Hey all. I wrote this first chapter at 3 am last night after having scoured for Hey Arnold Christian fanfiction. I found one or two, and they were good in their own ways, but I didn't find any that really resonated with me. I realise hey Arnold is a non-religious cartoon and all, and that none of the characters makes reference to being spiritual in any way (aside from that one episode about Harold's bar mitzvah), but I still want to read a Hey Arnold story where the characters share my beliefs... SO that's what I'm going to do. Hopefully others like it too- non-religious or otherwise. Enjoy!
Helga was conflicted. Her way of the life, the shouting and calling names, it was a facade to a certain extent, unlike she'd previously believed. After all, it was so easy to come home at the end of the day and prance around spouting poetry and love for Arnold. Weep when she mad or upset. Grin obsessively over her favourite romance novels. So yes, to a certain extent it was a facade... however... what if it wasn't? What if she just had a genuinely bad personality? It was a habit now, to insult. Ridicule. Taunt. In fact, she had to admit... she even somewhat enjoyed it. But lately, Helga felt a sense of longing for something more.
She'd filled the hole with love for Arnold, praying at her football headed shrine for relief. Alas... she still felt... empty. Confused.
Recently she began to think of the meaning of life. Her purpose. Her reason for being. And ultimately the more and more she lingered on it... she began to fear death. So, could she help it then, when bouts of depression began to spur right out of control? Was it her fault when she couldn't force herself from the never-ending toil of emotion raging within in her? These thoughts plagued her as she walked down the halls of Hillwood high, her headphones blasting rock music in her ears as though to distract her.
"Helga... is everything alright?"
His hand brushed her shoulder lightly, and immediately, the half-dazed girl spun around to meet his green-eyed gaze.
Pulling off her headphones, she made her best effort to address him in a polite manner.
"What the hell do you want?"
Arnold rolled his eyes and reiterated, "Are you okay?"
"I'm fine. Obviously. It's you who needs help, with that abnormally sized head of yours. How do you get through doors anyway?"
"Ha. Ha. Very funny Helga.."
He shot her an unamused half-lidded gaze that was by now, very familiar to her.
"I know. I'm bloody hilarious." She responded, rolling her eyes in mock humour.
She didn't care much for small banter... not normally anyway. However, with Arnold, it was always a different story. She could stand him lecturing her for 12 hours if it so well pleased him to do so. And, very likely when he finished, she'd thank him for it.
"You haven't been sleeping." He said quietly, staring at the bags under her eyes, her uncombed hair and lazily thrown on dress (that disgustingly hadn't been washed in a week). Helga bowed her head in shame, pissed at herself for allowing the love of her life to see her in such a state, but quickly turned the anger onto Arnold instead. A mechanism she'd been using since she was four.
"For your INFORMATION pasteforbrains, I am perfectly FINE. I've slept a solid 5 hours."
"What about yesterday night? You didn't look too good yesterday either."
This silenced Helga for a little, and she turned her gaze to her fumbling feet. She didn't want to admit it, but she hadn't properly slept the whole week. Five hours was much as she'd gotten in the last five days, and that didn't even compare to what she'd managed to accomplish LAST week. She saw Arnold's feet stepping closer toward her and felt his hand rest on her shoulder properly this time. She made no effort to shrug it off.
"I'm asking because I care Helga. Is something the matter? Do you need help? Or maybe someone to talk to? I'll bend backwards if you need me to,"
'Stupid... loving... beautiful football head."
She knew if she looked up she'd begin to burst into tears, probably fall into his arms or something like they did in all those fanfictions she'd read. So instead she did as was typical for Helga G Pataki and pushed him away.
Or at least tried to. Her hand kind of got caught in his.
"Seriously Helga. Let me help you," he held onto her hand tightly, as though letting go would be her death.
So dramatic. Maybe he also read too many fanfictions. That would be GREAT.
"Keep holding my hand if you're looking to be knocked into oblivion hair boy." She hissed, noticing more and more eyes on them, curious and judgmental. How she loathed teenage minds. How she wanted to crush them under her iron-clad boots (how she longed for iron-clad boots).
"Fine, if you're embarrassed," Arnold started, having seen her heated cheeks and darting eyes, "let's talk somewhere else."
He then proceeded to pull her down the hall (Helga willingly, but begrudgingly following along) stopping at the door of the famous broom closet Helga had been known for occupying.
"Step into my office I guess." She muttered, with unintended amusement in her voice.
The door literally had a plaque with her name on it. The school board had become tired of removing and replacing it with its real one. Once inside, Helga felt a million times better and strode to her desk confidently. Prepared to handle (and likely avoid) any questions coming her way.
"Helga, will you stop sitting with your legs crossed on top of the desk? It's not very polite..."
