Wow, I still got plenty of reviews for the previous chapter!
Kryten: Dubious? Or maybe overprotective...
Inudaughter Returns: And she'll play a very crucial part later on.
acosta perez jose ramiro: And with Olga being overprotective, she's just making things worse, too. And would ANYONE want to be around Olga at this point? He he he.
JayDogg187: Or she's just being overprotective. Premeditated? It's hard to say, the informant is as much in the dark of Helga's dimensional trip as Olga is. And we'll find out who the informant is later on.
DeepVoice'06: Here's a bigger chapter, then, lol. And yes, she'll play a bigger part later on, too.
Kimagure Bijin: Did you find the premise? And we'll get to the identity later on.
Last update of the year. And Helga is about to reach her breaking point.
0111 – HELGA VISITS ARNOLD AND ARNIE
The trip to the dairy town took about forty-five minutes, and the whole time Helga never took her sights away from the road on her left and never bothered to turn and look at Stinky on her right or even the other boys in front of her. She couldn't reminisce, much less write poetry, since she had no notebook with her, and with her locket gone, there was no way for her to be fully inspired. The only thing that went through her mind during the trip was how unreal everything seemed here in this "bizarro universe", and she hoped that the other Helga was faring much better than she was.
Did my other self go forward in time?
How far did she go?
Or did she go BACK in time?
Maybe even back to Urban Tots, where it all began?
Or maybe even further back, and she assisted Stella while she gave birth to Arnold?
Or even further back than that, and she helped Miles and Stella meet?
The possibilities were very much endless, given the uncertainty that these universes had presented to her once she realised that she had not only gone to another universe, but had travelled back in time as well.
Will I even return to my own time?
Or will I go back even further?
Or forward?
Or maybe I'll go back when we're all really old and we only have a few years left to live?
Or, if I end up that far in the future, maybe the technology there will be advanced enough that they'll be able to send me back to the right place and the right time?
Or will I end up in a radioactive wasteland because of a future nuclear war?
The uncertainty was enough to keep the knot in her throat present and the hole in her chest open, not just from heartbreak, but from sheer terror and helplessness, since she was very much at the mercy of forces unknown—
"Helga, luv, we're here."
The girl blinked and saw that the bus had stopped. Stinky was gently tugging her right hand, having already stood and moved out to the aisle.
With a sigh, Helga stood and followed him out of the bus, along with the other boys. Once they all stepped out, the door closed with a hiss and the bus roared on its way.
The five boys and one girl disguised as a boy were standing in front of a large parking lot, and on the back there was a large one-story wooden building, and there was a covered metal bench about three meters from the highway: the local bus stop.
"Now what?" asked Harold.
Helga pulled out the note where she wrote the address that Wartz had given her, looked up, saw a map on the exterior wall of the bus depot, walked up to said map, got her bearings, and returned to the group.
"Follow me," she said emotionlessly and began walking in the direction the bus had left.
The boys shrugged and followed her.
It was a rather short walk, some five minutes from the bus stop, and after turning on a few side dirt roads, the group found themselves in front of two white wooden farmhouses, and two adjacent white mailboxes declared that two different families lived there.
The mailbox on the right read:
SHORTMAN
This was it.
Both houses were surrounded by a short chain link fence, but it didn't divide the front or back yards; apparently the owners didn't mind their families mingling. The fence had gates next to the mailboxes, and on the side of the right gate there was a handy doorbell.
Helga took a deep breath and rang it, and all could barely hear the chime coming from inside the house fifty feet away.
The door opened and a plethora of dogs and cats poured out, dispersing throughout the yard, but then they all ran around to the back of the house. The girl's blue eyes widened at the similarity with Sunset Arms.
Two blonde boys, almost twins, followed the animals outside, letting the screen door bounce closed behind them, and the sight of them made Helga's heart race with excitement, dread, and downright panic. The lump in her throat almost choked her when she was hit with the reality that her beloved was already taken by another girl.
One boy wore a purple plaid shirt, blue pants with suspenders, and a blue propeller cap. He had light yellow hair and brown eyes.
The other wore blue pants, an untucked red plaid button-up shirt with rolled up sleeves, and a normal sized blue cap. He had hair a darker shade of yellow, and GREEN eyes, the same ones that made her feel like she was on the clouds.
As they walked up to them, she noticed that the first boy had hooded eyes, as if he were sleepy. The second boy also seemed sleepy, until he recognized the guys, and then his eyes widened.
"Stinky? Torvald? Ludwig? Wolfgang? What brings you guys here?"
