Chapter 29: Hell

"Jesus Christ…" Miles said as he opened the door to the boarding house. Everyone was at a loss of words.

The whole top half of the building had caught flames. Fire was protruding out of the top of it.

"Attention all units we have a 5428 situation over here on vinewood street." Harvey said into his police radio." We need you over here now!"

To his right, Helga looked up at the burning building in awe.

'Maybe that light I saw on earlier caught fire. I mean that would explain-'

She then stopped mid thought. Oh no. Could it really be?

"ARNOLD!" She yelled out as she took off across the empty street.

"Helga wait!" Harvey hollered as he took off after her.

"That'll show him!" Curly said with a snicker.

From across the other side of the door, he could hear Arnold struggling. He heard something bang against the wall, then again, and again, and then it suddenly stopped.

A wide grin spread across his face. He had finally done it! He had killed Arnold. In a slow and painful way. Just like he had planned.

"My work here is done." He said in a proud tone, but just as he went to walk away, the door suddenly flung open.

He looked over to see Arnold looking at him with a fire in his eyes.

You couldn't see it, but from behind his glasses, his eyes widened significantly.

"Oh shit." He whispered in shock as Arnold suddenly flew forward, tackling him to the ground.

"HARVEY! LET ME GO!" Helga yelled, trying to escape Harvey's strong grip. However, she wouldn't budge.

They were now standing across the street, right in front of the burning building.

"No Helga!" He said through his teeth as he struggled to hold the strong girl back." I can't let you go in there. It's too dangerous!"

"Oh, put a sock in it!" She yelled as she continued to struggle against the tight hug like grip Harvey had around her.

Suddenly they heard something crumbling above them. They both looked up to see a large chunk of brick and fire was falling right towards them!

"Shit!" Harvey yelled out as he suddenly yanked Helga and himself out of danger.

Helga felt the force of heat and wind as the chunk of brick slammed into the pavement beside her.

She looked up at where the chunk of building had fallen from. A large hole was missing from the second floor of the building, near the center of the building.

Suddenly, a flash of someone running past the whole caught her eye. It almost looked like…

"ARNOLD!" She yelled out with desperation in her voice as she jumped up. However, before she could run to the building, a strong arm wrapped itself around her once again.

"Hurry up with those fire engines, damnit!" Harvey yelled into his radio again with his free left hand.

A few moments earlier…

Arnold landed a strong punch on Curly, knocking his glasses off of him.

Curly looked up at him and spit blood back at him, making Arnold flinch. Curly took advantage of the opportunity to punch Arnold himself, knocking Arnold off of him. Curly quickly jumped up, trying to catch Arnold off guard.

However, Arnold recovered quickly, jumping back up to hit Curly like a linebacker. He quickly pinned Curly against the wall, leaving a large blow in his ribs.

Curly lurched over, coughing in pain before Arnold quickly hit the boy again with a painful right hook.

In pain, Curly could feel heat start to build up around them. He looked up to see the ceiling was now completely on fire, and fire was building up the wall to their right.

Arnold leaned his right fist back to hit Curly again, but was stopped when he heard the ceiling crack above them.

"Move, damnit!" Curly shouted out, knocking Arnold and himself forwards, just as the ceiling fell.

Arnold tried to catch himself, but Curly's own body slammed into his. Together, they tumbled down the staircase.

Arnold felt pain grow through his ribs and shoulders as he and Curly came to a rumbling stop on the second floor.

The heat of the fire was gone, but just as Arnold stood up, he received a strong blow from Curly, knocking him into the room to his right.

He looked up to see Curly walking towards him, a fire now building in his eyes.

"You son of a bitch." He said through gritted teeth. He suddenly swung towards Arnold, but Arnold gracefully dodged the punch.

He backed up a few feet, however, he tripped on his own two feet and flew backwards. He felt pain shoot throughout his back as he flew into what he assumed to be a large kitchen table.

That's when he noticed the fire growing above him on the ceiling. Sparks of fire were flying raining down all around him, lighting up the room all around him.

One spark of fire, landed on a stack of old newspapers that was laying on a table to his right. Immediately, the papers and the table lit up into flames.

