I remember. I remember when she first joined the Sparrow Scouts, she had this energy… and also I got a badge for including her. Adding her to myself and David's ranks well, didn't always help us earn badges, but I did earn a friend. Adventure always followed Hilda, whether it was getting kidnapped by elves or accidentally almost stealing David's soul.
About a month ago, I found out that bedrooms don't clean themselves, I know it seems silly, but I grew up with a room cleaning ghost. However when one of my books disappeared, he stopped cleaning. Hilda tried to summon the ghost back, and we ended up wrestling another ghost. At the time I was so frustrated I told her that I wished she had never moved here. My life would not be the same without Hilda, however…. Hers would still be okay if she had never moved here.
We had to sneak out to fight the ghost. That night Hilda's mom came to find her, and she never did. Hilda's mom was killed by a drunk driver… all the while we were fighting over a book.
Hilda blamed herself for constantly sneaking out and having adventures. She fell apart in front of our eyes. David's parents took her in, and only he's seen her since then. That was a month ago, but today I'm going to visit her for the first time since our fight.
Remorse Of An Adventurer
Chapter I: The Storm
"Are you sure now is a good time Frida?" David asked as I entered his house. I told him I was ready, although admittedly I wasn't sure what to expect. David opened the door to Hilda's room, although it could barely be called that. The walls were barren, as well as the floor. All there was to see was a closed window, a bed, and Hilda's blue hair, covering what of her was not under the sheets. "Hilda, you have a guest." David whispered. Hilda made a slight movement, signifying she was awake. I finally spoke.
"Hilda, it's me, Frida. I wanted to apologize for.. yelling at you that night. I know you were just trying to help in the only way you knew how." Hilda was silent and motionless. I felt like I owed this to her, to be here, but, I just couldn't look at her like this, it made me sick. I backed out of the room with David.
"Frida it's probably fine, she hasn't really talked much in the last month. She only gets up to use the bathroom and occasionally grab a bag of Jorts. Even then sometimes I have to force her to eat." I didn't know David was actually feeding her. I wanted to ask how he was managing to come to school and Sparrow scouts, but I couldn't mention it before his name came echoing up the stairs.
"David! I told you to lock the door, you've let the Woodman in!" His mom yelled, but wait? Who was the Woodman?
"Hey there Davey! Other kid!" Said a literal man made of wood, who had apparently come in without knocking.
"Woodman! We told you to knock. And don't call me Davey!"
The Woodman opened Hilda's door. "Hey little adventurer! Still laying in bed?" Hilda buried her head in the sheets. "You know you can't stay in here forever right? The woods, adventure, it's in your blood! I know you're upset but these things happen."
Hilda sprang to life at that moment, hopping out of bed and staring into the Woodman's eyes. She looked worse than I'd imagined. Her hair was dirty and almost matted. Her eyes were red, she'd been crying.
"I can do what I want!" yelled Hilda. She had already lost whatever spark had ignited. She sat on the bed. "My adventures killed my mom. I killed her. I don't deserve to be okay while she's gone." Hilda laid back down, on top of her sheets, and started crying. I'd never heard Hilda cry before. I had to walk away.
I moved down the hall to David's room. I hadn't been in there since the night with the Marra. David's room was cleaner than usual. Except for some strange cardboard thing on his desk. I sat on his bed. I didn't know what to do, how to help Hilda, or David.
"Okay, I got rid of the Woodman." said David coming into the room. "Sorry, he just started showing up about a week ago. I guess he was Hilda and her mom's friend in the woods or something."
"For a friend he didn't handle that well." I said.
"Well he's kind of a jerk in my opinion." David replied.
"So, David," I said. Your room is cleaner than usual."
"Yeah… can you keep a secret Frida?" I nodded. "I have been sleeping in Hilda's room for three weeks. She was crying so loud one night that I just, got in to bed next to her. She never looks at me, but she seemed to calm down, so I just kept doing it." I tried to not look shocked, but I couldn't keep a straight face. "It's nothing weird okay! I don't even talk to her or touch her or anything!" David looked embarrassed.
"I can attest to that Frida."
I jumped a little as Alfur's familiar voice sounded from across the room. The elf had stepped out of the little cardboard structure on David's desk. "Sorry to scare you Frida! I just thought you should know."
"David I don't know what to say, other than I'm amazed how much you've been doing. And still you seem so normal at school, and Sparrow Scouts." I finally said.
"She's done so much for me in a short time Frida. I just feel like I need to help, and I don't know how either."
"Hey again Davey!" We are once again interrupted by a now familiar voice, as the Woodman enters the room.
"Woodman! I told you to get out!" yelled David.