And that was definitely his voice, which resonated in her chest.
ARNOLD!
"Friends of yours?" asked his cousin monotonously. Sniff.
Despite her reactions, she realised that it was Arnold, and yet it wasn't Arnold, or not the Arnold she knew. His teal sweater was missing, his cap was too big…or it wasn't the baby-sized cap she remembered, and as he came closer, she noticed that he seemed to blink out of sync, a bit like his cousin.
"Arnold, we're here 'cuz we need yewr help. Ah hope yew remember her."
"Her?"
Helga blinked and realized that Stinky was talking about her. She took a deep breath and slowly removed her cap and wig, letting her pigtails fall out.
"Helga?"
Her heart beat faster with hope. "You…you remember me?"
"Of course I remember you! Why wouldn't I?" he asked with genuine happiness and concern. "I'm glad you finally woke up and are out of the hospital! How are you feeling?"
He was smiling at her!
"I remember you too," said Arnie deadpan. Sniff. "It's been a while since we saw each other."
Disgust replaced the girl's rising affection when she remembered Arnie trying to get her to become his girlfriend back in Hillwood—"her" Hillwood—but then she remembered that here, it was Lila who was his girlfriend.
But there was too much to talk about and too many questions to ask out here. She needed to sit down again.
Nervously, she balled up the cap and wig in front of her. "Footba—um—Arnold—hello." She wasn't sure if calling him by her pet insult was a good idea at this point. "Arnie, nice to see you again—" And thus dismissed his cousin.
She took a deep breath, looked into her beloved's green eyes, and declared, "Arnold…I…I need to speak with you, and your parents, about something very serious. Can…can we go inside?"
The darker blonde boy stared at her with hooded eyes, blinked out of sync, and replied, "Sure, come on in, everyone."
They all looked at each other for a moment and then followed the two blonde fourth graders back to the house.
"Are your parents home?" asked Helga as they crossed the front yard, still balling up the cap and wig, as her heart raced faster with each step she took toward the front door.
"They'll be here in a few minutes. In the meantime, I can show you my hair ribbon collection."
"YOUR WHAT?!" She wasn't sure if she would be able to handle any more surprises that this "bizarro universe" kept throwing at her. But at least Stinky was wrong about him having a lint collection.
Her outburst caused Arnold to look oddly at her, but he continued, "Sure. There's not much to do in this town, so I had to make do. Arnie here has his lint collection—"
"It's more detailed than it seems." Sniff.
"—so I decided to take up collecting hair ribbons. You'd be surprised at the variety."
Helga rubbed her head again. "Please tell me you're not into reading product ingredients, too."
Arnold turned to her and sighed, almost sounding bored, "I wasn't, until I moved here. There's no library in town, only one movie theatre, and without cable, TV gets boring real fast, so I read whatever I can get my hands on. You'd do it too, trust me."
Crimeny, Arnold HAS turned into Arnie! What next? Did Phil run for president?
Her non-boyfriend led them inside. There was no foyer; the front door led directly to the living room, and the first thing Helga noticed was that the interior had the couches, sofas, and tables she remembered from Sunset Arms, along with the same picture frames. It might have passed for Sunset Arms if the boarders had been there, too, but she couldn't bring herself to ask what happened to them. She didn't see the piano that they had kept on the roof, though. The second thing she noticed was a portrait on the wall. It was of both families together: Arnie and his parents and Arnold and his parents. His cousin's parents seemed familiar, as if she had seen them before somewhere, but she couldn't pinpoint where. Arnie's mother was obviously Stella's sister, given the shape of their heads, but…
Miles and Stella seemed a bit…off. They didn't have any grey streaks on their hair, nor did they seem like the weathered adventurers she remembered. Given that they never went to a country that never existed, that seemed logical, but here, they seemed rather…dull—normal—perhaps.
She didn't have time to ponder on this because the third thing she noticed as they entered the living room—and it made her stiffen with rage and jealousy—was that waiting for them, standing next to each other, were none other than Lila Sawyer and Ruth McDougal.
Crimeny! What are those two bimbos doing here?
"Helga! You're okay!"
It didn't help that the two girls rushed Helga and greeted her with hefty hugs.
Which confused her even more since she now had no idea what to do with her jealousy and rage.
Okay, I can get Lila being nice, but Ruth?
