I have been having some writer's block over the last few days...I get that creative typing itch but nothing pours out the way I want it to. I kept thinking of some ideas I want to write about but my mind isn't going where I would like it today.
I went back to a few stories I wrote previously just to see if there was anything I wanted to expand upon, anything that seems to catch my eye. Any verse that gives me inspiration and opens up thousands of words...I found it.
I just hope you like it.
...
Astrid felt excitement overflow through her. The anticipation on Hiccup's face when he saw her standing, or maybe sitting, next to the car when he came out of the woods...Or, perhaps she'd surprise him by meeting him on his way back from his hike.
She wasn't sure, but she wanted to do something for him. Make his face light up. Give him a small surprise.
Even if it was just by seeing her.
She'd supposed to have been at a track meet. But, the other team forfeited at the last minutes. Instead of spending what would have felt eons sitting on the bleachers with the team, waiting for their events to begin and end, Astrid only lost a few hours on a bus ride to and from the other school's track.
Now, she was in her car, dressed in her track uniform heading towards the state park where Hiccup usually walked on the weekends.
"I wish I could go," he'd told her the evening before. But, his father wouldn't have let him take the car over an hour from town. Not with the break pads needing changed. They'd been squeaking for over a week. And, her parents couldn't take him. Both had prior obligations so they hadn't planned on going.
Worked out for the better, anyways.
She glanced at the digital readout on the stereo. One-thirty. She knew Hiccup typically was heading home around two. His routine wasn't difficult. He'd wake up early in the morning, take the car to the park, walk for hours, sit and sketch, eat a snack, sometimes even take a cat nap against a bench or a tree.
But he was usually home by two or so. If not, typically his father would get antsy.
According to Hiccup, Mr. Vast had become particularly more antsy since the fall. He was never someone to hover before. Hiccup lived more independently than most students their age. He grown up with a father who was a work-a-holic, and Hiccup had learned to take care of himself most of the time. The weekends were always what Hiccup looked most forward to. Saturdays in particular. Most of the time, especially since he had gotten his license, he'd take himself to the woods for his on solitude.
Since he and Astrid had started dating she'd tagged along here and there.
Coming around the corner, the parking lot became visible, and her heart skipped a beat. She could see Mr. Vast's green Impala parked just where Hiccup always parked her. Usually towards the back, right as soon as you would turn into the lot.
Astrid parked the car and turned off the ignition. The gentle hum of her father's white Scion xB went off, and silence echoed in her ears.
It was bliss.
No wonder why Hiccup enjoyed coming out to the park. Rolling the windows down on all four doors, she could hear the bugs and birds making their sounds. Living in the city this was a rare sound to hear. No cars going past to disturb the silence. No city noise to eat up nature's music. This was Hiccup's slice of heaven.
Leaning her seat back a bit, she pulled a knee up towards her chest, and she sat. Doing nothing. There was almost always some place she had to be at. The school, studying for a test, practice, home with her mother fixing dinner. She didn't feel a sense of urgency to move and go to the next thing. She felt...calm.
Hiccup's world was like a vacation. She enjoyed it. She'd never had experiences so simply but so enriching until they'd started talking, hanging out, and dating. He'd opened up her world to a brand new world that was surrounding her...it was just all mucked up from the chaos in her life.
Opening her eyes, she realized she'd dozed off. Staying up until two and up at seven had gotten to her. Finally feeling like she could relaxed, she had fallen asleep.
She looked at her phone. It was two-oh-seven.
Anytime now, Hiccup would be out of the woods.
Suddenly, she thought to check her email. She'd been waiting on a note from one of the colleges she'd wanted to visit to set up a college tour for the summer. She'd wanted to look at their physical therapy program. She'd been waiting all week to hear back from them. Why she thought of this now, she didn't know. It was Saturday, she'd checked her email last night to see if they'd responded. She most likely wouldn't get a response until next week.
She was right. No email back.
After glancing towards the woods again, hoping to see Hiccup coming from the trail, she sighed when an empty field stared right back at her. No Hiccup.
Anytime now...
She leaned her head back again, and looked at her cell phone screen again, checking the reception strength.
Four bars. It was hard to believe that once you were in the woods by about a five minute slow pace, there would be little reception. It was spotty most of the time. A text message might go through, but it was one in a million chances it would.
