Disclaimer: I do not own Hey Arnold or any of it's characters, that belongs to Craig Bartlett and Nickelodeon.
She pulled her sleeves down as the fall wind blew onto her thin frame. She could see the leaves skittering along the side walk, every once in a while she would step on one and hear the crinkling as she crushed the leave with her weight. Helga had traveled along this street for what seemed to have been the majority of her lifetime. Nothing looked the same to her now though, since the old Boarding House was unoccupied. In her younger years she would always see the animals run out of the building when he would leave out the front door. She stopped to stare at the old building with the red paint peeling off each month that went by. Exhaling once again her warm, moist breath blurred her vision of the constant nostalgia that hit her every time she crossed its path. Reluctantly, she closed her eyes, and turned to continue walking. She tightened her stripped scarf around her neck as the wind kept hitting her.
Her father was standing outside in the cold weather, sweeping the street in front of her old home. She shook her head at how much appearances mattered to Big Bob. He stopped sweeping when he saw her approaching, and waved halfheartedly with a small smile. Despite all the pain she had experienced as a child, she smiled at him and gave him a hug. He smelled of musk, and his shirt was stained with barbecue sauce. They walked up the steps to the house while Big Bob explained that Miriam was sick once again. After entering the home, Helga hung up her jacket on the coat rack. Shortly after, she was embraced by her older sister, Olga, claiming how much she had missed her since she visited last.
They walked into the old trophy room which was now a living room, filled with photographs of them as a happy family. Her family wasn't perfect though, and never really would be. Her eyes skimmed the walls for the hundredth time that year. She heard shuffling across the other side of the room, Miriam was entering the room with a small cup of coffee. Helga only hoped it wasn't Irish coffee. She sat on thee couch next to her husband.
"So Helga, how's Brooklyn?" Miriam, my mother asked. Sipping on whatever was inside that mug of hers. Helga eyed the cup that had a label on it which said, "Keep Calm."
"Oh you know, just keeping busy at the office, and coming home to my cat every night." Helga couldn't think of anything else going on, besides her being on a short vacation. She had taken a week off to visit her family.
"You still work at the office, Helga?" Olga looked concerned when she asked.
It's no secret the Olga has had seemingly more talent than Helga has ever had. She's played in piano concerts since fifteen. Currently, she has scored an acting job in Broadway. You would think Helga would be seething with jealousy, but ever Helga graduated college, things have changed between the two sisters. Olga spoke up to her parents that they never showed the love for Helga as they had for her. Helga was thankful for Olga when it came to straightening out their family. Even though she is a little jealous, she chooses to look past it anyway. Helga refers to it as "keeping the peace."
"It's really not that bad, Olga." Helga said. "It pays the bills and I'm happy, that's all that matters."
Alright, Helga is starting to sound like her shrink now. Helga refused to tell her family about her depression issues. Her biggest regret in life was never telling Arnold what she had felt for him so long when he left with his parents to start traveling. It happened when she was in college, and when she came home she saw him leaving. She remembers that moment very precisely.
She was skipping along the street ready to see Arnold after a whole year. She had just completed her freshman year, and it was agonizing not seeing Arnold every day. She would've followed him to whatever college, but he chose to work in their hometown. He had became so close to his family, and Helga felt envious of the time they spent together. She was going to see him to confess that she realized she was wrong in seventh grade. Arnold chose to confess the he really began to love her after what happened in San Lorenzo. However, she just said that she was over him and that he should just forget that time, and move on. She was hoping Arnold would see past her rough explicit exterior, but he never did. She needed to make him realize that they belonged together. This was going to be the best day of her life, or so she thought. She had finally reached the boarding house only to see Arnold's parent carrying bags over their shoulders and placing it in the back of a trunk. The car looked like a big Jeep with things piled in the back. Helga blinked, wondering if he was leaving and she could slowly feel that her life was already entering into a dark abyss that she could not climb out watched as Arnold's dad, Miles, helped his wife, Stella, place a large box in the back of the jeep. Arnold ran out of the house and asked his parents a question.
"Should we take Abner?" he asked. Barely noticing Helga's presence as she kept her hands behind her back, looking on innocently.
His mom shook her head. "No, he's too old and would be too distressed if we try to move him, Arnold." She said with sympathy, she knew how attached her son had became to the pig.
Arnold sighed and acknowledged Helga for the first time. "Oh, hey Helga." He greeted her with a smile that almost broke her heart. He's been so happy since his parents had returned to him in fifth grade. He looked much more ecstatic now, like everything he ever dreamed of was coming true."Oh, it's great, Helga."He said. "We are going back to Central America, and after that who knows?"