Lila still had her trademark green dress, brown boots, and light blue plaid shirt, but Ruth no longer had that red plaid skirt or that ugly blue sweater. Instead, she wore the typical country denim overalls with a long sleeved pink plaid shirt. Her pearl necklace was still there, and her hair was the same—
Waittaminute, Stinky said Arnold had a girlfriend here. And if Lila is here with Arnie, then that means—
Arnold declared, "Helga, you remember Lila—"
"I'm ever-so glad you're awake and finally out of the hospital!" she almost squealed with her typical saccharine enthusiasm, still hugging her "friend".
"My girlfriend," confirmed Arnie. Sniff.
"—and you remember my girlfriend, Ruth McDougal."
"It's great to see you again, Helga!"
The bottom fell out of Helga's heart and mind when Ruth said that as she hugged her.
And she wanted to SCREAM, despite the lump in her throat now enveloping her entire neck.
The Helga here may have a boyfriend already, BUT DID ARNOLD'S GIRLFRIEND HAVE TO BE RUTH MCDOUGAL?!
Not only that, Ruth smiled at her, but it wasn't a haughty or condescending smile, it was a…genuine smile—braces and all—she seemed…
…kind?
The one thing left that she hoped didn't happen here was to find all the "opposite" doppelgangers Arnold mentioned when he told her about the dream he had about his cousin and all the kids that lived in this town. Still, she wanted to know just how on earth—
Something caught her eye.
"Footba—um—Arnold, how did you get that scar on your arm?" She thought it had been a trick of the light, or even some dirt, but that was something that was definitely not there in "her" universe.
"This?" he asked nonchalantly, glancing at the long scar that went from his left wrist and disappeared under the rolled-up sleeve. "I got it during our accident."
Helga blinked. "Huh? 'Our' accident? What do you mean 'our' accident?"
"It's th' same one yew both had three months ago, luv," explained Stinky.
We were in an accident TOGETHER?
"Yes. You got amnesia after I beaned you with the baseball, and when I took you to school the following day, you forgot to look both ways before crossing the street. Jolly Olly Man was speeding, and I ran to push you out of the way. I…didn't quite get to you in time, and he hit us both."
SAY WHAT? JOLLY OLLY MAN DID HIT ME HERE? HOW IS THAT POSSIBLE?
"I didn't break my arm, but I did get this scar. We both fell into a coma, but I woke up two days later. You never did, until now. I'm glad to see you're up and about, Helga, and fully recovered. But why are you here, and why were you wearing a wig?"
Wig? asked Lila and Ruth internally, glancing oddly at the blonde visitor.
Helga had to rub her face and head for a minute or two, trying to assimilate the outlandish information that this "bizarro universe" wouldn't stop throwing at her, despite Stinky trying to reassure her by holding her trembling shoulders.
"Helga?" asked Arnold, concerned.
The blonde girl sat on the couch, as did the rest on other chairs and couches around the living room, with the couples sitting together.
"Okay," she said slowly. "Let's go by steps. First, has it been three months since I got amnesia by that baseball?"
"Yes."
"And you and your family moved here shortly after that?"
"Yes."
She sighed, and continued, "Okay, I can accept the fact that I am Stinky's girlfriend, but just how on this 'bizarro earth' did you and Ruth ever get together?! I mean, I thought you gave up on her after that failed 'date' during Valentine's Day!"
"'Bizarro earth'?" asked Arnie. Sniff.
"Huh? What 'failed date'?" asked his cousin, tilting his head.
Ruth also raised an eyebrow. "Yeah, what 'failed date'? Sure, not all of our dates have gone smoothly, but we've held on. As to how we got together, well, on Valentine's Day, after a bad date of my own, this little hunk came to my house and serenaded me with his keyboard. He plays great, too!" She leaned on him affectionately.
Helga slowly blinked, took a deep breath, and gradually turned to glare at her non-boyfriend. "WHAT…KEYBOARD…?" She almost growled again. "I thought you gave up trying to buy it!"
Arnold sat back. "Why would I give up on that? I bought it with the prize money of the spelling bee, practiced for a while, and gave this pretty girl a serenade." He smiled and leaned on Ruth's arm.
The sixth-grade girl also smiled, hugged her boyfriend, and leaned her head on his. "And he plays great! Not to mention that while I wouldn't wish a car accident on anyone, that scar on his arm just made him more desirable, too. I had to fight off a few other girls from the school here who also had their eye on him."
Helga rubbed her aching head again.
She couldn't believe it. Not one bit.
Crimeny, I've got to find out why he didn't buy that keyboard back in "my" world…and what he did with those five hundred bucks, too…
She turned and was about to ask Wolfgang something, but she could only look at them with amusement as the boys were staring at Arnold with open mouths, obviously incredulous as well of the fact that a fourth grader had managed to land a sixth grader for a girlfriend.
