If You Feel Like Letting Go

Hi, everyone. Thanks for liking me, really liking me! ~Grins~ Okay, down to business. Helgagurl46, thanks for the comment. Hope this is equally as interesting, odd, but cool. thanks, too, Sara.

Disclaimer: I'm a almost thirteen year old girl with the intelligence of a eleven year old. I'm insane. I cannot draw. The only people I've ever created myself are Kylie and Lily in this original I'm writing that is so unoriginal. Can I create a cartoon other insane people write about? ~Grabs face by the cheeks and moves head side to side~ Noooooo.

Helga had her drawing pad, pencils, charcoal, and oil paints in her arms and was walking down the street. She continued until she reached an alley with very tall buildings on both sides. She turned to her right at the end of the alley and opened a door camouflaged into the wall (it was painted the same color, etc.). She looked around her quickly, as though making sure she was alone, and walked into the dimly lit room.

On the corner of the building, a pale head with dark hair popped out. Phoebe motioned behind her and Gerald and Arnold also came up. The walked into the alley and stood in front of the door, hesitant to go in.

"What do you think she's doing here?" asked Arnold, purely curious.

Phoebe shrugged. "I have no possible idea, but it is most possibly something isn't very good for her."

They stayed there for an extra moment.

"Are we going to keep following her or not?" asked Gerald with a hint of impatience. The others nodded and he pulled the door open.

They stepped into a hallway with off-yellow walls that were obviously not painted that way. There were wooden doors large distances away running down both sides. They saw one ahead of then open, and then closed. Phoebe pointed forward. "That's her," she said.

"Come on," said Arnold. He started to walk hastily down the hall, leaving Phoebe and Gerald to exchange glances and follow.

When they reached the door, they cracked it open to peek inside, Phoebe on the bottom, Arnold in the middle, Gerald on top. They could see Helga signing in at a desk, where a receptionist (or something of that nature) was speaking to her.

"A lot of our clients have asked your age," she said to her, "and none of them can believe that you are so talented for a seventeen year old."

Helga smiled a bit and looked up. "Thanks. They bought some, right?"

The woman nodded and showed Helga a piece of paper. "So far, you got seventy-eight dollars worth of sales at our last showing. We are going to have another in three days, so we need you to stay here tomorrow for at least an hour or so to finish up your one piece of work."

Helga looked down and said, "Do I have to? I, uh, have something to, um, do tomorrow. Actually, I think this may even be my last day, so I'm not going to be able to make it."

"You cannot quit, Kylie," ordered the woman. "We have clients who have already lined up a list for your work."

Helga leaned her head and looked straight at the woman. "Well, that's too bad, Lynn," she said. "I have a life, and it's not going to last forever. Give me my money's worth tonight after I'm done and let me go to my subject."

At the door, Phoebe's jaw dropped. Arnold furrowed his eyebrows is confusion. "Seventeen?" he asked aloud, frustrated. "Kylie? What is she doing?"

Phoebe bit her lip. "She apparently is lying about her name and age in order to have a sort of job to make money," she hypothesized.

"Yeah, and I have a pretty good idea why," said Gerald, grasping the door.

"Me, to," Arnold and Phoebe said concurrently.

"We know that something's up with her parents," said Arnold. "Whatever it is, though..." he sighed, "we're gonna find out."

Phoebe moved from underneath the boys, followed by Arnold and Gerald. "Change your names," she hissed. She walked casually yet obviously shyly to the desk. The woman looked up and, not waiting for a word, Phoebe said, "Hello, we're here to see... uh, Kylie. She just came in here. May we go see her?"

Lynn looked suspicious. "Who are you?

"Uh..." said Arnold. "I'm, uh, Tim, this-" he pointed to Gerald, "-is Dan, and she is Jenny." He pointed to Phoebe. He smiled stupidly.

Lynn seemed to buy it. She pointed to one of the three doors in the room. "That is where Kylie is. Knock first." She went back to reading a magazine.

They all looked at each other and walked toward the door. Gerald was about to open the door when Phoebe whispered, "Wait. We can't just stroll inside. We have to do what we did at the front door."

Gerald gave her a look that said okay-but-we-can't-exactly-do-that-either. "Lynn would see us hiding from her and know we weren't invited by Helga."

"Oh, yes, there's that," said Phoebe. She grinded her teeth, trying to think. "Um... I think we have a flaw in our plan," she finally said.

