Chapter 22 - Can't Lose Her Like This
Time, it was a curious thing, like when you feel like you want more of it, time just seems to move faster. But then time can make a single second last forever, they say before you die your last second is the second your whole life flashes before you. Whether that was true, who knows, the thing is, is time is unknown, no one has control over it, like love or death. Time is one of those three that people don't have control over, so who does? The universe? The gods? A higher power maybe?
But time can mean everything when you NEED it most. When instinct kicks in, people usually just think you're fast, but really for you time had stopped, and in that exact moment, you had all the time in the world to make a judgment call. Some people get more than others, take Astrid for example, when time stopped for her - she had only one second to say or do one thing, and that's when instinct kicked in.
But now she wasn't sure, right now in this single moment she felt trapped in time. She felt nothing, no aches or pains, no feeling or emotions, nothing! Her eyes were surrounded by dark colours, the occasional flash of light here and there but really all dark. Her ears tried to zone in on her surroundings, but all she heard was muffled, wind maybe?
From being stuck in time Astrid felt as if someone had pressed play on a tv remote, she suddenly started to hear more things, cars, people. Her body started to ache and something was dripping up her face, up? She looked to her right and saw blurry trees hanging upside down.
Why was the world backwards? Her hand came to her face and brushed what ever was dripping up her face. When her hand withdrew back she saw what it was, blood? And not only that, her whole right arm was covered in blood, and glass?
It was nightmare yes? But then she never had a nightmare like this one before.
And then her eyes began to focus more, it wasn't the world that was upside down, but her! She was hanging upside down, in a car, smashed to pieces.
She tried to look around but her neck hurt, with her fingers she tried to feel what was wrong, until her fingers felt a sharp edge pointing out of her neck. Glass, so that's where the blood came from. She didn't touch it anymore it was plugging in the blood. Her stomach though what the one that burned the most now coming too, looking down slightly she could sort of see the damage.
The car window next to her had shattered, the glass hitting her right hand side, but the biggest piece had lodged its way into her mid section. The rest where like splinters.
With her eyes adjusted she could finally see she was on a road, road, Thug, car, money, her memory came back in pieces till … Ruff!
To her left was an unconscious Ruffnut, covered in glass too. " Ruff" when she spoke she mainly spat up blood. They needed help, her bag was dangling down in front of her, she reached forward in hooking the clasp and her shit fell out into the roof. Her phone was what she wanted, reached up - well down even, and trying to find a number to dial. By the time she had clicked on recents her vision was starting to go, with all her strength she clicked on anything but whoever it was it started ringing, and ringing.
She tried to hold on, like she asked Wrink to do, hold on, but she never got to hear if the phone answered for when it did, she was already blacked out.
Xx
He'd never hated that damn ring tone so much when in rang in the morning, Hiccup flipped over in bed to his bedside table, looking at his watch, 4:08, who'd be calling at this time?
He picked up without even looking, " hello?" He heard nothing, the sound of wind, a few cars beeping, was this a joke? He looked at caller ID, Astrid?
Wasn't exactly what he was expecting when she said drunk dangerous texting. " Astrid? What's going on? Is this a prank?" Nothing. He tried not to panic, but you know yourself when you have this pit feeling in your stomach that you know something isn't right.
" hello?" He waited again, and this time he hear footsteps, louder and louder, and he heard -
'Oh gods oh gods' he sat up properly this time, sitting at the edge of his bed.
" hello! Astrid! Hello!" He didn't know why but he was shouting it now, Toothless on the other side of the room getting up to see why his master was yelling.
' oh gods' he heard rustling, movement and then a ' hello?' Finally! But that wasn't Astrid.
" hello? Who's this?" By this point his stomach was churning, like he wanted to be sick. He just needed to hear her voice, then he'd know everything was fine and he was over exaggerating. This was some sort of drunk prank.
' I - I'm Thera oh gods I just - I just saw it all, I - I oh gods it all happened so fast,' that sick feeling hit his throat as he gripped onto his phone, this didn't sound like a prank anymore, this lady - Thera, she sounded panicked, shocked! It only made that gut feeling sink even more.
" what happened? Where's Astrid?" He stood up from his bed, he go all hot and clammy as his anxiety kicked in. He just needed to know she was okay, all that mattered was she was okay.
' I - I err don't know about - there was a crash, a huge crash! The car hit the other car, it flipped - the car is just crushed' from being all hot and clammy, Hiccup turned all dizzy, his head was just picturing images of a crashed up car. But where was Astrid, why was her phone there? Was she in the car? He gulped. Why was she in a car in the first place? Taxi?
" is there a girl there? A blonde girl young 20s?" He heard a shuffle again, a sound of cracking glass under weight.
' oh, okay, erm, there are two girls in the back, both blonde I think, I can't tell much it's dark and they are both covered in blood.' He gulped at the sound of blood, two blonde girls, Ruffnut and Astrid? 'they are both unconscious, oh gods they are covered in glass.'
