Up in the Air Part Six
Helga released an annoyed sigh as she glared at Arnold over her laptop. "Do you have to do that?" She snapped as she tore her attention away from the short story she was currently working on. She saved the document before closing her laptop and balancing it on the oversized arm of the chair she was sitting in. "Seriously, are you trying to annoy me?"
Arnold and Helga had been roommates for two weeks now, and they were slowly getting on each other's nerves more and more. It didn't take Arnold long to realize the 'old' Helga was still there and was slowly returning. Sometimes, times like at that very moment, he wondered why he missed her in the first place.
Arnold sighed, closing the book he was reading. "All I'm doing is reading and breathing. Which is annoying you?"
"Your breathing." Helga told him bluntly.
"My breathing?" Arnold clarified and Helga nodded sharply, "Sorry, but I kind of have to do that." He rolled his eyes.
"Yeah, I know, but do you have to do it so loud?" Helga asked. She started to breathe heavily, mimicking the way she felt Arnold was breathing. Of course, it was extremely exaggerated, "Criminy, for a minute there I thought Brainy was in here." She complained as she walked into the kitchen to raid the fridge.
Arnold frowned, "I'm not as bad as Brainy."
"Tell that to my ears." She muttered as she moved things around in the refrigerator in search of something to eat. "Ugh!" She groaned loudly, slamming the refrigerator door shut. "There is nothing to eat!"
"There is plenty to eat." Arnold argued. "Why are you so crabby today? Is it your time of the month or what?" He asked before thinking. He winced, realizing what he asked.
"Excuse me?" Helga marched into the living room, her hands on her hips. "Did you seriously just ask me if I have my period? I have other reasons to be crabby Arnold! Let's think of the reasons why I just might be crabby, shall we? Could it be that I found out my fiancé is a murderer? Or maybe it's because he tried to have me killed. Or perhaps it's because I'm stuck in this stupid apartment with stupid you, Football Head." She seethed, "I have reasons to be crabby Arnoldo and whether I have my period or not is none of your business."
Arnold sighed heavily. "I know and I'm sorry." He apologized. "I shouldn't have asked that. You just seem especially unhappy today." He rubbed his temples. "I guess living in such close quarters is starting get a little hard on us." He chuckled, "Frankly, I'm surprised it took us this long."
Helga just looked at him for a moment, "I'm going to take a nap in my room." She muttered before grabbing her laptop from the chair.
"You're taking a nap?" Arnold asked. "Why?"
"I'm tired." Helga stated the obvious, "Why do you care anyway? Would you rather me keep you company out here?"
Arnold quickly shook his head, "Have a nice nap." He watched Helga as she disappeared into her bedroom, shutting the door behind her. Instead of returning to his book he turned on the television and started to flip through channels. He knew he probably be relieved that today was the first day they really, truly go on each other's nerves to this extent, but he was worried. Really worried. He didn't know how they were going to make it through this whole situation without driving each other completely crazy.
Sighing heavily, he shut off the television after deciding there was nothing on TV. Arnold stood up walking towards his room to fetch Derek Malloy's case file. Since Helga was taking a nap, he was going to take this opportunity to do some reviewing without being interrupted by her. He had received new information a few days earlier and had yet to read through it.
Arnold glanced at Helga's shut bedroom door, deciding he needed to enjoy the peace and quiet while he had it.
Arnold didn't hear Helga's bedroom door open or hear the blonde make her way into the living room, "What are you working on?" She laughed when Arnold jumped slightly at the sound of her voice. "Ha! Finally, I get sneak up on you for a change." She took a seat on the couch next to Arnold. "Is that Derek's case file?" She looked down at the dozen of photographs that Arnold had scattered on the coffee table in front of the couch. Many of them had Post-it notes attached to them with Arnold's chicken scratch hand writing noting dates, times, people, and places. She recognized several of the people in the pictures, though she wondered who they actually were. Derek lied about who he was and she had no doubt he lied about everyone else he introduced her to as well.