"Your existence isn't very polite." She retaliated almost immediately. Arnold snorted but quickly caught himself and reverted back to his stern gaze.
"I feel like I'm dealing with a toddler..." he sighed, falling into the seat across from her. He had such a look of defeat, weariness after years of dealing with this mess of a girl, that Helga could not help but feel a little sorry.
Although the feeling wasn't entirely unfamiliar if she was being honest. Her love for Arnold always made her too sappy for her own good. Which is probably why she said this...
"I'm going to die."
Arnold was silent for a moment, then his eyes widened, and his head jerked up, a look of confusion and worry written in his features.
Realising what she said, Helga rushed to clarify her string of thoughts, "That is to say, what I meant was... one day. One day I'm going to die. We're going to die. Both you and me and everyone else on this planet. And I don't know... I don't know what to do about it you know? I don't want to believe that I'll be a bag of dust at the end of this life. I want so much more, and it petrifies me... because... if I'm not here for a reason, then why am I here? What's... okay I'm going to sound completely nuts... but I want to know the meaning of life. It's cliché I know but, it's valid till this day! We don't have a clue! And even if we did-"
"Love." Arnold interjected suddenly, a smile forming on his lips. "The answer is love. You don't sound nuts don't worry. I think everyone in their lives goes through a stage of being unable to understand their being and self-worth. Now you might not agree with what I say, but I'll tell you anyway... how do you feel about Christianity?"
His tone of voice was soft and soothing, as per usual, but at that moment especially she felt like Arnold knew exactly what was going through her head. Not because he could read minds, doi that's impossible, but because he too had experienced the fear of death.
"... I don't know." Helga admittedly replied, tucking a stray blonde hair behind her ear, and resting her head in the palm of her hand. No matter what she did, she couldn't seem to look at Arnold. "I always thought the idea of a God was dumb... a way past death or something... but now I'm not so sure. You got any proof for me?"
"My heart. Experiences. The Bible, although you might not count that as proof."
"Not at all."
"Didn't think so," he smiled, and she wondered how a boy so patient and loving could exist.
"But also, about that," she said, cutting him off before he'd been able to speak, "how do you know which ones the real one? Like there are probably thousands of bibles in the world. And the thousands of religions to go with it. What if yours is wrong you know?"
Arnold smiled again, lowered his eyes to the ground, the raised them back up Helga, his expression changed to something resembling concern, "Helga, to reiterate, religion is a very serious topic and I don't want you to feel differently about me because of the things I say..."
"Nah don't worry. I'm cool with it," Helga interceded once again, "believe me, I'm not sensitive to all that stuff. You believe what you believe. That's A-okay with me. I'd love to hear about it."
'What he doesn't know is how fast I'd convert for him' she thought.
"The KJV Bible is the most historically accurate bible." Arnold begun, pulling his chair closer to the desk, "There are others, but if you're looking for authenticity, there's your answer. I read the NKJV which is essentially just the more modern translation of the KJV."
"Okay..." She thought about how she was going to say what she would say next and discovered it would sound rude regardless, so she just said it, "But like, how authentic is it really? How do you know anything in that book is true? What if it was just written by deluded idiots who believed they could talk to God or whatever?"
He sighed a little, but continued speaking in a patient tone of voice, "It was written by prophets and saints years apart, and nothing is inconsistent which provides evidence of its being true. The saints, especially in the New Testament all, had different accounts of the story of Jesus, things they couldn't have possibly seen or made up, all different voices and people."
"Woah…"
"Yeah, but what's most amazing is the same stories that were written by those different people. What I mean is, they were written years apart with no way of knowing what had gone on. Also, before you mention it, no there was no way for them to come together and cultivate a plan to say the same things. Whether you believe it or not is up to you, but the brilliance of the Bible is a wonder to behold, and I think those who doubt it haven't bothered to look past the first page. Did you know that the bible actually foretold discoveries that we didn't know until thousands of years later?"
"Had no idea,"
"Right? Like they knew that the earth hung on nothing in space before scientists realized that was, in fact, the case. And this is only a tiny portion..."
"Okay, so you're telling me this and... it isn't really changing my mind. It's interesting, but who's to say it's proof? So, what that they predicted some vague idea of reality? Where's the solid evidence. Cause I'm not seeing any."
"Come to church with me," Arnold said then, his brow raised and piercing greens eyes drowning out the noise outside. "I can't explain everything, or we'll be here all day."
She couldn't bloody well say no. He was asking her to go with him someplace outside of school. Not quite a date admittedly, but... still just the two of them. This was a brilliant opportunity to show him how sensitive she could be!
"I don't really like all that 'Praise God' bullshit. It's too… I don't know... fake?"
"I'm Orthodox." He replied, smiling contently at her.
She had no idea what that meant, but she had a feeling would soon find out.