"I was going to but it was snowing so hard that I decided to stay."
"Snowing!? It was sunny when I showed up!" I said angrily. The Woodman walked over to David's window, opened it, and pointed smugly. David's face looked as shocked as mine probably did. There was several inches of snow on the ground, and more coming down.
"Well that looks like Weather Spirits." A new voice rang out in the room.
"Oh uh Frida, this is the Great Raven." David said gesturing towards a bird in Alfur's cardboard doorway.
"David, how many people are living in your house?"
"This is everyone that I know of." said David. I turned to the bird.
"So you're the Great Raven?"
"Uh, yes technically, although I'm not actually a Raven."
"Why are you so small then?" I prodded.
"Oh! Yes I use this form to lay low in town."
"Honestly with everything I've experienced recently I have no way to prove you are lying." I gave in.
"Anyway, yes Weather Spirits!" The Raven was flapping his wings expressively as he talked. "When two Weather Spirits meet, they have a debate, and while they argue it creates a storm. But this looks like several of them, who knows how long this will last!"
"I'm going to turn the radio on if you don't mind." The Woodman interrupts. He grabs Hilda's radio, which was sitting on David's desk. "I repeat, we have another confirmed death by The Black Hound! Citizens of Trolberg a warned to.." The Woodman turned the dial to a new station. "This is Victoria Von Gale, it looks like the snow will continue for, I'm not sure how long."
"That's odd," Alfur interrupts. "Usually Victoria Van Gale can predict exactly how long the weather will last. At least that's what Hilda used to say."
A crash plays through the radio and Victoria falls silent. "That's a bit worrying." says David.
"Maybe we should go check on her?" asks Alfur.
"I suppose that's what Hilda would do." I trailed off.
David looked to the floor "Hilda isn't really here anymore." This lead to an awkward silence in the room, only broken by the faint sound of Hilda crying down the hall. I stood up, trying to look confident.
"We'll do it for her then!"
The Woodman spoke "I hope you mean you all will do it. I'm gonna go listen to the radio downstairs."
David then stood up, also forcing a look a confidence onto his face. "Yes we will do it! For Hilda!"
The Raven jumped out of the window, transforming into his full sized form. David yelled "Twig!" and Hilda's loyal Deerfox came into the room. "Look after Hilda!" Yelled David, changing into his winter clothes.
"Wait David, I don't have winter clothes" I realized.
"Take Hilda's." Replied David. He pointed at Hilda's familiar coat in his closet. I felt somber looking at it. It took me a minute to come to my senses and take the coat.
"Let's go!" said the Raven.
"Frida! May I ride with you?" asked Alfur. I nodded to him and he jumped in Hilda's coat. I met David at the window, he was looking down at the ground, nervous.
"David, I'm sure Hilda has done this before, you can do it!" He nervously took a step onto the Raven's back. I hopped on behind him, grabbing onto the Raven as tight as I could. I can't believe Hilda could ride this but not a bike. The Raven took off, soaring through the storm, towards the weather station just outside of town. Hilda was a brave girl, at least she used to be. This was exhilarating, terrifying, and a little freeing. Just because I liked riding the Raven didn't mean I wasn't holding so incredibly tight that it probably hurt him. I couldn't really watch ahead of us as the snow hurt my eyes anytime I looked up. David screamed most of the way there.
I didn't know much about predicting the weather, but Victoria had a lot of big machines around her station. Did she live alone? It seemed like a huge place for one person, especially out in the mountains. The snow stopped suddenly as we approached. When we landed the snowstorm could be seen clearly, and it only covered Trolberg. All four of us were admiring the perfect circle of black clouds and snow around our home. Victoria was a scientist if anyone knew what was happening it needed to be her.
I pounded on the door. No one answered.
"Okay how would Hilda get in?" I asked myself, out loud.
"She'd break in maybe?" aid David. I looked to Alfur and Raven, both looking out of ideas.
"We'll break into the garage then!"
"Yes mam! " The Great Raven flung himself through the garage
window. David went up to and opened the now broken window.
"It was unlocked you know" He said. I followed him. Victoria's station was a little.. Cluttered. I was beginning to think I was right about her being alone.
"Hello, is someone there?" a voice said. An older woman came into the room. She definitely lived alone. Her hair and clothes looked worse than Hilda's.
"What are you doing in my garage? What did you see?" She looked around.
"We heard your broadcast and came to check on you." Said David.
"Oh! Well don't worry! Everything is fine! I just knocked my microphone over!" she paused.