His head went into action, he knew now she wasn't okay and he had to stop standing there gob-smacked and had to do something about it. " okay, someone needs to call an ambulance, has someone called an ambulance?" Placing his phone on loud speaker Hiccup started to run around his room finding clothes to up on. He could hear mumbles in the background of his phone as he opted for placing on his last nights jeans and a plain black round neck T-shirt when a voice came through the phone again.
' yes I think so' her voice didn't reassure Hiccup as she sounded all shaky and unsure.
" you think so or you know so!" He used his boss voice whenever he was reprimanding someone, and sure the bystander lady who was trying to do right, it wasn't her fault, but this was Astrid's life on the line and he couldn't do anything all the way up at home.
' erm erm,' he heard mumbles again, someone shouting on the other end, ' yes I'm sure - oh' all of a sudden the two heard these beeping noises obviously coming from Astrid's phone.
" Thera what's happening?" He took the phone off loud speaker and back to hear ear.
' oh no it's dying' she obviously meant the battery on the phone was running out. It was a miracle it was working in the first place.
" Thera listen to me you got to tell me how Astrid is?" He heard nothing, just mumbles and scuffling. " Thera?"
' oh no I think it's going to d-' she didn't get to finish her sentence to Hiccup as the line cut dead.
" hello?" Hiccup prayed that the phone would get picked up again, it was his only connection to Astrid, and now it was gone. He wanted to collapse down in disbelief after what had just occurred in the past 10 minutes, but he couldn't afford to do that now, now he had to drive to Berk General hospital, and pray his girlfriend would be okay.
Xx
Eret didn't mind night shifts, he started at midnight and was supposed to finish at 12 pm, he'd only been on for a few hours and it had been a quiet day. Eret was an extraordinary neurosurgeon, and when doing a shift at Berk's General he liked to offer his services to help out with the bulk. However he mainly operated at West Hospital in the Haddock ward, that's where the money came from, and his scheduled ops. But there was no rush when it came to West Hospital, it was more like a clinic, hotel boutique of hospitals, it's what you get when people pay millions for health care. But Eret enjoyed the rush, so twice a week Eret did 12 hour shifts to help out with bulk rush, and it gave him some sort of purpose to help those in need.
" hey Dr Eretson, how's your morning been?" Kelly Johnson, she was an intern this year at Berk general, and she had been flirting with him since the day he rolled up in his Lamborghini Huracán Coupé. But as cute as she was batting her eyelashes, she wasn't anything on what he had back home, and he hoped Heather trusted his judgment on that.
" Johnson, it's Err been a slow one, hoping it will pick up soon" like on cue the emergency door opened and paramedics and doctors came rushing in. An ambulance had been called to a crash down town, apparently it was the talk of the hospital two dead at the scene.
" I heard one of the drivers got thrown through the front window of the car" Kelly said to one of her fellow interns.
" awesome" as interns they were able to help out in surgery to learn the trade.
" hey, they are people remember, no matter who they are or what they have done they are people, and their families deserve respect" Eret made his thoughts known. The stretchers started to come in one by one, Phlegma was head of trauma, and this was her domain, calling them in as they go.
" alright people we got car one, lady who looks to be in her late 30s early 40s ID still pending she critical! I want you and you with them go! Greyson you know the reports read them" She pointed to two interns rushing them to theatre after patient one, screaming to the paramedic Donna Greyson who knows the patients injuries " we got two kids both under the age of ten, less critical, you three go, Youngs tell them their reports" Kelly was the one to go with the kids and looked rather disappointed but didn't argue as she followed Joan Youngs the paramedic who was telling them their reports before switching. Eret came over to Phlegma who looked stressed as it is.
" two cars, two deaths, three people who are critical. Car one looked to be a family, mums critical, kids are okay I guess, dad, driver, he's dead at the scene. " you can't help but feel sympathy on these families, but as it was his job Eret did find himself trying to detach himself from it.
" was he the one that went through the front window?" Not that Eret liked gossip but when it was gossip like this it usually was good information.
" no that was car 2, young male, wasn't wearing a seat belt apparently, thrown out of the car, he was dead the second his head went through the window." Usually when you get young adults in cars without seatbelts it's something to do with drink driving.
" you think he might have been drunk?" The look of her face said it all, but Phlegma didn't like to make presumptions.
" probably, he was in his young 20's, they all were" his ears perked up, and so the plot continues.
" all of them? So how many were in car 2?" he was expecting it to be a party car, bunch of idiots who thought it would be fun and it ended terribly wrong.
" only four, two males, two females." On cue the next two ambulances arrived with the next car patients.
" alright people we got car two, one male early twenties, extremely critical! Huge you take this one, get the reports off his paramedic " Phlegma spoke to doctor Huge who was another trauma surgeon, Eret watched as the young male got brought in, his face was literally deformed with glass and he had an oxygen mask to try and keep him alive. " two females one with a shattered Tibia in her left leg, one extremely critical! Branson I want those reports! " The first female came in, the one with the shattered leg, he knew her face through the glass and blood.
