Sorry it's taking so long, but I've got another chapter for you. And by the way, in the world in which Arnold lives in, the official language of Brazil is in fact Spanish. If kids can have football shaped heads, then Luciano can speak in whatever language he wants. Also in this world, Adam Sandler is my husband/sex slave. Fuck age differences.

Disclaimer: God I hate these things! Everyone already knows who Arnold belongs too JEEZ.



The Search: Chapter 6

Rhonda breathed heavily and looked up at Harold's window. She had been running around, looking for him all night. Seeing Harold's figure in the window made her throat become dry.
Up in his room, Harold was pacing around the floor. He knew that he had hurt Rhonda, but she had hurt him so many times he thought maybe it was justified. But Harold had changed over the many years and he wasn't the heartless type anymore. However, Rhonda still was.
Rhonda clenched her fist tightly, her mind screaming at her to do something. Why could she admit to everyone that she loved him, but she couldn't admit it to the person that mattered most? Her feet tried to walk closer to the door, but she couldn't move. She just couldn't do it. "What the hell is wrong with me??" she said, perhaps a little too loud. Harold's window was open.
"Huh?" Harold said as his head turned to the direction in which the sound had come from. He went over to his window and peeked outside.
Rhonda froze.
"Is that you Rhonda?" he said, squinting to see in the darkness.
"Uh... oh why hello Harold," she said coolly. "I uh was just stopping by to..."
"To?..."
"To," Rhonda said slowly, trying to come up with something. "To... pick up my things from your house."
Harold's facial expression sagged. "Oh... well come on in, my parents are asleep," he said with a dull tone of voice. "Try not to make any noise." Then he disappeared back inside and shut his window.
Rhonda looked around for a second, and finally walked up to the door. She silently made her way inside the house and up the stairs, cringing at the squeaky floor boards. Harold's door opened and he stood in the doorway. They stared at each other for a second before Rhonda finally entered. Harold closed the door behind her.
"Harold..." Rhonda said after a moment of silence. "I really need..."
"Your things, I know," he finished her sentence. "I would have put them in a box, but I didn't know that you'd be here to get them so early. I guess you want me out of your life as soon as possible..."
"It's not that... I just want my... day of the week underwear back. I'm missing Tuesday and you see, it's a very important day.... It's the one with the little monkey and the banana on it..."
"Is this it?" he asked, holding it up.
"Yes," she blushed and snatched it out of his hand. She realized it was one of the few times she felt nervous around him. Usually, she was the one in control.
"Here's your watch, CD's, some clothes, and some other stuff you left," he said, handing them all to her as he spoke. "Anything else? Oh let me take down all of your pictures so that no one will see them. I was getting tired of taking them down anyway every time Sid and Stinky would come over."
"I didn't know you were so ashamed of me," Rhonda said.
"WHAT?? Ashamed of YOU? Please tell me you're just being sarcastic! I wanted to tell everybody, but you said no!"
"Shh! Harold! You are going to wake your parents! And you can leave them up because I already told everyone tonight!"
"You - wait, what? What did you say?"
"I said," Rhonda's voice became quiet, "I told everyone. All of our friends know. They know how I treated you, they know what a bitch I've been, and they know how much I care about you."
"You... care about me?"
"Yes Harold, I do. Sometimes I may not be able to show it... but when I'm all alone and by myself, you're the one I'm thinking about. When you left tonight, I felt like I had pushed you away and I NEVER wanted that to happen."
"Why couldn't you tell me," he said. "You know I love you so why couldn't you say it to me? You never said 'Harold I love you' or 'Harold I'm so glad we're together'."
"And I'm sorry," she sighed. "But that's just the way I am."
"If I had to change... get a job... work on my image... then you have to work on your attitude."
"Okay," she said, dropping all of her stuff to the floor. Harold wrapped his arms around her gently and she leaned forward to kiss him. But Harold leaned his head back.
"Say it," he demanded.
"Just let me kiss you," she smiled and leaned closer to his lips.
"Say it," he stopped her.
"Fine," she sighed. "I love you Harold Berman."
"And??"
"I'm glad we're together... again..."
"Now... was that so damn hard?" he said, but she kissed him before he could said anything else.



