Chapter 04
Come Back to Me
Now—
"How is she, Doctor?" Stella asked worriedly.
"Well, she had a concussion as we suspected. Has she had any head injuries recently? I understand that she had at least five cases in the past before she ran away to San Lorenzo." The doctor looked over many of the papers that had notes. "So, within the five years she's been gone, does anyone know?"
"Well," Miles hesitated nervously. "About six months ago she suffered some trauma after getting into a fight, but she wasn't in any condition to fight since it was only a week after—" he was elbowed hard.
"We agreed to keep quiet about that. It's none of our business." His wife hissed at him, and her son looked a little confused about the secret. "She was in a in a fight, won, but collapsed… falling over…"
"I suppose a fall could cause a bad head injury. However, it looks more serious than that." The doctor showed an x-ray of Helga's skull, pointing to a location. "This particular spot looks as if it was hit bad."
"My wife wasn't specific." Miles hesitated, accidentally glancing at their son before looking at the doctor again. "She fell off a cliff into a ravine. It was amazing that she hit the water. We all searched for her."
Arnold stared with his mouth gaped; did his friend really fall off the edge of land—who knows how many hundreds of feet she had to fall down from before landing into a ravine? When she said that the scariest thing she encountered was a jaguar, surely she meant to hide this from her friend and giving them a little white lie. His attention turned towards the girl that was slowly started to stir awake, and she looked exhausted, as if she managed a three-minute nap. Before he could go to her side, his mother came over to talk to her in a foreign language, which Helga groggily replied in the same language.
"She says that her head was ringing for ten minutes." Miles translated for the doctor. "Something about jumping down a—" He tried to confirm what she was saying, Helga nodded. "Jumping down a tree?"
"When we were kids, she was the 'It Girl' for a while, Helga managed to get her manager to fire her." The football headed boy stated. "Today, we found her running and jumping into the tree because he was back. I think he wanted her to return, but she said something in a different language before destroying their camera." He paused to think. "When we looked up, she was gone. We thought she ran off, but she suddenly jumped out of the tree and scared us. I think that's what she's talking about."
It seemed that Helga started to understand where she was, and began to speak English. "I was heading to the nurse's office." She sat up slowly with some pain and discomfort. "I'm fine now. I can go to class."
"Helga, you're at the hospital, school ends in five minutes." Stella stated quietly. "Your friends carried you to the nurse's office where they called for an ambulance. Arnold came with them and called us."
"A family of worrywarts…" The girl sighed softly before closing her eyes again. "Thanks," she muttered. Her eyes began to open again slowly. "Did I have a concussion like I knew it was then, Doc?"
"Yes, and now that you're awake, your parents can sign you out—"
"I don't have parents." She interrupted without emotion. "I'll sign the paperwork myself, or else I'll leave without it all together." To prove she was serious, she sat up slowly and looked at herself to see that she still had her own clothing on. "I need to go to school and gather my things anyway. I'm very busy."
"You know, stress is not good for a young woman—"
"A-Ah, how about we just get that paperwork filled out, okay? Stella and I verbally agreed to look after her two years ago, we just never made anything official. There's no proof to say whether we are or aren't her guardians, right?" Miles smiled nervously, motioning the doctor out while following him in order to deal with the paper work so Helga could be discharged.
"Helga," Stella whispered softly after the two adult males left. "Did you have a dream about it again?" It took a moment, she nodded slowly. "Helga, I—" The girl lied down and faced the opposite direction from the two that were in the room. "I can understand what you're going through to a point, but…" With Arnold in the room, she could not continue. "How about Arnold and I go get your belongings from school, and Miles can take you home? That way you can get some rest and get some work done?
When she nodded, the two left the room.
"Are you sure it's okay to leave her?" Arnold was worried about leaving her in that room, alone.
She smiled softly at him as they headed towards the elevator. "It's best not to crowd her too much."
"Okay, but also, is there… something about Helga that you and Dad are trying to avoid telling me?"
"What makes you think that?" His mother smiled softly. "Anyway, we need to gather your work too."
Knowing he was not going to get an answer, he ignored the first half. "I'm sure the others got it all."
"Well, we should at least go to school to explain what happened." They walked out of the hospital.
"Helga!" The two heard Miles from the third floor inside.
