::cringes:: Yes, I know I shouldn't be starting some other story, no need for lecturing, but I couldn't resist. I think this one I might just actually finish...hopefully because I don't think its going to be awfully long.
I sorta typed this kinda quickly so there might be some grammatical mistakes. I've been editing it, but I'll apologize beforehand. Sometimes I type too fast and carelessly when I get hit with lots of inspiration.
Oh BTW, the next part of 'You Make It Feel Like Christmas' will probably be up soon. Sorry it took me a while (hopefully I'll finish it before next Christmas). I've got a list of excuses, but I don't think you'd appreciate hearing them all.
So, without further ado here's the first chapter out of who knows how many....
The Fire
Disclaimer: Okay, tell me the truth. Do you really think I own HA! or that I even might just happen to work on the show? Now be honest....
Chapter 1: Of Flames and Friends
It was a crisp evening in late autumn. The leaves had already changed into vibrant colors and most had made their way from high up in the branches of trees to the hard nearly frozen ground below. The sun had almost descended completely leaving only a few shimmering rays that could be seen off to the distance. With that exception the evening was a dark coal black cake with a few sprinkles of stars. The moon was thin: only a small slimmer could be sighted.
A peaceful tranquillity lingered in the chilly air. The city appeared to be content, at rest, without a care in the world. But over one particular place in the city there was a very different sort of atmosphere.
"Class! Class! Please everyone simmer down!" Mr. Simmons was desperately trying to keep control over his 4th grade students. He had come up with the brilliant idea of having his class come back after school to study the stars from the school's roof. His plan had not worked to the extent he had hoped for. Despite the clear skies that been predicted, thick mists of clouds hid almost all the stars while the bright lights blaring down were not much of a help either as they blinded the few stars not hidden by clouds.
So due to the unfortunate circumstances he had been forced to have his students imagine where the stars would be if given better conditions. But the class unfocused and rowdy was none too interested in hearing lectures on stars and telescopes especially when school was normally out of session.
"Criminey! This is so stupid. You can't even see a single star." Helga pushed the telescope away from her.
Arnold glanced up. "You know, Helga, we're supposed to be doing this project together. I'm doing all the work."
The blonde girl waved a fist in front of the boy's face. "Hey, hey, hey! I've been trying to find the stars! It's not my fault that are not stars out, is it?"
"Gosh fellers, I see lots of them stars. Oh and they're moving around!" Students turned to watch Stinky who was delighted that he had been able to spot the glowing rocks they had come to observe.
Gerald rolled his eyes. Placing a hand in front of the telescope a few of Stinky's so called 'stars' landed on his finger. Drawing his arm close to his face for careful scrutinizing, the boy narrowed his eyes.
"Uh, Stinky, these are fireflies, not stars."
"Aw, gee," said the tall southern boy, disappointed with the lack of greatness in his discovery.
"So that's where my fireflies went off to..." Nadine, abandoning her telescope went to recapture the lightning bugs.
"What's the point of doing this? We are not going to find any stars," snapped a still frustrated Helga. A small girl next to her gave her friend a shy yet amiable smile.
"It's not all that bad, Helga. I'm finding this experience to be quite interesting and informative."
Helga acted as if she did not notice Phoebe share a glance with Gerald. She sneaked a quick peak at her beloved who was sitting only but a mere few feet away from her.
His jellybean green eyes were studiously working on the sheet Mr. Simmons had given each group to complete before the small excursion was over. The boy paused in his work to shift his weight in one of the chairs that had been brought up to aid in observation of the various celestial bodies.
Letting out a deep, frustrated sigh, the boy lifted his eyes from the paper. A strange smile formed on his lips. Perplexed, Helga spun her head around to see what had caught his attention. She immediately realized what had distracted Arnold, or more accurately who.
She subconsciously scowled, fists clenching in anger, heart pulsing with envy at the sight of the person who had attracted her beloved's attention.
Chestnut hair pulled back into two secure braids, a prim green dress, freckles sprinkled across her face left over from spending too much time outside, brown eyes shining with sweetness, and a pleasant smile plastered on her lips: Miss Perfect.
