Intuition
AN: This story was inspired by UrielManX7's drawing, "The Patakis- You miss him too huh" which can be found on deviantART.
The first time he showed up, she had been so shocked, her scream of surprise caused him to run off. There had been no noise at the door, no ding-dong ditch, no scratching; Helga had just opened it and bam, there he was! Her immediate thought was that someone was playing some sort of cruel joke on her and she had been in a foul mood the rest of the day, taking it out on her classmates. Being a heart-broken thirteen-year-old sucked.
The second time he showed up, it was about a week later. They had just stared at each other with wide eyes, blue meeting brown, and she didn't know what to do. Minutes had passed without any noise or freak outs, so, without saying anything she just sat down next to him on her stoop, petting his back. She didn't say anything to him but by his drawn expression – who knew pigs could show emotions? – she could tell he was upset; depressed even. "I miss him too, pig."
Helga wondered what he was thinking about. How did pigs' memories work, anyway? Did they have long term like an elephant? Or relatively short like a goldfish? Phoebe had mentioned once that they have better smell than dogs, but did that make them smarter?
She walked him home later that day in silence. He had followed her, his head low and his stubby legs slowly bringing him to the one place he didn't want to be.
The third time he showed up, two days after the last, she invited him inside. Miriam was passed out on the table and Bob was at work, so it wasn't like anyone could tell her no. She didn't know what he liked to eat, so she just fed him some of her chips – criminy, she really needed to get to the store – and he was content sitting next to her on the floor in front of the TV. He didn't make any piggy noises and she didn't really talk to him, but they found solace in each other. He left that day before Bob got home.
Soon, he was waiting for her at the door when she got home from school. His visits were much more frequent and it wasn't uncommon for the little guy to stay until it was time for her to go to bed. Fortunately, Bob never commented on him being there. As long as he didn't shit all over the place and left him the hell alone and didn't make any noises, that is.
She bought him carrots and apples and other healthy crap she thought he was supposed to have, and it actually didn't taste too bad. She didn't remember when she started to replace her junk food stash for fresh veggies and fruits and if Phoebe noticed, which she must certainly did, she didn't say anything. Maybe it was out of fear that Helga would stop if Phoebe commented on her wiser food choices? Knowing Phoebe, and knowing herself, that was probably exactly it.
But what Phoebe didn't know was that when Helga went food shopping, she only thought about the types of food that Abner liked, not what she liked.
The first time he stayed the night was the day that he had decided he wouldn't be returning to Sunset Arms. Helga had brought him back the next day and Gertie had invited her in for tea. If she hadn't, maybe it would have changed things.
"It looks like Sir Abner has taking a liking to you, young Eleanor. I wonder why it is that he's chosen you over us." Gertie had given her a look that gave Helga the impression that she knew. She hadn't responded – how could she? What could she say? That their mutual agony over the lost football-headed boy had brought them together? That they had found some sort of kindred spirit in each other? Please. He's just a pig! A cute pig, but still a pig, and he belonged at the boarding house, not with her.
He went home with her that night.
Every Friday afternoon, Helga would bring him over for a visit and have tea with Gertie. Initially Helga had only taken a sip of the vile poison but every week Gertie would serve her something different. It wasn't long after when Helga began to enjoy these stress-free days with Arnold's not-so-insane grandmother.
Ever since Arnold had left, Gertie had been much more subdued. At first she thought that it was because she was depressed since her grandson was gone, much like herself and Abner, but as the years went by and Helga matured, she realized that the only reason why Gertie had acted so eccentric was to be a distraction for Arnold. The crazy old coot had been acting bizarre, mixing up the holidays and making insane food because it had made him laugh when he was young, and, much like most parents, she couldn't let that go as he aged. Now, she had to.
Gertie was the one adult figure that Helga could always rely on being there. They swapped stories, Helga ranted and raved about her parents and Gertie only listened. They both knew that there really was no advice that she could give that Helga hadn't already tried, except that she was always welcome to the boarding house. Helga never missed a Friday afternoon and they rarely talked about Arnold.