She better have been discharged, because she jumped out of the window and into a tree, so the two hurried to find her just in case. As they saw her touch the ground like a cat on four legs, Helga was running quickly towards the street as if she were about to kill herself. Arnold tried to cut her off before she could, but she was too fast for him to keep up with since she spent the past five years running for survival. A parked truck made it impossible for him to see what was going on as she jumped into the street where vehicles of all sorts skidded on their breaks.
"No!" It has only been a month—he only had her back for a few weeks. He ran to the scene where drivers were leaving their cars and trucks to check on her fallen form on the sidewalk. "Helga!" Arnold ran over to her, pushing his way through everyone to get to her. "Helga, are you okay? Helga! Hel—!"
"I'm just fine, Arnold." She growled sorely, slowly trying to get up.
Relieved, but terrified, said boy yelled. "What were you doing trying to kill yourself!"
"I wasn't trying to kill myself." As she sat up, she revealed a small boy in her arms. "I was saving him."
"Maxwell!" A woman came over with two children holder her hands. "Maxwell! There you are!"
"Mommy!" The boy cried, getting up and running to her. "I was looking for you!"
"I told you to stay right where you were while I got your siblings!"
Everyone watched the touching scene for the longest time until Helga slowly stood on her own two feet, earning herself a round of clapping hands. They congratulated her on a good job as Stella ran over and embraced her while telling her how she was so scared that she had been hurt. Miles eventually came to the scene where he heard everything from his son, except he was not cheering like everyone else was.
"Helga, you could've been killed!" He yelled furiously; he and Arnold seemed to be the only ones that noticed this major factor. "What you did was reckless! What do you have to say for yourself!"
Angry, she crossed her arms and glared. "I did what I had to do to save the boy." When she turned away, she looked over her shoulder. "And don't try to scold me, you would have done the same thing, too."
Opening his mouth to object, Stella interrupted him. "Helga is a hero, dear. No one was hurt, so let's put this aside us." He did not seem happy. "She has a point. You and I would have done the same thing."
"I would have done it too, most likely." Arnold defended the angry friend. "I'm a little unhappy that she placed herself in danger too, Dad, but that woman could have lost her son if Helga didn't do anything."
"That's right," his mother agreed. "When we get home, the first thing you're going to do is apologize to Helga for being overprotective. Otherwise, you and the boys are not going camping coming any time soon." Miles rolled his eye in discontent. "Helga doesn't need to stress anymore than necessary, and with you yelling at her like this, she might run away and go back to San Lorenzo. Is that what you want?"
He opened his mouth to speak, then slowly closed it. Stella was right, and he was wrong. "Hopefully she went to the boarding house." The man strolled off in search for the upset female teenager. "Women…"
"Is something wrong Arnold?" Stella looked at him curiously as they were heading home.
"I don't know…" he started quietly. "Ever since Helga came back with you and Dad, she's had a wave of enlightenment around her. She's been telling me all of these stories about San Lorenzo with a smile, so I never bothered to think that something was wrong." His eyes were staring at his feet as they were nearing home. "But after hearing about that jaguar today at school, and her falling into a ravine? I should have thought about the troubles that she had there. She never really tells me what truly worries her, what really scares her." Arnold looked up to the sky—he saw Helga on the roof watching them.
Stella could not resist smiling. "I think all that matters, is that you're at her side, Arnold."
He looked at his mother briefly before cutting through the alley and running up the fire escape so that he would not have to run through the boarding house. When he reached the top to greet her, his entire body froze at the large amount of people that were standing there with big smiles. Everyone yelled a big 'Happy Birthday' to him that he seemed completely surprised by, but something confused him.
"But… my birthday is tomorrow." He blinked.
"Guess again, Shortman." Helga smirked. "I replaced your calendar with next year's while you were in the shower last week." She crossed her arms. "If I hadn't, you would have wondered why no one said anything to you today about it. Then the surprise birthday party wouldn't have been a surprise at all!"
The bratty female sounded fine now. "W-Well I'm really surprised…" He looked around again, still taken aback by everything. "It's only been three hours after school, how did you guys manage the decorations in such short notice?" Arnold stared at the balloons and everything else. "Who in the world did all this?"
