These characters are from the sweat-beetled brow of Craig Bartlett... lucky stiff.
Rated PG-13 cause I felt like it, and some characters might end up nude later. We'll see...
Enjoy.
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Helga and Arnold stood on the second floor of the Sunset Arms boarding house, facing each other warily. Helga, still dressed to face the blizzard outside, stood with her back to the cold darkness of the upper reaches of the building, while Arnold stood in the doorway to the stairwell, framed by the warmth and soft amber glow of the downstairs, the cool sultry strain of a jazz CD drifting up to caress them. She was brimming with life, he felt dead inside. "I guess it really was a bit much of me to expect that you'd actually listen to me for a change." he said with a half smile and gestured for her to follow him down to the first floor. Arnold had been in the grips of deep despair after the deaths of his grandparents, and had moved to seal himself off from the outside world, but Helga and Phoebe weren't quite ready to give up on him just yet.
Reaching the landing, Helga began to peel off several of the layers of cold weather clothing she wore, as the first floor of boarding house seemed to be well into the eighties. Looking around, she was pleased to see that Arnold was not wallowing in self pity as the spotless look of the first floor rooms hinted that he'd been keeping himself busy. Every horizontal surface seemed to have a broad, round candle on it, softly sharing it's light and warmth with the master of the house. Their numbers in the hundreds, the entire downstairs seemed to be bathed in an even shadowless amber glow, and this went a long ways in explaining the heat. Looking to Arnold, he shrugged with a little smile,"Grandma went through a 'Summer of Love' phase about a year back. Made about a million candles... we were keeping them in Ernie's old room." Scrutinizing the candles more closely, Helga saw to her shock that each one was not merely a sphere, but rather a little smiley face, an odd contrast to Arnold's mood.
Helga continued to shed clothing as Arnold disappeared back into the kitchen, returning with a bottle of brandy and two small glasses. Setting about to pour the drinks, he raised an eyebrow as Helga, already down to her tank top, began to shed her blue jeans. "Don't get your hopes up, my jeans are soaked. Just behave yourself." she said with a warm smile. Walking out into the darkened dining room, he returned in a moment with a pair of cutoff shorts, which he tossed to her. A loose fit (to say the least), they were still better than parading about in panties. Her clothes set up to dry, she settled in on the couch next to Arnold and sipped her brandy. A fine bottle, it's taste was smooth and warmed her from within. Silent for a time, Arnold finished his drink and looked at her. "Thank you for coming. This really is sweet that you were worried." and he leaned over a placed a gentle kiss on her temple.
She looked up into his sad, tired eyes as she emptied her own glass,"Well... I know how I felt after my dad passed on, y'know... but with this weather and all, I... well, Phoebe and I were worried that you might really be in a bad spot. I... I hope this is okay with you." He just sat there, seemingly lost in his own thoughts. During Helga's black moments of grief, Arnold had been the embodiment of strength, always there, propping her up, reminding her of her humanity, giving her reasons to go on. Slowly, she reached over and laid her hand on his, which startled him from his wool gathering. She tried to say it all with her eyes, but finally said," Um,... remember all you did for me back when I was going through all this? It's... it's like you said, the best way to honor someone's memory is to live a life worthy of everything you learned from them. Remember that? It's true, you were right. You can't let this eat you..."
Rather than respond, he stood and began to slowly pace the room. The gently breezes of his passing sent the multitude of candle flames dancing, which resulted in the illusion of the very fabric of reality seeming to shimmer and shudder in Arnold's wake. "I... I might have been wrong about that. I think... I'm not sure I can deal with this kind of thing. Loss and all that." Helga started to stand, but thought better of it, "Arnold, of course you can! Look at all you did for me! I mean, you've been alright about... your parents up to now. This is the same thing, right?" He continued is pacing,"Not really. My parents were... an abstraction. I mean, I sorta knew I had them... but all the evidence was second hand. I didn't remember them. But Grandpa... Y'know, I've spent the last ten years doing everything I could not to think about it. I guess I knew he'd die one day, but it all seemed unreal..."