Anger and resentment burned bright in the blonde girl's eyes of fire. Life wasn't fair. Why couldn't she have been born the object of her love's affections? When would Arnold ever look upon her with those emerald green eyes of his, lost in his love for her?
"Helga? Um, Helga?"
Startled out of her thoughts, she spun back around to find none other than Arnold looking slightly annoyed at her and her tendency to drift off.
"Don't you ever startle me again, you yellow-haired shrimp!" snapped the girl.
"I didn't mean to," the boy replied bitterly, but Helga just ignored the comment. Slumping back down in a chair she muttered under her breath.
The boy studied her while she fiddled with a pencil. An eerie silence loomed between the two children while the others were buzzing around chattering like chipmunks.
Finally fed up with the bad attitude and how uncooperative his partner was acting, Arnold shattered the silence between them.
"Helga, are you going to help me or not?"
Angry eyes fluttered up to meet his. "No." She stood up. "I'm going to see if I can grab any food from the cafeteria."
"You think getting something to eat is more important than finishing this project?"
"Well yeah, Footballhead, I did skip dinner." Before Arnold could open his mouth to protest she was gone.
The boy let an irritated groan escape. It wasn't fair! Why did he always have to get Helga as his partner? Why couldn't he have been paired up with someone he got along with better?
"Hello, Arnold." The boy looked away from the sky to meet the freckle-faced girl standing beside him. Someone like Lila.
"Hi, Lila. How are you?"
"Oh I'm just ever so wonderful, Arnold. Thanks for asking." The girl paused to glanced around the roof crowded with their classmates. "Um, was I mistaken or wasn't Helga with you just a few moments ago?"
"Well yea...she's my partner. But she went off somewhere to get something to eat."
"Oh. Would you mind if I joined you?" Lila batted her long eyelashes.
"Of course I wouldn't mind," replied Arnold, pulling up a chair for her.
***************************
Helga could feel her stomach rumble with an intense hunger. Thankful that the lunch ladies had not locked the cafeteria, she stepped into the room and over into the kitchen. Off to the corner a wire that had been accidentally left in gave off a spark, but it was too small for Helga to take any notice of.
"So this where the lunch ladies keep their stash...." She trailed off. She had found the prized dessert freezer.
She opened it and began to chow down on ice cream, assorted pudding flavors, and cookies. After a few minutes of scarfing down food feeling like Harold might be rubbing off on her too much she wondered if she should head back up to the roof.
She would bring Arnold some delicious desserts up and ask for his forgiveness. Feeling confident with her new plan, she stood up only to get her dress caught on the refrigerator. For a few minutes she struggled to get it loose, but was unsuccessful in her vain attempts.
She thought about just ripping the dress, but then frowned at the idea of her returning to the roof to try to apologize to Arnold with a huge rip that extended all the way up her leg. Too proud to do that she continued the hopeless task of trying to get her dress uncaught.
Unbeknownst to her were a few sparks that flew near the entrance of the kitchen. She did not hear the sound of the short-circuit. She was too preoccupied with prying her dress loose so she could return to Arnold's company on top of the roof under the romantic sky. She did not see the first small flame ignite....
*******************************
Arnold turned back to Lila. They had been having a very pleasant conversation for a while now. He enjoyed her wonderful manners and sweet presence. He felt like the luckiest boy in the world to be given a chance to talk to her under the romantic evening sky, which although lacking stars was still beautiful.
For one reason or another the chill had almost vanished. Arnold wondered if it was from being with her.
Lila looked up at Arnold giving him one of her ever so sweet smiles. "Arnold?"
"Yes?" He edged closer towards her, feeling his heart begin to quicken its pace.
"I just wanted to tell you that-"
Arnold could not hear the rest because a sharp ear piercing noise struck the air. Startled and frightened the students turned to Mr. Simmons.
"Oh my word that must be the fire alarm. Now I want everyone to use the fire escape along the side of the school and proceed in an orderly and safe manner...."
A few students grabbed the telescopes, but most were abandoned because of the difficulty of trying to carry them down the ladder.
