Hello everyone. My name is OneWithTheScar and I am the author of The Forgotten Boy...
JUST IN CASE YOU FORGOT BECAUSE HOLY CRAP I HAVEN'T UPDATED IN FOUR MONTHS I AM SO SORRY.
I am really sorry, I've just been really busy. I had finals, and then I had Christmas break that I procrastinated during, and then January...BUT NO EXCUSES!
Ok, so sorry for the long wait. Here is Chapter 2!
Chapter Two
The plane took off smoothly, and before I knew it, we were allowed to take off our seat belts and walk around the plane. Which, I didn't take advantage of, but Snotlout did.
He was all over the place, and to my dismay, he spent the most time near my seat. He watched me draw in my notebook; well actually he watched Astrid as she watched me draw in my notebook. Either way, it was extremely uncomfortable, but it would be extremely rude to tell them to go away, so I had to endure their curious looks as I drew.
"You're really good." Astrid said, looking at my drawing of a Chinese dragon. Her arm rested on my arm rest, and her cheek rested on her hand. Snotlout was in the seat behind us, so he was above me, looking down.
"Thanks." I mumbled, shading in some detail.
"Where did you learn how to draw like that?" She asked. Her piercing blue eyes followed my pencil as I shaded a scale on the back of the dragon. She looked up at me, a small smile playing on her lips. I shrugged. "I don't know, just taught myself."
She nodded, her attention back on the dragon. "I like it." She said.
I raised an eyebrow at her. "Really?" Astrid never struck me as the type of girl that would be interested in geeky, scrawny, artist like me. She was more of a girl that dated the toughest football player on the team, that even scared the coach too.
"Yeah. It's really cool." She moved closer to me, so close I could smell her perfume and it smelled like flowers and it smelled really good. God Hiccup, stop being such creep! Girls like her don't go out with boys like you!
Snotlout nodded above me in agreement. "Hiccup's good at everything."
I snorted. "That's is certainly, most defiantly, not true." The mere idea of me being even remotely good at something was riduclous. A small part of me still believed I was a mistake, and any day now, my life would go back to the way it was, broken, forgotten...
Snotlout rolled his eyes. "Almost everything. Your super smart and creative. You're really good at music, too."
"You're good at music?" Astrid said in surprise. I shrugged. "My mom taught me how to play the piano. I'm not that great."
"Add humble to the list, Snotlout." Astrid said. Snotlout smiled at her. There praises were getting on my nerves. Why couldn't they see I was a mistake?
I gave them each glares. "I suck at any form of athletics."
They both laughed. "I figured that. You're tiny." Astrid said as he laid a graceful hand across my flat stomach and gave it a slight pinch. I yelped. The skin she touched through the fabric of my shirt was burning, and I blushed. "Like, do you even have any body fat?"
"Hey." I said, now putting my pencil down and trading it in for a colored pencil. "That was how I was born, thank you very much."
Astrid gave me a weird look. "What do mean?"
Before I could answer the question, Snotlout stared to talk. "He was born prematurely."
Astrid made an 'o' shape with her mouth and nodded. "And judging by you Snotlout, you were not."
"Is that a fat joke?" Snotlout asked playfully. He lightly punched Astrid in the arm, and she punched him back. Yet, Astrid must have been stronger than she looked, because Snotlout cried out and rubbed his shoulder. "And judging by your punch, you weren't either."
She smirked at him and went back to watching me. "But, seriously Hiccup, you're like, crazy good at drawing."
"I know." Snotlout said, rolling his eyes. "I can't even draw a damn tree."
Somewhere in the back of the plane, my uncle shouted, "Language!"
Snotlout laughed and waved his father off. I shuddered. I had never cussed in front of my father before, and I didn't want to image what he would do to me if I swore.
"Are you listening to us?" Astrid called back, playfulness in her voice.
My father called back, "Yes, we are."
All three of us laughed, and soon, Astrid and Snotlout started watching me again in silence. The sun was going down and the sky around us turned pink and red. I took a break from my drawing and stared out the window. The clouds looked like pink cotton candy, and the sun casted specks of yellow over the sky. It was absolutely beautiful. If you had died, this is what heaven would have looked like.
But, I didn't die. I said back at the voice in my head. I'm still here.
Yet, a part of me knew that the words 'for now' would be added to that sentence. Maybe if I had died, I would be flying with my mother through the clouds, together in the first time in five years.
When I was little, I always had this fantasy of flying. I had always wanted to feel the breeze through my hair, touch the clouds, and ride through the shadows the sun casted. I was quite imaginative when I was younger.
"Hey." Astrid gently patted me on my shoulder. "What's wrong. You just got all depressed all of a sudden."
I shrugged, knowing my dream wasn't worth her time. "It's nothing."