Helga was smiling at him, and though he didn't know it, she was sinking. She could feel her eyes become misty but she quickly wiped at her eyes with her fore arm. Arnold was going to do what he always wanted, to help people around the world, but that could mean she may never see him again. She watched as they continued to pack the jeep, because they were leaving from the airport that night. If only she came the night before instead of going to bed. She couldn't get Arnold alone when his parents were right there. They were all focused on their trip.
She just smiled. "Have a great trip." She walked away, but that night she watched them drive away. At that time, she felt true sorrow and fear.
She always began crying by remembering that, and she shouldn't think of that now. She decided to distract herself, anything else to get her mind off of it. She looked down at the carpeted floor and eyed some snacks that Olga had left out on the table. She reached out and began nibbling on a pretzel. It felt her life was spinning out of control ever since she saw Arnold leave that night. Since he left, she decided to continue with college, and tried to become career focused. She found that she became dependent on distractions to stay off the subject of Arnold. When she graduated with her English degree, she found a job as an editor for a newspaper soon after. She had been working there for about six months now.
She smiled at Olga, and tried to get her family to stop being so engrossed with the words of how she described her life. "What new showing are you working on now, Olga?" she asked.
Olga became excited after I asked that question, and she began to ramble about showing the play based of The Wizard of Oz, called Wicked. It was about the life of the Wicked Witch of the West, and her friendship with the Good Witch, Gelinda, and how it destroyed her life. Helga would've been somewhat interested, but her mind was somewhere else at the moment. She put a hand on her face, and politely excused herself to the bathroom. She actually went to the upstairs bathroom, so no one could hear her.
Bob and Miriam began ogling over Olga, once again. Helga just rolled my eyes, somethings would never change no matter how differently the living room was decorated. No matter how many smiles you put on a wall, it doesn't mean the family is prosperous.
In the bathroom, Helga put her hands against each side of the sink, and looked at her reflection in the mirror. She really changed so many things about her face. Helga has even plucked her uni brow to attract boyfriends since high school. She wears as little of makeup to appear "natural," which is kind of a hassle to do in the mornings. All this to try to find another guy than Arnold, but it's never worked, not really. She had one boyfriend in college named Jake, which was short lived... She sighed after she had got her senses more together.
She walked down the stairs to join her family. However Miriam was talking of her new happy lifestyle, which did not appeal to me. I was trying to convince myself for years that she was happy with myself, but she lied to myself every day. She couldn't hear her mom saying that, because Helga knew she was deceiving herself. Helga decided she needed a walk instead.
"I'm going to pick up some meat for tomorrow!" Helga said as she was leaving out the front door. Miriam shifted around in the couch to tell her she had gotten some meat the day before. But Helga was already gone.
Helga was walking at a fast pace, she would walk and grab meat from Green Meats at a later time. Currently she was walking in the City Park, counting her steps. She came to a bench along the way, and stopped and looked at it. She remembered that in fourth grade, she was partners with Arnold when they were pretend parents, but they lost their "baby," an egg. 'She smiled, because they found the egg under this very continue feeling this happy nostalgia, she sat herself on the bench.
However she knew that the nostalgia would lead to grief from missing Arnold. She closed her eyes. She could hear footsteps on the asphalt, but suddenly they stopped. She could feel a familiar presence and she opened her eyes when she heard the person gasp.
It was Phoebe. She was wearing a different blue sweater like she used to and a beige scarf around her neck. She still wore the cat eye glasses, only they had purple rims instead of blue. Helga smiled brightly and stood up and hugged the short girl. It was pretty amazing to see she looked almost the same since they had graduated college, which wasn't a long time ago, anyway. They were room mates in college, but had gone into different fields of work. They had not seen each other in a while.
They chatted for about an hour on that bench.
"Are you working as a neuroscientist yet?" Helga asked.
"Trying, I was accepted into graduate school. I will graduate in May."
Helga was so happy for her, she always knew Phoebe would make it big in life. She then brought up her and Gerald still being engaged, and they would marry in May, when she would graduate.
"Currently, I'm staying with my parents and he is at his parents, and you wouldn't believe who came for a visit."
Helga's eyes widened and her heart was beating rapidly. She knew who it was before she said the name. She was so excited and speechless. She stared at Helga, surprised she didn't say his name.
"Arnold." She said.
She smiled at her awestruck face, though. She knew what happened after all. If anyone knew her pain, she did. Something told Helga she had known her love sickness for Arnold since we were only three years old. She was her best friend in the world, but somehow she forgot that. She would've been Helga's therapist for all these hard months. She had the power to put her depression at ease. Why didn't Helga go to graduate school with her? How could she just let her walk out of her life?
"Do you want to go see him?" she asked.
Helga's life was seemingly taking a different turn than she thought. All she could do was nod.
A/N: I'm excited to write this because this has been on my mind for a while. I hope it hasn't been done quite like this before. I like my stories to be interesting. As always, please review!
-AnimatedBritney