Leaving what Lila was about to tell him forgotten, Arnold worriedly climbed down. There was a strange smell in the air. It was more distinct as he reached the pavement. It was the smell of smoke! Was there an actual fire?
Mr. Simmons quickly led the students to the other side of the street. From there they could see dark smoke coming from one side of the school building.
"Boy howdy, it's a real fire!" shrieked Sid. All the children gasped at the sight.
"Oh, my, I must go notify the firestation." Mr. Simmons darted to the nearest pay phone. There had been so many false alarms the past year they had needed to disconnect the alarm to the firestation so there was no way of the fire department knowing of an actual fire unless someone directly contacted them.
"911...please get me the fire department! It's an emergency!"
"Please state the location of the fire."
"PS 118, the elementary school."
While Mr. Simmons was notifying the police, Arnold stood watching the school, getting a very strange feeling that something was missing. He glanced around the students gathered on the sidewalk, all the while searching for that face. He paled. He searched again. The face was not amongst any of the crowd. Voices echoed in his mind.
*"I'm going to see if I can grab any food from the cafeteria."
"You think getting something to eat is more important than finishing this project?"
"Well yeah, Footballhead, I did skip dinner." *
He had completely forgotten about her. Lila had been too much of a distraction and had kept him from noticing that Helga had not returned. Could she have just gone home? No it was not like her to leave without so much as a 'goodbye' or at least some sort of exit. She was still in the building.
Arnold could sill hear Mr. Simmons talking on the phone, very panicked. If the firemen could not come in time...
A horrible vision flashed through his mind and he knew immediately what he had to do. Without a second thought he began to run towards to the school, disobeying Mr. Simmons strict orders of staying on the other side of the street.
"Arnold, what are you doing?" His best friend's deep voice called after him. Arnold glanced back over his shoulder.
"Helga's in there!" Arnold did not wait to see Gerald's response. Without looking back he darted into the school building.
"Helga's in there!" Phoebe's echoing cry was the last thing he heard. Everyone began to gasp and murmur. Then someone let out a small scream. Flames could now be seen. The fire was spreading...
********************************
Helga looked around her frantically. She was trapped. By the time she had smelled the smoke and the alarm had gone off the fire had blocked off the entrance she had taken.
She glanced down at he dress and the long rip it now had exposing her underwear. If only she could have not acted like Rhonda and not cared whether or not her dress had a long tear even if she would have had to undergo extreme humiliation.
But now there was now way out. She was going to be burned alive, or suffocate from the thick smoke, or both. There had to be way, but there were no windows in the kitchen. If she had taken her goodies to the cafeteria to eat she would not have been in this predicament.
A few drops of seat rolled down her face from nervousness and the intense heat. She could feel the sweat being mingled with salty tears.
A life ending at only nine years of age. She was too young to die. She had not done everything she wanted, not tasted every food, not seen the world, graduated from high school, nor told Arnold her secret.
Tears flooded down her cheek now. She would never get a chance to tell Arnold how she felt, of course he would probably discover the truth after she went to the pearly gates in the sky, but by then it would be too late. They would never be together....
"Helga? Helga, where are you?" The voice was faint, but the girl recognized the speaker instantly.
"Arnold?!"
"Helga, where are you?!" he repeated.
"I'm in the kitchen, Arnold, I'm trapped, trapped like a rat!" she screamed.
"I'm coming," called the boy.
"But there's no way you can get in!" shrieked the girl. "Is there?" For a few minutes she did not hear his voice again. The fire, which had been spreading out the doorway into the cafeteria was now beginning to creep its way closer to her. She trembled. The end was coming.
"Helga!" The girl looked up to see Arnold standing on a thin ledge only a few feet wide that extended around the kitchen. The kitchen room had no actual floor dividing the 1st from the 2nd: it was just a tall room.
"How did you get up there?"
"Never mind that." The boy studied the girl below him and the roaring flames that were edging their way towards her. "Okay, Helga, I've got an idea."
"Arnold, in case I don't make it, there's something very important I want to tell you."
"Don't think like that," said the blonde boy as he took off his sweater and then the red plaid shirt leaving him with just a white t-shirt to cover his upper body. Ripping both of the shirts he had discarded in half, he tied the sleeves together forming a make shift rope. Tying it to one of the pipes that extended from the walls of the ceiling, he threw it down to Helga. It just reached her.
