"I don't think that you understand what I am saying." A shrilly voice of a middle-aged woman, probably going through the menopausal stages blathered on the line. "Now, I demand that you reverse that transaction back because of your invalid product!"

Before I could respond, an odd electrical hiss filled the line making me wince. I tried to fix the line signal through the computer interface but it seemed completely busted. Then somehow, the woman's irate voice permeated the hiss until it was completely gone.

"Hello? Hello! Are you listening! Don't you dare drop the phone on me, young man! Or I'll…"

"I'm still here ma'am." I took a deep breath and fought for my composure which was quickly slipping away after an hour of talking nonsense with this woman. "Yes, ma'am I understand that you are saying," I spoke in a calm practiced voice while feeling sick and tired of my damn part-time job. "However, I have to follow company policy. We have to verify with if the product was indeed invalid before we reverse your transaction. If you could just let me…"

"I don't think you understood me." The woman on the other end scoffed and I wrung the telephone wire tighter around my wrist perhaps subconsciously hoping I could wring it around her neck. "I demand that I speak to your supervisor! Don't you forget that I'll report this incident you incompetent fool! Now…"

I rolled by eyes at Gerald who was listening at the conversation from the sidelines eyes narrowed with a vein beginning to pulsate in his forehead. "Listen." I said in a rather snappish tone that made the woman pause her endless bitter tirade. "If you give me 5 minutes, only 5 minutes of your precious time," I muttered lacing every word with a hint of sarcasm. "I will contact our technical representative to clarify the matter. Ok? Is that fine? Only 5 minutes."

"Ok." The woman gave an exasperated groan. "But you better…."

"Ok? Ok. Fine. Thank You. Please stay on the line." Then I pushed the "hold" button with a little bit more force than I intended it to giving the keyboard a loud jolt.

"Man…" Gerald growled, rolling his eyes in frustration. "Hot damn, Arnold! If I took that call I would have put her in her damn place! Who the hell does she think she is anyway treating you like a moron with that high and mighty attitude?" He cracked his fist menacingly.

"Save it, Gerald." I sigh and readjusted the headset before punching in the number of the technical representative. "It's not worth it." Within a few rings, he answered and I relayed our client's problem in the best say I could. In a few seconds, I had the answer for a call that was equivalent to an hour of useless ranting. I managed to thank the technical representative before dropping the call with a grim sort of satisfaction.

"What?" Gerald asked with his eyebrows raised. "Don't tell me its her fault…"

"Well," I gingerly rubbed my swollen temples, feeling the beginnings for migraine. "Based on the info she gave, it turns out that she was trying force the product into a com line that is not configured to use it."

"I knew it!" Gerald screeched, making some people within the office area turn to look at us.

"Yeah." I steeled myself as I released the "hold" button. Normally, I pride myself for being calm and composed whereas the whole world appears to be in turmoil. Of course, there are moments where there appears to be some dents in my armor but I never really burst in frustration. There was only one person who could have made me snap but…

"Hello! What took you so long!" The client's voice irritated voice sounded. "Is this that incompetent..?" I didn't bother waiting for her to finish and risk another long tirade of complaints. Instead I quickly narrated what the technical representative told me.

After wasting an hour of her and my time with unending demands, I was rewarded with silence. The female client remained oddly quiet and unable to retort any further, perhaps seeing her mistake. A part of me wanted to grate on her nerves further; had she let me go instead of dropping sarcastic remarks, the ticket would have been solved quicker. But I chose not to. As I said, it wasn't worth it. And once, I was satisfied that she finally understood what I was saying judging by her continued silence, I terminated the call without saying goodbye. Once it was all over, I felt a nagging kind of guilt at not being as courteous as I am accustomed to before I swatted the thought away. What is done is done.

"Arnold, remind me again why the hell we sit here for four hours every other day just to get yelled at by someone who hasn't read the friggin' manual?" Gerald muttered through gritted teeth.

"Does the word 'college', ring a bell?" I stood up, stretching my numb legs.

"Oh that…" Comprehension seemed to dawn in Gerald's eyes and a look of sadness crossed his face. "I just wish there could have been another job that we could take."

"Well, you could have flipped burgers." I turned off my client computer and began packing up, relieved that my long day was coming to an end. "But according to Phoebe you need to have flipped 5 million burger patties before earning enough to pay a year worth of tuition fees."

Gerald looked like he was about to say something but then bit it back. I fought back the urge to tell Gerald my canned "It's going to be OK" statement and stuck to feeling sorry for my best friend.

