Title: Helga and the Cat-fist
Part Two
Author: Akane
"Bunny" Tendo
E-mail: Akane_Bunny_Tendo@yahoo.com
Rating: PG
~*Helga and the Cat-fist*~
The sun was just beginning to
set as Arnold sat beside Helga's sleeping form. He sat there watching her sleep, wondering what could have caused
her odd behavior. Sure she had her
moments of anger, but never like this...never this...weird.
As he continued to sit
there...he noticed something about her. He noticed that her hair was not in the normal ponytails he had usually
seen her wearing. Instead, it cascaded down her face in waves of gold, her face
illuminating from the rays of the moon, making her look serene and
beautiful.
"She looks so calm in
her sleep." He said as he moved in
closer to her. "So much different
than that...that...cold, hard girl we're all so used to...that I'm so used
to." He sat closer to her,
examining her features. "She looks
so calm." Images of a girl similar
to her began to swim through his mind. Someone completely different, but altogether the same...
He continued to examine her
features, thinking how similar she looked to the girl he met in the restaurant
so long ago. The girl he lost. He sat closer to her, stretching out his
hand to move some of the hair away from her face. "So beauti..." He didn't have a chance to finish his thought as she began to stir in
her sleep, awakening him to reality...
"Cats...cats..." moaned
Helga, shuddering in her sleep. "Must save you..."
"Helga! Wake
up!" Yelled Arnold as he placed
his hands against her shoulders in an effort to shake her out of whatever
nightmare she seemed to be in.
She got up with a start and
examined her surroundings. "What
the..." She began when she noticed the distance between Arnold and herself. "Oh...my..." She called out as she
sighed into his arms. "Arnold...my
lo..."
Arnold, seeing the odd look
in her face, decided to take action. "Helga...are you feeling okay? You look a bit pale..."
Helga, hearing the words that
were coming out of his mouth, feeling his hands on her shoulders... "This
isn't a dream is it?" She thought to herself. Reaching out to her arm, she gently pinched herself. "Ouch!!!!" She screamed out,
causing the cats in the alleyway to run for cover. Then the thought struck her. Arnold...beside her...her almost saying she lo...
Her defensive mechanism then
came into play. "What in the name
of creation's going on here?!" She
shouted out at him as she threw his hands away from her. "What do ya think you're doing
foot-ball head?!" She said as she
got up, ready to flee.
"Helga..." he began, sitting up, grabbing hold of her
hand. "I was just worried about
you. You were acting...kind of odd
before. You started to...to..."
"To what!?!" She asked,
more like demanded, as she waved her hand, knocking his away from it.
Arnold didn't know how to
word it without making her blow like a volcano. "To.to..." He continued, holding his hand behind his
head in fear. "To..act like
a...cat. It was kind of odd
really. We thought you were just
kidding around at first. But then...you started circling me like...It was
just....weird. You were..." He
continued, but wasn't able to finish as Helga took off at lightening speed down
the alleyway.
About two blocks away...
"What's happening to
me?" Helga asked herself as
continued to run towards home. "First that encounter with that...creature, and now this!" She said as she continued to run down the
street. "Now Arnold definitely
thinks I'm weird. He'll
never..." She said, stopping her
thoughts short as she reached the front of her house. "Maybe I just need some sleep. Maybe all of this is just some phase that I'm going
through." She thought as she went
upstairs to bed.
Back at the alleyway...
Arnold was still in a daze
from Helga's reaction, along with everything that had occurred in the day. "Something strange is going on
here. I can feel it." He said as he picked up his school bag. "I wonder what could be wrong with
her." He asked himself as he got
up and started for the boarding house.
He continued walking and
stopped in his tracks as a thought then came to him. Him sitting next to her thinking she was... "What in the
world was I thinking!?!" He shouted to himself as he looked at the full
moon above him. "Yup, had to be a
full moon." He said, throwing the thought from his mind as he continued on
home.
At the Pataki residence...
Helga opened her eyes and realized
that she was at school. "When did
I get here?" She asked herself as
she walked down the hallways of PS - 118. "And why is it so dark?"
The halls were dark and
cold. Everything seemed different
somehow. There were no students in the
hallways playing practical jokes like there normally would be.
"What's going on
here?" She said as she continued down the hallway. "Where is everyone?"
Thinking that, she decided to
look in one of the classrooms. As she
looked in, she saw some students sitting at their desks. She reached out her hand to open the door,
but as she turned the knob, she realized that it was locked. "What in the heck!?!" She then knocked on the door. "Hello, I'm trying to get in
here!" She shouted, but no one
answered her. No one even turned to look
at her. She then started banging on the
doors. "Hello!!" When they still didn't answer, she decided
to go on to the other classrooms. She
tried every door, but every one that she went up to was either locked or empty.