"I didn't hear you come in here." Arnold shut his laptop before Helga could get a peak what was on it, "Yeah, it is." He started to collect the photographs and notes from the coffee table, "How was your nap?"
"Fine." Helga answered, "So I take it I can't see any of that?" She asked, looking down at the photographs again.
"You really shouldn't." Arnold told her. "Not right now anyway. I just really don't think it's a good idea."
"Wait." Helga grabbed the photograph that Arnold just picked out from his hands, "Who is this?" She looked at the photo. She'd seen him before. She just couldn't think of where she had seen him. Her heart started to thump against her chest and she could feel her palms begin to sweat.
"Umm…" Arnold took a look the picture, "That is Vince Longhorn. He is one of Derek's muscles. He's the guy Derek sends in to do whatever he needs to get done. Do you recognize him?" He frowned when he noticed how rattled she suddenly looked. "Hey, you okay?"
"I do recognize him, but…It can't be who I think it is. It just can't."
Arnold's frown deepened as Helga became increasingly more distraught. "What's wrong? Who do you think that is?"
"Do you remember that day at station? When I reported Derek?"
Arnold nodded, "Of course I do. What about it?"
"You asked me how Derek and I met…."
Again, Arnold nodded. "Yeah, you said some creep tried to follow you to your car. Derek stopped him though."
"That wasn't exactly the truth." Helga admitted. "The truth is…" She paused swallowing the dry lump in her throat. "He did follow me to my car. He attacked me. He pinned me to my car and twisted my arms behind my back." She blinked away tears.
"Helga…." Slowly, careful not to spook her he placed a hand on her shoulder, "What…"
"He was so much stronger than me." Helga continued. "He could have kept me in that position for hours if he had wanted to. I struggled. I fought back, but he was so damn strong. I couldn't move. I thought he was going to…." Her voice traveled off, unable to vocalize it. "But then Derek showed up. He tore the guy off me like he was nothing. He threw a few punches and that creep ran off." For the first time during the telling of her experience Helga made eye contact with Arnold, with tears threatening to spill. "He planned the whole thing, didn't he?"
More than anything Arnold wanted to tell her that wasn't necessarily true, that maybe didn't plan it. He really wished he could tell her anything but the painfully awful truth. So instead he just wrapped around her shoulders, "I'm so sorry Helga."
"I can't believe I fell for all his crap!" Tears finally made her way down her cheeks. "He's manipulated me since the moment I met him. My God, how did I ever think he actually loved me?"
"Maybe he did love you…" Arnold suggested, "I mean he did go through a lot of effort to ensure that you wouldn't find out his real dealings." He wasn't sure why he felt compelled to try to convince her that she had been loved by the bastard. Maybe he thought she needed to hear it.
"No. He manipulated me. That's not love Arnold. That's some sick, sick, way into tricking me into a relationship. He's a sociopath." Pulling away from Arnold she tunneled her fingers through her hair, "He made me think I was going to be raped. Why? So he could play the knight in shining armor? Who the hell does that?" She buried her head in her hands, "How did I not see what he was doing to me? He's been manipulating me since the second I met him. The scary thing is that he was so good at it I didn't even realize he was doing it."
"That's not your fault, you know that right?" Arnold asked. "Your right, he's a sociopath. He told you everything you wanted to hear and hid anything that you wouldn't like…"
"I'm going to be sick." Covering her mouth, Helga jumped up from couch and dashed towards into the bathroom that was attached her room.
Arnold followed her into the bathroom and held her hair back as she vomited into the toilet. "Are you okay?" He asked, knowing it was a dumb question.
"Not really." Helga wiped her mouth with a tissue before throwing it into the toilet and flushing everything down. "Do mind just going to the living room or your room. Just anywhere other than here? I need some time alone."
Arnold nodded weakly, "Take all the time you need." He stopped at the bathroom door as Helga squirted some toothpaste onto her toothbrush. "Just know I'm here for you if you need me."
Helga nodded, "I know. Shut my bedroom door on your way out?"