"This is it," Arnold said, running his hand along the side of the plane. "This was their plane."
"Arnold, how do you know?" Helga said as she inspected it too. It was covered in rust and had deep scratches on the side. One wing was completely missing.
"I don't know. I just have a feeling."
"Oh please," she sighed. Helga looked around the area, searching for any other signs. Arnold reached up to climb into the front seat, but the plane lurched over. He looked up helplessly as the plane towered over him.
"Arnold, watch out!!" Helga yelled and grabbed his shirt sleeve to pull him away. The plane fell on its side with a loud thud that sent birds flying out of the trees.
"Helga!" he said with disbelief. "You saved me!"
"Yeah well, it's no big deal. If you died then who would I have to kick around?" she said. "When climbing into an old, unstable, rusted plane, maybe you should think about it first football head."
"Thanks anyway," he said.
"If they crashed here, it must have been a while ago because everything is overgrown. My guess would be about six or seven years ago."
"What's that?" he said, not really listening to her.
"What's what?"
"That right there," he pointed to a picture lying on the ground.
"I don't know, it must have fallen out."
Arnold picked up the picture, which was covered in mold due to the humidity, and stared hard at it. He could just make out two figures, a woman and a baby. "This was their plane," he said, showing the picture to Helga. "That's me!"
"Oh yeah!" she grinned. "Nobody in the world has a head shaped like that. But how do we know they survived the crash?"
"Just have a little faith Helga," he said. "I know they're out there... maybe they went back to the village."
"Then come on, we're wasting time," she said, dragging him away from the tipped over plane and back to the jeep.

