Touch My Heart

Chapter 24

Hiccup finally arrived back at his house. He stopped just before the pathway up to his front door, his eyes diverting to the house next door. He could see her bedroom window, the curtains closed. No light or noise coming from within. It looked almost empty. But Hiccup knew otherwise. Astrid had to be home, she couldn't be anywhere else.

Hiccup took a deep breath and looked down at his feet for a moment before he looked back up, slowly letting out his held breath. It was now or never. Hiccup soon found his feet taking him over to the door of Astrid's house, and before he knew it, he was standing in front of it.

"Why am I so scared to ask whether she's alright? It's not like she's gonna kill me. I'll just knock, she'll open the door, I'll ask whether she's okay and if she is I can leave her to it and tell Kristoff there's nothing to worry about. Simple." But as soon as he began to knock on the door, he realised this was going to be far from simple.

No answer

He knocked again. Still no answer.

He knocked more loudly this time, almost banging his fist on the door. He could hear the knock echo through the house. Again, no answer.

Now he was beginning to panic.

"Astrid?!" He shouted as he knocked on the door again, louder this time. "ASTRID?!" He was almost yelling in panic as he banged on the door again. "Astrid, just open the door!" He stopped knocking and leaned an ear against the door, trying to listen for any movement within the house. "Astrid, I just want to know you're okay! Kristoff was worried! I-I'm...." Hiccup was hesitant to say he was worried too, and so he ignored it. "You weren't in, he just wants to know whether you're okay! If you don't tell me you're okay, I won't know what to tell him! Please open the door!" He yelled once more, knocking brutally on the door. His hand was getting sore, his voice was becoming itchy against his throat. He was about to give up. "Please Astrid..." He said softly as he collapsed against the door, trying desperately to morph into the house. But it didn't work.

He sighed and pushed himself away from the door. He wasn't gonna get anywhere today. She clearly wanted to be left alone. He wasn't welcome.

What in gods name was he supposed to tell Kristoff now?!

Hiccup finally entered his house and made his way up to his room. He had no idea what to tell Kristoff and so had to come up with some explanation as to how Astrid was doing, he couldn't really tell him the truth: 'Hey Kristoff, Astrid locked me out of her house and hasn't responded to me knocking on the door. But I'll keep trying!'

What would he say to that?! He didn't want Kristoff trying to get Astrid to talk to him himself, she clearly wanted to be alone. They had to respect that. Hiccup sighed as he sat at his desk, throwing his bag beside his desk as he collapsed into the seat. His eyes made their way over to Astrid's window and saw something pinned to the glass. Hiccup adjusted his eyes and leaned forward on his desk, it was a piece of paper with a note on it:

'TELL KRISTOFF, I'M OKAY'

Hiccup scoffed. Couldn't she have just told him that through the door? Sighing heavily, he retrieved his phone from his pocket and texted Kristoff. telling him - as Astrid asked - that she was okay. He quickly texted back a relieved reply. Luckily Kristoff asked nothing further on the subject.

But the note in Astrid's window made Hiccup even more curious. If she was okay like she's said, why couldn't she say that to him with her own words? And why didn't she answer the phone when Kristoff had tried to phone her?

She clearly wasn't as okay as she's saying she is.

***

Hiccup had visited Astrid later that Friday evening, Saturday morning, Saturday evening, and Sunday morning. He was now on his way back to visit her on Sunday evening. He had decided to bring some snacks this time. He hoped to coax her out, he didn't know whether she had eaten at all. By this point, he was beyond worried. She hadn't spoken to him since Thursday, and it was driving Hiccup insane. He needed to hear from her mouth that she was okay.