Chapter One: Winter Breaks in Iceland Require Piggehs
"Far, what are you doing?" I looked up at him with bright eyes, he had taken me to an amusement park for the day before school started. During the school year, he would take me to Finland to stay with Aunty Tino because they liked the idea of me going to school with my cousins. Our school was an academy for the especially gifted.
After a few minutes and some loud curses in Danish, my dad came back with a stuffed pig in his arms and threw it at me and it hit me in the face. The pig was bright pink, with big eyes and a curly tail, "I bought you a piggeh, the guy running that stand ran out of those funny reggae bananas." My eyes widened, I poked the pig in one of its eyes,
"I wanted a reggae banana…it had a cool hat." I pouted, poking the pig several times. As a child, I always was pouty and at first, I hated that pig but as I grew up, that thing grew on me. I grew to love it, to the point that we were inseparable… I named it Piggeh, because I wasn't very creative in my youth.
Piggeh was like my security blanket, when Far rented the Japanese horror films and had me watch them with him, Piggeh was there to comfort me unlike my dad who was laughing when the lady had her head cut off. He's such a freak.
.
.
.
"Fejl, put the pig down. You can't take it to school again. You're sixteen." Far laughed at me when I pouted and hugged the pig closer to my chest,
"It's not just any pig! This is my Piggeh!" I set Piggeh down next to me and picked up our cat because it looked neglected, it snuggled into my lap. Our cat really liked me, it always snuggled near my feet, but I always ended up stepping on it. I have the scratches and scars on my feet and my murdered socks as proof.
"You can't take the pig with you everywhere, stupid." Far was laughing at me so I threw the cat at his face and laughed back,
"I can if I want to, the pig is coming with me to Finland again." I stuck my tongue out and grabbed my bags out of my room. School was starting next week, so I was road tripping my way to Finland.
.
.
.
Road tripping to Helsinki was so much more fun than flying, because I get to see different nations. My friend Fantome lived in Lithuania with his mom, Toris, and always asked me to give him a ride to school and made me take stops at his uncles' houses in Latvia and Estonia. His Uncle Eduard really seemed to like me, which is awesome. I love that Eduard has a crap ton of video games littering his house and those freaky mochi things are so squishy and fun. I like the one that looks like my dad, it has spiky hair things that make me giggle. The one that looks like my mom is also funny, it has the floaty hair curl, and I love it. It's so adorable. There's even mochi things that look like Uncle Emils, Uncle Berwald, and Aunty Tino.
Fantome and I went to school, like normal, and he was rambling on in French to his Uncle Francis. Seriously, how many uncles does this kid have? Alfred, Francis, Raivis, Eduard…and then there's that weird Polish guy. I'm not sure if he should be considered Aunt Feliks, Uncle Feliks, or Gender Neutral relative-of-some-sort Feliks. His dad had to move to Vancouver, British Columbia a few months ago because there was a job open, so they don't really talk that much. Fantome hung up the phone and let out a sigh, he ran a hand through his dark hair,
"Uncle Francis keeps trying to get me to move to Paris with him, he says the girls there are really pretty and that I'd like it." His green eyes looked tired and I could tell he was getting over a cold. He sniffled, "I keep telling him that I'm not leaving Vilnius any time soon but he can't get it through his head."
"Let's go to Paris together," I replied, "it sounds fun. I want a picture of the pointy tower. You know that one? That famous French pointy tower in Paris."
"The Eiffel Tower?"
"The pointy one." Conversation continued in this fashion for the next hour before I realized that the pointy tower was called the Eiffel Tower. How was I supposed to know?
"You aren't the brightest crayon in the box, are you?"
"Shut up."
.
.
.
Helsinki was the same as always, I parked my car in the worst way I could have possibly done so, but it's okay. I'm just going to drop Fantome off and help him get his crap ton of bags out of the trunk.
"Your parking sucks."
"Shut up." I searched the backseat for Piggeh to make sure she was okay before helping my friend with his bags, I couldn't find Piggeh. My eyes widened and I threw bags out the doors, "WHERE'S PIGGEH?!" I became more frantic in my search, throwing everything in sight out my car until I could see the bare floor to my mini cooper. "WHAT THE F*CK HAPPENED TO PIGGEH?!" I stared at Fantome in disbelief. He shrugged, taking a suitcase out of the trunk,
"Did you leave it at home again? This happened after Spring Break last year and you ripped apart your room. You remember that?" I frowned, remembering that I had put Piggeh down at home in order to please the cat. Piggeh was at home, without me. I sighed, knowing that I would have to live through an entire semester without my Piggeh…
.
.
.
I suffered through a few months of live without Piggeh and finally it was Winter Break, the wait was over. I drove as fast as I could back home and ran through the door to find Piggeh had been placed on my bed with a note left from my father. He had already left for work for the day, it read, "Fejling Cabinet~ You left this behind last time and I know you're crying inside. I couldn't take it to you in Helsinki, I couldn't get the time off of work. :P Love, Far~" I crumpled the note and held the pig close to my chest, then I noticed a second note on the bedside table, "PS: We're going to Iceland. c: "
"Iceland, eh? Visiting Uncle Emils? Whatever, as long as I have Piggeh, I don't care." I flopped down on the sofa and took a nap, I needed it. I drove all night last night through Germany to get to Piggeh. It's an obsession, I know. I curled up with Piggeh on the couch, not even noticing the cat curl up next to me and my father open the door. Apparently he ruffled my hair because when I woke up, it was a mess. More of a mess than it normally is when I wake up. "…we're going to Iceland to see Uncle Emils…?" I asked slowly, he nodded and threw a pillow at my face,
"Ja, we're going now." He always had to throw something at my face, didn't he? Well, he's stupid. I grabbed all my still packed bags and took them into the car when the cat jumped out of my bag and into my face. That cat was scary.