A few miles later, they came upon a large quarantine sign. "We must be getting close," Helga said. "Remember what that woman said? They want everyone to think it's some big disease."
"Well if it's not a disease, then what is it?"
"I have no idea," Helga replied. Branches and vines scraped along side of the jeep's doors, causing a terrible screeching sound. "I think we're going to have to get out and walk," she said. "I can't drive anymore."
They got out of the car, taking two backpacks with supplies, and headed up the side of the mountain.
"Could it BE any hotter?" Helga said.
"It's not that bad," Arnold said as he ducked under a large palm frond blocking his path. "Just think about a nice, soothing, cold shower and it will take your mind off the heat."
"You take a lot of cold showers?" Helga said sharply and raised an eyebrow.
"You know what I meant," he said. "Besides, it's none of your business how many cold showers I take."
"Oh it's not, eh football head? I bet you wish it was Lila's business."
"Okay, let's change the subject," he said quickly.
"Why?" Helga asked. "Putting the heat on you makes me feel a lot cooler," she smiled. "I think we should talk about it."
"Well I don't."
"So Arnold, what's the farthest you've ever gone with a girl?"
"I'm not answering that."
"Okay, it will be a one-sided conversation then. I'm guessing you're still a virgin, well that's obvious, so you've probably gone to second base... but with who?"
Arnold was silent as they trudged through the lush jungle.
"Let's say... Phoebe."
"Phoebe?" he broke his silence. "Phoebe??"
"Yes. Why not Phoebe?"
"Come on Helga, you know Phoebe wouldn't do stuff like that."
"Do you do stuff like that?" Helga said, trying to pry the answers out of him.
"Why do you even want to know??"
"I just... I don't know, I'm making conversation," she shrugged.
"Okay then, let's talk about you. How is your sex life Helga? Do you have that special guy in your life yet? When was the last time you went out on a date?" he said bluntly.
"No, I remember asking you first," she said.
"All right!" he sighed. "Yes I am a virgin, surprise surprise!"
"What's the farthest you've ever gone?"
"I don't want to say," he said, looking away.
"What's the big deal," she said. "We're all friends here."
"You call us friends?" Arnold said, his gaze turning to her.
"Well," Helga shrugged. "I guess we're friends. Sure I hate you, but we've been through a lot. And I guess you've helped me out a few times."
"Nice to know," he smiled. "You're welcome."
"Hey, I wasn't thanking you for anything football head," she said sourly. "You know, forget everything I just said... except the part where I hate you." Suddenly, they both became very quiet.
They passed by more quarantine signs, and finally came up the edge of the village. "This is it," Arnold said, checking his maps. The village sat in the middle of a clearing in the jungle next to a wide river that led to a large waterfall upstream. Grass huts were spread everywhere and a few of the villagers were walking around with big, pointy spears in their hands.
"Is their an admission fee, or do we just walk on in?" Helga said as she looked around.
"I don't see a ticket booth, so I guess we just walk in and pray to god that these are friendly village people."
"And not the gay ones that sing," Helga added. "I don't know Arnold, I don't like the look of those spears."
"Come on, it'll be fine," he said, grabbing her wrist and leading her into the village. They passed by some of the grass huts and received some strange looks from the people inside. Arnold noticed that in every house, people were laying on the floor. "See, they don't mind. I'm sure they're used to tourists."
Abruptly, some of the men carrying the spears started yelling when they spotted them. Then, others joined in yelling and soon Arnold and Helga were surrounded by the big, pointy, sharp, dangerous spears.
"Come on, it'll be fine," she said, mocking Arnold.
"Why is it that all these Amazon people always seem to be so mad and unhappy whenever you hear or read about them?" Arnold asked.
"I think your huge football head has angered them," she replied.
A large man spat out a weird language at them and shoved his spear under Arnold's throat. "Se cica nobra!!!!"
"What the fuck is he saying??" Arnold whispered frantically to Helga.
"Something about not wearing a bra??" she said.
"Okay, your life is clearly not being threatened here, so could you help me out just this once?"
"What am I supposed to do??"
"Se cica NOBRA!!" the man shouted again.
"What is going on out here?" a man said, coming out of one of the huts. He had a baby on his hip and dark circles under his eyes. "Yal tora de lam nobra??" he asked the man threatening Arnold. He answered and lowered his spear. Arnold sighed with relief and wiped the sweat from his brow.
"Are you Arnold?" the man asked.
"Yes... how did you know?"
"I'm Eduardo," he replied. "Phillip and Joan told me about you."
"Are my parents still here??" Arnold asked impatiently.
"No, they left a few years ago. They... never made it back?"
Arnold's shoulders dropped and he looked at the ground. Helga noticed. "What do you mean they left? Do you know where they are?"
"They left a while ago... about five years. Phillip told me that they were going home for a short visit and to pick up more resources to help us in our search. When they never came back, I just assumed they had given up."
"Five years ago? Then I was right about the plane..." Helga said. "Well, did they ever send you a message or anything?"
"No they didn't. But come inside, I think I might have something for you."
Eduardo led them into the grass hut that he had come out of. Inside, it looked like a messy doctor's office. Papers were thrown all over the room, cotton balls and medical tools were in various places.
"Here," Eduardo said, digging underneath a stack of papers and pulling out a small leather-bound book. "This was your mother's."
Arnold handled it delicately and opened up to the first page. Helga looked over his shoulder to see it.
November 23, 1995: We've returned to 'Our Village', as Phillip calls it, only to come back to devastation. We assumed that it would take about two weeks to return home to Arnold, but I can clearly see that it's going to take longer. Looking for a cure will be the most difficult thing I've had to face because you can't cure a disease you don't know anything about.

Arnold flipped ahead in the book, figuring that he'd read the rest later.

January 15, 1996: We are getting no where with this disease. Phillip is sick, and I'm worried that he might have caught it. Hopefully it's just a cold.