The Gerald, I used to know didn't really have plans to enter college. Back then Gerald, didn't bother planning for the future. He was a guy that lived life for the moment. Of course, there were some things he wanted in life but Gerald believed in "Que Sera, Sera"…

At 18, Gerald was around 6"2 and built like a he was made to be the next sports superstar. Honestly, I would have thought that Gerald would have devoted himself completely to sports like he did when we were younger. When we entered high school Gerald was all set to be the main jock of our batch until things back at home caught up with him.

Jamie O had unceremoniously dropped out of college and ended up being a professional bum. It had come in as a shock to their father, who continues to be the sole breadwinner of the family. No amount of reprimand could get through the older sibling and no one was more affected but Gerald, who felt that it would be his responsibility to carry on for the family. From that point on, Gerald threw his MVP jersey and focused a lot more on his academics, hoping to get into a decent college to get a degree to fast track on his future. Although, Gerald didn't actually believe the merits of a college education, thinking that it would be better to go straight to the job market instead of spending another four years in an academic institution, he didn't want to let his dad down again.

So here is Gerald now, a changed man, hoping to catch up on years of neglect on his studies while saving enough to try to get himself through the next few years. "I would have used the paycheck to pay for the bills at home than waste it on some crummy college." Gerald muttered bitterly.

Together, we walked towards the shift supervisor and handed in ou temporary Ids, signaling the end of the day. The supervisor gave us a curt nod and the glass doors of the office slid open letting two exhausted teenagers out. Since, it was not allowed for us to bring in our bags inside the office, we headed for locker room to collect our stuff. There was nothing but complete silence between Gerald and me as we didn't waste any time to eagerly to get out of the suffocating office space to the cold yet smoggy nighttime breeze.

A part of me is slightly envious of Gerald. He was a man on a mission to make his life and his family better. As for me… The past two years had left me with a broken future with no obvious direction. I give myself a mental shake, trying to stop those thoughts from entering my head but it seemed as if fate, or whatever it is out there that kept things going, wasn't about to let me off so easily.

"What about you, Arnold?" Gerald asked all of the sudden, as if he read my mind.

"What about me?" I looked at my friend expectantly, who seemed to be avoiding my gaze.

"Why do you continue to work at this place? It's not as if you need the money or you'll be graduating soon." Gerald ended with a quiet note in his voice.

I laughed a little, hoping to break the tension that seemed to creep behind us. "Are you afraid I'm doing this for you?" I didn't like the quiet concern Gerald had, it made me feel depressed.

"Well….yeah…" Gerald rubbed his neck nervously, perhaps unsure about my reaction. "You don't have to take that kind of abuse so that you can help me or anything. I can take care of myself."

"I'm not just doing it for you, Gerald." I sighed and saw my breath appear like a ghostly apparition before me. "I just want to keep myself busy…you know…and what better way to do it that to share a part-time job with my best friend besides its better than joining up on some of the good for nothing gangs around here, don't you think?" I smiled hoping to lighten up his mood.

Gerald smiled back and gave me a friendly slapped in the back. "If you say so, Arnold." And we began our walk home.

I was glad that I didn't have to explain to Gerald how I felt. Gerald knew that the only way I kept myself together all these years way to immerse myself in a hurricane of activities. There are certain memories that I find too hard to escape and the only way I knew how was to keep my mind occupied at all times. If I didn't allow my mind a single moment of rest, I hoped that one day my heart would be able to stop lingering on the pain of loss.

Two years ago, I received an anonymous tip, along with a photo, that my parents had been spotted somewhere in the small island of Borneo, in the Asia Pacific, which was contrary to the what I thought when I was younger, that they were in South America. Without any other thought, I quickly took the opportunity to search for my parents. It didn't matter to me that I had to stop schooling and leave everything I knew behind. At the age of sixteen, I left by myself to go to a land that I knew nothing of, other than what I had researched before my leave. My gut was telling me that if I didn't take that opportunity, then I would never be able to find my parents.

If in my romantic dreams, I was reunited with my parents within a few weeks time, six months of trotting around an unknown land, sustained only by weekly allowances coming from my grandparents, yielded no positive result. In my six-month stay, the mystery surrounding my parents and their exact line of work proved to be more mind-boggling than ever. Some said they were missionaries. Others said they worked for non-government organizations protecting the environment. While there was some rumors that they were secret agents or spies of the US government.

I never intended to give up my search, but after months of futile attempts, I received news that devastated my spirits. It was Mr. Hyunh who broke the news of my grandfather's death.

Shortly after I left, Grandpa Phil suffered from pneumonia that eventually turned to some lung complication. Rather, than going to the doctor to have his condition cured, Phil insisted on sending nearly all of their earnings from the boarding house to me. Despite his age, Phil continued to tackle the constant maintenance of the boarding house, by himself further worsening his condition until one day he never woke up from his morning rest at the couch.

