HICCSTRID: How Life Goes

Chapter 9: Flight

Just saying, Hiccup will have loads of POVS in the coming chapters. This whole one is Astrid though.
***
(Incase you didn't want to read before,)
ASTRID
"What you need," Casey says to me as we take a seat in the departure lounge, "Is your own personal Sasha Fierce."

"My what?" My heart pounds like crazy as I look around the lounge. Ok so the reason I can't stand doing things like going on stage to take a simple as picture or even sitting in a plane, is because I was diagnosed with anxiety at 12...

FLASHBACK
"When are we getting home daddy?" I shifted uncomfortably in the backseat, looking out the window. It was one of those nights where the water seems to be coming down straight at you like a wave.

"Almost sweetheart, we just have to go slowly because it's hard for daddy to see as the rain is very heavy." Mummy turned around.

My dad had the windscreen wipers going at a hundred miles per hour but it didn't make any difference. It was basically like driving through a tsunami.

We just got to the dual carriageway when I see a car cut right in front of us. I wasn't exactly sure what happened next, I think daddy tried to brake and swerve but it was too slippery so we skidded into the central reservation. Our car flipped over then I basically blacked out.

I woke up in the hospital about a week later, learning that my mum was fine but my dad... well he didn't make it. He took some serious injuries in the neck and back and the doctors couldn't do anything to fix him.

Mitchell was staying at a friends house that night so the thought of telling him what happened broke my heart.

END

"Sasha fierce," Casey continues. "You know, Beyoncé's alter ego, her stage persona."

I frown at her. "What are you on about?"

Casey leans back in her chair and stretches out her long legs.
"When Beyoncé first started out in the music business, she was really quiet and shy and she hated going onstage," she says. "So she invented an alter ego called Sasha Fierce who was brave and feisty and cool. Then every time she went onstage she could pretend to be Sasha and it helped her act all confident and hair swishy."

"Right, and how is this supposed to help me?" I ask.

"You need to invent your own version of Sasha Fierce and then pretend to be her when you get on the plane." Casey tapped her chin like she always did when she was in deep thought.

I look up at the other students queuing up to buy coffee, looking so excited.

"Casey I don't think that'll help me."

"Fine then, ignore my rant." She throws her arms up into the air.

"You know I didn't mean it like that"

"I'm just joking Astrid! Lighten up a little."

I gave her a look that said
Seriously?
***
Thankfully I'm sitting on the seat closest to the aisle and not the one next to the window. Casey covered that for me. This makes me feel that little bit safer.

But as soon as the plane engines fire up, I feel that horrible tightness start gripping at my throat.
The pilot's voice comes over the intercom. "Flight attendants, prepare for takeoff." His voice is deep and clear, and reminds me reassuringly about my dad.

The engines are screaming now and the plane starts to move. I close my eyes and wrack my brains to focus on something else as the plane starts hurtling down the runway. I get a flash back to our car screeching across the road in the rain and I hear my mum screaming. I open my eyes and take a deep breath.

The plane is tilting up into the air and the ground is sliding away.
"You okay?" Casey whispered, placing her hand over mine.

I grit my teeth and nod. She smiles and takes her phone out to start snapchatting the journey. By the plane has stopped climbing, the tightness in my throat had almost faded away.
***
While the flight attendants prepare for landing, I feel a shiver of excitement mixed in with my fear. As the plane descends there's only one thing on my mind replaying over and over.
We've made it, I can't believe we're actually here!
♪───Ｏ（≧∇≦）Ｏ────♪
Ello! Um... I have nothing today. Uh.....

Byeeeeee! ✌🏼