" Ruffnut?" Phlegma picked up on Erets interest in female one. She watched as he tried to follow her, stopping him by pulling him to one side.
" wait I think I know that girl, she's my friends girlfriend " as Phlegma tried her best to calm him, female two came in next and his face dropped.
" Astrid!" He went to go again but Phlegma stopped him once more, his outburst brought attention to them.
" Eret hold on!" His eyes were stuck on her as he watched them get take her to surgery, what had happened? Why was she in that car? What about Hiccup? " hold on, okay girl one go! Her name who is she?" Erets mind was still on Astrid, but his job brain kicked in.
" her name is Ruffnut- Ruffnut Err Thornston!" He watched as she wrote the name down on her chart. " she's a university student or was, I guess, 23 ? I think, she has a twin brother apparently, family in Berk, I can call her boyfriend for more information, I'm not that close to her but Astrid -" he was stopped when her finger gestured him to wait while she continued to write a few things down.
" okay get the boyfriend here we need to contact family. Now girl two go! Name, who she is, next of kin" he cringed at the next of kin part, in his eyes next of kin was Hiccup, but did he know?
" Err Astrid Hofferson, university student too, just finished, erm she's 23, no family, but she has a boyfriend, my friend, he's family to me - she's family to me" Phlegma looked at her colleague, he was serious about this.
" okay, get both boyfriends here, and family for Ruffnut. I'm in with Astrid" he started to panic a little, why was she 'the head surgeon' with Astrid? Was she that bad he didn't even check when she came in he was just too in shock to see her face.
" wait why? Is - is she okay, how- how critical is she? Just give it to me how it is Phlegma, don't smooth this out" he saw her pause for a second before laying it out on the table.
" okay, if the shard of glass that is plunged into her Stemocleidomastoid muscle and through her external jugular vein doesn't kill her, the one in her right iliac region might" and she left it like that, leaving him to deal with the fact he might have to tell his best friend that his girlfriend might not make it to sun rise.
Xx
Hiccup barged through the doors to the hospital in the early hours of the morning like a mad man, with adrenaline and stress he was just a wired man running in with a burst of energy. But had no idea where to start, did they even know her name, was she even here yet or still at the crash site? It was only starting to hit him that Astrid, his Astrid had been in a car accident.
His phone started to ring, his hopes where that is was Astrid telling him it was all a hoax, he'd rather it be that than the truth. But it was Eret's voice on the other line, and right now he didn't really need to speak to his friend at nearly 5 o'clock in the morning.
" Eret I can't talk right now," his eyes eyed up the reception area and started to walk towards it.
" Hiccup I'm at Berk General," Hiccup stopped in his tracks, " Astrid has been in an accident, she's here, she's critical" that was the word he didn't want to hear, he hoped with her in the accident she'd just have a few cuts and bruises, that she'd be fine. But his worse fears had come to light.
" I know, I'm here too" he felt his eyes fill up, if Eret didn't sound hopeful then what left was there.
" What? How?" Eret replied confused, he must have thought he wouldn't have known, and that was him breaking the news.
" I got a call this morning off Astrid, but it wasn't her that answered. Some lady who witnessed the crash, she was the one who told me about it" he was still trying to wrap his head around it all still.
" Okay where are you? I got to make a quick call to Snotlout but I can do that on the way to you" so Ruffnut was the other girl in the car, what were they doing in that car, was it a taxi?
" I'm in the reception, is Ruff okay?" He may have not spend a lot of time with the crazy roommate but he knew Astrid cared for her, loved her like a sister. And she was his cousin's girlfriend too. Part of the family probably.
" She's fine, broken leg at the worst, she'll live" the way he said than bit hit Hiccup like a punch to the stomach, she'll live but Astrid might not, how critical was she?
" Look I gotta call Snot, I'll get to the reception as soon as possible." The phone hung up and Hiccup was left to his thoughts.
The reception area was a big wide space with a book store and food, coffee shop and little seating area's for waiting people. Not knowing how long Eret would take, Hiccup sat down in one of the seating benches that was quiet. He looked around at the hustle and bustle of early morning rush, people coming and going and it was only like 5 o'clock in the morning. He saw people smiling and leaving, people crying and hugging. Hospitals were a place of miracles and loss, what would this hospital bring him.
What happened? How did it go terribly wrong? Why her?
" Hiccup!" Eret stood at one of the hallway entrances near the reception desk waving his arms out to get his attention. And he wasted no time to run over to him. It didn't go unnoticed the glances he got from people probably wondering why he was here?
" Any news? How is she?" Eret could tell his mate was erratic, he expected it, he would be the same too if Heather was in the position Astrid was in now, and he was stood where Hiccup was, that look in his eyes, helpless.
" She's critical, and in surgery, I don't know anything more than that" and even if he did he wouldn't tell him unless it was good news. Shit like this happened all the time, and Eret being a friend of the patient shouldn't be the one to give the news. He'd wait for Phlegma, she would be the one to break the news, if there was news to be broken, and he hoped, prayed that there wouldn't be.
