Author Note: The responses that I've received so far are very positive and constructive, and because of that I thank you all so much for the very helpful input. I'm not ashamed to admit that my tenses are my weaknesses, and hopefully with your help, I will improve. Yes, after Helga have meet with Arnold I will write the reason why did she ran away from home. But with this chapter right now it just covers a portion of the actual picture, to keep the story interesting. And I hope you will find it interesting too. The reason why Helga left her sister a note is because she indeed got closer with her as she grew up, but not as close that she would share everything with her. She has matured, but the sibling rivalry is still there. Olga will have a role to play in this story, since I don't want this story to be Arnold and Helga alone. And I want the early chapters just to be a story about her journey. Helga knows Arnold's address, since in the chat Craig stated that she always write letters to him, but never actually send any. So I assume Helga knows where he lives. Hopefully these answers all your questions. Oh, and another thing, I've updated my profile again, and I invite all of you to read it. Changing of the Guards will be up for reading after the weekends and a new one shot fanfic called "Nothing Has Changed" will be up this weekend. Hopefully.

Legal junk: I don't own Hey Arnold, but Nickelodeon does and Mr. Craig Bartlett created it. But this fic belongs to me. Clear? Good.

Chapter 2: Broken

With his heart still swelling with fury, Bob drove his car around the city without any particular destination to go to. If the road was still in front of him, he'll continue. If there was a dead end, he'll turn around back and resumed his journey to nowhere. He suddenly had this idea of visiting his favorite watering hole, which he hadn't been there since the last six months, to drown his sorrow. His nerves were absolutely wrecked right now, as if it was hit by a train many times over. Oh how he wanted to build a peaceful, loveable family like the ones in television. But no, what he had now was a broken, miserable, and a dysfunctional family. He was so frustrated with that thought that he banged his fist on the steering wheel, inhaling through his clenched teeth. Some wife he had. The traffic light showed red, and with an exasperated sigh, he slowed his car down to a halt.

Suddenly his cellphone started to ring. Though he was called the 'Beeper King', he still brought his cellphone everywhere with him. What would a businessman be without his trusty cellphone by his side? He groaned in annoyance, he shifted his body a little, and took his cellphone out from his pocket.

"What?" he growled, holding his cellphone as if he wanted to crush it into tiny pieces.

The caller was a bit startled at the rather hostile response. Building some nerve up, she finally answered him, "Daddy? Is that you?"

"What, Olga?" he replied rather reluctantly. "I'm driving right now."

"Is mommy and Helga with you?"

He wanted to yell at her, but since he always had a soft spot on her, he tried to control his rage and replied, "No, Olga…" he said, rather menacingly on Olga's name, "They're not with me."

"Oh… where could they be?" she said worriedly to herself. "Daddy… I have something important to tell you…"

"Is this about Miriam, Olga?" he barked back, "I don't want to talk about right now."

"No, daddy… this is about Helga. She left me a note saying—"

"What?" he cut her off, "running away?"

"Yes, daddy. Are you going around town to find her?"

"What are you talking about? I'm the one who kicked her out from the house!"

"WHAT!" she exploded incredulously.

"I don't want to talk about it. So be quiet."

"Oh daddy how could you…" she began to sob, saying with a melancholic voice.

"I said enough! I don't want to hear another word from you anymore Olga!" And with that he abruptly cut the conversation off and threw his cellphone on the seat next to him.

On the other side of the line, Olga could only heard the engaged tone in disbelief of what her father had done to her baby sister. She slowly put the receiver back on the phone, and slowly she slid down to the floor weakly and started to cry. How could he do this to her sister, she thought. Sure she was a bit of a rebel, anti-social and badly behaved sometimes, but that wasn't an excuse to kick her out from the house. After a bit of sobbing, she tried to pull herself together to collect some thoughts. If her parents didn't want to look for her, then it was up to her to find her beloved sister. She then went back to her room to get ready.