I flew back to the United States immediately. Much to my surprise, when I got back much of the work had been taken care of by the Big Bob Pataki who seemed to have grown closer to my grandpa despite hostilities in the past. In the days following my grandfather's death, I pained me so much to see my grandmother. Gertie had lost all spark of life she had in her eyes and was replaced by gray vacant eyes that occasionally shed a tear replaced them. In a short span of time, Gertie became bedridden, as if she had lost all will to live. And I could do nothing, but watch as my grandmother, the last of my family, slip away in silence.

At sixteen, I lost my family and the only things that kept me going were my friends and the boarders who were as good as a family as I could ever get. I enrolled back to school with my friends a year ahead of me and since then I made sure to make myself busy so I won't feel depressed at truly being alone in this world.

"Hey Arnold?" Gerald waved a hand before my face, looking concerned. "Are you alright man?"

"Huh?" I blinked and gave myself a mental shake. "I'm OK." I glanced at our surroundings and shivered. Hillwood has certainly seen better days. Today, the city seemed to be deteriorating quite rapidly and this part of town appeared to be a testament to that. Most buildings appeared run down and the street lamps needed electricity. In the small block that I surveyed, my eyes were quickly drawn to a brightly lit convenience store that seemed to be the only decent thing in the area.

As we strode closer to the convenience store, a feeling of unexplained foreboding settled upon my shoulders and I felt strangely lightheaded. I cast a wary glance behind me, half expecting someone to jump from behind but there was no one there. I took a deep breath and tried to bury the uneasiness that I felt.

I reached the convenience store before Gerald and by that time a seed of fear a formed deep in my mind. I was no longer feeling lightheaded, instead I felt so heavy as if my whole body was made out a rock and I could no longer move. I dreaded that feeling. It was a feeling I am all too familiar with. It was the feeling that I have lost something… Or am about to lose it…

"Please help us!" A voice pierced through my senses. I whipped my head up to see an elderly lady cowering from behind the counter.

"Shut up!" A harsh voice rang but I couldn't see who it belonged to. And I head footsteps coming closer.

Quickly, I glanced at Gerald, who was wide eyed with beads of sweat forming in his brow. "Call the cops!" I mouth with utmost urgency.

Gerald didn't seem to hear me but then he nodded. "Let's…"

Without warning, there was another scream and glass beside me broke into a million pieces. I warm blood trickle down my cheek as some shards hit the side of my face. "Who's there!" The same harsh voice demanded. "Get in here!"

"Go! Get the cops!" I mouthed to Gerald, who seemed rooted to the spot. I was about to yell at him, when he broke into a run and was swallowed by the darkness of the street. I gulped down my fear and entered the store with my hands held over my head.

"Please…" I stuttered my hands shaking. "I'm unarmed." I looked up hoping to see the face of my attacker but all I saw was some guy wearing a black ski mask complete with silver reflector goggles, a dark turtle neck sweater with matching gloves. Of course, I didn't think a guy wearing clothes that was meant for the South Pole mattered to me that much considering he was waving a gun at my face.

"Arnold?" An awed voice said. Confused I turned to look at source of the voice which turned out to be another man, slightly taller than me, dressed the same way as the gun man, who appeared to be sacking the convenience store's supply of potato chips and liquor. I didn't recognize the voice that called out but that didn't come as a surprise to my rattled state of mind.

"Shut your trap, moron!" Another voice joined in, this time it was deeper and sounded more menacing.

A burly looking man appeared from behind one of the shelves and walked towards the other guy and slapped his head from behind. Unlike the other two that appeared to be dressed for Antarctica all in black, this guy didn't bother to conceal his identity. The man could have been in his early thirties, looking very much like any stereotypical bad guy complete with a shiny bald head, mean looking tattoos on heavy muscled biceps and scars to prove that he has been into some rough scuffles.

He looked at me from head to toe. "You'll get us in trouble kid." He muttered like some kind of unspoken threat before walking to the store room that appeared to be on the back of the store. "Get in here!"

The words didn't register to me at all, that was until one of the crooks shoved me roughly by the shoulder making catch myself before I fell to the floor. "Move it!" The guy with the guy yelled.

I was in no mood to argue, considering I was outnumbered three to one. Any thoughts of me, taking on these people left my head. There was no way I can take on three big men carrying guns all at the same time. Our only hope left was for Gerald to get to the cops quickly.

And all I can do is to stall them.

On the outside, I looked like a pathetic wreck, eliciting a chuckle from one of captors as I manage to trip on my untied shoe laces. But inside I was trying to calm myself by focusing on following what these guys wanted but taking my sweet time so the cops can get here. I was about to pull myself up from the floor when I felt a weak hand grasp my arm.