Stifling a chuckle, despite her heartbreak, depression, and lump in her throat, she asked her "boyfriend", "Let me guess, Stinky: you just heard rumours of Arnold getting a girlfriend, but you were never told who it was?"
"Nope! Ah always thought it was a girl from his grade!"
"Not that I've been without problems," added the boy in question. "After the accident, I kinda lost some playing ability, almost as if I had forgotten how to play the keyboard. It took me a while to get back up to speed." He shook his head. "I can't even blink evenly now!"
Ruth hugged him tighter, "Aw, Arnold, you're young, I'm sure you'll recover. Besides, I would love you even if you could only play Chopsticks, now that we know each other better."
It was Helga's turn to sit back. "Seriously? Chopsticks? Don't tell me that's the song you used to serenade her, Footba—um—Arnold."
"No, it was Clair de Lune. And after the accident, I could barely play anything and had to start practicing from the beginning all over again. I also had to retake my karate lessons with Grandma. I could barely swim, too, and had to relearn that as well. You may have been unconscious for three months, but it doesn't seem like you forgot how to do stuff."
"Nope, but now she can do stuff she couldn't do befor'!" blurted Stinky rather excitedly.
"Really?" asked Arnie. Sniff.
Ruth continued to console her boyfriend. She held his head and turned it to look into his green eyes. "Well, you're quite the fast learner, and you caught up, and that includes your swimming lessons, and now you can swim better than ever before, right?"
Arnold smiled and blushed.
Ruth smiled and blushed.
Helga blinked.
Wait, "swimming lessons"?
Seeing how they were looking at each other, blushing, she suddenly remembered the dream Arnold told her that dealt with a Lila doppelganger who asked him to go on a "private swim" with her, which he declined. But now…
She saw the way they fell into each other's eyes.
Blushing.
Realising what it all meant, she wanted to throw up; maybe she'd expel the lump in her throat when she did.
Crimeny, that boy is a real stud, not just in "my" universe but in this "bizarro universe" as well! Hmm…so there IS a swimming hole around here…if I ever get back, I gotta ask him about that dream again and wait for an opportunity before any other girl can—
"And…after the accident—" Helga quickly changed the subject, shaking her head and almost blushing herself, and trying to push down her ever-increasing heartache, now that she knew that the two were now very much inseparable. She had to force the words out of her mouth because the lump in her throat was almost blocking them. "Your parents decided to move out of Hillwood?"
"Yes," he turned to her again. "Once I woke up, they decided that the city life was too much for me, and them. They sold the boarding house, and we moved here."
"And I suppose your grandparents retired to Florida?" she asked, remembering when Phil and Gertie wanted precisely to sell the boarding house and move to a warmer climate.
Arnold straightened up and looked at her with surprise, "Y-yes, they did, and I couldn't take karate lessons anymore, but how did you know that?"
She dismissed his question, "It's a long story, and it's part of the reason I'm here, but, Ruth—" she turned to the taller girl. "I didn't know you lived out here in the boondocks!"
"I didn't. I moved here too, you see," she leaned back, teasing Arnold's unruly hair. "I was devastated after I saw what happened to you and Arnold, and when he told me that his family was going to move out of town, I begged my parents to move here as well, or to at least let me live with some relatives that I had here, too. They gave in, loved this place, and we moved about half a mile from here. Besides—" She sighed and looked down. "I couldn't stand going to P.S. 118 anymore, not after that fourth-grade girl turned into the worst bully ever. I mean, she practically turned into a mafia girl!"
Crimeny, gotta hand it to Phoebe, she never does things halfway—
Lila decided to chime in, "And after I saw them move, I ever-so decided to go after my man." She hugged the stoic boy next to her. "I begged daddy to move us here, and here we are. And no, I couldn't stand Phoebe, either. She would ever-so give The Godparent a run for his money from the way she's been doing things!"
Looks like her reputation precedes her.
Monotonously, "And we've been together ever since." Sniff.
"Okay, back to the reason I came here," she quickly said, knowing that the ever-increasingly painful lump in her throat was making her lose her grip on the conversation. "Foot—Arnold, your parents…travel? Have they…studied archaeology? Anthropology? Have they ever travelled overseas to look for hidden treasures next to erupting volcanoes?"
The boy looked at her oddly for a moment and replied, "No, Helga. Both of them are social workers and—"
"SOCIAL WORKERS?" she almost yelled, straightening up and paling in fright as this "bizarro universe" pulled the rug out from under her again, startling just about everyone, and making Stinky jump back from her slightly. "But…but…if they're social workers, then…then where did they meet?" she quickly asked. If not at an archaeological dig, then where?