"We all did, man." Gerald stated coolly. "You've been moping like a lost puppy. But since everything's back to normal, we thought we'd celebrate, and what better way than with your own birthday!"
"But… we leave to go camping tomorrow in the morning, we're going to have too much energy—" He paused. "Wait, tomorrow is the eighth—it is my birthday today!" Everyone laughed at his shocked face.
"Don't worry man, all of our stuff is here! We're staying the night so we could leave in the morning!"
"Wow… this is…" Arnold looked at everyone… everyone he cared about was there. "This is great!"
After hearing his approval to the surprise party, everyone began cheering and celebrating for a job well done, all except for one. With a soft smile, Helga walked over to the fire escape to go to her room for some sleep, but the others saw how she was trying to run away from the party. There was no way for her to be able to leave the party since everyone was going to make sure that she would stick around.
She gave up, shrugging. "Shouldn't we be entertaining Arnold?"
Five hours had passed, and it was dark out.
All of the girls left whereas the boys and some of their fathers stayed behind because they were going to leave before sunrise in the morning. The boys were in Arnold's room fooling around while their fathers were downstairs having a few drinks for casual fun while they could. Gerald and Arnold were challenging each other on handheld games while the others watched and cheered for the birthday boy who had just suddenly stopped playing. Something had caught his attention, so he told everyone to be quiet and not to make a peep so he could figure out the sound he was hearing.
"Gosh you guys," Eugene stared up at the window ceiling above their heads. "It's coming from outside."
Gerald scowled at him. "It's dark out Eugene, who in the world would be out there at this time of night?"
"Helga's going to get sick if she stays out there too long. Not that it's nothing new." Arnold sighed softly.
"Ya mean to tell us that Helga stays outside like a dog?" Stinky frowned in disapproval of such a thing.
"No, no, it's not like that." He scratched the back of his head. "She prefers to sleep outside mostly."
"Boy howdy, can you imagine how awesome it would be if Helga went camping with us?" Sid grinned.
"Yeah right Sid, she's a girl!" Harold laughed. "She can't do anything but scream and whine like a—"
"Like a what, Harold?" Helga asked seriously from the open window. The boys jumped from the bed and crashed onto the floor. "Who was the one who saved you from drowning all those years ago, huh?"
"U-Uh… I… I don't know what you're talking about…" he lied so he would not look like a pansy, and she leaped into the room silently. Standing in front of him with a sharp glare. "Y-You did! Wah! I'm sorry!"
"Helga, what was that noise outside?" Arnold asked curiously, and she rose up a clay flute that she had made in San Lorenzo. "Wow… did you make that?" She nodded, handing it to him to look at closely.
"When I wasn't training, I learned to play instruments and other tribe activities." It did not seem too interesting to her. "Oh, yeah, that's right. I couldn't find the right time to give it to you. Here, Arnold…"
After passing the instrument to the others to see, he watched her remove one of the two necklaces that it looked like she was wearing. When she brought it out, it was a large fang, and Sid immediately claimed how it was the fang that belonged to the jaguar she told them about. He was right. She handed the necklace over to Arnold as his birthday present, and he was instantly fascinated from how long it was. However, it made him think of how much of this fang had once pierced into Helga shoulder all those years back, but he placed it around his neck with a smile.
"Thanks Helga."
"Yeah," she received her flute from Stinky. "Have fun you guys." Helga turned to leave—
"Wait!" All the boys cried out, causing her to jump in surprise at their sudden yell at her.
"W-What?" Her attention went to each individual, but no one answered her. "Goodnight—"
"Go camping with us!" They all called out, and she blinked at them as if they were all crazy idiots.
"No." Helga answered flatly. "Don't you remember, I'm a girl. You guys don't like girls on boy trips."
They cringed when she threw this in their faces, but Arnold recovered first. "But I'll feel bad if you stay."
"Least I wouldn't have to come in here to tell you a bedtime story." Her arms crossed; challenging them.
"Mind tellin' us one tonight? Something that ain't as scary as you bein' attacked?" Stinky pondered.
"If I told you a story, you guys would stay awake even longer. You all need your sleep tonight."
"That's true…" Eugene frowned in disappointment. "Can you play a lullaby with that flute?"
"Yeah!" The boys all cheered; they were enjoying the 'new' things Helga had and all.
