Disclamer: I do not own Hey Arnold or any of the characters. Hey Arnold is the property of Nickelodeon and Craig Bartlett.

The jungle story

Chapter 1: Prologue: 9 years ago

The cold rain drops of the gloomy October morning reflected perfectly the inner turmoil within the old boarding house, as the elderly owners watched their son and daughter in law pack up for what they hoped to be the last mission into the jungles of San Lorenzo, in their arms was their only grandchild who looked on in confusion, not yet understanding what was going on.

It was exactly one week ago that their sons college friend and partner Eduardo came to them and gave them the bad news. That there was another outbreak of the sleeping sickness and that the mysterious green eye people needed their help again, since they were the only ones that they trusted and were capable of performing the task.

The young couple was very reluctant to leave, while they had loved their adventurous life in San Lorenzo, they had grown to love the quiet peace of Hillwood and had their only son Arnold to think about.

After much pleading from Eduardo and recalling the bond they had with the mysterious jungle tribe, they agreed to fly out for what would be the last time.

It was an awkward and melancholy conversation when the couple informed the elderly couple what had happened, but they understood that lives were on the line and that they were truly the only ones that could help the Green eyes now.

Me and my wife have always been proud of their only son Miles, and we were thrilled he managed to live his dream of traveling the world and helping people like he wanted to do since he was a child. Even after all these years, i couldn't believe this upstanding young man was once our rowdy little boy that filled our lives with so much love and laughter, or that he was now a father to the other wonderful small child who managed to do the exact same thing.

And now here was our flesh and blood, going off to travel once more and help more people with the woman he loved. We understood why they had to do this, but it didn't make them feel any less worried.

A beautiful young woman with auburn hair and light olive skin came down with her suitcase and gave a hug and kiss to the baby she had almost two years ago. Stella was like the daughter we never had and we were overjoyed that Miles found a girl like her to take care of him.

As worried as we were, we were confident that everything would work out for them, since it's always been like that.

It wasn't like they haven't done this before, they would go to San Lorenzo and make another cure for the sleeping sickness for the Green eye people and be back in a weeks' time, and since Stella successfully managed to do this before they were all confident that the couple would be back before they noticed.

Today, October 1st , 1987 that they would go on their final flight to San Lorenzo before retiring from that lifestyle all together. As the young parents said farewell to their baby son and their beloved parents/in laws, they entered the taxi, sad to leave but confident that it they would be back before they knew it.

One week passed and no sign of Miles and Stella, we prayed that it was only a small delay and that our son and his wife would be back soon, maybe it wasn't what we were fearing, maybe it was taking longer to find the ingredients for the cure and they needed a few more days, maybe the green eyes were still sick and the couple needed more time to perfect the cure and maybe and hopefully their flight was just delay and they would send a message soon.

However, days soon turned to weeks; we realized that there was no point denying our fears anymore. Our son and daughter figure were not coming back.

The entire boarding house became quiet and depressed.

It just couldn't be, my son, my baby boy was missing, lost in the perilous and deadly jungles of central America with only third world conditions nearby. Me and Pookie wanted so much for this to be a bad dream, but it was nothing but a living nightmare.

We called the police and a detective agency but they couldn't find anything useful.

As the time passed, the fear, sadness and anxiety turned into grief and despair which was only tamed by the beautiful and precious ball of sunshine our son left them behind before he went missing.

Arnold, our only grandchild was the one thing that managed to bring a smile to our faces again. We had promised their son they would take good care of his boy, and they would do just that, with all the love we could muster.

As the years passed Arnold grew into a very precocious and kind child, exactly like his father and as mature and independent like his mother. It was clear from the start that Arnold manage to inherit his parents best traits, he was kind and idealistic and always wanted to help others, the very traits that made Miles himself, and he had inherited his mother's facial and head structure as well as her intelligence and sensibility.

Arnold was the perfect grandchild as far as we were concerned, but he was no replacement of Miles and Stella, and honestly we never saw it as that. Arnold was our grandchild, the son of my Miles.

He was the one thing that reminded us how to be happy again, so much that they ache of losing Miles, while it never went away; they were able to tame it enough to get on with our lives.

However, we both knew that Arnold was just as hurt of his parents disappearance but he rarely spoke of it, we knew it hurt but we tried our best to give him a good enough childhood.

The years passed and another October came by, but this was a big one. This October 1st was exactly four days before Arnold's tenth birthday, and today they managed to find Mile''s journal.

Arnold was so captivated by the stories of his parents amazing adventures, and he finally was able to understand why Miles and Stella did what they did.

They were trying to do what they though was the right thing to do, but sometimes the right thing can be the hardest thing to do.

However, the most miraculous thing happened, Arnold discovered a copy of one of his father's maps in the journal back from his days in San Lorenzo.

It had to be a sign.

I wanted to believe there was still a chance. That this clue would bring us one step closer to finding out what happened to my boy and his wife and maybe even the key to bring them back home if…if…

Anyway, Arnold had never been this happy to find the map and I know our grandson will try his hardest to use this as a way to bring his mom and dad back.

Me and Pookie wanted to be that way too but we realized we were going to have to realistic here and explain to Arnold the possibilities. It hurt but we knew we had to address it before our grandsons hopes got too high like ours were so many years ago.

Arnold was aware but he was still hopeful that he'll finally know what happened to his missing mother and father.

He wanted to hope that they were alive and would soon come home.

We wanted to hope the exact same thing and hope that soon they would be home, safe and sane.

I wanted to hope that soon...I would see my only son again.

I know we shouldn't get our hopes too high.

But I was just…just happy there is still some hope left.

-To be continued-

Next chapter preview:

Everyone thought I was incapable of failing; that I was like the golden child or something, everyone thought I had no problems of my own and expected me to fix theirs, but they didn't understand at all. I know I try to be positive and help others as much as I could, I guess a part of me always thought that helping others with their problems would help me forget about my own, if only for a while. But lately it was just getting harder and harder to forget.

Next time on The jungle Story: Prologue part 2: The contest

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