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acosta perez jose ramiro: Yes, she has to be VERY discreet with the information she has. One wrong word, and maybe even the government would be after her. And some things you simply can't change.

Kryten: Heh, no. One is Helga's "hidden" talent, and the other was Arnold and his original purpose for being in the spelling bee.

DeepVoice'06: 1.Yes, it's natural that he would feel lost. 2. Seeing where the "other" Helga is? Nah, it would be too distracting, and with Phoebe helping her, there wouldn't be much point. 3. We'll see where she wakes up here. 4. Of course, especially after she left him for a bus boy. 5. Together? We'll see. 6. Nightmare? We disproved that in "The Man From Andorra". 7. Awkward and heartbreaking, as you saw. 8. Yes, now we continue.

Inudaughter Returns: Probably the strongest character in the series, but even she has her breaking point.

JayDogg187: The only thing she has to cling to is that little hope, but at least the Shortmans didn't downright discard her story. And with Stinky's realisation, yes, he now knows that something isn't all there. And yes, that empathy and understanding is what she desperately needs now.

Putting thoughts on paper, at last.

1001 – LATE NIGHT WRITING

A rumbling woke her up at midnight, but it wasn't her stomach.

And it wasn't so much a rumbling as it was a gurgling, not to mention that it was a bit lower down her abdomen, too.

Crimeny! I think I ate too much, too fast, and too soon!

The girl jumped off the couch and ran to the bathroom.

She had to repeat that trip three times that night, though after the third time, she decided to wait and see if her intestines had settled, or at least finished reopening after three months. Not to mention that it was a bit difficult trying to sleep in a strange house, now that her initial drowsiness had worn off. So, while she waited for the next signal of an imminent bowel movement, she turned on the lamp on her right, stretched, laid back on the armrest, grabbed the notebook and pen, and opened it to the first page.

As she expected, no poetry flowed from her hand, not without her locket, but would it even help her if she still had it? She had Stinky, in theory, and Arnold had Ruth. What possible inspiration could she draw from there?

Or maybe she didn't need to write poetry right now. If what Torvald said was true, that she was indeed the second documented case of a traveller from a parallel universe, then maybe she would give him some semblance of evidence, something that wouldn't disappear along with her, if that should happen to her later on.

This notebook and the pen were from "this" universe, so if she disappeared, they would not disappear with her.

With a resolute sigh, she brought the notebook close and began writing:

Journal of Helga Geraldine Pataki, from the universe where San Lorenzo exists, who is currently in a universe where it doesn't.

Day 1:

I don't know if this journal will disappear if and when I do, but in case I don't disappear and go back to my world, like that man in the Tokyo airport, I might as well start making a written record of things, and I hope that this journal serves as evidence that parallel worlds do indeed exist, and we're all at their mercy.

Basically, I woke up in this "bizzarro universe", some time before my beloved and I finally got together. I'm back in fourth grade again because it seems that I got transported here three months after I got beaned with a baseball and I got amnesia. The divergence, or connection point, seems to be that in "this" universe, I—well, the Helga of "this" universe—got run over by that idiot Jolly Olly Man, along with Arnold. He came out okay, but the other Helga fell into a coma. When I woke up, in the other Helga's place, I found out that this wasn't "my" universe because we never got run over by anyone in "my" world. There is no San Lorenzo here, and who knows how many other countries are also missing. I mean, crimeny! I don't even know who's president here! And Arnold…he's not my beloved here. In this world he learned to play the keyboard, and he has RUTH of all people as a girlfriend! Arnie has Lila, but she moved to his town to be with him. And it turns out that here, both are very nice girls. I wonder if that's true in "my" world too if they were given the chance. But just as some girls are nice, some are total monsters! Phoebe, who was my best friend and one of the nicest girls in "my" world, is a tyrant here, and everyone will celebrate when she graduates and leaves P.S. 118 this summer. I pity whatever middle school, high school, and college she attends. The students at P.S. 118 were given SOME mercy in the fact that she skipped two grades and will be out of their hair soon. Also, here Rhondalloyd's parents FINALLY made her go to a private school where she belongs, and I suppose Lorenzo followed her because no one has heard of him here. Arnold has his parents here too, but they're not the rugged heroes I know. Here, they're just social workers and occasional travellers. I suppose that's okay, since they didn't go to a forsaken jungle and meet a lost tribe only to fall into a nine-year coma. I'm glad that Arnold never felt the pain of not knowing where they were, much less not knowing if they were ever going to come home. So, here I am, in Arnie's town, scared that I don't know how I got to "this" universe, or if I can even leave, or if when I leave I will return to "my" world, "MY" Arnold, and "my" time, too. So much uncertainty is liable to kill someone, crimeny! The stress alone of finding out that my idiot parents are even BIGGER idiots here because they gave up on me and threw me at the mercy of the government…I'm surprised I haven't gotten a heart attack or that my mind hasn't disconnected from reality and given up on "this" world! Anyone else would have gone crazy! And what's worse, I don't even know if there's a god in "this" universe I can pray to! I've never felt so helpless, so useless, so lost!

If this ever reaches "my" world, everyone, please know that I loved Arnold and Miles and Stella, and as for the rest of you knuckleheads, well…I find you tolerable. And yes, I miss bossing you around. If I ever get back, maybe I can try to find some good in you that I see in your counterparts here…and maybe I will try to be a better friend to Phoebe. I can't believe that I actually feel very sorry for Gerald that he lost her in her power trip…crimeny, I've got to go back to warn them! And what's worse, I can't even kiss Arnold or hug him since he has Ruth for a girlfriend now, but…he is happy with her, they are happy together, and…that's all that matters now, in "this" world, at least. I mean, it's not as if I can get him back; after all, the Helga here has a girlfriend too—Stinky of all people! But I don't want Stinky! I just want "MY" Arnold, that do-gooder, son of do-gooders, awesome swimmer, karate boy, non-keyboard player, born in the jungle during a volcanic eruption that he also stopped, too! He's practically a supernatural boy, and he was mine! Or…

Helga suddenly realised something.

…maybe this is some curse of the Green-Eyed People? A repercussion for losing El Corazón? Something La Sombra did to get his revenge on us? Ugh, there are so many questions, but there are no answers here because San Lorenzo doesn't exist here! Crimeny, given how topsy-turvy everything is in "this" universe, I wouldn't be surprised if La Sombra ended up being a church pastor!

Maybe the answer will come to one of us in a dream, IF we dream anything at all, or someone might remember something we can't think of right now, or maybe I'll go back to "my" world in my sleep and I'll find myself again in my lover's arms, right where I left.

Please…someone, ANYONE, help me! Help me because I can't help myself at all…

The girl slumped back, fast asleep, letting the tear-stained notebook and pen slip from her hands and onto the floor.