.
.
.
Uncle Emils lived in Reykjavík and I could never pronounce that city's name, there are too many consonants next to each other. Y, K, J! The hell?! His puffin was also evil, that thing attacked me every time I visited. It thought I was my dad, since I looked exactly like my dad and the bird hated him, it hated me. I'm so lucky. He picked us up from the airport and took us to his house, we all sat around the table staring at each other. It was getting to be a little awkward.
"Uncle Emils, you should let me work for you during the summer since you have that boat tour thing. I like boats." I said plainly, staring into his violet eyes. "Please?" From the side, my dad looked at him,
"Fejling Cabinet is a bad worker," he laughed, "I wouldn't hire him if I were you." He stuck his tongue out, laughing. I smacked him,
"Not cool!" I waited for Uncle Emils to respond, he nodded slowly,
"You can work for me, I don't mind. You're my nephew, it's the least I could do." He shrugged and took his evil puffin in his arms, "I'm going to feed Mr. Puffin, Matthias don't you dare break anything." And what do you know, my dad broke a plate. He stared at it and it broke. He's like a walking accident. "I heard that!" Uncle Emils called from down the hall.
.
.
.
Winter Break was about to end, my dad and I had spent time in Reykjavík with Uncle Emils for a few days, looking at geysers and yelling at the puffins. Evil, evil puffins. I threw some rocks at them, it felt so good. Then the puffins chased me and I fell down a small hill and almost broke my right arm. It's in a sling now and I can't really write.
I screamed, pain shot through my arm like a thousand leagues of pain or maybe it was more like a million needles jabbing into my soul. That's why Far and I went to see the doctor: in order to get my arm, which the stupid puffins jacked up, examined.
My doctor was the nicest lady ever, Miss. Yekaterina Braginskaya, she was from Ukraine. I dangled my legs and kicked them back and forth impatiently, awaiting her arrival. She walked in and the room immediately smelled like wheat fields and sunflowers, she giggled at the sight of my immature behavior. I sighed happily, inhaling her scent and loving every minute of her presence. She was so pretty with her short, blond hair and that kind face and those bright, cheery blue eyes. It wasn't very long before I noticed another defining feature of Miss. Braginskaya's... she had colossal knockers and in all honesty, they were a little intimidating.
"Where does it hurt, sweetheart?" Miss. Yekaterina smiled, I blushed lightly when she called me sweetheart. She probably meant nothing by using the pet name, but to me it felt so endearing, almost personal. That's the kind of name you tell someone you like, right? Not the random Danish teenage boy with the almost broken arm you meet at work. I knew she was probably as old as my dad and yet, I still had a crush on her. It wasn't my fault she was hot.
"Uh, here," I managed, raising my right arm and wincing. "It hurts here."
"I am thinking it might be the broken," Far added on loudly, as he lounged in a seat to my right. He just sat there, grinning like a fool. Tears started to well in my eyes as Miss. Braginskaya took hold of my arm and gingerly lifted it up to inspect it.
"Let's give you an x-ray and check for anything dislocated." She said sweetly, wiping away the stray tears from my eyes. I blinked, my face turning a bright shade of red, and nodded.
.
.
.
And that's how I managed to end up here. After an hour of me screaming, I finally got to go home.
"Well, looks like it's not dislocated." Yekaterina smiled widely causing my cheeks to flush lightly. "You just need to be careful with your arm, don't do any strenuous activity." So...I guess I sort of ignored that last instruction. Just a little. But, I'll get to that later. As we walked back out onto the street, my arm in a makeshift sling, I ran into a certain little Chinese-Russian beauty who decided to vacation in Reykjavík as well. My heart seemed to speed up considerably as I laid eyes on her. She stalked past me towards a girl standing and talking to her friends, mere inches away from where I stood. I heard her light accent, the Russian accent that was mixed perfectly with the Chinese accent, they blended together to make the most adorable sounding English I had ever heard.
Fang-Hua Wang was her name, daughter of Yao Wang and Ivan Braginsky. She was Miss. Yekaterina's niece, they must have come to Iceland together. Her long, dark brown hair was blowing in the wind and her violet eyes looked like they were about to murder something, or someone. I worked up all the courage I could muster and inched towards her, tapping her on the shoulder. She turned around and glared at me, but when she saw the look on my face, her eyes softened.
"Hej," I stuttered, staring at her like a freak.
I did it! I honestly did it! I didn't work on my tan History packet all day because I knew you bros deserved a much better rendition of the chapter I put out last night. This one is longer and it's much better, in my opinion. I worked harder on it, that's for certain. I love you bros for reading and commenting/subscribing/favoriting this story.
Hej = Hey in Danish
I've also been forgetting this, Feil/Fejl is pronounced File, as in Filing Cabinet. That's why Matthias calls him "Fejling Cabinet."
Comment or favorite if you enjoyed? Maybe even subscribe? I'd appreciate it. c:
Love you guys~
~Master Boss~