At first, everyone had received something from their jungle friend, be it a postcard or letter. But, slowly through the course of the first year, they came less and less. Helga had never responded back to his two postcards and letter, and didn't talk about it with Pheebs or Gerald-o. Whether they still kept in touch with him, she didn't know.
Gertie must have though, and Helga often wondered if she had told him that Abner was now living with her and that she had tea dates with his school-yard bully.
When she was sixteen, Abner was rushed to the emergency vet. He had thrown up twice that morning and refused to take in any water. He wasn't terribly old, but he was no spring pig either and it was hard not to freak out. Bob was complaining about what the cost was going to be to the girl behind the counter, freaking Helga out even more, so she had pushed him out of the office, telling him she was going to take care of it and for him to just go home.
The techs had said the same to her; go home and they would call her when they had a better diagnosis, but she refused. Fifteen minutes later, they told her he had gotten into some rat poison. If he hadn't thrown up that morning, most of it would have entered into his blood stream and he would already be dead. His life had been on a very precious line of minutes. If they had hit one red light, Abner would have been gone.
She carried him back the whole way home with instructions to feed him soft foods like pumpkin and watermelon. She stayed up all night hand-feeding him. Helga had refused to cry, knowing it would just make him want to comfort her when it was she who was supposed to make sure he was ok.
She didn't go to school the next day, breaking her perfect High School attendance record. Abner was much better that morning but she stayed as a precaution in case of a relapse. She knew that Miriam wouldn't be able to watch him and she didn't think she should move him to the boarding house. That night, he was eating a full meal and Helga couldn't remember the last time she had been so happy to clean up the messy floor.
A month later she received letter number two from Arnold.
It was different than his postcards and first letter, which spoke about how excited he was to be with his parents and working with the locals. This one, albeit shorter, stated that he had had a dream about her and was wondering how she was doing. He reminisced about Gerald Field and he hoped that her parents were treating her well. Was she playing any sports or taking any dance classes? (How the hell he knew about that was beyond her. Only Phoebe had known she danced as a kid and she was sworn to secrecy.)
If it had been anyone else, she wouldn't have thought anything of it. And even if Arnold was always the kind of kid that inquired about others, it just seemed bizarre that he wasn't commenting about how great the jungle was or that he had cured an entire race of people from a mysterious disease or something far out like that. Gertie had told her the story about his parents, but she wasn't really buying into it.
She wasn't going to respond to him, but eventually she did. Maybe it was because Abner had looked up at her with those wide eyes of his, guilt-tripping her into it. It was just a page, saying that she was alive so that had to mean something. School was boring, no she wasn't doing sports (she wouldn't acknowledge the dancing question), but she was keeping herself busy with stuff. She didn't elaborate. How was it playing Tarzan nowadays?
Helga didn't mail it right away. The envelope sat on her desk for a few days, glowering up at her with its pristine edges and slightly crooked stamp, mocking her. After Arnold had left, she had boxed everything up, refusing to think about it again. With the exception of the FTi incident, she had never expressed her feelings for him and knew that he would forever think she hated his guts. Keeping Abner with her made her feel like she was making it up to him for all those years of misrepresented anger.
Helga had never truly let him go, but hearing his name didn't have her heart clenching so tightly it hurt to breathe anymore. Instead, it just felt like a punch to the gut.
Up until this point, Abner had been a constant companion and a great, understanding friend. He didn't eat her homework and he never read her private stuff. The only time he interrupted her was when he wanted to be scratched or petted and she could live with that; even enjoyed it. So when she walked out of the bathroom after an early morning shower, she had been surprised to see him sitting in the hallway, glaring at her with that damned envelope in his mouth.
How had he even known?
But he had. Damn pig was too smart of his own good.
He literally fought her from her taking the letter back and had to push her down the stairs in order to get her to mail it, which she did. And he had walked back inside the house with as smug of a look as a pig could have. She went to school in a dire mood and a bruised leg.