"Grab on! I'll pull you up!" She glanced at the flames only a few feet away from her. She took one hand and grasped the cloth rope and had the other grasp it farther up.
Arnold took the top part of the clothing and pulled, trying to drag the girl up to him, to the safety of the ledge. Straining his muscles he yanked with all his might while Helga tired to raise herself at the same time by moving her hands cautiously up the 'rope.'
She could hear the seams of the clothing begin to rip and she tightened her grip.
"Only a little farther, Helga. You're almost there." The blonde girl glanced back down. Flames blazed wild and fierce like an untamed lion where she been standing just a few moments ago.
"It's going to snap," she shrieked tearing her eyes away from the flames to the boy above her still hauling on the rope.
"No, its not," said the boy firmly.
Tears trickled down Helga's cheeks and disappeared into the fire. "Arnold, if the rope breaks and I fall, please just get out of here and save yourself. Promise me you'll do that."
"The rope is not going to break!" Helga had never seen him so stubborn. She cringed as she listened to hear a few other seams snap. The cloth rope could not take the strain of her weight, not even with Arnold helping it along.
"Just a little farther...." The boy gritted his teeth, drops of seat rolling down his face, which was reddened from the extreme heat. Inching closer up to the ledge Helga could now see how Arnold had reached it. There was a small passageway to it from the second floor.
For a split second Helga thought she was going to reach the ledge. Arnold stretched one of his hands towards her while the other sill grasped the make shift rope. Taking one of her sweaty palms from the cloth rope as well she reached out to Arnold's extended hand.
Their fingertips brushed. Arnold leaned down a little closer to her...SNAP!
Helga let out a high scream as she heard the last of the seams break. She closed her eyes, ready for the flames below her to swallow her whole as she felt herself begin to plummet down.
********************************************
Aw gee! My pen just ran out of ink. Oh well. I guess I might as well stop it here. I was going to end the first chapter here anyway...
Shall I continue? The next part or two is already written, that is if you want to read them, so tell me what you thought....
I sorta typed this kinda quickly so there might be some grammatical mistakes. I've been editing it, but I'll apologize beforehand. Sometimes I type too fast and carelessly when I get hit with lots of inspiration.
Oh BTW, the next part of 'You Make It Feel Like Christmas' will probably be up soon. Sorry it took me a while (hopefully I'll finish it before next Christmas). I've got a list of excuses, but I don't think you'd appreciate hearing them all.
So, without further ado here's the first chapter out of who knows how many....
The Fire
Disclaimer: Okay, tell me the truth. Do you really think I own HA! or that I even might just happen to work on the show? Now be honest....
Chapter 1: Of Flames and Friends
It was a crisp evening in late autumn. The leaves had already changed into vibrant colors and most had made their way from high up in the branches of trees to the hard nearly frozen ground below. The sun had almost descended completely leaving only a few shimmering rays that could be seen off to the distance. With that exception the evening was a dark coal black cake with a few sprinkles of stars. The moon was thin: only a small slimmer could be sighted.
A peaceful tranquillity lingered in the chilly air. The city appeared to be content, at rest, without a care in the world. But over one particular place in the city there was a very different sort of atmosphere.
"Class! Class! Please everyone simmer down!" Mr. Simmons was desperately trying to keep control over his 4th grade students. He had come up with the brilliant idea of having his class come back after school to study the stars from the school's roof. His plan had not worked to the extent he had hoped for. Despite the clear skies that been predicted, thick mists of clouds hid almost all the stars while the bright lights blaring down were not much of a help either as they blinded the few stars not hidden by clouds.
So due to the unfortunate circumstances he had been forced to have his students imagine where the stars would be if given better conditions. But the class unfocused and rowdy was none too interested in hearing lectures on stars and telescopes especially when school was normally out of session.
"Criminey! This is so stupid. You can't even see a single star." Helga pushed the telescope away from her.
Arnold glanced up. "You know, Helga, we're supposed to be doing this project together. I'm doing all the work."
