Author's note: Thanks for the reviews. It's so cool to get so many!
Jesus Freak: Thanks, for the advice. I don't really know the rating system. We don't have it over here (at least not in such a serious form), and doing pretty fine without it. (There are no school shootings over here.) But I changed it to PG-13, just for you.
So, here it goes!
I'll continue right where I've finished the last chapter. The second, less comfortable part of the conversation. Things are going to get pretty messy.
Little white lies
"Sorry. I really thought I can help you to be happy. You... you deserve that boy. Even better." - Bob said.
"Thanks Bob... dad." - she said. Yes it happened. She called him dad, and not in some annoying, witty comment. This time she meant it. - "You know I was thinking. Maybe you're not here to solve my problems." - she said.
"No?"
"No. Maybe You're here... just to be here. Like now. I guess that's all I ever needed." - she said, as she leaned her head on Bob's shoulder. A huge weight was gone from Bob's heart. It was everything he needed to hear. He needed Helga more right now, that she needed him. He needed a purpose to his life. An anchor to this life.
A few hours ago, his shirt was buttoned out by the sexiest young woman he met in these years. He almost did it. He almost find a wrong way to escape from this empty life - just like other members of the family. Miriam to whiskey-land, Olga to her happy cheerleader attitude and Helga to her weird Arnold religion.
But at last, he found a reason to wake up every morning. He's not the CEO of the Cell phone Emporium in the first place anymore. He's a father.
He heard how Helga's breathing changed. She's calming down. Maybe she will fell asleep right now.
He looked at her daughter. She never seemed so peaceful before. She could have knew it better. He was the only one who could give peace to the girl - not some boy she's having a crush on. He was the real problem all along.
"See... I'm not such a monster after all. You don't need some football headed knight to save you from the tower." - Bob whispered to the girl. Suddenly, Helga opened her eyes, raise her head and looked into Bob's eyes. The man was surprised - those deep, meaningful blue eyes - it wasn't comparable to Miriam's or Olga's. Like there was a whole universe trapped behind them.
"You've read my diary, didn't you Bob?" - she asked his father in a dead cold voice. It wasn't something he expected to come up tonight. But of course. Helga the prisoner of the castle, Bob the guardian Dragon, and Arnold, the knight in shiny armor. It was an analogy from one of Helga's poems. He just didn't think it trough when he said it.
"It's not what you think... It was an accident."
"So you accidentally read my diary? How can you accidentally read something?"
"I... I..."
"You know, that's something that usually would not surprise me! But the fact that for a simple moment I wasn't perfectly alone in this word... That I felt you care about my feeling at least a little bit..."
"But I do Helga! Listen to me..!" - he said but Helga opened the door of the car.
"Listen Bob, I know what you want to hear! You're a great father! You were so nice in the passed three days that it completely made me forget about the last 17 years!" - she said as she shut the door from the outside. Bob got out of the car too, just to saw her daughter is crying again.
"Olga wait! I mean Hegla...!" - he shouted. Helga started to laugh, while she was still crying. Seeing her in the rain like this - the image burned itself to Bob's mind forever.
"It's Helga dad!" - she said laughing - "Of course. Just when I thought I may belong here. That I have the slightest chance for happiness here. I just can't have a single happy day, can I!" - she said, as she turned around and walked into the house. Bob caught something in her eyes - something he haven't seen in a long time. Since he looked into the mirror in the train station in a small European country many decades ago.
Deep down he felt he won't see Helga for a very long time.
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The flash of lightning made the boardinghouse look really sinister for the boy who lived here. Arnold was fed up with his past hunting him in the most unexpected places. It was the most wonderful night of his life. Like the passed years just vanished in a second. And then, there was that picture on the wall. That picture he had seen a thousand times... and still he never saw it before.
"Hey Short-man, what happened? She throw you out?" - Grandpa asked him. He was awake of course - it was the time for his midnight snack. It was the only time when he could find some quiet and peace in this madhouse.
"No." - he said, and took off a picture from the wall. He's mother and father was greeting him from beyond the grave. A part of him really hated this picture - hunting him trough all these years. But he couldn't quite tell why. Not until now.
"I never knew what's bothering with this picture, Grandpa. Not until now. Who's hand is it on Dad's shoulder?" - Arnold asked. Grandpa looked on the picture.
"Oh, that's just... Robin Williams. - he said - You know, I cut him off the picture after I saw Dead Poets Society. Eh eh eh... You had a pretty bad party short-man, why don't you go to bed?"
"Who is that guy Grandpa? For real? And why did you cut him off the picture?" - he asked.