"Oh, come on, Hiccup. What is it?" She leaned closer to me.
I didn't say anything as I stared out the window. Looking at the sunset reminded me of my mother. Where was she now? How was she? Was that really her when I was in the ambulance?
After I had just been hit by the car that one night, I was transported to the hospital in an ambulance. In the corner, my deceased mother appeared. She had told me to hold on, because it wasn't my time to go yet. Was that her ghost, or spirt? Was that really her, or did I just imagine all of that since I was half dead and had just been hit by a car and thrown ten feet across a busy intersection? Either way, I still found myself thinking about her a lot. Maybe she was looking out for me, even though I couldn't see her.
"Sunsets always make me think of my mother." I whispered, so only she could hear. Astrid nodded, understanding. "I can see that."
All too soon, the sun went down and the outside was thrown into darkness. The glass was freezing, so the curtains were drawn. Dinner was served, but I didn't touch my food. I just pushed the tray away and started drawing. I didn't even look at what it was.
"Hey, Hiccup, if you're not going to eat your food, can I eat yours?" Snotlout asked with a mouth full of Mac and Cheese after he finished is entire meal.
"Hiccup, why aren't you eating?" I internally groaned as my father's voice floated over and he looked down at my untouched tray of food. I shrugged. "Not hungry."
"Hiccup, you know what the doctor said." My father said in a warning tone. I slouched my shoulders and sighed. "Yes, I know what he said."
Before we had left, my doctor had made sure my father knew that I had to eat five meals a day, because I was severely underweight. But, I was never hungry. The doctor said that since I was so used to going long period without food, my stomach shrunk. My stomach was three times smaller in size than the average stomach. Dr. Verso, my doctor, said that it would expand the more food I ate. But, the only problem was, was that I absolutely despise eating.
"Eat, Hiccup." I looked up at him, giving him my best puppy dog eyes. I wasn't hungry, I didn't want to eat. Please don't make me eat.
My father gave me a strong, hard look. "Nope, not working this time. You've got over twenty pounds to gain. Eat."
He disappeared back to his original seat. I sighed. I hated eating. It seemed more like a waste of time to me.
"What does he mean you have twenty pounds to gain?" Astrid asked. Ug, this question.
"I was anorexic for a short period of time." I said, picking up my fork and stabbing a piece of chicken. Why did my father have to say that? I hated telling people I was anorexic.
Even though, it was the truth. Well, somewhat. After a while of my father neglecting me, I just stopped eating. It didn't help that there was no food in my house, but I left that part out. I was diagnosed with anorexia a week before we left. It was probably one of the worst days of my life. The look on my father's my face was complete shock as he eyed my body. It made feel like I had let him down somehow.
"I'm sorry." I had said to him.
"For what?" He had said, still in shock about the news.
"For not hiding it well enough." I had replied quietly. Once the words left my mouth, my father slumped down in a chair and put his face in his hands. "What have I done to you." He had said.
"Nothing." I had said, trying to comfort him. This wasn't his fault, it was mine.
"Yes, Hiccup. I did this to you. I did it all. And I'm so sorry."
After that, my father got super strict about my eating. For the first few days, he would watch me eat and then monitored me thirty minutes after so I didn't force myself to thrown it up or something. He was crazy over protective of me, and it drove me insane.
Astrid looked up at me surprised. "Really? Wow, that's...I could never do that. I love food."
I shrugged, eager to change the subject. "After a while, you learn to love being hungry." I didn't look at her as I shoved the piece of chicken in my mouth.
"Wait, does this mean I can't eat your food?" Snotlout said, disappointed. I looked over at my father, who was talking to my uncle. He wouldn't know if I just slipped my tray to Snotlout...
"Yeah, here." I said quietly. I handed him a roll of bread and started to grasp my tray, when my father called in a warning tone, "Hiccup!"
"Gah!" I said, frustrated. I let the tray slide back onto the small table in front of me loudly. He was watching me. Of course he is, Hiccup. You know how over protective he's been...
"Hiccup, do you need me to watch you eat?"
I groaned. "No."
"Then eat."
"Wait, can I still eat this." Snotlout said, the roll in his hand. "Well, too late, I'm eating it." He bit into the roll and munched loudly. My uncle chuckled. "Wow. I can't get Snotlout to stop eating. I've never seen a teenage boy refuse food."
My father looked over at me, his eyebrow raised. I shoved a bit of chicken in my mouth and raised my eyebrow at him. Happy?
"Yeah, Hiccup's a tough one when it comes to food."
