HICCSTRID: How Life Goes

Chapter 20: I Dont Like Father Time

In the olden days, people used to talk about time as if it were a person. They used to call him Father Time. And according to Casey, Father Time was an old man with a long white beard and carried an hourglass everywhere. I've also decided that he has a really mean sense of humor. Think about it. Whenever something happens to you, like if you're stuck in an algebra exam or you fall over and everyone laughs at you, time goes by so slowly that every second feels like an hour, but whenever something really amazing happens to you, like you actually might be falling in love for the very first time, time goes by so fast you blink and an entire week has gone.

It's New Year's Eve morning. We're leaving tomorrow. Correction, i'm leaving tomorrow. Hiccup is staying in New York for a long while, most likely going to finish up school here. But all he's told me is that he needs to sort out some issues with some people. I'm leaving the person I think i've fallen in love with. In the days since Christmas my list of evidence that Hiccup is my soulmate has grown and grown. And tomorrow i'm going to have to leave him, fly across an entire ocean away from him, back to my barely-even-talking-to-me best friend.

As I lie in my bed and stare up at the ceiling, I feel hollowed out with sadness. Unable to stand it anymore, I get out of bed and head downstairs. As I cross the hallway, I hear a new, deep and raspy voice. I quietly peek my head around the corner and see a big man with a red beard talking to Hiccup. His dad. 'Don't you think you'd ought to tell her? I mean i've never met her but I still think you should.'

"No!" Hiccup's voice is so insistent it makes me stop dead. "I don't want to ruin it. It's been so fun and cool-"

I shake my head and step out of the corner, pretending i just came in and heard nothing.

"Oh hi sir!" I say to Hiccup's dad. I reach out my hand for him to shake it. "You must be Hiccup's dad am i right?"

"Right you are lass! Hiccup has told me lots about you this morning. And please, just call me Stoick. Join us for breakfast?"

I nod my head but i'm not exactly listening. I can't stop thinking about what i heard. What were they talking about? Am i that 'her' that Hiccup's dad mentioned and if so, what did he think Hiccup should tell me? All day long the question bugs me, not helping my growing tension about leaving tomorrow. As i set about the horrible task of packing my suitcase, i start to go over everything in my head, searching for clues that Hiccup might've been keeping something away from me. In the whole time i've been staying with him, I haven't seen a single one of his New Yorkian friends. He hasn't seemed to be hearing from anyone either. I sit on my case with a sigh. Here i go again, searching for negative things instead of focussing on the positive.

Hiccup took me to the art gallery, and I met some of the people that worked there and were also his friends. I don't even know if it was me that Stoick was talking about.

In the afternoon we all sit down at the kitchen table to play Monopoly. Well apart from Bella who was seated under the table playing with her dolls.

"Are you guys going to Times Square tonight?" Stoick says as he hands around the money.

"Yes," I reply, but the truth is, i'm not looking forward to it at all. We're supposed to be going to Times Square for the New Year, but as soon as the clock strikes midnight it will turn from the year i met Hiccup to the year i have to leave him. I feel the overwhelming urge to cry, and begin studying the differences in this version of Monopoly to stop myself. But it's hard to be riveted by the fact that the stations are called railroads when it feels as if your heart is breaking. Hiccup takes hold of my hand from under the table. I look at him and smile,.

'You okay?' He mouths to me.

I nod.

"I can see you holding hands," Bella calls out in a singing voice from under the table. We look at each other and I laugh.