" Do you know what happened?"
He meant the crash, and what made it worse for Eret was that he did. " two cars. The one Astrid was in, it collided with another on the opposite side, Astrid was in the car with Ruff and two males" his eyes flicked over to Erets. " I don't know who they were but they were both similar age to Astrid." Hiccup could guess who one was. " we are thinking drunk driving, the driver wasn't wearing a seatbelt and died at the scene, the passenger was critical and taken into surgery. That's all I have Hic, we'll have to wait till we get more info" Eret started to guide Hiccup down the hall, " come on - I'll take you to the waiting area"
When following Eret Hiccup's mine was else where, the word critical was hovering in his head. Why did this happen? Why her? He just wanted to wake up and this had been a bad dream, but it was becoming reality that this wasn't a dream, and he wasn't sleeping, but this was a living nightmare.
Xx
It was about 9 am, the new rotation of staff were coming for morning starts and the hustle and bustle of it started to pick up and they still heard nothing of Astrid. Snot arrived just before they got news of Ruff who was having a rod put in her leg, she had a Tibia shaft fracture, something about the bones needing to set in place. 4 - 6 months she'd need to recover, and if he knew Ruff she wouldn't be too happy about that, but apparently they were nearly done with her and she'll be coming out of aesthetic soon. If Astrid was anywhere near coming out of surgery he didn't know, he hated this waiting around, now he knew why Astrid was so impatient.
He guessed no news what good news, at least she was still alive, he hoped. Eret had been waiting with him, something about him being too close to the case that he was emotionally attached and can't have any part in it or it would compromise him.
It came to it where he was just staring into a coffee cup one of the nurses Eret asked to get. " mate no news is good news" Eret tried his best to calm him down every once in a while, but even he looked nervous at some point. Snotlout was no where to be seen, he was waiting near the room Ruff was supposedly going to be in, so far Astrid didn't even have that. If he ate anything he was afraid he'd throw it up, his stomach was going that many flips. " I messaged Heather," Eret said while sipping on his coffee, " she's coming over, wanted to be here for you, and Astrid" he means if Astrid died, Hiccup would then have more people to support him through this grief, that's how much hope Eret had for her.
He couldn't help it, but the tears started to fall, one by one, until he couldn't contain it anymore, he broke down, head in hands. He felt Erets arm over him, pulling him into a hug, " it's going to be okay mate, she's a tough cookie remember, she's not going down without a fight" his wished that was true, but even he was losing hope at this point. It had been 4 hours and nothing, they got regular updates on Ruffnut but with the critical patients they heard nothing. An hour ago the lady from car one came out, she was going to make a full recovery. But Astrid and the other lad was still in surgery, which could be promising to say they were still alive, but the longer in surgery the more dangerous it can get.
Heather arrived not long after, hugging Hiccup and giving her support to him, the three friends would sit there together until they heard any more news. They waited until 10 am before Heather then started to become impatient, " Eret can't you at least go and try to find out! 5 hours in surgery, what are they doing in there, a blind man could sew her up faster!" The two had be arguing for 20 minutes while Hiccup stared into space. By this point Ruff was out of surgery and in her room, still unconscious though.
" you don't understand Heather, Ruff had a few pieces of glass in her that looked worse than it was. Astrid has thousands of shards of glass, one lodged in her neck the other in her stomach. One wrong move and she could bleed out on the table and there would be nothing they could do about it. Rather do it slow than sloppy!" Hiccup wanted to be sick, " but yes, fine, I'll go and see what I can find"
Eret knew she was just nervous and scared, like he was, the reason he didn't want to ask anything hours before was he was scared to hear the answer. But without walking into the surgery himself he knew exactly where to get the gossip on surgeries. Interns. They would swap after a few hours, so everyone got a fair chance, if anyone knew it would be Interns.
He walked into their little break area, three were sat on the benches, one was Kelly, they were mumbling about something, gossip! " hey any news on the victims of car 2" these three were the ones that went with the kids from the start, he wasn't sure if any one them had scrubbed in yet.
" you haven't heard?" Kelly said.
" heard what?" She stomach dropped but he still stood straight, tried to show no emotion.
" one of the two victims have just died, I nurse told me, said a kid died, no older than us" the three young interns were all in their 20s young, youthful, their whole lives in front of them. And someone their age had just passed away. But who, the male or Astrid?
" do you know if it was the male or the female?" They were the only two left now in surgery, everyone else was out, so how hard could it be to provide the information.
" we don't know," they guy next to Kelly said.
" well that's your job, go find out which one of the two is still alive, the male or the female, come straight to me first!" The three rushed off their feet to be doing a job, even if it was to be getting a name, it was better then hanging round.
" fuck, fuck, fuck!"