Helga sighed weakly with a smile. "Yes, but if I play a lullaby, I might fall asleep."
"That's okay." Arnold smiled in appreciation. "Can you play a lullaby for us?"
They all looked at her in high hopes, and she gave up. "You know the drill."
She climbed up the steps and lied on her hammock that was kept in the room for her for whenever she decided to come in. Her main hammock was in her room, but the one in Arnold's room was for when she told him stories, when she would hang out with him, or even just to sun bathe. With her lips to the flute, she began to play a gentle melody for the group to listen to while the birthday boy got up and dressed for bed. The other boys thought that he was crazy for changing in the room while there was a girl around, but they noticed that Helga did not once look. Arnold told them that it is okay for them to change with her in their presence; mainly because her eyes were closed and she was focused on the flute. He watched how shy they were about it by dropping their pants to put on pajama bottoms first, then switched their shirts.
When she stopped playing, they all looked at her curiously.
Arnold looked up at her. "Does your head hurt still?"
"No, just… remembering." She mumbled hesitantly.
The country boy stared. "What ya tryin to remember?"
Helga laughed. "The Green-Eyes thought, 'oh, she's wounded, she's useless.' So they wanted me to prove myself." She looked at her flute. "They grabbed me and threw me into a river filled with piranha."
"…willikers…" Stinky stared at her with mouth open; trying to imagine how scary that must have been. "Did them piranhas take a bite outta ya any?" A few other boys nodded; wanting the answer to this.
She began to laugh more. "No, but I grabbed one by the tail, swam out of the river, threw it in a man's face, and it bit his nose. Some warrior, he ran off screaming like a girl!" All of the boys laughed at this.
"Piranhas are the fish that will eat you alive, right?" Harold hugged his stuffed animal tightly. "I hope we don't see any on our camping trip you guys, I don't wanna be eaten!" The others rolled their eyes now.
"Oh no, it's not the piranhas you have to worry about if you don't splash or aren't bleeding." Helga spoke casually, fiddling with her flute. "It's those stupid caiman and crocodiles you have to look out for." They all looked at her, silence filling the room. "There's a saying in that jungle. If it runs away, it's a caiman." She looked to the boys since they were dressed. "If it eats you, then it's a crocodile."
"I-I don't like that saying." Sid stuttered. "There's none around h-here, right?"
"Around here? Nah." The boys sighed in relief. "Around here, you only have to watch out for bears, wolves, and mountain lions." Helga looked at Arnold's clock to see that it was getting late. "Alright, all of you get to bed, I'll play one song, and that's it." Everyone obeyed, and she played the flute for them.
One by one, they all passed out, and she headed out of the room.
"Helga." Arnold whispered quietly as was passing the bed.
She looked at him. "O-Oh, I thought you were asleep already."
His head shook, and he sat up. "Can I tell you my birthday wish?"
"I thought it was bad luck to tell someone what your wish was."
"Well, I don't believe in superstitions. It should be okay, I think."
Her arms crossed. "I'll bite." She replied. "What's your wish?"
Nervously, he wrapped his arms around his knees, twiddling his thumbs. "…for you to go on the trip."
"Arnold, I already told you—" she bit her tongue to stay quiet, but started over. "It's not safe for me to go camping. I just came from the jungle and into the city, and now you're asking me to practically return to that?" Arnold looked down in guilt for not thinking this. "What if Gerald taps my shoulder, right?" He nodded; she would attack and most likely nearly kill him. "Get some sleep." She turned, and left silently.
Helga walked out of the room, down the stairs, and went to the room where all of the men were laughing up a storm. She leaned against the doorframe of the hall, just casually waiting for them to notice that she was in their presence so that she could talk to them. They noticed her only a few seconds after she appeared, and they all set their drinks down due to the serious look on her face. Her mind gave a mental bet that they were worried that she was going to tell them that they could not go camping or that the boys were being destructive. The teen crossed her arms once more as she looked to Miles since she knew him the best out of the group of adult males.
"The boys went to sleep, I played the flute since they were rambunctious and asking for stories."
She watched the men all sigh in relief as Miles started talking. "Thanks Helga, I really appreciate that."
"There's… one more thing." They looked at her worriedly. "And this involves everyone's opinion, too."
That said, the adults listened intently.
