For Her

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A sequel to "My Muse", written by Miss Matched

Dedicated to Starry Nights, for being so encouraging.

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All standard disclaimers apply. Characters from "Hey Arnold" are copyright Craig Barlett and to whomever else they're copyrighted to. Original characters are original, and the author would like sole use of them, unless contacted for permission. All poetry/music in this fanfiction are also original, and once again, may only be used with permission. Thus ends this huge disclaimer. Meep!

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Chapter Nine:Nothing

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Point of View: Third Person Past Tense, because the author really bites!

Future

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Steam rose like a pale ghost from the small tea cup. Nervously, the raven-haired woman who was holding it stirred a lump of sugar into the drink. "Yes, the time machine was stolen, about two this morning, from surveillance tapes." she said. Although her voice was controlled, the clattering of the cup as she tried to keep it on it's saucer proved otherwise. Beside her, a man with coffee colored skin and very tall hair nodded.
"We could always build a new one, we still have our papers. It's not a matter of that. Someone who would just burst into a building like that does not have good intentions. Whatever he's planning on doing in the past will directly effect us now. And the frightening thing is, we have no control over it." He looked over at his soon-to-be-wife, who was sobbing. "But we'll build another one, Phoebes. We'll stop 'em."
"I'm afraid it'll be too late..." she whispered.
Helga looked up from her cup of tea. Readjusting herself on the brown leather couch, she looked back up at her best friend. "So, you said that you had a surveillance camera? So you got a good picture of the idiot who did this."
Phoebe nodded. "Well, not an extremely good picture, he was dressed in black with a ski mask. We gave the pictures to police, who're investigating now."
"But," Arnold began, "In many novels I've read, people held the beliefs that if someone from the past saw their future self, something tragic would happen."
Phoebe fidgeted in her chair, as Gerald answered. "You see, we didn't want to risk that either. So... when they go back in time, their future minds are embedded into their past bodies until whatever they've set out to accomplish is done."
A long silence followed as fear struck their hearts. The unknown had the ability to do that to one. Could everything that they lived for really be affected by one person?



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Present times

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"Everything had changed. Friendships had blow away like dust in wind. Like everything I had ever found comfort in had betrayed me, as if the sands of time scattered all around him, and I'm now alone."
"Wow, I should really be writing poetry now" Arnold joked to himself. But quickly his good mood passed away as he looked across his bedroom. It had not really changed, even though the boarding house changed hands after his grandmother's death just last year, and his grandpa's admittance into a nursing home. The new owner of the boarding house even let Arnold stay for free, joking lightly that her deserved it after all he had gone through with the boarders. Yes, Ernie, Suzie, Mr. Hyun and Oscar were all still there, and were finally getting used to the changes going on (and the bathroom being open more often). "Am I just afraid of change?" he asked himself. He shook his head no. "This just doesn't feel right. Nothing feels right anymore. Maybe nothing's really changed...


Maybe it's me."
He paused. "They always said I was dense." And thus, this became his mantra, a little excuse which went a long way.

Looking at the pictures on his desk, he smiled at the old ones he'd pulled out. Of a fifth grade Helga and himself goofing around, hogging the camera. Of a fourth grade Helga shoving her fist into the camera, and of the seventh grade Helga just days before she left. He wondered about her often. She haunted his dreams many a night. Words he had said in the past coming back to beat him.

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Flash back to Fourth Grade

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Gerald smiled "Anyway, congrats on you and Helga. Phoebe says she's really great when she opens up."

"We're not going out" Arnold sighed "I don't want to hurt her, so we're going to wait. After all, we're in fourth grade. Our whole lives are ahead of us."

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Flash Forward

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"I was never good enough for her. She's probably moved on by now, found someone new in New York. I've made too many mistakes to deserve her."

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Flash back to Fourth Grade

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She looked free, for once in her life. Happy, like she'd found her safe haven, hidden deep inside the lyrics and mingled with the melody...

"Words unspoken, tears unseen
a broken heart with broken dreams
one look at you and I mount on the wings of a dove...
I'm so in love..."

She scanned the audience, surprised to see them swaying in time to her slow song.

"I wanna walk a mile in your shoes
to know how you make me feel this way
I want you to feel every emotion I've felt
When you've just come up to say
hello
so you know
though it never shows
cuz my pride always stands in the way
there's something that I've always wanted to say..."

She stopped scanning her audience, and let her eyes rest on Arnold.
"I love you"

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Flash Forward once again to present times

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"I'm not going to cry... I'm not going to cry..." but his emotions betrayed him as he flopped down on his bed. "My life is over."


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Future

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"Arnold?" Helga asked, looking frantic. "Honey, you don't look too well..."
Trying to ignore the pain in his chest for the sake of his wife, he managed a half smile. "I'm okay, dear. How about you lead Phoebe and Gerald to the door." After making sure that Helga was out of the room, he let go of his composure, grasping his chest in agony. "Dear God, it feels like it's on fire!" he prayed. "Make it stop!" He fell to the ground, then nothingness.

"Where am I?" his own voice echoed around the room, proving it to be empty. The sound of his breath in his ears rang loud as he opened his eyes. Nothing. He was in the middle of nowhere, with nothing around him. He had seemingly ceased to exist.