Eret was left alone in the waiting lounge, he couldn't go back, tell Hiccup what, someone is dead no clue who? His nerves were turning into anger, he was helpless, and it felt shit. He hit the wall three times before finally pulling himself together, it shouldn't take long for the interns to find out.
Xx
" he should have been back by now" Hiccup paced along the floor, anxiety level through the roof, his best mate had gone to find out more than 30 minutes ago and still nothing. It was driving him to insanity.
" Hiccup relax, he's probably just trying to find out as much as possible" but even she was nervous, pacing around like Hiccup, back and forth like clockwork.
" or he's just afraid to come back and tell me the bad news" Heather, being the supporting best friend she was, was about to tell him to stop being negative but didn't get the chance too. They were both interrupted by a booming voice through the halls.
" Hiccup!" Stoick Haddock, his voice was noticed by all, nurses, interns, patients, even doctors looked and wondered.
" dad?" He saw the large man first, and then peeping behind him his mother coming into the waiting area of this ward. " mom?"
" Hiccup my darling" Valka came over, sympathy on her face hugging her sons tightly like he had already lost her. Did she know something?
" mom what are you doing here?" In all the commotion Hiccup forgot to inform his parents where he was, he forgot to tell everyone, even Luna who was probably wondering where he was.
" Heather messaged, we came as soon as we heard" Stoick nodded too.
" she is family Hiccup, family stick together" hearing those words from his dad really lifted up Hiccups spirits, even if only for a second. He held onto his mother for a little while longer before pulling away.
" thanks" he knew sometimes talking to his parents could be difficult, but they always came through when he needed them.
" any news?" His dad sat down on one of the seats as he asked, his mother stayed by his side rubbing his arm over and over.
" no not yet, Eret's gone to see if he can get any information. They won't tell us anything" it was true, in the past few hours all Hiccup had been doing was asking for updates, but everyone stated they didn't know and would have to wait. He didn't even need them to tell him that Astrid was coming out of surgery or when. He just needed to know she was still alive.
" well, no news can only be good news right?" His mother was a ray of positivity, giving him some hope where it looked to be none at the moment.
" yeah" however he still didn't sound convinced.
" Err Hiccup" Heather gained his attention from his previous staring at the floor, she was pointing to something over his shoulder, nodding in that weird way she does when she's trying to tell him something without actually saying anything.
Behind him stood a sheepish Snotlout, probably cause when updates came they were about his girlfriend and not Hiccup's, but he was not to blame, and Hiccup was happy for him.
" hey Snot" he held a sympathetic smile when he approached the group, Snot hadn't really seen Hiccup break down since Cami's little trick, she broke him that day it came out she wasn't actually pregnant, and never had been. This though, by the look of his red puffy eyes, this would break him more.
" hey, no more news on Astrid?" But by the look of them his answer was no. " well erm, Ruff is conscious and she remembers the crash" the crash was the big question, what happened? The police had already been here questioning the family who had lost their driver and husband and father. What ever happened in that crash it had something to do with the car that Astrid and Ruff was in. And now Ruff was the only one in that car awake, with one already dead.
" is she strong enough for visitors?" he wanted to know why Astrid was in that car, and if his theory on who the driver was correct?
" why'd you think I'm here, she wanted to see you"
Hiccup nodded, sightly nervous, but he needed to know, the police would need to know too. So with a rub to the back of his head he turned to Heather, " could you wait here for Eret to come back?" When Eret does decide to show his face he'll come back here so someone will have to wait, but Heather happily smiled and nodded, happy doing anything she could do to help. Stoick and Valka decided to stay too, Ruffnut had been through trauma, and was probably still groggy, too many people could cause too much stress.
So he nodded agreeing with them, and then went on to follow Snotlout through the halls. Ruff's room wasn't too far from the waiting area, she was in a double room, but no one was in the second bed. She had a huge boot on her left leg to keep her leg straight, bandages all up her left arm and around her face from where the pieces of glass was removed. She looked battered and bruised, and he was wondering whether Astrid would look any worse?
He walked over slowly noticing she was semi-conscious and was wearing an oxygen mask to help her. However she noticed him straight away, her eyes latched onto him until he was right next to her.
" hey, how are you?" He sat on the edge of her bed, careful he didn't hurt her left side in any way.
" I feel like shit!" She croaked out of her very dry throat, " I bet I look like shit too" he smirked at her comment, she was never one to step on eggshells when she knew she probably did. " any news on Astrid?" The curves in his smile dropped at the sound of his girlfriend's name.
" no, no news" but that didn't bring Ruff's hopes down.
" yeah well, she'll be fine, she's a tough bitch that one, she's a fighter!" She placed the mask back on to give herself a few minutes to breath. She did look like she had taken a beating, nearly black and blue.
" look if you want to rest we can do this later" he felt bad as it is, she'd just been in a car accident early this morning, she probably needed then rest. But she pushed the mask off her face and looked at him like he had offended her.