I tried to swallow the chicken, but it was dry and I really didn't want to eat. I reached for my napkin. I had a trick, that made me seem like I was wiping my mouth, but I was spitting my food out in the napkin. I used it a couple of times on my dad when he forced me to eat and I didn't want to. But, he soon saw the bits of food in the trash and got really angry. He lectured me for twenty minutes that I was extremely underweight and needed the extra calories.
"And don't you dare even think about doing that napkin thing, Hiccup!"
I groaned. He knew my ways so well. My father gave me a strong glare.
"What's the napkin thing?" Astrid's mom asked. My father gave a tired sigh, and then explained to the two adults about how I spit my food out in my napkin when it looked liked I was just wiping my mouth.
Both of the adults laughed. "He's a clever one, Stoick." Spitlout said.
"Yeah, too clever for his own good." My father mumbled, taking a sip of water.
"Wow, he really doesn't want to eat. How do you raise a kid that doesn't eat?" Astrid's mother asked my dad. I blushed as Snotlout and Astrid laughed. The attention was on me for too long. Get it on someone else.
My father shrugged. "He's a lot like my wife, so I know where and when to look when he's up to something. He's good kid, though."
Astrid's mother nodded. "At least he never complaining about being hungry." Spitlout said, looking over at his son who was finishing of the roll I gave him.
My father laughed. "I don't think I've ever heard Hiccup say he was hungry."
"I think 'I'm hungry' was Snotlout's first words." My uncle laughed.
"Ha-ha. Very funny. "Snotlout said.
I let out a nervous laugh. Keep the attention on Snotlout.
The adults then started talking about something upcoming in the business industry, yet ever once in a while my father would look over at me and see if I was eating. "More Hiccup." He called over his shoulder.
I groaned. "Really?" I said.
"Yup." My father said. I sighed, knowing there was no way out of it. I shoved mac and cheese in my mouth. It tasted good, yet a part of my brain was hard wired a certain way. Pleasure was an award, and I didn't deserve and award. I deserved to be punished. You're father doesn't love you because you're a horrible person, don't eat, don't do it, he'll love you more if you don't eat...
I swallowed the demon thoughts in my head along with the mac and cheese. Go away. I thought.
After many agonizing minutes, I finished off half of the chicken breast, almost all of the mac and cheese, and was even able to make a dent in mixed vegetables.
When our plates were collected, salad for the adults I noticed, my father nodded approvingly as he saw my tray.
"Have you ever just thought of giving him protein bars?" My Uncle Spitlout asked my father when they thought I wasn't listening. My father nodded. "He has to drink protein shakes every morning, but what he really needs is body fat and muscle."
My uncle nodded. "Whenever Snotlout's hungry, he usually eats one and is good for two hours. They'll be good for him. He's so tiny, how much does he weigh?"
My father sighed, exhausted. "Around seventy pounds. It was worse when he was in the hospital. But, he's gained about ten pounds since then. He's still got a long way to go, and he's so damn stubborn when it comes to food."
My uncle nodded. "I can't help you out there, brother. Snotlout practically eats every hour on the hour. He's going to be around your height when he's done growing."
My father snorted. "Hiccup hasn't even reached five feet yet, he's so tiny."
"Aw." Astrid's mom said, "That's actually kind of cute."
"Hiccup does't think so." My father laughed. "He gets so embarrassed every time someone mistakes him as a second grader."
All three adults cracked up laughing at that. "Really?" My uncle asked.
My dad nodded. "Someone asked what grade he was going into next year and he said he was going into the 9th grade. Then, they said, 'really, but you're like, seven'. He turned so red and he said, 'no, I'm actually fourteen'." They were cracking up now, and I felt myself go red. I remembered that, and I was so embarrassed. Did I really looked like a little kid? I knew I was short, but not that short.
"Aw. Poor kid." Astrid mother replied. She was currently reading a book, her thin rimmed glasses balancing on her nose.
"That's the opposite of Snotlout." My uncle said. "People ask him what college he's going to go to all the time. It's so funny when he tells them that he's not even in high school yet."
The two men laughed together while my face burned brighter. If he could, would my father rather have Snotlout as a child then me? He would finally get the strong, confident son he was hoping for. He would have more in common. Life would be easier. I don't even look like I belong to the family.
I pulled my sketched book out and started coloring in the Chinese dragon. Astrid and Snotlout had earbuds in, listening to some pop song.
I enjoy the silence. It wa nice not to have their eyes focused on me. I hated it when people looked at me; was there something wrong with me? Was I that different?
I lost track of time as I finish the dragon and started on another drawing. Astrid had curled up in her seat and fallen asleep, pink lips parted, brow relaxed, and steady breathing.
Snotlout was behind us, and I could hear the small snores that came from him. The adults settled down and soon fell asleep to. It was around two o'clock in the morning when everyone on the plane was asleep; except for me.
