Sneakyone.gollums-precious.1.var -

Frodo’s blood turned to ice water. He didn’t move. A pale, starved shape uncurled from a hollow in the bank. Two wide, sickly-pale eyes floated in the dark like drowned moons.

Gollum’s face split into a grin so wide it looked like a wound. SneakyOne.Gollums-precious.1.var

Frodo didn’t know what “point var” meant. But he felt it in the Ring’s weight. A version number. A countdown. And somewhere in the dark, Gollum was laughing without sound. Frodo’s blood turned to ice water

“We swears,” he breathed, crawling backward into the shadows until only his eyes remained. “We swears on… our Precious. The one that’s still yours. For now.” Two wide, sickly-pale eyes floated in the dark

“No,” Frodo whispered, more to himself than to Gollum. “I’m not like you.”

“We had it once, precious. Yes. It was our birthday present. All our own. My… precious .” His voice cracked into a raw, grieving whisper. “But then It left. It jumped away. And we’s been cold ever since.”

Waiting.