soon as we could, but the door behind us had closed and we couldn't open it no matter how hard we pushed or pulled. So we had to find another way out. We tried to avoid the puddles on the floor when we crossed the basement, where we found another door that we could go through. When we did, we were even more lost than before. I was getting used to the fake goblins and ghosts jumping out at us from their barrels and boxes, but suddenly we were chased by what I can only think were real ghosts! I can tell you, I have never been more frightened in my life. I've fought goblins and wolves and even walking skeletons, but you can't hit a ghost, so all you can do is run away, and that's exactly what we did, as fast as our legs could carry us.
When the ghosts had finally gone, we realized that miss Tulpi had disappeared! Even though we were both very scared and would have rather gone home, we decided we should go looking for her. We ended up in some dark attic-like room, where we found a colony of bats that flew at us and tried to get tangled up in our hair.
It wasn't as frightening as the ghosts, but it was still unnerving and I hate to admit it, but I started crying, I was so scared and tired by now. Jardic was very sweet and put his arm around me, but that just made me feel worse, because it was my fault we were there in the first place. Because I wanted to teach him a lesson. So I told him. He seemed surprised and then sad because he said I was his best friend and he hadn't realised he was annoying me. He didn't want to annoy me at all, quite the opposite.
But my confession didn't change our situation. We were still lost inside the Haunted Burrow. And we still hadn't found Miss Tulpi! Jardic was convinced the ghosts had eaten her and insisted her sacrifice not go in vain, that we keep looking for a way out. I admit I was nearly ready to give up and die right there, but then Jardic asked if he could kiss my cheek. I was so scared of the burrow and happy he wasn't mad at me for tricking him into going to the Haunted Burrow that I let him. And it did make me feel slightly better. Then he took my hand and led us out of that place, taking charge like he wasn't scared at all. It took a while longer, but we finally found the exit!
I never would have expected Jardic to be brave like that. He's always struck me as... well, incapable I guess. I feel rather ashamed of myself. I mean, he did manage to survive a walking skeleton in the Barrow Downs, even if he did run away from it and not fight it. But I shall think of and treat him differently from now on, I promise!
Your loving Zara
((OOC: More pics:))
http://s234.photobucket.com/user/Duissane/slideshow/Zarapics/2013-10-29%20The%20Haunted%20Burrow
