The Lost Boy V - Short stories

Bad Choices 2 - A glimpse

Hiccup was wandering in a dark room. Everything was dark around him, he couldn't even see his own body. He even doubted he still had one. He couldn't see, couldn't hear, couldn't smell nor feel anything. There was no ground, no wind, no smell, no sound. There was nothing. Just nothing. It felt like he was floating in complete void.

Even time was confusing, uncertain. It was impossible to tell how fast or slow it was elapsing. Was it seconds passing by ? Hours ? Days ? Years ?

There was no events, and nothing mattered. Nothing seemed alive, but nothing seemed dead either. There was just nothing.

So... was that what death looked like ? It was boring. And here he had hoped there was literally nothing after death, just falling asleep and never woke up again. Why was there something after death ?

He jumped as he heard a sudden noise, faint, barely audible, like a low buzzing sound. The atmosphere seemed to get warmer, and he swore he saw a ray of light in the distance, but everything disappeared as quickly as it came.

Then he felt a light pinch in the chest. Waryly, he moved an arm he couldn't feel and tried to press a hand on his torso, but nothing told him he managed to. This feeling on feeling nothing was really strange and confusing.

Was he going to spend the rest of eternity in this strange place, drapped in darkness and confusion ? Was it his punishment for the miserable life he had led, for all his bad choices ? It seemed to fit him perfectly : trap a logical mind in a non-logical space where he couldn't explain anything. He was sure to be driven crazy in no time.

The pinch came back in his chest, but he ignored it. Then, a thought came to his mind. A single thought. A single word. 'Glimpse'. A glimpse ? A glimpse of what ? Was this nothingness he was in just a glimpse of his upcoming punishment ? He didn't dare imagine what was coming next, then.

Other thoughts came into his mind, these ones more familiar. He remembered thinking about it before dying. He had wondered what his life would be like if he had not made these bad decisions. The sentence barely finish to form in his mind that the single word 'Glimpse' crept back.

Some part of his mind linked the two, but the rest of it refused to give a sense to anything in this non-logical place. That's when a completely different voice echoed in the darkness, muffled and a bit distorted. Hiccup frowned when he heard it. It was too blurred for him to identify it, he barely even understood the word that had been said. At least, until it was repeated.

''Hiccup...''

Who could be calling for him ? If he couldn't recognize the voice, not being able to tell if it was male or female, he couldn't help but notice the tone was soft and low, like a whisper. A nice wave of warmth surrounded him, smooth and comforting. In the end, this nothingness was not that bad.

''Hiccup ?'' The voice added, ''Midnight is sick, I have to take her to the shed.''

The young viking was even more confused. Who was talking to him ? And who was Midnight ? How did this person know his name ? Had he been found in the back of his cave ? Had he been treated and healed ?

So much questions were assaulting his mind, and yet everything seemed calm around him as he was slipping into this smooth warmth. It was relaxing, comfortable, and so pleasant... it felt like he was laying on a bed, wrapped in blankets. He didn't want to move. Slowly, sensations mimicked those of drifting away to sleep, and he welcomed this much more familiar sensation that this nothingness.

* * *

When Hiccup came back to his senses, he felt oddly good. He wasn't in pain, he wasn't cold. A small smile was adorning his face, left by a nice dream which he already had forgotten. However, this quietness vanished as soon as memories rushed back to him. He recalled entering the trappers' camp, getting spotted by the guard while he was emptying a barrel of potatoes, then fighting three trappers much bulkier than himself.