" rest? I've been asleep on a table for the past five hours, I don't need to fucking rest, I need to get out of this hospital but that won't happen anytime soon so I'm stuck here with my only entertainment being to tell you the fucked up story on why I'm here in the first place. Do you want to deprive me of that entertainment? Do you?" He never thought a person in Ruffnut's position could make him scared, but now he knew when Astrid said you don't mess with a pissed off Ruff.
He looked over to Snotlout who showed no interest in helping, shrugging his shoulders. Ruff letting the boys exchange glances grabbed the remote to her bed and sat herself up. " right where do I start, " she sat up properly and pulled the mask fully down. " I guess when me and Astrid decided to leave, we distanced ourselves from the boys for the night so we left separately. Now I can't stress enough I was really drunk so I only remember snippets."
The boys nodded, drinking in every word she spoke, " when we left the club we called for a taxi, I remembered holding her hand at that point, when running for taxi, and then - then all of a sudden I felt her hand being ripped out of mine and before I knew it my eyes and mouth was covered by this big fucking hand, and I was being dragged-" Snot jumped in that this point.
" did they fucking hurt you?" Hiccup had never really seen Snotlout in a serious relationship, but seeing him like this really did bring a smile to Hiccups face.
" no," she shook her head, " not really, the shoved us in on both side of the back of the car, I remember this bit cause we banged are heads together, and it hurt like a bitch, it was a little blurry for a bit, I didn't really zone in on the conversation but I saw Thug in the divers seat and Bear next to him. The bastards wanted a pay out"
Hiccup's eyes narrowed, " what like money?"
She nodded, " yeah, something - no they wanted Astrid to call you, he knew about you, he wanted her to call you and she didn't, she just kept screaming for them to let her out" she remembered that clearly, for when she pulled the door handle on her side it was locked too.
" why the fuck didn't she call me, I'd have given him anything, everything, there is no price on your lives" Ruff saw the irony in that, since she remembered it was a pretty big price.
" it's not that, Thug had gone off the rails long before he got in that car, he was a loose cannon, ready to blow, it was never about money, maybe for Bear but not for Thug, cause when he started that engine not even Bear could stop him. He just kept saying to Astrid see how far you can push me, something about her owing him, you owing him, something about his parents, grandparents I don't know" Hiccup felt a jolt of guilt in his chest, was he the reason Thug went after the girls? He knew the Meathead family hates his for conquering their land all those years ago but why keep up the hatred all these years, why take it out on Astrid, what did she do?
" whatever it was it just pushed him further and further till he took his eyes off the road and then - nothing" that's when the car must have glided into the other lane and smashed into that poor family's. According to Eret police found cases in their trunk, they must have just arrived off holiday, or going? Anyway it doesn't matter which, what mattered was the lost a husband and father all thanks to a maniac, a dead maniac.
" that shit's fucked up" Snot said from his seat on Ruffnut's right.
She nodded in agreement " yeah, anyway, you heard no news from Astrid, what about the two dickheads?" The two shared a look and then back at her, no one had told her the news yet.
" erm," Hiccup took this one, " Bear, the passenger he was in surgery, is in surgery, I'm not sure, haven't heard much on him, but erm," he paused, knowing she knew he was about to bring up Thug, " the driver, Thuggory, he - he died, he wasn't wearing a seatbelt, on impact he - he just got thrown out of the car, he'd have been dead before he hit the ground, I'm sorry" Ruff, a woman who was strong willed, was trying to hold back her tears, and the two men didn't blame her, after all Thuggory was her friend for three years.
" fuck" the word came out with shock more than anger or sadness. " fuck, I mean - not that I'm saying that bastard didn't deserve some kind of punishment but - fuck - not that" she looked at Hiccup for a minute, she knew by the look on his face that her story still didn't help him with the shit that was obviously going on in his head.
" hey Snot?" He shot from his seat at her call, " could you go ask one of the nurses when it's possible for me to have something to eat?" Her throat may kill but she could murder a slice of toast.
" course" Ruff waited till Snotlout had exited the room before pulling Hiccup out of his gaze.
" hey," her hand touched his even though her body protested. " you should know, there was a reason we left when we did, we were going to do an all nighter but something changed" Hiccup's ears picked up and he looked at her head on. " we left cause she wanted to come and see you" his heart started to beat faster again, so much so he was worried it would pop out of his chest. " she wanted to say yes, to the previous question you asked her the night before" she couldn't contain her grin as she practically told the love sick man that the girl he loved wanted to marry him. And what made it sweeter, was that he couldn't contain his smile either, or his tears.
" she wanted to say yes ?" He felt like a young man again, so happy, so in love.
" course she did you big dummy," she slapped his hand playfully before sitting back in her bed, "look take it from me, her best friend, Astrid over thinks things, probably because she doesn't have parents to talk to about these things, and she just needs time to figure stuff out. Like when you have a problem, a big problem, who do you go to for help?"
" my parents" he admitted.