I found peace being the only one conscious. I could do anything I wanted. But, I stayed in my seat and kept drawing, earbuds in my ears playing a classical tune my mother used to listen to when she was alive.
A mixture of steady breathing and light snores filled the plane, and I finally allowed my muscles to relax. I was alone for now. Away from concerned looks from my father, worried glances from my relatives, and curious eyes in general.
Don't get too comfortable. A voice said in my head, There's still a mad murderer out there trying to kill you.
He doesn't know I have the evidence. I fought back, I'm the only one who knows, and there's no way for him to get it because I have it with me.
I reached into my pocket and fingered the blue flash drive that held so many secrets. It was funny how something so small could make a huge difference in someone's life. I pocketed the flash drive.
Before we had left, the person responsible for the accident involving losing my leg was named. Alvin the Treacherous. He was well known for murdering and raping young boy and girls. He had done just about everything you could do wrong, which included car hijacking, bank robbing, murdering four police officers, abducting, raping, and then murdering two teenage girls and their boyfriends, robbing homes, stealing from all sorts of stores, the list goes on.
And his next target, was me.
He had never been caught because he was quick and had eyes and ears all over the place. He also got rid of any evidence that would put him at the blame, which included murdering witness of a crime he committed.
My father had never been more protective of me. He would constantly have one hand on me at all times, and if he didn't, he was always watching me, never letting me leave his sight. He either had his enormous hand between my shoulder blades, on my waist, around my arm, or his sharp eyes watched me like a hawk.
It made me feel safe, yet it was incredibly annoying.
I peeked out through the curtains, and saw nothing but black. We were suppose to arrive in Hawaii around ten in the morning. I let my head rest against the back of my seat. I paused my music and just listened to the slight hum of the plane's engine, the soft snores coming from the other passengers on the plane, and Astrid steady breathing as she was curled up next to me.
But I was wide awake and alert. I could never sleep in a public place like this, even though it wasn't very public. Still, I was alert and ready to spring. I always joked with myself that the years of being bullied and beaten for living caused me to have a mild form of PTSD. Of course I didn't tell my father this. He had dealt with enough problems of mine as is, and he was always easily off to sleep, and he never knew that sometimes I would wake up screaming in the night because of a flashback. He never knew how many sleepless nights I had encountered. He was hard to disturb.
Yet, the night was when I roamed free.
Nobody knew this though. And I liked it that way. I un paused my music and just looked out the window, folding my skinny legs into my body and resting my head on my knobby knees.
My book and art supplies had taken cover in my carry on that was currently occupying a place at my feet.
Don't close your eyes. A voice said.
Didn't plan on it. I said back.
I stared down at my brand new, black converse low tops that adorned my small feet. My father had gotten me new clothes, because with one look at my closet, it seemed almost like a time capsule than anything.
I hadn't gone clothes shopping in five years. But, it didn't matter, because over the years I had never grew. It was almost as if I was frozen in time, never moving forward, never growing older. I had the body of a ten year old, yet the mind of an 80 year old. That's what my father said.
But knowledge has no age.
Shopping with my father was one of the most embarrassing things I had ever had to do. I started with jeans. Even the Extra, extra smalls were too baggy for me. I had to go into kid's sizes, my waist was so small.
My father was cracking up laughing though. He couldn't stop, and I thought he was going to die from laughter when I told him that the jeans from the children's side fit me. My face was red the entire time. I wasn't anywhere near tall or heavy enough to fit into the teen's clothes. It was humiliating.
And then things got worse when I got angry and jealous glares from other girls once when my waist size was announced.
"Do you know how many girls would kill for a waist like yours?" The women who was helping us ask. My father was practically dying from laughter.
"Do you know how many boys would kill for a waist like mine?" I asked back. She shook her head. "None."
And then we went to shoes. I think the equivalent of how hard my dad laughed was equal to like, a thousand sit ups. I had small feet and could only fit into children's sizes. And even though sketchers would have been cool (not!), I settled for Converse low tops.
Gods, why did I have to be so small?!
I looked over at Astrid, who was sleeping peacefully next to me. Just how I liked it. Silence, me being the only conscious one. Something about the fact that I was the only one up sent a spark of electricity down my spine and made me happy. I have no idea why though.
I knew that there was no possibility of me sleeping tonight, so I just turned off the light above me, sending the entire plane into darkness. I looked out the window, waiting for dawn to come.
At night I run free, and once dawn approaches, I go back into my cage, ready to attempted to be perfect once more.
I know, it's horrible. But it's better than nothing, right? Yes, yes it is.
I PROMISE I'll try harder to update more, but I have so many stories right now, and my extremely popular story "Lost Prince" is taking up a lot of my time. Sorry.
Well, please review!
~TheOneWithTheScar