Tangled Vows

Chapter 34

"Hiccup, where are you taking me?" Darkness had fallen across Berk, and it was difficult to see much of anything as Hiccup dragged Astrid away from the dimly lit streets and into darkness.

However, as dark as things may have been - despite Hiccup's phone torch vaguely lighting the way - the area looked familiar to Astrid and she recognised the various overgrown plants and twisting paths leading somewhere hidden. Despite the twists and turns of the path, Hiccup never let go of Astrid's hand as he led her towards a shadowed building in the near distance.

"Don't worry, you'll recognise it." Came his only reply to her worried question.

Soon, her worries would not go unanswered as the building came into view, shadowed by the moon and the encroaching darkness, and a flood of memories washed through Astrid's mind. The building did not look any more derelict than when she had last seen it, and the fence lining the perimeter of the property was still covered in vines and dirty signs that they had always ignored.

"You brought me here?" Astrid asked in vague excitement, eager to see the old clubhouse again that was hidden away in this old rickety building - which used to be the town hall.

"Of course," Hiccup smiled in the darkness and brought Astrid over to their familiar egress point and shuffled beneath the fence.

Astrid struggled to fit as well as she used to when she was younger, but she still fit all the same and followed Hiccup inside the building, after braving the jungle of the surrounding gardens.

Inside, it was still as creepy and rickety as it had always been, with peeling wallpaper and dripping water dampening the walls and cracking through the floors. Everything about this place felt the same as it did three years ago when she last visited. It was a cosy little nook that felt hidden away from the rest of the town, and it was where the gang would go to hang out, away from the parents and the responsibilities of the world.

"Come on, let's go." Hiccup grabbed Astrid's hand and hauled her upstairs to the office room where they had set up their clubhouse.

Within this room were several desks and chairs, all having been left and abandoned by the previous occupants and thus left for the gang to repurpose into a cosy little clubhouse for the five of them. Everything was still in place, and it still looked the same as Astrid remembered it.

She remembered going to the clubhouse to read her books, finish her homework, or talk to Hiccup about life. They would often talk about what they wanted to do with their lives, where they wanted to go, and what they wanted to be. Astrid never had a clue, but had always wanted to move to the city or travel the world.

Hiccup never changed. Even now, Astrid knew what he wanted from life whilst she was still trying to figure it all out.

Taking a seat that faced one of the windows, Astrid could see the beauty of the ocean being reflected by the moonlight. It glistened and twinkled in the night, like stars upon the earth. Everything about this place felt perfect, like an old memory preserved for the two of them.

"Do the rest of the gang still use this place?" Astrid asked, continuing to look out the window at the ocean in the distance.

Hiccup sighed and leaned back into one of the chairs, "Not as much as we used to. I mean, I still come here from time to time, but not as much anymore. No."

"Do you remember us coming here after prom?" Astrid recalled the memory, laughing to herself as she remembered how stupid things had been back then.

Hiccup chuckled too, the past feeling like such a fickle thing.

"Yeah, I remember."

"I can't believe that thinking being stood up by a prom date would be the worst thing in the world to happen to me." Astrid laughed at her past self, thinking that it was all so silly now.