" see, imagine not having that, you'd think twice before making a decision. Just don't hold it to her, she loves you, you're her whole world, just know that" he nodded, wiping away a few fallen tears. Not that he did hold it against her, he did spring it on her out of the blue, but it was a huge relief to know she wanted to marry him, to spend forever with him. She loved him. He knew she loved him, but there was something different with this.
Not that it mattered, all that mattered was she was okay.
Before another word was said there was a commotion outside, what it sounded like to be a bunch of people making a commotion. But then that commotion turned into people flooding their way into Ruffnut's room.
First came Snotlout who looked to have been distracted and not got her the slice of toast Ruff wanted. But then soon after Snot followed Heather who basically shoved him into the room to let in another two, Stoick and Valka. When his parents walked in Hiccup stood up from Ruff's bed, wondering what the hell was going on. What confused him more was a Gobber entering after them, he guessed his parents informed him but he was still a surprise.
" Gobber?" He came walking over and immediately gave the man a huge hug.
" hey laddie, you hold it in there" he patted him on his back.
" yeah I guess" he pulled back from his hug, only to see Eret walking in behind the group. Immediately Hiccup's heart jumped up to his throat, and he was choking on his words on what to say. He so wanted to ask the question that was haunting his mind but then part of him never wanted to know the really answer, if it was a bad answer that was. But he didn't have a choice in that matter, good or bad he had to brace the news there and then as Eret held an emotionless expression.
" she's alive," that weight weighing down on him just suddenly lifted, he felt lighter from all the stress and anxiety weighing him down. After 5 hours of gut wrenching pain waiting to hear some news, Hiccup finally let out that thankful gasp of air as a smile appeared on his face and small tears appeared in the corners of his eyes.
Eret continues as he see's the joy in his friend's face " she's alive and coming out of surgery" with everyone's joy in hearing the news on Astrid, Eret then turned to Ruff, from going all emotionless, to happy, he then went all glum and Ruff could sense there was a dark shadow coming. " but your friend, the passenger?" Ruff looked all worried, sitting up more in a panic.
" Bear?"
He nodded " yeah, he died in surgery, there was a shard of glass too deep, when they tried to remove it - he bled out and, and it happened so quickly-" he stopped as soon as he saw Ruff go all stiff, all grey, all glum, staring into space. He had learned from being a doctor all these years what shock looked like, some people cry, break down, Ruff was the ideal example of pure shock.
" Fuck" Bear, like Thug, was her friend for three years, Tuff's friend, what was she going to tell him? Did he even know about the crash?
Meanwhile everyone just stopped for a second to give her a minute to process, until she looked at them confused. " what are you still doing here?" She directed the last bit to Hiccup, " go find her"
He smiled, truly, Ruff was Astrid's best friend and she would be damned if her best friend woke up alone unlike her who had Snotlout smiling down at her with a stupid wasted no time in running out the door along with Eret, and of course when they left so did Valka, Stoick, Heather and Gobber too. Leaving Snotlout alone with Ruffnut who kept staring at him.
" what?" Her staring was getting under his skin.
" did you ask if I could get something to eat?" She sounded irritated, but then there was a metal rod in her leg.
" oh yes, you can" he thought that would be then end of it but the holes in the side of his head she was making through staring was starting to hurt.
" then why am I sat here starving?"
" oh! Oh you want me - right sorry, what do you want?" He jumped up like a spring, bouncing with his new found energy.
" a fucking piece of toast Snot, I just want a fucking piece of toast"
He happily compiled, smiling the whole time, but Snotlout knew this would not be the end of it, he had 4-6 months worth of this. She was definitely going to be the end of him.
Xx
He ran as fast as his foot and prosthetic could carry him, following Eret who knew what room she was being taken too, they turned the corner and Hiccup already knew what room Astrid was in, he could feel it, she was in the one in front. Running in he caught sight of her hair first, her beautiful blonde hair, all pulled out of her braid on both sides, her right side of her hair was slightly covered in blood from where her neck injury had been. Eret had informed Hiccup early hours in the morning about her injuries, a neck injury that could be lethal, a lower abdomen injury that could also be lethal.
It wasn't really looking good for her for a while.
With Eret behind him Hiccup walked in, his beautiful girlfriend, face covered with an oxygen mask and her arm connected to a blood bag on a drip. There was a female doctor with her back to them, sorting out Astrid's monitor until Eret coughed and she turned around.
Phlegma knew Eret in a second but was completely shocked to see Hiccup Haddock in her patients room. " oh?" As Phlegma's eyes were attached to Hiccup, completely flabbergasted, Hiccup has his gaze stuck on Astrid, as she slept so peacefully.
So while the two were distracted, Eret made introductions, " Phlegma, this is Hiccup, he's Astrid's boyfriend" her eyes widened in shock but her being professional she didn't say anything else that would sound like gossip. It was none of her business, however her whole life in Berk never had a Haddock's relationship been so secretive before, and in the back of her head she linked up that this going blonde must have been the blonde in the magazines a few months back.