It felt like an eternity before Helga left her room and joined him on the couch again. Arnold was surprised to see her hair was several inches shorter than before she needed her alone time. "Your hair is shorter." He observed dumbly. "You cut your hair." Her hair that once flowed a good few inches beyond her shoulders was now just shoulder length. The length paired with the side swept bangs gave her quite a different look. Still just as beautiful, but different nonetheless.
"I did. I saw a pair of scissors in own of the drawers in the bathroom and I remembered how Derek never wanted me to cut my hair, he always said he liked it long. So I just started cutting." Cutting her own hair was nothing new for Helga. She used to do it all the time in high school and she really wasn't bad at it.
"I like it. It looks really nice."
Helga offered Arnold a small smile. "Thanks."
"How are you doing?"
"I've been better." Helga admitted, "I've just been doing a lot of thinking. I've made a lot of realizations." Before Arnold could ask for specifics she continued, "I realized how controlling he was, you know? It seems so obvious now. I don't know how I didn't see it earlier. I just have so much more clarity now." She bit down on her bottom lip nervously, "Before we moved to Boston together he tried to convince me not work. He told me I should follow my passion and just write. He knew I dreamed to write my own novel. He used that passion that dream, to try to get me to rely on him financially. He didn't care about me fulfilling my lifelong dream. He just wanted me to depend on him."
Arnold nodded, "That's not uncommon for men like Derek."
"I changed so much about myself because of him, I changed for him." Helga shook her head, "I never thought I'd do that, but you saw the designer clothes. When did I ever care about designer clothes? I feel like such an idiot."
"You're not." Arnold promised. "I swear you're not. You were just in love. People are more willing to make changes when they're in love."
Her shoulders slumped, "I just hate that I never saw it until now."
Arnold gave her hand a comforting squeeze. "You see it now. That's all that matters."
*
It was three nights later when Arnold woke up in the middle of the night. He glanced at the clock next to his bed. It was three in the morning. Stifling a yawn he decided to use the bathroom. On his way back to his bedroom after relieving himself he noticed something a little off.
Helga's bedroom door was slightly ajar. He frowned. Helga always slept with her door shut. Silently and quickly as possible he made his way to the room and nudged the door open. His breath hitched when he noticed she wasn't in bed. She had to be in the bathroom. "Helga?" He called out as he made long strides to the bathroom door.
She didn't respond and Arnold was starting to panic.
"Helga!" He called out again and opened the bathroom door. The room was dark and Helga was nowhere in sight. Shit. Shit. Shit. Where was she? He darted back into his room and grabbed his gun and cellphone. He was dialing Edgar's number as he walked into the living room. He was the last number when he heard door open. He dropped the phone and raised his gun.
"Criminy Arnold! Put that thing down!" Helga snapped in a loud whisper. She shut and locked the door behind her.
"What the fuck Helga?! Where the hell where you? What the fuck where you thinking?" Arnold was practically yelling, but not too loud. He was still aware they were in an apartment complex and they had neighbors.
Helga rolled her eyes, "Calm down. I was gone for like minutes." She quickly tried to downplay the situation.
"I thought someone got to you. Do you have any idea what you just did to me? I was terrified something happened to you! What did you have to do that was so important that you left at three in the morning without me?"
"Nothing. Don't worry about it. I'm fine. I just had to do something and didn't want to bother you. You never would have known I left if you hadn't woken up."
"That's not the point. You are under my protection." Arnold's eyes narrowed at the squirmy blonde as she clutched on purse closely against her body. "What is in your purse?"
"Nothing." Helga quickly took a step back, trying to hide her purse behind her back.
Arnold quickly darted forward, ripping the purse out of Helga's hands before she even had time to react. All she could do is squeak in a mixture of surprise and protest. Opening the purse he quickly discovered an unmarked paper bag. He yanked it out of the purse and ripped the bag open. His eyes went wide in shock when he saw the bags contents.
It was a pregnancy test.
Helga bought a pregnancy test.
Arnold locked eyes with a terrified looking Helga. "You're pregnant?"
So…I'm evil…Sorry. If you enjoyed, please review.