The blonde girl waved a fist in front of the boy's face. "Hey, hey, hey! I've been trying to find the stars! It's not my fault that are not stars out, is it?"
"Gosh fellers, I see lots of them stars. Oh and they're moving around!" Students turned to watch Stinky who was delighted that he had been able to spot the glowing rocks they had come to observe.
Gerald rolled his eyes. Placing a hand in front of the telescope a few of Stinky's so called 'stars' landed on his finger. Drawing his arm close to his face for careful scrutinizing, the boy narrowed his eyes.
"Uh, Stinky, these are fireflies, not stars."
"Aw, gee," said the tall southern boy, disappointed with the lack of greatness in his discovery.
"So that's where my fireflies went off to..." Nadine, abandoning her telescope went to recapture the lightning bugs.
"What's the point of doing this? We are not going to find any stars," snapped a still frustrated Helga. A small girl next to her gave her friend a shy yet amiable smile.
"It's not all that bad, Helga. I'm finding this experience to be quite interesting and informative."
Helga acted as if she did not notice Phoebe share a glance with Gerald. She sneaked a quick peak at her beloved who was sitting only but a mere few feet away from her.
His jellybean green eyes were studiously working on the sheet Mr. Simmons had given each group to complete before the small excursion was over. The boy paused in his work to shift his weight in one of the chairs that had been brought up to aid in observation of the various celestial bodies.
Letting out a deep, frustrated sigh, the boy lifted his eyes from the paper. A strange smile formed on his lips. Perplexed, Helga spun her head around to see what had caught his attention. She immediately realized what had distracted Arnold, or more accurately who.
She subconsciously scowled, fists clenching in anger, heart pulsing with envy at the sight of the person who had attracted her beloved's attention.
Chestnut hair pulled back into two secure braids, a prim green dress, freckles sprinkled across her face left over from spending too much time outside, brown eyes shining with sweetness, and a pleasant smile plastered on her lips: Miss Perfect.
Anger and resentment burned bright in the blonde girl's eyes of fire. Life wasn't fair. Why couldn't she have been born the object of her love's affections? When would Arnold ever look upon her with those emerald green eyes of his, lost in his love for her?
"Helga? Um, Helga?"
Startled out of her thoughts, she spun back around to find none other than Arnold looking slightly annoyed at her and her tendency to drift off.
"Don't you ever startle me again, you yellow-haired shrimp!" snapped the girl.
"I didn't mean to," the boy replied bitterly, but Helga just ignored the comment. Slumping back down in a chair she muttered under her breath.
The boy studied her while she fiddled with a pencil. An eerie silence loomed between the two children while the others were buzzing around chattering like chipmunks.
Finally fed up with the bad attitude and how uncooperative his partner was acting, Arnold shattered the silence between them.
"Helga, are you going to help me or not?"
Angry eyes fluttered up to meet his. "No." She stood up. "I'm going to see if I can grab any food from the cafeteria."
"You think getting something to eat is more important than finishing this project?"
"Well yeah, Footballhead, I did skip dinner." Before Arnold could open his mouth to protest she was gone.
The boy let an irritated groan escape. It wasn't fair! Why did he always have to get Helga as his partner? Why couldn't he have been paired up with someone he got along with better?
"Hello, Arnold." The boy looked away from the sky to meet the freckle-faced girl standing beside him. Someone like Lila.
"Hi, Lila. How are you?"
"Oh I'm just ever so wonderful, Arnold. Thanks for asking." The girl paused to glanced around the roof crowded with their classmates. "Um, was I mistaken or wasn't Helga with you just a few moments ago?"
"Well yea...she's my partner. But she went off somewhere to get something to eat."
"Oh. Would you mind if I joined you?" Lila batted her long eyelashes.
"Of course I wouldn't mind," replied Arnold, pulling up a chair for her.
***************************
Helga could feel her stomach rumble with an intense hunger. Thankful that the lunch ladies had not locked the cafeteria, she stepped into the room and over into the kitchen. Off to the corner a wire that had been accidentally left in gave off a spark, but it was too small for Helga to take any notice of.