-

Miriam sat on a bench alone alongside with her luggage at the city's main train station, crying and sobbing. People couldn't care less at the miserable sight as they walked by the distraught mother and wife. With crumple of tissues in her hands, she used them to wipe her tears, asking why such fate had befallen to her. She defended Helga from him, she tried to be a good mother, but somehow, she failed. She felt guilty about it. Maybe the decision of running away to her mother's house in South Dakota was foolish on her side, leaving her responsibility as a mother and a wife away. Wife… why did she even married that halfwit, incompetent, selfish man anyway…

She looked around, and saw a phone booth next to her. Maybe with talking with her daughters, they might ease her guilt a little bit. She wiped the tears off, and got up and proceeded towards the booth. She deposited some coins inside, and called Olga's cellphone number. Her cellphone was a gift from Bob that he had given to her upon her graduation from Wellington College. "Olga…" she said hopefully, "will you please answer the phone…"

Her cellphone rang a cheerful tone and vibrated so strongly that it shook the table. Olga quickly dashed out from the bathroom and ran over to her room to answer it. Oh, thank goodness it was her mother…

"Hello, Olga?" she asked brokenly.

"Oh mommy. I'm so glad it's you…" she replied with a relief, as she stroked her wet hair back.

"Listen… Olga. This is a very tough decision that I made, but I'm going to your granny's house for a couple of weeks for a while until this whole thing is over. Is that okay with you?"

"I suppose its okay… I guess…"

Judging from her daughter's tone, it certainly wasn't assuring. "Are you okay, honey? Is Helga there with you? Is she all right?"

"I'm just fine, mommy… but the same can't be said for little sister…"

Her maternal instincts alerted her, "What? What happened to her?" she asked so worriedly, "Is she all right?"

"She…" she didn't know how to break the dreadful news to her.

"What? Speak up, honey. There's a train coming. I can't hear you right."

"She… ran away…" she said softly, almost whispering, but it can't be heard by Miriam.

"What?" she said with a louder tone, "Louder. I can't hear you Olga."

"She ran away from home mommy, and I don't know where she's going!" she finally said, almost yelling, and again, she began to shed tears.

Miriam nearly fainted upon hearing the unbearable news, releasing the receiver from her hand. "This is all my fault… my fault…" she thought to herself, as she curl into a fetal position inside the booth, crying. The receiver was dangling from the phone.

"Mommy? Mommy?" Olga tried to talk to her, but the only answer she got back was indistinctive cries of sorrow and sadness from a despaired mother. She didn't want her mother to become like this. It was too much for her to hear her mother in such a state. Slowly, after gaining some thoughts, she said to her mother in a hope that she could listen, "Mommy, I'm going to go out and find Helga. Whatever it takes."

Miriam could hear some optimism coming from Olga. Maybe this was the opportune moment she was searching for to prove to herself and her daughters that she can be a competent mother. With her shaken arms, she grabbed the receiver back and said to her, "Come and pick me up. I'm at the Central Station right now. Just go straight to the main entrance and meet me there. I'll find her with you."

"Okay… I'll see you there." Olga replied back, and ended the conversation. She felt that the weight of the world was suddenly put on her shoulders. She had to mend a broken family, restore her parents' relationship, and a little sister to find. Such a heavy burden for such a young woman to bear. As she was about to leave her room, she remembered that Helga would always go to her best friend's place to vent her frustration out. She went downstairs to the phone and called Phoebe.

"Phoebe, honey?" her mother called from below. "Phone's for you."

"Coming, mother. Ask the caller to hold on for a while." She said, while putting some final touches on her school assignment.

"Could you wait up for while, please? Thanks." Her mother said. After a moment, Phoebe descended down the stairs from her room and went over to the phone.

"Who is it?"

"I don't know, but she sounds pretty distressed." She replied back as she gave her the phone. Her mother then left to the kitchen.

"Hello. May I enquire who is calling?"

"Phoebe. This is Helga's sister, Olga."

Phoebe became troubled and worried all of a sudden. "Yes…?" she replied concernedly as she twirled the phone's cable, "Can I help you?"

"Is Helga there with you?"