" Mr Haddock," she held out a hand to him, he broke his gaze from Astrid to except her hand shake. " oh please - Hiccup"
With a humble smile she continued, " I am doctor Frigard, but you can call me Phlegma if you wish" Hiccup nodded eyes wandering back to Astrid.
" I am miss Hofferson's surgeon, it was a bit rocky at the start but we were able to remove the shards of glass that were most as risk to the patient, she had internal bleeding from the damage in her lower abdomen but we were able to fix that before causing any damage to her uterus" his ears zoned in on that last part.
" what?" The damage to Astrid could be more worse than he originally thought.
" the shard of glass in her lower abdomen was centimetres away from her right Fallopian tube, the shard was where the wing of ilium is in the pelvic girdle," she pointed to her pelvis for explanation. " it was close to her Fallopian tube and we were very lucky that there wasn't anymore damage that could have been permanent" he didn't even want to think about future children right now, none of that mattered as long as she was safe, however the thought of something like that going wrong and having to tell Astrid she wouldn't be able to have children, he wouldn't want to see her reaction, especially if her reaction would be breaking down into tears.
" now the glass in her neck I personally took care off, there was two surgeons in theatre and while I looked over the removal of the glass in her abdomen, I wanted to be the one to remove the glass from her neck." Hiccup could feel the sweat at the back of his neck as his nerve ends spiked all over. " now the shard of glass in her neck was no where near the size of the one in her stomach but it was long and sharp and gone through the Sternocleidomastoid muscle and caught her external carotid artery which is why at the scene of an accident they say don't remove any objects that might be plugging in the blood from bleeding out. When we removed the glass we were able to stop her from bleeding out and fix the damage to her muscle. She'll have trouble speaking for a while and maybe have a croaky voice for a few months, I hope she's not a singer" Hiccup shook his head, the two doctors could see how distort he was as he looked down at the bed.
" no, she's a photographer" the tears he had be trying to keep in all day just suddenly poured out, from hearing all the trauma the women her loved had went through, and how he almost lost her, and now finally having her here, alive, he just couldn't contain them much longer.
A hand came over his, Phlegma stood with a warm smile on her face next to him, " she'll be fine, I promise, everything was done perfectly, I over saw every last detail down to the last stitch, I promise you she is fine." He nodded feeling that weight lift from his shoulders.
Phlegma took a breath, she didn't know if this was the best time but it had to be said. " there is the matter of her insurance" in Berk you have to pay for your medical fees, it provides the best doctors like Eret and Phlegma. If you were born and raised here like Ruff you have family insurance which is just paid like taxes. And when you go in the insurance box is just ticked and everything is sorted through your accounts no worries. People like Hiccup and Heather they have next level insurance, it's Archipelago wide with all expenses paid for. But people like Astrid, students who come live here for three years they can only apply for the insurance under the name of student insurance. It covers the basics and it's part of her university fees who her mysterious benefactor pays for. After three years living under being a student Astrid can then apply to become a Berkian citizen like she planned to do in September. That or she could marry into a Berkian family before her educational visa expires, but she planned on applying anyway before meeting Hiccup since she had fallen in love with this little island.
But going back to her student insurance, it did not cover a car accident. Not when it comes to the scans and the operation itself.
" she has Student insurance," Hiccup said, Phlegma had assumed this, nodding slowly knowing she'd have to discuss cost with her patient when the time was right. " I'll pay for it," Hiccup said out of the blue.
" Mr Haddock I don't think -" Phlegma butted in about to give the usual crap about how much it'll cause if it's not through insurance.
" I'll pay it all, I'm part of the richest family in Berk, how much is it going to cost, a few hundred thousand? A few million? I don't care whatever it is, I just want her to have the best care possible okay, fuck the costs" Phlegma looked over Hiccups shoulder to see Eret who just shrugged at her confused look. He might as well have said 'don't fuck with a Haddock'.
" alright Mr Haddock" from out of no where the rest of the gang showed up and in came the Mayor of Berk Stoick Haddock and his wife. Along with their friend Gobber, all piling into the small single bed Hospital room.
" Err can I suggest while we are waiting for miss Hofferson to come out of anaesthetic that only one person stay with her, we don't want to over crowd her when she wakes up." The three adults and Eret included all looked at Hiccup knowing he was going to be the one who would stay, " we'll wait outside man okay" Eret patted his mate on the shoulder giving him a reassuring nod.
He got a smile from his parents and god father before they left him before Eret could join them Hiccup grabbed his arm. " hey do you think you could do something for me" his mate nodded. " I need you to get something from my house, it's in my room on the right hand side bedside table top draw"
Eret nodded taking in all the information, " sure thing, what exactly am I looking for?"
When his girl wakes up, she might be delirious at the start, and she'll need time to come to terms with what happened to her two friends. But then when she was finally ready, taking the advice Ruffnut gave him, he was going to ask her the question he asked her the other night, and this time he hoped she'd give him the answer she wanted to give in only a few hours ago before this whole shit show occurred.
"A small black box, and it should have a ring in it"