And this was one reason why Hiccup loved the woods. He had his playlist downloaded to his phone, so if he chose to ignore the silence, he'd turn on some music, shove his headphones into his hears and just zone out, walk or sit and sketch.
Two-eighteen. Anytime now, Hiccup.
Surprising him was testing her patience. She couldn't wait to see the look on his face when he'd see her...
Getting out of the car, she decided to head towards the entrance of the pathway. Or, also the exit. There was a nice bench to sit on at a fork in the pathway not too far in. Just the thought of surprising him as he came down the hill made her smile a little bit more.
Locking the car and tucking the lanyard into her sporty team jacket, she headed towards the woods.
Suddenly, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. Grrrr. Most likely her parent's calling her to see where she was at.
No...It was Hiccup's dad. They'd had each other's numbers, but they'd only talked once on the phone. Weeks ago-
"Hello?" she said, trying to sound bright and friendly.
"Astrid-"
"Hi, Mr. Vast-"
"Hi-um-I was wondering-did Hiccup drive to your meet?"
Astrid narrowed her eyes, and slowed down her pace.
"My meet?" she asked, still trying to sound friendly despite her confusion.
"Yeah," Mr. Vast said gently, hesitantly. "He said he was going to come home early today-"
Astrid felt her heart race suddenly.
"-around noon or so. Heather is in town-the four of us were supposed to go to lunch but-"
"You haven't heard from him?" Astrid said.
"Have you?" Mr. Vast asked. Hope echoed through the receiver.
"No-no. Not since about eight o'clock-And, I'm in town. I'm at the park-"
"Is the car still there?" he asked her.
"Yes-" she breathed.
"I have called him several times-he-he must still be in the woods." Astrid could tell he was trying to hide his panic from her. Typically, the man was very stoic. But, she could tell he was beginning to crack just a bit.
"I am at the trail," Astrid said, her feet picking up the pace on the asphalt at her feet. "I'll head in and see-"
"No! No, I am sure he's all right-probably just lost track of time-"
"I know his usual path," Astrid told him. "I'll head in and see if I can find him-"
"Astrid, no it's fine! I'll come down-I am sure he just lost track-"
"I'm here now," Astrid said, the fear obviously coming through the other end. "I'll go look-"
"I can call the rangers-"
"No, I'll go in," Astrid said, her feet now hitting God's earth under her tennis shoes. "If you don't hear from me in about twenty minutes, call the rangers-"
"Astrid, no! Your father-"
She hung up and shoved the phone into her pocket. She couldn't listen to him anymore. She was there, she needed to find Hiccup.
And, she knew what Mr. Vast was going to say:
"Your father will kill me if I send you out there-"
Ironically, the thought made her chuckle a little bit. Their father's had been acquaintances simply because they both had run ins with the law due to their work. Her father was a detective for the county, and Mr. Vast often represented the felons her father would arrest. All on good terms between the two of them, so it seemed. Even the greasy, sneaky citizens needed someone to help them when their day came for trial.
She felt her phone vibrate in her pocket but ignored it. Her feet guiding her forward quickly. In the back of her head, she knew she was going to have a difficult time on the trails. No matter how good of shape she was in, she still couldn't handle the hills very well. Not like Hiccup. He'd ran the hills prior to his accident, with a packed bag over his shoulders and back. How such a small kid could walk and hike so quickly, with a gimp, she had no idea.
She could already feel her breath catching as she went up and down the small peaks and valleys of the woods. Once, she nearly lost her footing and had to grab a sapling just to keep balanced.
"Hiccup!" she called suddenly. Her eyes scanned the edges of the trail, looking for any sign of him. Coming to the fork on the path, she immediately headed towards the right. Hiccup always took her to the right of the fork. He rarely went left, he'd told her.
"Hiccup!" she found herself calling again, only to hear her own voice echo between the hills. Her heart racing, her feet moving, she only hoped that she would find him soon.
Stupid boy. If she came just over the peak, she was certain she'd find him sitting on the bench sleeping or sketching. Most likely lost track of time, just as she would have imagined him doing.
No Hiccup.
No sign. Not even an empty plastic water bottle that he perhaps would have accidentally forgotten to pick up.
"Damnit!" she said loudly, leaning forward a bit. She needed to catch her breath. Glancing at her phone quickly, ignoring the notification stating she had three missed calls from Mr. Vast, she realized the time was two-thirty-nine. Time was going by so quickly.