Phoebe feared the worst. It couldn't be. It was impossible. Did Helga really do what she just said she would do? "No… well, she was here… but…"

"She was at your house?"

-

Flashback…

Helga was stunned, in disbelief, and in horror at what Bob just did to Miriam. He turned around, and saw the shocked Helga staring at him in terror. She couldn't move, she couldn't open her mouth, and she was too scared to do anything. Bob glared back at her in fury. Sternly, he said to her while pointing outside to the stairs, "Get back to your room, girl." He said in a rather harsh, threatening tone through his gritting teeth. But Helga still didn't do what she was ordered, as she gazed at her mother, who had her face drowned on the couch, sobbing, that Helga suddenly felt so sorry for her.

Challenged by her daughter's defiance of his authority, he scanned around, and saw a pretty looking ceramic vase on a pretty looking table with pretty looking flowers placed inside it. He snatched and abruptly threw it at Helga. "I SAID GO!" Her survival instinct kicked up, and she snapped back up, successfully dodging the projectile. The vase hit the wall behind her and shattered into a hundred pieces. Miriam cried out loud upon hearing the crash.

"Shut up!" Bob roared with a fit of rage.

Once more, Helga couldn't believe what she just saw. How could her own father did this to her? She realized that Bob was too dangerous to stay with under one roof right now, and so she ran out of the house, bringing her dejectedness and her sorrow along with her. She felt unwanted.

"Fine! Go on! LEAVE! Good riddance! If I ever see you in this house again, I swear I'll kill you!" Bob shouted from inside the house, as Helga ran away as far as he could with her eyes all teary. She needed a shelter. She needed someone to hear her out.

-

Tears dropped to the carpeted floor, making a weak, yet soft thudding sound, as Helga thought of her miserable state. Maybe it was a good decision she made after all, running away from all the lunatics in her house. She sniffed, and wiped the tears off from her eyes. She looked around her surroundings and saw nearly, or roughly half of the seats at the gate were taken, suggesting it wasn't a full flight tonight. She looked to her left, and saw a man reading a political magazine, minding his own business. She then looked to her right, and saw her baggage. Beyond that, there were two women, having a conversation in Spanish, which she couldn't comprehend since she understood little about that particular language. She looked in front of her, and saw a woman holding her baby, trying to make her sleep.

She then thought, she was all alone now.

The airport tannoy jingled a happy tune, and an announcement followed afterwards, "Ladies and Gentlemen, United Airways flight UT2004 to San Jose, Costa Rica is ready for boarding at Gate 17." The female announcer said in a welcoming, friendly voice.

It was her flight. By now, everyone who was waiting got up from their seats and went over to the departure door.

"All passengers are advised to go to Gate 17 immediately for boarding. Please present your boarding pass to the appointed personnel before proceeding to the aircraft. Keep in mind however that all humor regarding airport and airline security will be taken seriously. Thank you for your cooperation, and have a pleasant flight." The airport tannoy once again, jingled a happy, yet catchy tune, indicating that the announcement was finished.

Helga then joined the masses and queued up to wait for her turn. When her turn finally arrived, she gave the personnel her boarding pass, and smiled weakly at him. He replied back a soft smile, and said, "Hi. It's your first time traveling alone, huh?" Helga nodded weakly, and then proceeded into the long walkway, which connected the aircraft and the airport together. At the end of the walkway, she was greeted by two friendly stewardesses, who were somewhat tired and trying hard not to lose their smile. Her seat was in the coach section at the back of the aircraft, next to a window, which she expected to see nothing since it'll be dark outside once the plane got into the air. After saying thanks to the nice steward who helped her put her bags into the luggage compartment, she then took her seat. As she gazed at the view outside, watching the airport staff loading cargo into the belly of the aircraft and performing last minute checkups, she wondered, "There's no turning back now…"

Hopefully in later chapters I will paint Bob as a more thoughtful, caring husband and father than he is now. It's just not right to always write him as Helga's antagonist. Well, that's that. Hopefully you enjoyed it.