A Promise To Keep

How He Found Out

It all started in the month of January, two weeks after the Christmas Holidays, in the small town of Berk. It had snowed during December, so the ground was still covered in white. The snowflakes were less than Christmas, but the air was still giving off a cold breeze that could rival the cold air of Antarctica. It was lunchtime at Berk Secondary School and Sixth Form, a time for students to refuel after four periods of lessons and a chance to catch up with friends.

Hiccup was sitting outside on one of the benches, far away from any human interaction, with only a book that he got for Christmas, which he was already a quarter of the way in. He could hear the chatter and laughter from the other students, but he blocked it out, not drawing attention to it. He kept to himself, as he'd always done. 

He didn't have friends and he rarely talked to others. The only time he would talk was if they talked to him first, but only if it was necessary for him to reply. He'd been like this for a long time. He didn't mind. He didn't care.

He was focused on his reading, when his mind caught the sound regurgitation behind him. He ignored it at first, but the noise continued. It sounded violent, but it didn't concern Hiccup. But what did was the fact that it was so continuous, like the person had an endless amount of waste stored in their body and was waiting for the right moment to remove it all from their month.

Finally, the curiosity got the best of him, which would normally happen. He put his book back into his black backpack and slowly headed up in the direction of the vomiting sound. As he got closer, the sound got louder and more violent. Until suddenly, it stopped. With its termination, Hiccup was about to head back, seeing it doesn't seem to be a problem anymore, but his curiosity was already peaked. He sighed annoyingly at himself. 

"I'm here, might as well." he thought. He walked to the source, which was behind the school building. When he got there, he was surprised at what he saw.

There was a girl, about his age of 16. She was leaning her arm against the sidewall of the building and resting her head on top of it. She was breathing heavily, trying to take in as much oxygen as she could. Then, just below her, was a pile of vomit – a big puddle of yellow with a mix of food waste and even a bit of blood mixed in.

If it was any other girl, Hiccup wouldn't mind nor cared. But it wasn't any other girl. It was Astrid Hofferson. 

She was a popular girl in the school, though she would never say that about herself or used it to her advantage. She was always cheerful to everyone, always smiling and very hard-working. There wasn't anyone who didn't know her, whether personally or from a distance, like Hiccup did.

He didn't get the chance to walk away before Astrid turned her head around. Her eyes grew the moment she saw Hiccup. She looked down at her sick mess and chuckled.

"I was... supposed to bring a sick bag with me from home, but I forgot." she mentioned, looking back at Hiccup.

Hiccup just shrugged his shoulders. "It happens." He simply said, almost in a monotone voice. But that didn't faze her as she smiled at him. After talking a couple deeper breaths, she pushed herself off the wall.

"Do you know where I could clean this up?" she asked. Hiccup just shook his head.

"Yeah, thought so." Biting her bottom lip with shame, she then shrugged her shoulders. "Well, hopefully it won't be a problem." She decided before reaching for her blue over-shoulder bag that was lying on the opposite side of the wall.

"Are you sick?" Hiccup asked. The words came out before he could stop himself.

Astrid looked at him surprisingly. It wasn't normal for him to ask a follow up question, or even seem interested in anyone's business but his own. It didn't make him selfish, but it certainly made him a reclusive, as everyone would say.