"I don't know. But he looked creepy. I didn't want him on such a fine picture of you're parents." - he said, but he didn't look into Arnold's eyes.
"Are you sure it's not one of his friends we know?"
"I told you short-man, Miles didn't have friends in Hillwood. He traveled too much... and..."
"Stop it! Just stop it already!" - Arnold said angrily.
"What's wrong with you Arnold, I never saw you like this before!"
"I saw this picture! The whole picture! It's in the bedroom of Big Bob Pataki and his wife! They're the ones you cut off. And I want to know, why. And why did you lie to me constantly in the last seventeen years!" - he asked. He never used a tone even similar to this when he talked to his grandparents before.
But he was a teen. And he did exactly what a teen supposed to do: finding out he's been living in a lie, and rebel against his parents.
Phil took a deep breath and sit down. He was an old man, and part of Arnold felt really sorry for him. A man at his age is not supposed to deal with these things. But his anger was stronger.
"Oh, Arnold. I so didn't want this..." - he said - "Well, I guess you already found out you're father and Bob were... friends."
"Friends?"
"Well... best of friends you know. Like you and Gerald. Like me and that old fart Jimmy Kafka. I just... really hate that guy. Always did."
"So whenever I wanted to meet someone who knew my parents... Every time you said there's nobody... My father's best friend was living in our block?"
"Yes." - Phil said in guilt - "You're parents and the Patakis were inseparable. Bob was you're father's best man and... they joked a lot about you and that little brat with a unibrow shall be married someday..."
"Maybe we shall." - Arnold said, as he stood up - "I can understand you don't like Mr. Pataki. He's a difficult person. But I think the main reason you wanted to keep me from this knowledge, is because you didn't wanted me to find out that most things you said about my parents is simply the product of you're fantasy." - he said. Phil just looked on his shoes in silence.
"I'm sorry Grandpa, I'm sure you only wanted the best for me. Maybe even you believed those stories on some level. But you have to understand, you are the only source for me, to get to know my parents. You always been. And now I have to find out, I can't trust anything you told me anymore." - he said, as he turned around to go to his room.
"I just have to be alone for a while." - he said, and he found himself disgusted from the place, from the old man smell from all over the furniture, from the stinking pets his crazy grandmother took home. It was one of the rare occasions when he felt the fact with it's whole weight: he's an orphan, and he has nothing more than a pair of crazy old people he can call family. Roots.
"There's something you have to know short man." - Phil said. Arnold slowly turned around. He expected some typical "Forgive me, We love you, Forget the whole thing" kind of speech.
"You're parents could be still alive if they listened to Bob Pataki instead of an old fool like me." - he said. His face was like a rock, but his voice was shaking. Arnold wanted to run to him, hug him and tell him everything going to be alright.
But no. Not this time. - he thought. He loved Phil with all his heart - but right now, he simply couldn't stay in that house.
There are only a few people, who can tell what was the exact moment, when they grew up. For most boys it is a long journey, to become a man. But Arnold knew - right in that moment, when he stood on the stairs, and looked back on his grandfather, the man who raise him. How the lightning made all the shadows look long and alive, like they're ready to swallow the whole boardinghouse including the vulnerable old man shaking at the table.
With his head he knew Phil can be wrong, since he was 9. But he only now understood it with his heart.
Everything he heard, thought could be wrong. That's why the world never really made sense for him. That's why he always felt he's the one who have to help or save anybody. He's been living in a fairytale, where his parents were superheroes "missing in action."
Big Bob. From all people, the most selfish man on the face of the world is the one who could have saved his parents lives? And Grandpa, the most caring, gentle person in his life is the one who caused their deaths?
It was horrible to think of. World was so much more complicated than a few hours ago. Even such a simple feeling, like loving his Grandpa was a lot more messed up than ever before.
"Goodnight Grandpa. Sorry, I have to think this trough." - he said. The child Arnold would have run to his old man, hug him and cheer him up. But he didn't. He let the old man at the table, thinking about what he have done.
A minute later Arnold regretted that decision and went downstairs, but Phil went back to sleep at the bedroom by then. They missed the chance of making up. Maybe it was for the better - Arnold wasn't really ready to forgive, he just felt sorry for the old man.
Arnold himself couldn't sleep of course. He just wanted to get out of this place as fast as he could. He was thinking about calling Gerald, but he wasn't really sophisticated person. He just couldn't talk about such serious problems with him. He knew who's the only one who could understand him. So he dialed the number he so really dared to call.
"What?" - a violent voice answered. It was Helga's usual way to picking up the phone.
"Hey, Helga it's me Arnold."
