Saying Goodbye

Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold! I mean, seriously, if I really were Craig Bartlett, then I wouldn't need this disclaimer in the first place! So please believe me on this!

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Quick note: I'd like to thank everyone who has reviewed my previous fics, or made them favorites or put an alert on them. I really appreciate it!

To make this note short, this fic came about after I woke up one morning and came up with this "What If?" scenario. Plus I'm using a new office word application and web browser, which at first were difficult to get used to, but now I've got the hang of things! And I just realized this note was not quick at all. Anyway, I hope you enjoy this one-shot!

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Helga G. Pataki grimaced long and hard, finally coming to a dreaded conclusion. She hated Arnold Shortman. Not only that, but she absolutely despised him, she completely abhorred him. All the love she had for him was no more. She could not stand hearing his voice or seeing his face. It only made the fire in her rage even more. Mentioning his name from now on would earn an automatic visit from Old Betsy. The Five Avengers only accompanied Old Betsy in case of some needed backup.

19 year old Helga stood on the edge of the docks overlooking the river. Its dark blue surface reflected the bright full moon and the shadows of the tall trees of Elk Island. She kept her face neutral midst the hard, cold breeze that arrived, making her long, blonde tresses rustle and smack against her face, and her pink dress under her black leather jacket wave and flap against her tall, lithe body. If she didn't know any better, she would have believed the tear dragging down her face came from feeling bad about her anger towards Arnold.

It wasn't.

It was due to wasting so much time waiting for someone to fulfill their promise. That someone was him. The promise was to return to her.

The promise never came to fruition.

Helga wiped the back of her hand against her stinging cheek, flinging the tears away in the direction of the water. A painful emptiness started to consume her heart. The stuff Rhonda was talking about with her previous relationships with Harold and Curly started to finally make sense.

Helga tightened her fists, biting her lip. The memories returned. The memories of Arnold, the ones she wanted to throw away. She could hear his calm, deep voice whispering into her ear like he did three years ago, the day before he moved away.

She remembered the time they sat on her front stoop on a warm summer night. Arnold held her tight in his warm, firm embrace. The two of them slowly rocked from side to side. Arnold knew it was one way to get her to stop crying.

Helga said, her chin resting on his shoulder, next to his neck."Oh, Arnold..." she closed her eyes, warm tears gathering in them. "I wish you didn't have to go."

She wished she never had to hear him say that. He gave her the news a few weeks earlier. After a long moment of silence, she returned to reality and broke down, crying her eyes out, albeit after a short session of hitting and yelling aimed at him. Now she faced the fact that in 24 hours, her boyfriend would be moving away.

"I have to, Helga...for my parents' sake," he stopped speaking to clear his throat. "But I promise I'll be back, Helga. I love you too much to stay away forever."

"I love you too, Football Head..." she paused, taking in a deep breath. A smile struck onto her face. After so many years, she still called him that name. And he didn't mind. "But if you don't come back, I swear to God...I'll find you and then kill you."

She pulled away from Arnold to find him smiling before their lips met passionately for the last time. She had hoped it wasn't.

Sheena's uncle Earl passing by on his boat ripped Helga from her flashback. His pirate songs made her chuckle on the inside, but not this time. A scowl from her made him duck his head and keep moving.

She lowered herself to a crouching position, reaching for the large cardboard box by her feet. Labeled "Arnold stuff" in black uppercase letters on the top, she ripped the tape off and opened the box. Curiosity killed the cat once again. She had to look at everything one last time before discarding the objects that carried connections to Arnold. Poems, old shrines, the heart shaped locket with his picture in it, her old clothes from grade and middle school, they were all in the box. Even her pink bow, the most important remnant of all, the one thing that started it all.

Helga sighed. Five years they were together. Three years they were apart. The letter he finally sent to Helga explaining how he moved on and decided to stay in South America, not even stating his reasons for doing it, and with no apologizes, was the one thing that crushed her heart into a billion pieces. It was like she was a forgotten memory. She was no longer important to him. The instant she finished reading the letter, she remained holed up in her apartment all summer long. The graduation parties, Rhonda's soirees, baseball and football games with the old gang, she wanted no part of them. It took an adamant Phoebe, Rhonda, Nadine and even to her surprise, Gerald, to get her out and interacting with everyone again.

Helga closed up the top of the box, slapping the tape back over the flaps to make sure it was sealed tight. She still couldn't believe what was going on. The last time she felt so angry was during a therapy session with Dr. Bliss to discuss more of her family ills. She had stayed celibate for him, pushing away and resisting all of the men who wanted to win her heart. The promise to stay together even when they were far apart was all for nothing. Three plus years were now down the drain. Dr. Bliss didn't recommend what Helga was about to do, but she had to do it, or else she would be haunted by him forever.

"It's now or never, Pataki," a feminine voice piped up from behind her. Helga looked over her shoulder to find two long-time friends. Rhonda and Phoebe stood by her side, Rhonda placing a hand on Helga's back. "Just get it over with," she stepped back, folding her arms with a frown on her face. "I mean, c'mon! I tried to tell you to move on a long time ago, but did you listen to me? Noooo!"

Helga glowered at her. "Shut your pie hole, Princess," her face relaxed once she saw Rhonda's eyes light up and her hands drop to her sides in fear, even if it was just a little fear. At least she got her to shut up, which is not easy to do to a Lloyd. "Criminy! Just gimme one more moment. Before...I finally get this shit out of my system, once and for all."

Phoebe slowly shook her head in what must have been both pity and sympathy. She had a brief breakup with Gerald, all of last summer, that made her look and feel as horrible as Helga. Deciding to remain silent, she watched Helga continue to gaze off in the distance.

Helga could feel the fire reaching the threshold. Maybe they were right. It's time to get it over with. So much for her curiosity, wasting so much time. "Yeah. You're right," the stare she made caused the recipient of it to put a hand to her chest, making sure it was still beating. "Some help here, Princess?"

Rhonda rolled her eyes and stood on the other side of the box, crouching down with Helga to pick it up. "All right, fine. But if I break even just one nail, I swear as God as my witness..."

After a short exchange of "words" with Helga via exchanging cold stares, Rhonda sighed and rolled her eyes, conceding defeat. The two lifted the box and heaved it into the water and watched it make a giant splash. Giant ripples formed in a square shape that spreading outward from where the box made its entrance in the river, slowly subsiding the farther they went.

Helga felt her knees buckle. She dropped down on her hands and knees, a sudden reflex to realizing everything she saved that had some tie to her past with Arnold was now gone. She looked down over the edge of the pier, imagining where the box was, yet it only blended in perfectly in the giant body of water.

A moment passed before she stood with the support of her two friends, watching the box descend. At that very moment, a silent gasp exited her mouth. The huge weight, at last, was lifted from off her back. The dark cloud that hovered over her head ever since Arnold's departure disappeared. A comforting, yet strange feeling entered her system. It felt foreign, yet familiar. Rhonda looked at Helga, a skeptical look on her face, until Helga communicated with her strong, blue eyes along with a slow nod of her head, that things had changed for the better, even if in the very beginning she didn't want them to. She was glad that part of her life was now history. Arnold had changed over the last three years he was in Hillwood. Maybe his leaving and Helga being alone was for the best.

As the three women turned started their walk back home, it finally hit Helga like a horseshoe to the brain. Her feelings for her one and only love were finally gone...for good.

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The End.

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Thanks for reading! Please review, I welcome any comments, constructive criticisms, and/or questions about this one shot!