Arnold rolled his eyes. "Come on, guys," he said. "We got this far, so what are we going to do?"

The three of them looked around, contemplating possible plans. Phoebe bit her lip and looked down at a corner in the room. She looked up absentmindedly and focused in on something. An idea came into her head and she smiled. "I have a proposal of something we could do."

Gerald turned to her and asked, "What?"

She pointed to the spot she was looking at. "We need to get out of this room," she said, "if you know what I mean."

Arnold followed the trail of the sight and smiled. "You're becoming so devious, Pheebs," he observed. He turned to the woman at the desk and said, "We just remembered how important her work is," he said. "We won't disturb her."

Lynn lifted an eyebrow and looked at them oddly. She dismissed it and let them leave without a another word.

~~~

"Is it in that room?"

"No, just another lady at a desk."

"Ew. Uh, don't look in that door. That's un-rated art."

"Not in here, either."

"I found it!" cried Gerald. He opened a door wider to reveal a darkened room with televisions all over the place. "They have some nice security cameras for a shabby place," he complemented.

Phoebe and Arnold smiled and followed Gerald into the room. The started skimming over screens, trying to find the room that Helga was in. Arnold pointed to one and said, "Don't look at that."

Phoebe rolled her eyes and continued looking. "Here," she said. "She has a model inside with walled windows. Two angles. She using coal to make a drawing."

The two boys bent over to look at the screen. Arnold whistled. "She's good."

"Yes, she's quite talented, but look at the model's position." She pointed to a girl reasonably older than Helga. She was leaning against the wall, standing very still with one arm over her head, grabbing her hair, and another around the waist. Her expression was one that looked like she was about to cry. Helga was almost finished with the charcoal outline, and underneath the girl, over to the left, was a phrase that was unreadable at the distance it was at.

"Can one of you zoom in on that right there," she said, touching the screen where the words were. Arnold found a set of buttons going up and down and hit one of them a few times.

"It won't go any farther," he said. "Not without a computer." He pulled back to original frame. He sighed and crossed his arms. "However talented she is, the colors she's using on her make it disturbing." She had started to color in the picture. Arnold looked at it with as much anxiety as Phoebe. Gerald bit his lip in concern.

"Come on," said Phoebe. "We can't exactly remain here forever."

"She's right," said Gerald. "My eyes hurt from staring at that phrase there, trying to read it."

Phoebe looked at Gerald and rolled her eyes. "Not funny, Gerald. We need to go back to her house and try to find out what's up with her parents."

Gerald nodded. "I know. I'm trying to lighten the mood."

"Gerald, I like you, okay?" said Phoebe. "Just don't try to lighten the mood right now."

"Okay," replied Gerald. "Sorry."

"Let's go, guys," said Arnold. The three of them walked out of the room. Suddenly, Arnold stopped. "Why didn't that room have a security guard?"

Gerald and Phoebe turned around to face Arnold. "I don't know," they said.

Arnold shrugged and the three of them walked out of the building and into the alley. They turned down the sidewalk and saw a city bus right only a few yards down. They all looked at each other and silently agreed to save the shin pains.

When they got to Helga's house, Gerald was the first on the stoop. He lifted his hand and was about to knock when Phoebe interrupted him. "Wait. Just walk in."

Gerald looked won at Phoebe. Can I open doors without you giving me permission or not?"

"Sorry. Come on. I hope her parents don't hear us, like they would," she said disgusted

"I seriously doubt that they will," said Arnold angrily. It turns out they were able to walk inside, go up the stairs, and walk into the den.

"This is not her room!" said Phoebe. "We need to go in-"

Arnold held up his hand. "Her parents don't hide clues in her room, Phoebe," he explained.

Phoebe looked embarrassed. "Oh, yeah," she said quietly.

They looked around the upper den for a while, trying to find why Helga's dad was out of it (Miriam always was, so no surprise there). Gerald even tried to get on their computer, but there was a password.

Phoebe walked around the room she had been in many times with Helga, rubbing her hand over the shelves and desk. Then something caught her eye. She picked it up and read what it said. She gasped, "Guys, come here immediately."

I LOVE CLIFF HANGARS! You know, if anybody else reads this. Read BSSEI, too. And Query. My three favorites. Please? anyway, the next chapter will be up very soon, but I need to let Briana have her turn, so later!

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Phebga Madame Fortress Mommy