"Well I don't get visitors up here often! Let's take a tour!" Victoria took us on a tour, explaining how the weather forecasting equipment works and her studio, but something seemed off she had moved very erratically the entire time, and some of the equipment seemed to not be working correctly.
"Okay that's everything! Now I can give you these Greater Trolberg Bureau of Meteorology key chains!"
"But that's not everything, you left out a bunch of machines, just in this room alone" I said.
"What about that door across the hall, it looks important." David added.
"That's just uh. My bedroom! It's a mess so you wouldn't want to see that." said Victoria. She scrambles over to the door. She then locked the door and set her keys on a desk.
"What about that machine?" I asked. The machine was covered in levers and dials, and she had walked past it without a word during the tour.
"That is just a weather instrument fo.." Victoria was cut off when David, tripped and hit a lever on the machine. She moved very quickly to reset the lever, but no fast enough. The wind shifted outside and it began raining. A gale blew around the station. Victoria clambered and shut the machine off. The weather returned to being clear.
"What was that?" said David sounding amazed and baffled simultaneously.
"Nothing!"
"But I hit that lever and it started raining" countered David. The Great Raven hit the lever again while they talked, and it rained once more. He then flipped it back and it stopped
"Okay I confess, this machine can control the weather. A little. But imagine what controlling the weather would mean for the world! We could make it work for us!" she exclaimed.
"So are you making that storm that's burying Trolberg?!" David accused.
"No, but it is my fault. Through my research I discovered I could only control a small
amount of weather, because Weather Spirits cause storms. So I tried to invent a machine to lure one in." Said Victoria knowing she'd been caught.
"How does that work?" I asked.
"It's rather complicated, but I unfortunately lured more than I expected, and now a dozen of them are wreaking havoc on the city.
" I elbowed David, hoping he'd guess I needed a distraction.
"Oh uh, Miss Gale, could you show me the washroom?" said David. I was relieved he got the message as the pair walked out of the room. I turned to Raven and Alfur on his head.
"Okay Alfur, Raven, I need you two to try and stop the spirits from arguing." I said.
"I'm not very good at speeches." said Raven.
"I'll do it!" announced Alfur, triumphantly.
"I used to love debating before I moved!" The two flew back towards Trolberg as Victoria and David returned.
"We need to do something!"
"You can control the wind! Why not blow the spirits away?" I inquired.
"I doubt we can make enough wind. The storm has damaged my systems."
"Let's try. It is no or never after all."I said. Victoria nods in acceptance and gestures for David to back away. He moves over to Victoria's desk, and starts fumbling with her keyring nervously.
"Okay Frida, when I say so I need you to turn that crank, and hold it!" Victoria starts pushing buttons and pulling levers.
"Now!" She screams. The crank was hard to turn, and harder to hold. Outside the wind turned to a cacophonous drone, like the sound of an oncoming train, but louder. The clouds were beginning to break up. The machine started venting steam, and an alarm started sounding. Finally something gave and a panel flew across the room. The wind had died. The storm was still over Trolberg. Victoria lowered her head, looking hopeless.
"I knew it. I need coffee." said a defeated Victoria retreating with her head down, over to her coffee pot.
"Frida!" David's voice came out of nowhere. He must have left while we were running the wind machine. Victoria and I raced down the hallway, however I arrived first to Victoria's bedroom. Everyone was silent. David was right. It wasn't a bedroom. In a tube was a tiny sad looking cloud.
"Is this how you lured the weather spirits?" David snapped.
"You stole their baby?!" I added. David was hovering over a button labeled "Release".
"Please! You don't know what I had to do to catch it!" Victoria begged.
"No. How could you kidnap a baby!" David reached for the button. A crash interrupted him. We went to the main control room. The Raven and Alfur had crashed through the window.
"Guys we need to go!" said the Raven. Outside a Weather Spirit was bearing down on the weather station. It was growing dark.
"David come on!" I yelled as I helped him onto the Raven.
"Take me too!" pleaded Victoria. The room fell silent briefly.
"No. You are going to give the baby back!" I exclaimed. David threw Victoria's keys back to her. She looked at us in awe as the Raven took off. The large Weather Spirit flew in through the hole Raven had made. The sound of wind howling followed us as we flew away. I looked back in time to see Victoria's building emit a harsh light mixed with a powerful wind. The spirit exited, looking calmer and the building collapsed. Should we have stayed for her? Was she even alive? It was too late to look back on our decisions. Trolberg would not be buried alive, and together we saved everyone in the city, including Hilda.
To be continued in chapter II:
The Terror of the Night
Hilda: Remorse Of An Adventurer
Written by D.D. Danger (Tumblr blog nisse-room)
Original Concept by ghost-buddie