"So this where the lunch ladies keep their stash...." She trailed off. She had found the prized dessert freezer.
She opened it and began to chow down on ice cream, assorted pudding flavors, and cookies. After a few minutes of scarfing down food feeling like Harold might be rubbing off on her too much she wondered if she should head back up to the roof.
She would bring Arnold some delicious desserts up and ask for his forgiveness. Feeling confident with her new plan, she stood up only to get her dress caught on the refrigerator. For a few minutes she struggled to get it loose, but was unsuccessful in her vain attempts.
She thought about just ripping the dress, but then frowned at the idea of her returning to the roof to try to apologize to Arnold with a huge rip that extended all the way up her leg. Too proud to do that she continued the hopeless task of trying to get her dress uncaught.
Unbeknownst to her were a few sparks that flew near the entrance of the kitchen. She did not hear the sound of the short-circuit. She was too preoccupied with prying her dress loose so she could return to Arnold's company on top of the roof under the romantic sky. She did not see the first small flame ignite....
*******************************
Arnold turned back to Lila. They had been having a very pleasant conversation for a while now. He enjoyed her wonderful manners and sweet presence. He felt like the luckiest boy in the world to be given a chance to talk to her under the romantic evening sky, which although lacking stars was still beautiful.
For one reason or another the chill had almost vanished. Arnold wondered if it was from being with her.
Lila looked up at Arnold giving him one of her ever so sweet smiles. "Arnold?"
"Yes?" He edged closer towards her, feeling his heart begin to quicken its pace.
"I just wanted to tell you that-"
Arnold could not hear the rest because a sharp ear piercing noise struck the air. Startled and frightened the students turned to Mr. Simmons.
"Oh my word that must be the fire alarm. Now I want everyone to use the fire escape along the side of the school and proceed in an orderly and safe manner...."
A few students grabbed the telescopes, but most were abandoned because of the difficulty of trying to carry them down the ladder.
Leaving what Lila was about to tell him forgotten, Arnold worriedly climbed down. There was a strange smell in the air. It was more distinct as he reached the pavement. It was the smell of smoke! Was there an actual fire?
Mr. Simmons quickly led the students to the other side of the street. From there they could see dark smoke coming from one side of the school building.
"Boy howdy, it's a real fire!" shrieked Sid. All the children gasped at the sight.
"Oh, my, I must go notify the firestation." Mr. Simmons darted to the nearest pay phone. There had been so many false alarms the past year they had needed to disconnect the alarm to the firestation so there was no way of the fire department knowing of an actual fire unless someone directly contacted them.
"911...please get me the fire department! It's an emergency!"
"Please state the location of the fire."
"PS 118, the elementary school."
While Mr. Simmons was notifying the police, Arnold stood watching the school, getting a very strange feeling that something was missing. He glanced around the students gathered on the sidewalk, all the while searching for that face. He paled. He searched again. The face was not amongst any of the crowd. Voices echoed in his mind.
*"I'm going to see if I can grab any food from the cafeteria."
"You think getting something to eat is more important than finishing this project?"
"Well yeah, Footballhead, I did skip dinner." *
He had completely forgotten about her. Lila had been too much of a distraction and had kept him from noticing that Helga had not returned. Could she have just gone home? No it was not like her to leave without so much as a 'goodbye' or at least some sort of exit. She was still in the building.
Arnold could sill hear Mr. Simmons talking on the phone, very panicked. If the firemen could not come in time...
A horrible vision flashed through his mind and he knew immediately what he had to do. Without a second thought he began to run towards to the school, disobeying Mr. Simmons strict orders of staying on the other side of the street.
"Arnold, what are you doing?" His best friend's deep voice called after him. Arnold glanced back over his shoulder.
"Helga's in there!" Arnold did not wait to see Gerald's response. Without looking back he darted into the school building.
"Helga's in there!" Phoebe's echoing cry was the last thing he heard. Everyone began to gasp and murmur. Then someone let out a small scream. Flames could now be seen. The fire was spreading...
********************************
Helga looked around her frantically. She was trapped. By the time she had smelled the smoke and the alarm had gone off the fire had blocked off the entrance she had taken.
