A Promise To Keep

The Only One

There were many things that confused Hiccup in his life, but at this point in time, nothing confused him more than someone sitting opposite you, who had dragged you to a café, have a smile on their face while announcing they were dying. It would make anyone think that that person was a psycho. But, as always, these thoughts were in his mind. His face was like all emotion had been stuck out, leaving him with no impact of the news visibly.

"You're dying?" he asked for final confirmation. Astrid nodded confidently, not fazed by his almost monotone voice. "From...what?"

Astrid then moved away from the table, leaning against her chair before speaking. "I have an illness. The doctors said it started in my stomach and then, it began to spread. They found it early, so they thought they could control it. But they couldn't. Turns out, they didn't have to early enough. Now it's terminal and... I might not live to the summer."

Hiccup, for some reason, felt uneasy. The way she was so calm in explaining her devastating circumstances as if it was normal. Like everyone else had terminal illnesses like this. She may have passed the stages of grief from hearing this, but it still felt strange to him.

"So...who else knows?" he asked, breaking the silence that engulfed them for a moment.

Astrid then gave a smirk. "Apart of my family, only you." And at that moment, Hiccup's eyes grew in shock; the first kind of emotion he showed on his face for a long time in public. Out of everyone - her friends, the teachers, anyone, he was the first. The quiet, reclusive kid was the only one who knew. Before he got the chance to ask her this, a waitress came to their table with a tray in her hands.

"Hello, your order." she greeted.

"Oh, great! Thank you." Astrid grinned. The waitress placed the tray down before leaving, revealing the hot chocolate that Hiccup ordered and a small bowl of lentil soup.

"You ordered lentil soup?" Hiccup questioned, as he picked up his drink.

"Yeah! I never had lentil soup before, so I thought I'll give it a go." she explained. She then took a spoon full of the soup and took a slip of it.

"Mmm! That's so good!" she exclaimed before taking another spoon full. Hiccup was drinking his hot chocolate, but the questions that were racking his head became too much, so he placed the drink down, almost with force.

"OK, why did you tell me?" Astrid stopped eating, looking at Hiccup when she heard his question.

"What?"

"Your friends don't know, do they?" She shook her head. "Then, why am I the first?"

"Because you saw me throw up. It's not my fault you can be curious." she said, smirking a bit.

Hiccup then pulled out the piece of paper in his pocket. "So, was this note specifically for me?"

"Of course not." she chuckled. "I made it, just in case someone saw me really sick. You're the first who did, so I gave it to you." Now everything was starting to make sense to him. It wasn't like she always wanted to tell him; she barely knew him. It was his curiosity that got him to this point. He sighed and leaned against his chair, internally cursing himself for his curiosity.

Astrid couldn't help but chuckle to herself, seeing him slightly annoyed about this. She took a few more slips of the soup before placing the spoon down.

"OK, listen. I know you probably wish you could turn back time and make sure you never encountered me. But if that was possible, I would have used it a long time ago to prevent my illness from happening." Hiccup looked at her, before sighing in defeat.

"But, we're here now. And with that, I need you to promise me two things." She leaned against the table as she said this.

"And they are?" he asked, clearly wanting to get it over with. She then went into my bag and brought out a small blue notebook. She flipped to the end and handed it to Hiccup.

"I want you to help me achieve my bucket list." Hiccup took the book and began reading the long list of things she wanted to do.

"'Ride a horse', 'Have a weekend getaway', 'See the fireworks', 'Stay up for 24 hours'"

"Oh, I forgot to cross that out." Astrid proclaimed, taking the book from him and bringing a pen from her bag to cross 'Stay up for 24 hours' before giving the book back.

"I know I won't be able to achieve everything, but if you can help me, I could do a good chuck of it." she explained. Hiccup skimmed through the rest before handing it back.

"OK, then. What's the second promise?" he asked.

"I don't want you to tell anyone about my illness. Not my friends, not your family, not a random stranger, not anyone."

He sighed. "I barely speak to anyone, so that shouldn't be problem."

She smiled. "I know. Thank you, Hiccup." They both then back to their eating, while Hiccup also did his reading as well. 10 minutes passed and both had finished their meal.

"Man, that was good soup!" Astrid declared, while stretching her arms. "You should try it some time." she told Hiccup.

"Sure. I'll think about it." He said in monotone, while looking through his phone as he finished his reading for today. From the corner of his eyes, he saw Astrid's face lit up about something.

"Oh, you should give your phone number." she exclaimed. He whipped his head up from his phone and raised his eyebrow.

"Why?" he asked.

"Because, how are we going to communicate with each other when we are not at school?" she explained. Hiccup sighed before eventually giving her his phone number and she did the same.

"Great, thanks!" she smiled before putting her phone away. "Anyway, I have to get going now. It's four, and I got a homework to be doing." She said as she began to get up from her seat, putting on her coat and wearing her bag over her shoulder. 

"It was nice hanging with you today, Hiccup. I look forward to continue this in the future." And with that, she left the café, leaving Hiccup to his own thoughts once again.