I stared in disbelief at the yellow post-it note in front of me, a pair of car keys laid on top of it.

"She's yours for the weekend, we're sorry for overreacting. We love you.
- Mom & Dad"

I picked up the keys before tossing them in my hand. My dad had just handed me his brand new five-seater.

"This deal better include the car" I muttered to myself as I stashed the keys into my front pocket before shooting Eret a text.

"Hey, no need 2 pick me up today, parents are leaving me the car"

I glanced out the kitchen window, and there she was. My dad must've driven it out of the garage, seeing as it was just standing in the driveway, waiting for me to get in.

In all honesty, I was shocked. My dad loves his car more than anything in the world, so him just lending it to me for the weekend was a really big step for him. Thor, they must felt really guilty for acting like assholes the other day.

Excitement overcame me as I become to eager to stay at home. I shot out the door, backpack slung over my shoulder as I threw myself into the navy blue car.

I settled into the seat as I wrapped my fingers around the black leather steering wheel, my nose filled with the leathery scent coming from the rest of the car.

I strapped myself in as I plugged in my phone, blasting my favorite songs all the way to school.

As I rolled up to my school, I turned down the sound of my music as I found a nice parking spot. I got out of the car and was walking towards the main entrance when a familiar voice called out to me

"Hey"

I turned around and was met by the sight of Hiccup leaning against his car, one hand in his pocket, the other one waving at me. I felt my heart skip a beat.

"Since when do you hang out here?" I asked him as I changed my direction, now making my way towards him.

A smile spread across his face. "Since right now. Nice car, didn't know you had a license"

"Not my car, my dad's. He's lending it to me for the weekend so that you guys don't have to wait an hour before leaving" I explained to him.

Hiccup furrowed his brows and crossed his arms. "You're not even leaving at the same time as us?"

"No, I've got some business to attend to after school, but I'll be there" I informed him as I shot him a quick smile.

Originally I was going to carpool with Heather, Fishlegs and the twins. But seeing as I had business to take care of, we found out that would set us back an hour, leaving us to drive in the worst traffic and end up arriving late at the cabin. But now that I had my father's car, the others could go up ahead of me, avoiding the worst traffic, and I wouldn't have to stress to finish up my business.

It was a win-win situation.

"Right" He answered, clearly not pleased with my reply. "Anyway, ready for our big presentation?"

I rolled my eyes at him as I let out a heavy sigh. "Why did you feel the need to remind me of that? I would rather forget"

"Don't worry! Do your best, and we'll probably pass" Hiccup said, trying to encourage me, but miserably failing.

I cocked my eyebrow up at him. "Probably"

"We'll do fi—" Hiccup was cut off by the ringing of a bell, signaling that it was time for our big presentation. "—ne. Now, let's go break a leg"

***

"So... how did the big presentation go?" Fishlegs asked us, the whole gang sitting around what had become 'our' table.

Hiccup and I exchanged a glance before I gave him a nod, permitting him to tell our friends how it had gone.

"We survived, and that's what matters. Right, Astrid?" Hiccup turned to me as he wrapped his arm playfully around my shoulder, pulling me closer.

He may have meant it as a playful gesture, but there was something in me that didn't take it for what it was. Blood rushed to my cheeks as his warmth radiated off him and onto me, his scent filling my nose, giving me the urge to lean in closer to him.

"Right" I said nervously as I shot him an encouraging smile. I quickly pulled myself together, praying that none of my friends had seen me blushing.

Hiccup eventually let me go before he went on to explain what had happened. I watched him as he spoke, just as I had done under the presentation, my heart pounding against my chest as he told the story, very animatedly.

"That's when he informed us that we were good, but that we wouldn't be getting our grades until Monday" Hiccup ended as the rest of the gang congratulated us for managing to keep a cool head during the whole thing.

"Mr. Grimborn told me and Holly Jansson that we did good as well" Snotlout pointed out, clearly not in the mood for us to have all the attention.

The res of the group ignored him.

"Wow, I can't believe it! Just a few hours left and we're off!" Heather exclaimed, somehow managing to contain her true excitement for this trip.

