@hopevering wanted a horror starter from like May. Also comboing it with 'cannot destroy the ring' wishlist item... I know we said Merry but I had another idea...
It seemed such a small thing. Bilbo had never been one for jewelry. Buttons and the odd pocket watch were enough for him. But this ring... It must have been the magic of it. Of course, that was it. He was always curious about that. Of course he would want to keep it safe. What if it fell into the wrong hands?
He couldn't stomach the thought of loosing it again. He was thoroughly lost in the Mirkwood forest... He had gone down a path that seemed to be lighter than the others... before it was too light to be natural light. That was when he felt the road fall beneath him, tumbling down like a mouse down a rabbit hole. When he felt, somehow, the ring had fallen from his pocket...
Where was it?
Bilbo scrambled and searched, feeling panic grip his chest and tears well in his eyes the longer he was without his precious ring. He did not notice the shadows looming larger, the whispers of the forest around him, as he pushed tree branches and leaves out of the way.
He did not notice the spiders had retreated, or gone all together, or even the leaves being a different color than they had been before he had fallen further down the forest. He didn't notice the forest being older or the time of day had changed. He did not feel that this time was not his own.
He only felt the loss of the ring and began to cry in earnest.