"In college," he replied, uneasy at her insistence and apparent panic. "They dated for a while, and then both travelled around the country separately seeing where they would best fit in. After my dad proposed to her, they decided to settle in Hillwood."
Helga held a trembling hand to her face and asked with a trembling voice, "Foot—Arnold, I'm going to ask you something that will sound completely strange, but please try to answer as best as you can."
The boy leaned forward, ready to listen.
She put her hand down, took a deep breath, tried to separate her throat from her heart, looked into his eyes, and asked, "Arnold, have you ever heard of…San Lorenzo? The Green-Eyed People? El Corazón? La Sombra? A volcano erupting that was suddenly silenced when a baby was born nine years ago?"
He looked at her, trying to decipher what she was talking about, and after a minute, replied, "Can't say that I have. Would any of that have to do with Latin America? My parents say that they want to travel south, just for vacation, but they haven't made any concrete plans."
"Foot—Arnold," she insisted, feeling every part of her start cracking under the panic and heartbreak. "Do you…do you remember…anything…strange…out of the ordinary…any sudden change of any kind…in your life, or in the school, or Hillwood, anywhere…this morning or afternoon? Anything at all?" The girl was on the brink of tears, and he could tell.
"I…" he faltered at the sight of the girl who was falling apart in front of him. "I…I can't say that I have. Life both here and in Hillwood has been very ordinary, nothing that would involve any Latin American country or volcanoes. Why do you ask?"
The blue-eyed girl rubbed her face again as she looked at the floor.
"Helga, are you okay?" asked Lila.
"Yeah, you don't look so well." Sniff.
She forced herself to continue, almost feeling as if she was crawling through mud. "I…I guess that…I just wanted to…to know…if you noticed anything…maybe your parents do…maybe I'll ask the parents of our other friends if they still work where they did before…maybe…maybe they…they might know…"
"They might know what?" asked Ruth, noticing the girl was faltering.
"They…they might…they…!"
Finally, the dam broke, and the toughest girl in fourth grade, in front of everyone, fell on her knees in front of the couch and cried into her hands, with her sobs shaking her whole body, almost making her appear as if she was having convulsions.
All the boys sat and stared, completely speechless, not knowing what to do to help her at all.
Not even Stinky knew what to do.
Quickly, Lila and Ruth jumped out of their seats and knelt at her sides, holding her reassuringly, almost pushing Stinky out of the way.
What? You mean Ruth is actually COMPASSIONATE?
"Helga, what's wrong?" asked Lila, genuinely concerned.
"We'll try to help you as best as we can, but please, tell us what's wrong?"
"I…!" Failing to push down the lump in her throat, she looked at the ceiling. "I…always wanted to be independent…always wanted to get away from my…idiot parents…but…but not like this! This isn't my world! This isn't my universe, even! Everything is WRONG! Everyone is DIFFERENT! Even the countries aren't where they should be…!"
She could say no more and just sobbed between the two girls, who could do no more other than hold her close.
"Huh? What do you mean, 'this isn't your universe'? That doesn't make sense! Please, explain to us what's going on!" pleaded Ruth.
"Yes, please, explain to us what's going on."
Everyone turned to the door, where they saw Miles and Stella Shortman walking in. Helga looked up and saw Arnold's parents, both wearing charcoal business suits, and felt the slightly "boring" vibes again.
"Hello, Uncle Miles and Aunt Stella," piped their nephew monotonously. Sniff.
Arnold tried to remain composed as he explained, "Hi, mom, hi, dad. We got a few…unexpected visitors…friends from my old school. You remember Helga, the girl that I tried to get out of the way of the speeding truck, but both of us got hit instead?"
Before they could reply, Helga broke out of the girls' embrace, stood, ran to them, and hugged them tightly, much to their surprise.
"Miles! Stella! Please!" She looked up at them. "Please tell me you remember! Please tell me you remember everything!" She would have collapsed at their feet if Stella hadn't held her tightly against her.
The parents looked at each other, then at their son, their nephew, their girlfriends, and their friends for any type of clue as to what was going on, but everyone was just as in the dark as they were.
"Um…Helga…honey," said Stella, confused but as motherly as she could. "We can try to remember…if you first tell us what it is we're supposed to be remembering."
Helga focused on the kind and confused woman's face, straightened up, sobbed a few more times, wiped her face, and took a deep breath. "Okay…but…we need to sit down. It all started when I woke up this afternoon, but…it's a long story, and you and Arnold need to hear it."