It was getting colder...much
colder. It started to get so dark, to
the point where she could hardly see past arms' length. It was then that her
fears started to come forth. "No!
No!" She said to herself. "Patakis aren't afraid of anything! Maybe...maybe the lights are just out...and someone messed around
with the AC." She thought as she
continued down the halls. It was then
that she witnessed a flashlight sitting on the floor not too far away from her
feet. "Well, this'll come in
handy." She said as she reached
out to pick it up.
Just as her hand came in
contact with the flashlight, a terrible, frightly scream was heard coming from
down the hall. "Help!!" The person shouted.
The scream made her jump,
causing the flashlight to roll away from her hand. "Oh, great!" She shouted. "What
now?" It was then that the yell
came again...and again. Footsteps were
then heard after this...like someone was running out of fear. Each yell
sounding louder than the other, each footstep coming closer and closer. And then...it stopped.
"What the...?" Said Helga as she began to sit up. She began to get up when she felt the
presence of someone near her along with a shadow.
"Help me..." said a
small voice, similar to the one that was screaming. "It's coming after me!"
"Nooo!!" She screamed
dashing for the flashlight. As her hand
connected with it, she quickly turned it on and aimed it at the person in front
of her. It was... "Arnold?" She asked a little stunned. "What...what are you..?" Then she heard someone coming up behind him.
"Run before she gets us
both!" He shouted lowering himself
onto the ground.
"What are you talking
about?" She said as she raised the
flashlight up towards the unknown figure. As the light hit the face of the stranger, it unveiled the face of...
"Lila? What are you...?" She didn't have a chance to finish as Lila
began to creep down to the floor. "What are you doing, you freak?" She asked as she started to walk up to her.
"Nooooo!" Yelled Arnold, attempting to run up to her.
"What do you
mean..." She began as she looked at Arnold trying to run up to her, only
having the distance between them increase. "What's going on?" She
asked when she heard an animal hissing. "What in the world?" She asked herself as she turned her head towards the area the sound was
coming from. She realized with a start
that it was where Lila was standing. Pointing out her flashlight to where Lila once stood, she saw not the
image of a dainty girl, but that of a fierce creature with claws that could
slice through the thickest of flesh. "Oh, my..." she began as a scream escaped from her lips,
echoing down the hallway. She continued
to scream as the creature waved its sharp claws at her.
"Helga, run!!! Before
they take us both!!" Yelled Arnold
as he was pushed aside by the creature and knocked to the floor unconscious.
With that, Helga took off at
top speed down the hallway with the creature not too far behind her. All she could hear was the sound of claws
slamming against the hard floor at quickening speeds. She could feel the fear rising through her...flowing through her
veins, making her heart beat faster and louder to the point where she could
hear it. It was then that all knowledge
of her surroundings escaped her mind. All she knew was that she had to run...for her life. Sounds of the creature's paws together with
the beating of her heart only made her run even faster. Sounds of the hissing and yelping of cats
started to fill through her mind, driving her to near insanity as she kept up
the pace.
After what felt like hours of
running, she realized that her footsteps were the only ones to be heard. She slowed down, catching her breath. "What in the world is going on!?! What's happening!?!" She screamed out as she held her hand
against her chest to control her breathing. It was then that she remembered Arnold... "I have to go help
him." She thought in fear. As she turned around, all she could see was
the claw of the creature coming at her face...then everything went dark... and
all she could feel was the cold fluid running down her face.
"Beep! Beep!" Came an earth-shattering sound
beside her. She jumped up with a start,
hitting the alarm clock off the table. She
started to get up out of bed, rubbing her eyes. It was then that she noticed she was covered in what she thought
was sweat. She opened her eyes
straining to see through the blinding light of the sun through her
bedroom. What she saw nearly made her
spine jump out of her body. Her sheets
were ripped, more like torn apart and she was covered in cuts and bruises.
"What...why is this
happening to me?" She asked
herself as she got up out of bed, took off the sheets and hid them in her
closet. She then went into the bathroom
to fix herself up.
At the Sunset Arms boarding
house...
Arnold was getting ready to
go to school when he remembered what happened the previous night. He went to his dresser table and picked up
the phone. "Hello, Gerald? I need you to meet me in front of the school
today. I know...I know...but I really
need to talk to you. Something weird is
going on with Helga. Look, just meet me
in front and I'll tell you. I gotta go, bye." He said as he hung up the phone with shaky hands.
Oh, my!! Whatever will happen next? Just stay right there and I'll show you!