"Please," The elderly lady managed to say through her tears. "Take this to my husband. He needs his medication because…"

"Hey! No talking!" One of our captors moved in. I pushed the elderly lady away at the expense getting kneed at my chin. "Her husband needs his medication!" I sputtered, not being able to talk well because of the pain.

"Yeah shhhuuure…" The guy laughed and turned his back towards me for a split moment. That was all I needed to scoop up whatever the old lady wanted to give me. I was confused when my hand focused on a cold syringe filled with some kind of transparent fluid. I looked at the old lady in confusion but her eyes were pleading me to get the medicine or whatever it was to her husband. I gave her a slight nod and somewhat crawled dramatically, in an attempt to conceal the syringe in my fist, to the backroom eliciting more laughter from the hooded men.

The backroom was dimly lit with a bunch of neatly stacked cardboard boxes filled with all kinds of merchandise. It was just a regular storeroom, but something felt odd in the air. It was almost as if the air was like a transparent storm cloud, heavy and electric. I couldn't see the burly man from a while back but I could see a pale old man, drenched in something akin to cold sweat, lying unconscious near a stack of wooden crates.

I scrambled up my feet to reach him. "Sir?" I hissed urgently, hoping to get some response but got none. I grabbed his wrist and to my relief was blessed with a weak pulse. I checked the syringe that the old woman tried to give me. On the side of the syringe there was a small marking that labeled it as glucose.

Then I realized that this man was suffering from Hypoglycemia, otherwise known as Insulin Shock. This condition happens when the body's blood sugar is abnormally low and the person becomes unconscious thus bearing the term Insulin Shock. Those survival guide books were of use after all. I checked the syringe making sure that there were no bubbles in the solution. But before I was able to give the old man his much needed shot, I staggered to the floor as I was knocked behind by some hard object.

"What the hell do you think you're doing!" A voice behind me screeched.

"Sorry!" I shouted with my heart filling up with righteous anger. "It's just that this man needs his medicine…"

"Do it later when we're done!" My assailant kicked me in the stomach and I doubled over in pain. "Right now we have to…"

"Freeze! Drop your weapon!"

Although, I was still in great pain at that point time seemed to slow down to a vicious crawl. I did not feel being yanked up and my arm being twisted to my back so I can be used as a human shield. Nor did I feel the harsh shove forward.

The only things that registered were the deafening sound of a gunshot and the feeling of the bullet making contact with the back.

I did not feel my body as it hit the hard floor. I did not feel the wound behind slowly turn into a tide of blood. Instinctively, I began to mind began to go through a checklist on how I was doing. My pupils were wide and dilated but I could see. There was an incessant ringing sound in my ears but I can hear. The smell of gunpowder still hung around in the air and the blood, from my earlier blows, dripped to the side of my mouth that I can taste.

But I couldn't feel.

Which may be all for the better. I reckon that if I could feel right now, it wouldn't exactly be such a good thing.

From a distance, I can hear the sounds of an ambulance wailing as my vision begins to blur. The world in this kind of sight felt strange it was almost as if I was seeing some transparent things floating around the space I occupied in. From the corner of my eye, I see someone approaching. In a split moment I wonder at the irony of things. Here I was, half expecting the paramedics or the police to come and rescue me. Instead, all I see was someone in a high heeled shoe.

I looked up, and gasped at the sight of the person who was now kneeling before me. Although, her features had matured, she still wore the same pink dress she wore on that fateful Valentines day from nine years ago. Her beautiful long blonde hair fell to her slender shoulders in soft cascading waves. She had a peaceful smile around her that made the world seem to fade to white. But what was the most astonishing feature about her were her crystal blue eyes that seemed to sparkle with an unearthly glow. She reached out for my hand and I was surprised at how warm she felt.

"It's going to be all right, Arnold."

And I died.

-0000000-

A/N: Hello everyone! Yes it has been a long time since I last updated this fic. I have began writing this chapter for a quite some time but I never got myself to finish it. I couldn't quite imagine how I was going to kill off Arnold…the circumstances surrounding his death was very difficult for me to write. I'm very sorry if this chapter was just as depressing as the first.

Anyway, today I just watched 'Constantine' and somehow I got inspired to write again since some of the themes in this fic was somewhat close to that movie. I'll reveal the books / graphic novels that inspired me to make this fic on Chapter 3.

Once again I apologize for grammatical errors that are in this fanfic. I won't actively update the grammartical errors while the fic is still unifinished. Hopefully, I will update it once I finish the whole thing…if I actually find enough time to do so since I'm very busy with my work. But don't worry, I have a pretty solid idea of what Chapter 3 is going to be like. Until then enjoy and write to Nick that we want more 'Hey Arnold!'