Stalker

Chapter 4:Surprises

"Ready?" Hiccup said enthusiastically as I stepped outside my door after cleaning myself up a bit. He patiently waited sixty minutes in my front yard as I got changed, washed myself, and re-braided my long blonde hair. It astonished me how willing he was to wait on me for so long! I had a little tinge of hope as I braided my hair that he would just drop the adventure and leave, but I knew better. I just hoped that he caught on that I wasn't up for anything huge today.

"Yeah," I smiled shyly, trying to collect myself and the wits to do anything. My dream left me in an extremely depressed mood and I was having a hard time trying to be excited with Hiccup when all my mind wanted to see was Flynn. 

"C'mon, I want to show you my favorite spot in town," he exclaimed as he led the way with a hop in his step. I let out a small laugh watching him become so excited as I followed him across town. 

The town wasn't big, but we were going to walk through the entire thing to get to the far side of it. Hiccup was always asking about my feet to make sure they were okay since I guess he's not used to knowing someone who's never worn a pair of shoes in their life. And, as usual, the townsfolk stared at me and my bare feet in confusion before turning to look at the humongous braid that fell almost completely down to the ground. To most people, I guess I was most certainly different. But seeing as I was not in the mood to put up with their pointed gazes and judgmental eyes, I dropped my gaze to the ground to avoid feeling self conscious.

"Don't worry about them," Hiccup said casually, noticing my gaze skirting around the dirt road. "It's a small town that's pretty isolated from most things, so they haven't really seen anyone other than themselves in years." 

"Hmm, sounds a lot like someone I know," I muttered sadly under my breath, thinking back to my 18 years being stuck in a tower with a devilish woman who tricked me to believe that she was my mother. It's funny how I now had the freedom to go anywhere I'd like, but I chose to stay in a cut off town that's nearly impossible to find. After so many years of being alone, I still can't seem to escape the habit of ending up in isolated places. 

"What was that?" Hiccup mused, thinking he missed something I said.

I shook my head at him and forced a smile,"Oh, nothing. I was just talking to myself."

He gave me a brief, concerned look, but didn't ask any questions. Instead, he decided to point out to me some of his favorite places to go to around town as we passed them. I listened to him quietly as he rambled on about the unique food, the armor shop, the gardens in the plaza, and the entertainment bar around the corner. It was nice to have been able to get to know the town a little more. I had only spent time in clothing stores, groceries, and pottery places out of need, but I loved to hear that there was more to this secret town than meets the eye. 

Once he started talking about the plaza, however, my mind went immediately to the memories I had when Flynn took me to Corona's capital city.... All I could see was us two dancing among a huge crowd of people who I had so excitedly gathered together to dance. We were laughing, enjoying ourselves.....and clearly falling in love. My heart began to ache as my mind snapped back to reality, my eyes settling on a small and simply decorated center plaza. With no colorful buildings or decor around it, the plaza came off as dull and uninteresting to me. It was nothing like the one in Corona. And it wouldn't ever be the plaza I was at with Flynn...my beloved Eugene. 

Hiccup didn't seem to notice me zoning out for I caught on that he was still going on about the different events that the village did on occasion during the year. I pretended to listen to him, but I couldn't manage to get myself to pay attention anymore. Not when these beautiful yet sad memories of Flynn were on my mind. Fortunately, we didn't have much further to walk since we were nearing the edge of the town by that point.