She glanced down at he dress and the long rip it now had exposing her underwear. If only she could have not acted like Rhonda and not cared whether or not her dress had a long tear even if she would have had to undergo extreme humiliation.
But now there was now way out. She was going to be burned alive, or suffocate from the thick smoke, or both. There had to be way, but there were no windows in the kitchen. If she had taken her goodies to the cafeteria to eat she would not have been in this predicament.
A few drops of seat rolled down her face from nervousness and the intense heat. She could feel the sweat being mingled with salty tears.
A life ending at only nine years of age. She was too young to die. She had not done everything she wanted, not tasted every food, not seen the world, graduated from high school, nor told Arnold her secret.
Tears flooded down her cheek now. She would never get a chance to tell Arnold how she felt, of course he would probably discover the truth after she went to the pearly gates in the sky, but by then it would be too late. They would never be together....
"Helga? Helga, where are you?" The voice was faint, but the girl recognized the speaker instantly.
"Arnold?!"
"Helga, where are you?!" he repeated.
"I'm in the kitchen, Arnold, I'm trapped, trapped like a rat!" she screamed.
"I'm coming," called the boy.
"But there's no way you can get in!" shrieked the girl. "Is there?" For a few minutes she did not hear his voice again. The fire, which had been spreading out the doorway into the cafeteria was now beginning to creep its way closer to her. She trembled. The end was coming.
"Helga!" The girl looked up to see Arnold standing on a thin ledge only a few feet wide that extended around the kitchen. The kitchen room had no actual floor dividing the 1st from the 2nd: it was just a tall room.
"How did you get up there?"
"Never mind that." The boy studied the girl below him and the roaring flames that were edging their way towards her. "Okay, Helga, I've got an idea."
"Arnold, in case I don't make it, there's something very important I want to tell you."
"Don't think like that," said the blonde boy as he took off his sweater and then the red plaid shirt leaving him with just a white t-shirt to cover his upper body. Ripping both of the shirts he had discarded in half, he tied the sleeves together forming a make shift rope. Tying it to one of the pipes that extended from the walls of the ceiling, he threw it down to Helga. It just reached her.
"Grab on! I'll pull you up!" She glanced at the flames only a few feet away from her. She took one hand and grasped the cloth rope and had the other grasp it farther up.
Arnold took the top part of the clothing and pulled, trying to drag the girl up to him, to the safety of the ledge. Straining his muscles he yanked with all his might while Helga tired to raise herself at the same time by moving her hands cautiously up the 'rope.'
She could hear the seams of the clothing begin to rip and she tightened her grip.
"Only a little farther, Helga. You're almost there." The blonde girl glanced back down. Flames blazed wild and fierce like an untamed lion where she been standing just a few moments ago.
"It's going to snap," she shrieked tearing her eyes away from the flames to the boy above her still hauling on the rope.
"No, its not," said the boy firmly.
Tears trickled down Helga's cheeks and disappeared into the fire. "Arnold, if the rope breaks and I fall, please just get out of here and save yourself. Promise me you'll do that."
"The rope is not going to break!" Helga had never seen him so stubborn. She cringed as she listened to hear a few other seams snap. The cloth rope could not take the strain of her weight, not even with Arnold helping it along.
"Just a little farther...." The boy gritted his teeth, drops of seat rolling down his face, which was reddened from the extreme heat. Inching closer up to the ledge Helga could now see how Arnold had reached it. There was a small passageway to it from the second floor.
For a split second Helga thought she was going to reach the ledge. Arnold stretched one of his hands towards her while the other sill grasped the make shift rope. Taking one of her sweaty palms from the cloth rope as well she reached out to Arnold's extended hand.
Their fingertips brushed. Arnold leaned down a little closer to her...SNAP!
Helga let out a high scream as she heard the last of the seams break. She closed her eyes, ready for the flames below her to swallow her whole as she felt herself begin to plummet down.
********************************************
Aw gee! My pen just ran out of ink. Oh well. I guess I might as well stop it here. I was going to end the first chapter here anyway...
Shall I continue? The next part or two is already written, that is if you want to read them, so tell me what you thought....