Maybe in the off chance he did turn left at the fork...
No. Keep going Astrid.
"Hiccup!" she yelled again, hearing the echo. She craned her ears to listen for a faint call from him.
Nothing. Not a peep.
Hearing her in the valley and over the hills was probably going to be impossible for him.
She needed to climb higher.
She rushed up one hill, and down another, then up again as quickly as she could. Her legs felt like Jello, her chest heaved, but she felt if she was able to get to the next highest peek on the trail she'd call his name and he would yell for her.
"Hic-cup!" she screamed, her lungs working in overdrive to suck in air. Putting her arms over her head to open her chest cavity, she tried to listen around her, trying to block out her gasping body, he ringing ears. Any sign of Hiccup.
Nothing, again.
It was as though he'd vanished.
She shook the thought from her head, and headed forward.
The worst of the hills was yet to come. Already, had Hiccup come this path, it was why past the limit that his father and he were typically comfortable with him going to. If he didn't have new to him prosthetic, perhaps it wouldn't have made he or his father edgy. He'd brought Astrid along almost each time he wanted to go to this particular spot. It was indeed his favorite place to sit and do Hiccup-things. But, he worried he'd never make it back if he did. Perhaps a phantom pain would come and he couldn't get out of the woods, or perhaps he'd fall and not be able to get himself back to the parking lot.
"Dad probably wouldn't even notice I was gone if I didn't come home," he once told her on a very gloomy day, both outside and mentally for him.
His father had noticed. She hoped he wasn't sitting somewhere worried he wouldn't be missed...
Astrid stopped at the very bottom of the ever-so-Mount Saint Helen's hill of the hiking trails. This hill was so steep and so high, it had to be taken in a zig-zag just to get up it somewhat comfortably.
"I once ignored the trail and decided to hike it straight up," he once told her. "I couldn't run for almost a week."
Taking in a deep breath, she started walking.
"Hiccup!" she could herself calling again, hoping to hear him. She waited just for a second, but nothing came. Just birds. And the old, dried up leaves being rustled by a few squirrels playing.
Climbing the hill took her more than ten minutes, about five stops for air, and the longing for a sip of water. Just a sip. She hadn't had anything to drink before the meet. She knew Hiccup had water in his pack. He always carried water, crackers, sometimes even a thermos of coffee or some hot chocolate depending on the season...
Making it towards the top of the hill, she hoped to find him rested on top of a fallen tree. The truck of this tree was as tall as they were on it's side. It had rested up against some large rocks into the hillside, creating the perfect seat to sit in and overlook the valley below them. That was Hiccup's favorite spot.
Coming up onto it, scanning the area more, she didn't see any sign of Hiccup.
"He must have gone left at the fork-" Astrid said to herself.
Panic was now rushing through her in heavy waves, enough to bring her to her knees. Gasping for air, her mind going in twenty directions she thought.
Pulling out her cell phone to check the time, she realized it was three-twelve, just switching over to three-thirteen.
Had it really been that long?
She needed to get her jacket off. Sweat poured from her face, and she used it to wipe her face and neck. After wrapping the jacket around her waste, she pulled her braid up, using a spare pony-tail tie from her wrist to pull it off of her hot neck.
"Hiccup!" she called one last time.
She needed to rest. She knew the rangers would be out. Mr. Vast had threatened it when she was talking to him. How they would use their John Deere Gators on these trails she had no idea. Some spots were too narrow to get them through. She strained her ears to see if she could hear the sound of motors, most likely ATV motors. But nothing.
She went to turn back to head back down the hill, but she paused.
What if Hiccup decided to go on further? He said he rarely did. But, what if he had? Even though he had a gimp leg, knowing he was risking himself getting back, what if he'd gone further?
"Five minutes," she convinced herself. She turned back towards the trail, heading past the fallen tree and continued.
The pathway around the tree was tricky. It had narrowed slightly due to the large tree falling, and Astrid knew she'd have to be careful...
Wait...
Glancing down the slope, she realized the ground had been disturbed. Leaning over was not a good idea. The path was too narrow, if she'd lose her balance...
Astrid sat down on her stomach, and looked over the ledge.
Fifteen feet down, she could see Hiccup lying at the foot of the hill.
"Hiccup!"
...
Little obvious what was about to happen but this was what I was coming up with at midnight. I may edit later on. But for right now, I kinda of like it.