Arnold replied back a few weeks later and she responded by sending him a postcard from her summer trip to Portland. After a few months of this touch-and-go writing, Arnold revealed that he was really worried about his grandparents and he really wanted to come home. Her response was simple: they were fine and if anything was the matter, his grandpa had the satellite emergency number to get a hold of them. He still had a lot of catching up with his parents and had tons more to learn about the jungle, so he was better off staying.
Her heart had broken all over again, but this time Abner was there to lick the pain away.
Senior year sucked, just like the rest of high school. There had been some positives, but she couldn't wait to get the hell out of there and away from these screwy people. When graduation came, she didn't bother going to the stupid senior party.
Helga had been accepted to Hillwood University and into the dorms there. Gertie and Grandpa had offered for her to move in with them and away from her parents, and at first she thought that she'd just live on campus. Meet new people and all that.
Summer was spent at the beach with Phoebe and sometimes Gerald, but mostly Pheebs. Her best friend was going to the other side of the country and she tried to get as much time with her as she could. She knew that she couldn't get all of her time alone, since she and Gerald had become official the beginning of the year on New Year's, but she took what she could. They were the only two that knew about Abner, even though he was no secret; she took him on a walk almost every day and he was with her as often as he could.
The trio went shopping together for the necessities college-life required. This didn't scream 'date time' so Helga hadn't minded going with them. Besides, she needed this crap too. Those stupid, thin mirrors to go on the back of the door, those caddies for the shared bathroom, XL sheets, new plates, some pots and pans… Would there be room for a mini fridge?
Abner didn't know what was going on with Helga, but he knew something was up. During their daily walks, he almost always refused to go home. His hooves would try to dig into the pavement and she would have to carry him inside. By Independence Day, he was acting downright depressed, almost like how he was when Arnold left.
It was over tea one day that Gertie offered the reason. "He's upset because he knows that you're going to leave him. Abner has always been an in-tuned pig. He was born with the Green Eyes, you know."
Helga hadn't known. Abner had been by her side for five years and after every Friday had been spent with Gertie it had never been brought up! How many other secrets had Gertie filed away to be dropped onto her?
Helga moved in a week later after a particularly nasty fight with Bob about her choice in study.
She moved into the Kokoshkas' old place. They had moved out about three years ago after their divorce and it had stayed empty ever since. In Helga's opinion, it was one of the nicer ones because it had a little kitchenette, while others just had a room, so she could still use her new kitchen stuff. Grandpa had stayed up late, helping her to hang things that she was too short to reach. She had tried calling him Phil years ago, but he was insistent that she call him Grandpa. Everyone else did. She didn't care what she called him, just that he liked her.
It was no surprise to her that Abner was delighted to be there. Even though he had chosen to stay with her, she knew that this was where he belonged. There was constant attention here and despite the fact that he would often come over while Helga was in high school, this was an all-around better circumstance. She cared for the people at the Sunset Arms and they cared for her. And although she always kind of knew that, it was obvious now.
There had been a "Welcome Home" sign up on her door and she couldn't help the choked-up feeling she got when she opened the door to find a new bed waiting for her on the other side. Everyone had chipped in and exchanging Twin XL sheets for Queen had been one of her happiest moments.
Her mail was being forwarded to a PO Box she got close to campus. She didn't want Bob to track her down there, although it was only just a matter of time. Bob wasn't stupid and he'd find her, especially since she was still in the same freaking neighborhood. And once he found out she wasn't living on campus, he'd flip out, of course. But at least she was still using the money for rent and not drugs. Deep down she knew it was futile, but she hoped one day he would come around and see that she wasn't the loser he thought she was.
In the end, this was a good decision. The boarding house had always represented what she had been missing in her life. This is where she and Abner were supposed to be. She was just glad that Arnold was over 3,000 miles away. She couldn't imagine a more awkward scenario of living down the hall from him.
It was too bad she didn't check her mail more often. If she had, she would have been prepared for his unexpected, to her at least, arrival the last week of August. It made sense; Abner had been unusually energetic and was constantly wanting to go outside hours leading up to his arrival. He didn't have any interest in his toys or treats, instead looking expectantly at the door. The signs were there but Helga had just brushed it off. She should have known better. Abner was always intuitive with things like that.