"Yeah" A smirk spread across Ruffnut's face. "I can't wait to torture you guys during the drive"

Snotlout rolled his eyes as he snorted. "So glad I'm not in THAT car"

"Yeah, about the whole carpool thing, Heather" I explained my situation to her, earning a nod in response. "Is it cool with you?"

She answered with yet another nod as she shot me a smile. "Of course! As long as you actually come up, that is"

"I wouldn't miss it for the world" I told her as I returned her smile.

That's when the familiar ring of the bell filled our ears, sternly informing us that it was time to get to class.

We all got up, said our goodbyes and went our separate ways.

****

I neatly placed my luggage into the trunk of my father's car, shutting as I thought of the fun times we would have this weekend.

I had finally finished my business, (I managed it quite well might I add) and all that remained was the drive up to the cabin.

My hand was on the door handle of the drivers seat when I heard heavy panting coming up behind me. I turned around and found Eret running towards me, dressed in his winter coat and jeans, not his jogging outfit.

"Eret?" I asked, quite puzzled about his sudden appearance.

He stopped right in front of me, placing his hands on his knees as he took a heavy breather. "I'm so happy I caught you before you left"

"Eret, why didn't you just call me? I'm going to be really late if I don't get on the road as soon as possible, traffic's about to get real crazy" I informed him, slightly annoyed.

He ran his fingers through his hair. "I know, and I'm sorry, but this isn't something I could've told you over the phone"

I furrowed my brows at his reply. "What couldn't you have told me over the phone? And why did you run here? Where's your car?"

"My car's at the mechanic, and I ran over here seeing as it might be my last chance to tell you my news"

"What news? Could you please get to the point, I'm trying not to get stuck in traffic for 5 hours straight"

"Astrid, I'm moving and I want you to come with me"

I felt the blood drain from my face as he finished his sentence. I immediately understood what he had meant by this, but I was hoping that it wasn't that.

"M-move?" I stuttered. "Where? A house down the street or something?"

A strong, warm hand wrapped around my arm as a finger pushed my face up to meet Eret's eyes. "Astrid, you know what I mean"

I tore my gaze away fro his, closing my eyes. Move? Eret was my fiancée of course he was important to me! I just couldn't bear the thought of leaving my friends, my parents. I just couldn't bear the thought of leaving Hiccup.

I felt my eyes beginning to sting as my throat closed in on itself. I just couldn't leave my entire life behind like that. Hel, I hadn't even finished High School!

I met Eret's eyes again and was almost taken aback by all the expectancy that shone in his eyes.

I furrowed my brows and looked up at the sky as I tried to blink away the tears that were threatening to spill. "Eret, you know how I feel about you, you know I want to grow old with you, but I just can't leave everything behind to move away with you, there's just too much going on in my life"

The expectancy from earlier was washed away by sadness. "I see. But I have to leave anyway, with or without you"

"What?" My voice broke as I fought so hard to keep the tears at bay.

"Last week, right after our engagement, the dean of students informed me that I had been accepted into another, more prestigious college on the other side of the country" He took a deep breath. "I have dreamed about that college since I was a kid, so I accepted. But that means I'll have to move away for a few years, and seeing as I Hold be gone that long, I hoped you'd move there with me as my fiancé, my best friend"

I took a deep breath as I blinked away yet another tear. "You know I can't do that Eret, not now"

"But what about us? We'll only get to see each other during the holidays" Eret pointed out.

I thought about what that meant for our relationship. I took both his hands in mine, giving them a squeeze as I once again met his gaze. "Eret, I think it's best we... press pause"

"What?" He said, his voice almost a whisper.

I squeezed my eyes tightly together as I wrapped my arms around him, giving him a light squeeze before parting.

I took a deep breath before clearing my throat. "When you graduate we can go back to the way we were, alright?"

"Alright" I kissed his cheek as a farewell before getting into the car.

"See you soon, babe" I said, trying to smile through the immense pain in my chest, but instead ending up with some strange grimace.

I pulled out of the driveway, his eyes staying on me until my house was just a blur on the horizon.

***

I continuously wiped the tears that rolled down my cheeks, desperately trying to strangle all sobs that attempted an escape from my throat. I glanced over at the map of my phone through the veil of saltwater in my eyes, I would have to exit the highway soon.