"Listen Football head, maybe it's not the worst day of my life, but it's definitely in the Top 3. So if it's gonna be some lame apology, you better save it..." - Arnold was able to sense the sadness beyond the anger. She was crying. He never heard her crying.
"Helga, just listen to me! Please!" - he said, and he recognized he's on the edge of crying himself. He knew he was shocked by the events of this night, but didn't know this much. Helga noticed that too.
"Every thing's alright?"
"No." - he said - "Nothing is alright. And I'm not sure it's ever will."
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It was like a Sunday morning in hell. Olga and Miriam arrived home to a pretty huge mess in the house. Rhonda and some of her friends stayed longer to clean up the house after the party, but they just couldn't do the whole work. Helga locked herself into her room, listening to some pretty violent rock music in an intolerable volume.
So, when Bob wake up, he found Miriam sleeping at the table again, handling her secret lover Jim Beam, and Olga cooking while singing a happy little song. Of course he was cooking in the middle of the mess, that they called kitchen after the party - but the strange layers in her head, didn't allow her to notice uncomfortable things. Cleaning up didn't even cross her mind, because she felt more like cooking - which was pretty unnecessary, since the fridge was filled with food.
Hearing Helga's music was just the last thing. He saw his family - his once beautiful family for what it was for real. And it was some horrible picture. Helga was only the top of the iceberg. It was the reason for everything - why he escaped to his work. He just wanted to deny the horrible reality of this dysfunctional family. He grabbed yesterdays newspaper, and opened it at the ads.
He knew it is time to behave like the head of the family. What Helga told to him yesterday - he didn't wanted to be the "Father of the Week." Plus he almost did the worst thing - almost cheated on Miriam yesterday. He was even thinking about running away with the sexy little thing, leaving his family behind. It showed him how desperate his situation really is.
He grabbed Miriam's bottle, and filled a glass with whiskey.
"Hey honey, what are you doing?" - Miriam asked in her sleepy voice.
"Drink it." - he said with a cold commanding voice.
"What?"
"Drink it. This is the last tiff of alcohol in you're life, so try to enjoy it." - he said. Miriam just looked at him not understanding what's happening.
"You're cheating on me Miriam. Me, and you're family, with a bottle of whiskey. You did it day after day. Until now." - he said, as he handled her the paper - "And that's because you have way to much free time. Tomorrow you will get a job. I don't care if it's volunteer work - we have enough money. You can help other people instead of poisoning yourself and your family with this shit."
"But..."
"No buts Miriam. Not anymore." - he said. - "We will do whatever it takes. I will pay the shrink, you can go to antonyms groups, whatever. But I don't think you need it. - he said, as he grabbed the bottle, and let rest of the whiskey into the sink - "The main reason you're drinking, is that you're bored." - Miriam just stood there looked at him. Actually, she's been waiting to hear these words for years. To the return of her husband - the man he married.
"Okay." - she said. There was no other answer.
"What's wrong daddy..." - Olga started, but Bob stopped her from finishing.
"Stop right there missy!" - Bob said. He never called Olga missy before. - "I have some words to you too."
"What?"
"Why are you still living with us? Why did you move back here after collage in the first place?" - he asked.
"I just..."
"I know it's comfortable. But you can't hide here from the real world anymore. You've got addicted to our support. You need to hear how much we love you every day, and God knows I do love you Olga, but you must move out." - he said - "So I recommend you to look for a new apartment, right now." - it was horrible, kicking out her own daughter from the house. But it was needed to be done. He turned around to go upstairs, and tell Helga, to turn off the music, it's Sunday morning after all. Maybe he can talk to her about what happened last night too.
He knocked on the door three times, but there was no answer, so he entered.
Helga was gone, just like most of her stuff. There was no doubt - Helga left without even leaving a note. Yesterday - getting a ray of hope and then loosing it - was too much for her.
Bob prepared himself for this moment for years, but of course he wasn't ready. Helga wasn't like other teenagers. If she ran away, she meant it, she wont come back to apologize a few days later. She was just like Bob.
He closed the door. A father without child. That's what he was. And he knew, it's no matter what happened in his life yesterday, or what's going to happen tomorrow - he will find her daughter and take her back home. Suddenly all the priorities changed. Getting Helga back, became so elemental for him, like breathing or eating. He will get her back, even if it takes a lifetime. Even if he have to search trough every corner of every city of the world.
She's going to get grounded forever.
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Bob's quest to find her daughter has begun. But what role Arnold will play in the "search for Helga"? Find out in the next chapter! (God, I start to sound like the lame narrator of the old Batman TV-show :)).
So what do you think? Please review! Tell me right into my face, even if it sucks!