Arnold went to jump back up, but was instead met with Curly.

Curly grabbed his shoulders, forcing him back down onto the table." Where the hell do you think you're going?!" Curly asked him in a sinister voice as he hit Arnold with a strong right hook.

"Harvey please!" Helga begged him mid sob, tears could now visibly be seen leaking from her eyes." Please just let me go!"

"No Helga!" Harvey said with a grunt, his arms now very tired from holding her back." It's too dangerous!"

Sirens could now be heard throughout the town, and they were growing louder. The fire had now traveled to the bottom of the building.

Finally, a fire truck could be seen speeding into view. Helga watched through her blurry and teary eyes as the fire truck screeched to a stop right in front of the building.

An African American man with a clean shaven face jumped out of the driver side. He looked to the other firemen who were jumping off the sides of the truck.

"Get that hose unrolled now! And turn on the water valves quick!"

The men immediately followed the boss man's orders and began to do their work.

Helga had given up fighting against Harvey at this point, but a strong sob quickly fought its way up her chest.

She felt a soft hand run it's way through her messy hair." Shhhh." She heard Harvey coo in her right ear.

"It's gonna be okay Helga. The firemen are here now."

Helga couldn't even respond. She just continued to stare at the firemen as they started to uncoil the hose.

"I'm not gonna let you get away this time!" Curly yelled angrily as he charged at Arnold.

The room they were in was now completely lit up with flames.

Arnold quickly dodged Curly's attack, but he also had to dodge a large board that was falling through the ceiling as well.

The board hit the ground, knocking a large hole through the floor.

Arnold looked up just in time to see Curly hitting him full force, knocking himself and Arnold through the hole in the floor!

Arnold felt his stomach rise before rays of pain flew throughout his back. He looked up to see Curly staring at him with a sinister look on his face.

He landed a strong blow on Arnold." You really think that you're gonna get away with this l?! Do you know who I am?"

Arnold just looked up wide eyed at the maniac. The fire was building on the ceiling above him as he looked down at Arnold with that same sinister smile.

"I am Curly Thaddeus Gammelthorpe! And I am not going to be taken down without a fight!" He yelled as he leaned back to punch Arnold.

However, just as he was about to strike another blow, the ceiling cracked above him. This gave Arnold the opportunity to quickly knock Curly off him with a strong kick to the stomach.

As Curly stumbled backwards, Arnold crawled backwards as quickly as he could.

Another flaming piece of wood suddenly flew down towards Arnold, but he quickly rolled to his left to dodge the flaming debris.

Arnold felt the wind and heat start to build up around him as he finally was able to stand up. Suddenly, he heard a large BOOM! Then a loud and eerie groaning noise could be heard throughout the building.

"Oh God…" he muttered to himself as he looked up at the flames trying to engulf him.

"The building is gonna fall!" He yelled out in realization.

He went to run out of the building, only to be hit but Curly's strong force once again, knocking him backwards. This all happened just as the building was beginning to fall…

"Everyone get back!" She heard the fireman yell.

She looked up to see the building start to cave in. She stopped sobbing for just a second. Before she knew it, Harvey had lifted her numb body into his arms and was running across the street.

However, the world seemed to move in slow motion for Helga. She watched as the building slowly started to fall down, all in one motion.

The fire seemed to just eat the bricks and boards alive as the building caved in. All of it falling in one piece.

Suddenly, she could hear someone speak to her. At first she couldn't recognize the voice.

It spoke." Welcome to hell!"

That's when the world started moving in normal motion again. The building hit the ground with a large BOOM, causing a wave of heat and air to fly out.

The wave of air hit Harvey, knocking him to the ground as he and Helga just managed to reach the other side of the street.

For a moment, she just laid there on the concrete. Her ears were ringing as she just looked up at the stars through the smoky night sky.

The stars seemed to have a pattern. Almost like a constellation. However, this wasn't just any ordinary constellation.

Ironically this one almost looked like…

"Arnold…" She said in a very weak voice. The realization of what had just happened had finally just hit her.

She could feel the tears start to well up in her eyes as a strong sob escaped from her lungs.