Suddenly, they were both startled by a high pitched rattling noise coming from somewhere in the room. Looking about, Arnold spotted the source; Helga's cell phone, the ringer set to vibrate, causing it to chatter and clack against the marble tabletop. Picking it up, he handed it to Helga.
"Hello?"
"Helga! It's Phoebe. Is everything alright? Have you found Arnold?"
"Calm down Phebes, He's right here, and everything's fine. We're talking right now." smiled Helga.
"Oh, thank goodness. I was REALLY getting worried. But if you two are safe..."
"Is that Phoebe? Can I talk to her?" asked Arnold, somewhat dispassionately.
Smiling, Helga handed him her phone.
"Hi Phoebe. Howya doin'?" he said softly.
"Oh Arnold, I'm so pleased that you're alright. We've both been so worried about you. But you sound much better now."
"Yeah..., well Helga and I were just comparing notes on personal loss..."
"Oh... uh, well. Um, I see..." Phoebe stammered
"I guess this sort of makes you odd girl out, eh? No real personal tragedies to add to the pile..." he said somewhat flatly.
"Ah... I suppose not. But... but I think I can still feel for your situations..."
"Unless of course, you got some loss of your own. Y'know, a few deaths in your life to even the playing field. Like... if you lost a pair of friends suddenly. Then I think you'd understand where Helga and I are..."
"A-Arnold... w-what are you talking about?" Phoebe was obviously shaken by the tenner of the conversation.
"What's the weather report look like, Phoebe? How's the storm coming along?"
"Huh? Oh... um, they say it should last for at least the next three days... p-possibly through the weekend... A-Are you going to be alright?"
"Well, let's see, I was totally unprepared for the storm, I didn't stock up on food, the powers out, and now Helga's stuck here with me... How do you rate our chances?" he said softly.
"A-ARNOLD! W-what are you going to do? We need to get someone to you!"
"We should risk more lives for us? I don't really see how my life is worth more than anyone else's. But hey, you'll understand how we feel. I mean, you'll really be able to relate..."
"Gimme that, jackass!" shrieked Helga as she snatched the phone from Arnold,"Phebes? ...Hey, he was just messing with you. We'll be alright. Don't worry about it. It's gonna be okay."
"But Helga, what about food and no power..." Phoebe was crying now.
"Phebes, it's gonna be alright! Trust me! I brought some supplies with me. We'll be okay... really!" said Helga, almost believing it herself. Arnold seemed to be trying to get the phone back, as Helga slapped at his hands. Finally, she pushed him back and fled into the darkened kitchen, Arnold in hot pursuit.
"A-Are you sure. I mean, really sure. Helga I couldn't stand to lose the two of you..."
"Phoebe, just put that notion right out of your head. Look, let me talk to Arnold, I'll call you right back."
She put away the phone and turned to see Arnold back lit in the doorway of the kitchen. "That was probably the shittiest stunt I think I've ever seen in my life. What was the point of that bit of cruelty? You mind telling me that? What was that suppose to accomplish?"
He was silent for the moment, then said softly, almost in a whisper,"She needed to be prepared... if we didn't make it through this. She needed to... understand what we've gone through..."
"Mister, it is not your place to decide who feels what and when! You've just guaranteed that she won't sleep a wink for a few days."
Again, the silence, then, "Helga... did Phoebe ever tell you about... us? She and I? We were... close for a little while a few years back." he seemed almost apologetic. "It didn't last long... we... broke up on good terms and all. We're still close, but... I needed to be straight with her. I'm sorry... but that was just between us."
"You don't think we'll make it?" Helga sounded genuinely surprised. He shrugged.
"Like I said... we're not really prepared for this. I'm not sure what we're going to do. Think we can make the trek out of here? Phoebe's house is only five blocks away. I guess we could try that."
But Helga's attention was drawn by something else. Stepping forward, Arnold assume she was coming to embrace him, but instead she edged past him, her brow furrowed as she was seeing something she wasn't quite getting. Turning, he saw what was causing her consternation; the soft light from the living room looked... odd. As one, they gasp as they entered to find several of the candles had tipped in their struggle... and the room was in full blaze.
To Be Continued
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