I took a deep breath as I wiped my eyes, following the instructions my phone was giving me.

Not long after, I had made it from the busy highway leading towards the big cities and onto a small dirt road that snaked its way through a thick forest.

I drove and drove, the road seeming endless. There was nothing ahead of me but the exact same scenery I had been seeing for the past half an hour. I felt myself growing tired, my mind switching its focus over to Eret once again.

Wide grins as we ate ice cream at sundown down by the pier, loving gazes as we celebrated our anniversary at our favorite restaurant, the heat of his body radiating into mine after we had gone swimming in a frozen lake.

A lump grew in the back of my throat as tears began streaming down my face. I couldn't breathe.

I filled my lungs with air as I let out all the sobs I'd been holding back earlier. My heart felt like someone had cut it out of my chest with a rusty knife, only to throw it on the ground and step on it with a spiky booth, right before being kicked into a bucket of acid.

Too caught up in my own emotions, I failed to notice that it had begun snowing outside, the roads growing whiter and whiter the longer I drove.

Salty tears blurred my vision as I glanced up from the steering wheel.

Once again, I had attempted to wipe them away, but seeing as I had turned on the faucet, it had no plans on stopping. Sobs accompanied the seemingly endless tears, distracting me from what was happening ahead.

I wiped another batch of tears, and to my surprise, my attempt had been successful, but the success was short lived seeing as the moment I got my sight back, I locked eyes with a deer that was just standing on the middle of a short bridge.

Something in my head clicked, telling me that I had to avoid hitting that deer.

I slammed the brakes and managed to swerve away from the deer, but in my desperate attempt to save the poor animal, I sent my car straight through the metal railing of the bridge.

Shards of metal few all around as the car broke through the railing, but not without my head managing to hit the steering wheel, mere seconds before the airbag blew up in my face, breaking my nose.

Blinded by the airbag in my face, I could not see where the car was headed. Unfortunately for me, I could feel where I was going. Sugar, I was going down.

The car hit the surface of the river that ran about 60 feet below the bridge, deflating the airbag in front of me. The car sank at an alarming speed, filling with water just as quickly.

I wanted to get out, how I wanted to smash through the window and swim to the surface, but for some reason, I couldn't move a muscle. My mind was screaming at me to get out before I drowned, but my body wouldn't listen.

As the water reached my neck, I prepared myself for the deep breath I'd have to take. The water rose above my mouth, but just after I had managed to take a deep breath, momentarily regaining control of my body.

Frantically, I tried getting the seatbelt off, doing my very best to save the little air I had left. By the time the car had been fully submerged in water, I was still trying to get my seatbelt off, but it wouldn't budge.

I could feel myself growing lightheaded as the pain in my arms and ribs grew worse.

I was desperate, but my seatbelt wasn't. I did the only logical thing that came to my weary mind at the moment and attempted to open the door. I had completely forgotten everything I had ever learned from anyone about what to do if your car gets submerged in water. 

I frantically tried opening the door, but as expected, it wouldn't budge either.

I accidentally let out a sob, a cry for help, therefore losing the little air I had left.

My head grew even lighter than it had been before, my eyes and throat both felt like they were on fire as the water made its way down to my lungs. It felt like I was burning. My every muscle was aching, my skin felt like it had been sliced and ripped off my arm. In yet another desperate attempt for air, I gasped, but instead of receiving oxygen, I was met with even more water, speeding up the process of drowning me.

Then all of a sudden, everything just stopped hurting so bad. The burning sensation from earlier was gone, making me feel somewhat at ease. All the pain from earlier was gone and I just felt... numb.

The icy blue water that had surrounded me seconds earlier had now been replaced by darkness.

Suddenly, I was hit with a memory, a happy memory. And another one, and another, and another. All of the greatest moments of my life played through my mind like a long home movie, made just to please me, allowing me to relive the for a quarter of a second.

Stormfly, my parents, my grandparents, Eret and ... Hiccup. His face sprung up in every memory, bringing just a tinge of sadness with him before the things I always felt when I was around him replaced the sadness, and intensified my feelings for him by a thousand.

Then, like a flash of lightning, it was all gone. No memories, no friends just numbing darkness.