"Excuse the mess," he said. "I've been a little busy as you can see. It seems as if this disease gets stronger by the day. I have been to busy with all the villages in this area of the mountain to even get three hours of sleep. That's why I haven't been able to contact your parents."
"You mean there are other villages that are sick?" Helga asked as Arnold read on.
"Yes, but this place has the worst cases. I lose about two people to it everyday."
"Well we've got a big surprise for you," she said, "it's not a disease."
"What?" he asked, stopping what he was doing.
"Look at this," Helga said and pulled the file that Luciano had given them from her backpack. He thumbed through them and mumbled to himself.

April 28, 1996: Eduardo has joined our search for a cure. We have decided to leave Our Village and go back home to see our son. Arnold, if you only knew how much I miss you. I've sent you so many letters, but you never reply. But I'll see you soon and that's all that matters.

"Letters?" Arnold said quietly to himself. "I never got any letters..." He turned to the last page and read on.

May 13, 1996: I think we have found something... As I was packing up some of our things, Phillip came in and asked if I wanted to take a walk around the village. We ended up at the top of waterfall and we found something very odd. I don't know for sure, but I think it has something to do with all the villages' sickness. All the trees have strange colored markings on them and on the ground underneath. We've called the local government and asked if they would take a look at it. Someone is coming out here after we leave, so hopefully they won't need us anymore and we can stay home... with our Arnold. If my assumptions are correct, then maybe the markings are-

Arnold turned the page, but it was the last one. "Hey, what happened to this last page?" he asked.
"This... this can't be right!" Eduardo said, still reading the papers.
"Trust me," Helga said. "It's the real deal. We have an inside source."
"What happened to the last page??" Arnold asked again, this time a little stronger. Eduardo and Helga looked at him. "There's a page missing, where is it??"
"I don't know," Eduardo said. "I never read Joan's journal out of respect for her."
"Well read it now," Arnold said, giving it to him and taking the files on the village. He turned to Helga and said, "They found something at the top of the waterfall. Come on, we've got to go look."
"What?" was all Helga could get out of her mouth before Arnold grabbed her arm and dragged her out of the hut.
"Strange markings?" Eduardo said aloud. Then he realized he was the only one in the room.

"Arnold, what are you doing??" Helga shouted over the roar of the waterfall. They were headed on the path next to the huge water fall that led to the high cliffs in which the river spilled off.
"Come on Helga," he said. "You've just got to trust me."
Finally, out of breath from running and climbing, they reached the top. It was a green, lush area that was surrounded by trees. As his mother's journal had stated, there were the trees with the different colors spray painted on them.
"Why does this look familiar?" Helga said.
"What do you mean?" Arnold asked.
"I've seen this before somewhere... I know I've seen this..." she thought aloud. "The maps! The weird documents!" Helga exclaimed. "I saw it in the bar! The papers that Luciano gave us, let me see them."
Arnold watched as she pulled out a specific paper and held it in front of her. The markings matched up. "But what are they for? The colors go from a bright red to a yellow and then to a blue."
Helga flipped through the paper, looking for anything with those colors. "Look!" she said and showed him a chart with the exact colors. "The colors... are for decoding chemicals..."
"Chemicals?" Arnold asked. "Then that means..."
"The water has been contaminated! This is why everyone is getting sick! See this map? It shows that this river is the villages main water source. It's effecting everybody."
"We did it Helga," he smiled and placed both of his hands on her shoulders. She smiled back warmly, but then remembered herself.
"Well we can't stand here all day lost in the moment," she said. "We've got a village to save."

They returned to the grass hut that they had ran out of. "Eduardo!" Arnold shouted. "We know why everyone is getting sick. You've got to tell everybody to stop drinking the water."
There was no reply.
Arnold and Helga stuck their heads in the doorway, but no one was there. "You sure we've got the right hut?" she asked. "They all look alike..."
"Oh it's the right hut," someone said behind them. "But you're at the right hut at the wrong time." There was the sound of a gun click behind Arnold's head.

To be continued...

**About the dates, I drove myself crazy trying to figure it out and do the math... but I gave up. If Arnold hadn't stayed nine years old for six years then maybe it would be easier. Oh well.