All right, now we get to the second part of "Married"! Sorry I had to wait, but the reviews system was wonky! The minute I heard they came back, I started back on writing the chapters like the dickens! Also, I think this is another pretty long chapter, so... yeah, there was a lot that needed discussing. Well, anyway, enjoy!
I just looked at Helga in disbelief. "What?"
"Are you deaf? You can't seriously be this dense!" Helga groaned. "Look, it's simple! You're me, the love side of me, the side that always loves telling poems, the one that I always want to show to Arnold in my timeline, but..."
Helga looked down. "...but I never had a chance to do it. Probably won't get that chance now..."
I just sat down for a moment as I looked back in the mirror, shocked. That reflection of Helga was still staring back at me. I then took out a pocket mirror as I looked at the face of myself... and compared it to the mirror that had Helga's face staring back at me. The other Helga appeared next to me in both mirrors as I looked down, the Helga staring at me in the other mirror also looking down.
Helga put her hand on my shoulder, which I noticed in the mirror that the Helga in my mirror and the mirror standing next to me had a slight difference... the Helga in my pocket mirror was putting her hand on myself, while the reflection of Helga on the nearby, standing mirror was putting her hand on the down Helga who was doing the same impression I was. "I know it's hard for you to accept... but have you always wondered why you act some ways you shouldn't?"
I thought back to the very beginning... it did explain a lot, actually... like why, back when I was organizing the play for the fruits thing, I was always interested in writing poetry, why I had a headache around Olga and Lila, why I always felt I loved Arnold...
"Tell me." I said as I turned to Helga. "Tell me the whole story... what did happen? Why am I... you? How, exactly, did it happen?"
Helga sighed as she got up. "Come with me..."
I just nodded as I followed Helga out of the room, wondering where she was taking me.
As she was taking me down the hallway, I looked around as we kept walking down the hall as I looked around the rooms and...
I suddenly heard a voice similar to mine as I noticed a door. I leaned my ear, as if to hear where the voice was coming from. I turned to Helga, who noticed as she walked over and...
"Heh, I see you found the narration room." Helga said as she opened the door.
I then fell down. "OOMPH!"
I looked up to see a small recording device going around as I heard my voice, but how could that be when my voic-
FIRST PERSON POINT-OF-VIEW NARRATION TURNED OFF
Helga turned off the device as Rhon-ga was looking around in confusion. Rhon-ga blinked. "Hey, what happened to the voice?"
"What you're not hearing is narration of your life as told by you." Helga explained as Rhon-ga looked at Helga in confusion. "You see, before the ending of third grade, I found this room and... well, I turned on the little device as I listened to the story of your life... it's a boredom reliever, at the most."
"Wait, so... this is basically a room where you can hear my life story, and you can turn it off and on at anytime?" Rhon-ga asked.
Helga smirked. "When you look at it like that, pretty much. To think, when I turned it on, and hearing your first words that I heard coming out as being 'I don't know what is happening to my life that turned it upside-down...'"
"...but ever since HE came into my life as a kid, I couldn't help but... well, pay attention... to... him..." Rhon-ga gasped. "I was actually thinking that as I was getting everybody rehearsing for the play!"
Helga nodded. "You guessed it. I turned it on at that moment... mainly because I needed a walk around your mind. To hear that come out, it just felt relaxing... guess I forgot to turn it off since. But it reminded me of... well, me."
Rhon-ga paused as she looked at the small device. It was certainly a very interesting device.
"Do you want me to leave it off or on?" Helga asked. "I don't mind either way."
"Eh... leave it on for now." Rhon-ga said.
"Very well." Helga nodded as she turned on the device again.
FIRST PERSON POINT-OF-VIEW NARRATION TURNED ON
I was still amazed at that device as I heard my own voice. "You have to admit, it sounds pretty... nostalgic."
"Yeah, well, enjoy it while it lasts. You probably won't be able to get this type of narration again." Helga laughed. "Come on, we dwelled in this room long enough, let's get you back."
I just nodded as we left the room, with the narration of me still going... I might consider going back there sometime.
Soon, I entered a pretty familiar room as I looked around. It looked to be the same room where that empty scientific tube was, only this time, somebody was inside it. I looked closer... and gasped when I saw a sleeping, yet peaceful four-year-old version of myself.
"...What is this?" I asked, turning to Helga as a table and a screen was summoned.
Helga sighed as she said, "Sit down and watch... I think it's time you know the full story..."
I nodded as I watched the monitor, Helga pushing play on the monitor as Helga looked down, as I was wondering what was going to happen next...
"Triple Dent Gum will make you smile, Triple Dent G-"
"What the?" I blinked as Helga's eyes widened. She then turned off the video and took the video out.
"Whoops! Wrong video!" Helga chuckled nervously as she put in another video. "Here's the full story!"
I watched the monitor as the video revealing more of Helga's story got revealed a little more.
"Sheesh, it's even raining harder than last time..." Helga muttered as she was sitting next to Curly as they were being driven.
"Hey, don't worry. Besides, we're getting you close to your first day of redemption! Now, you said that it was your first day of preschool that started it all, right?" Curly whispered.
"Yeah, I got it. Marcie, do you copy?" Helga asked as she cupped her hand to her ear.
"Hear you loud and clear." Helga and Curly heard Marcie's voice. "Now, the first thing we need to do is as follows. First, you need to issue a poss-"
"Gesundheit." Curly smiled.
"...er, beg pardon?" Marcie's voice asked, confused.
Helga blinked as she turned to Curly as he was giving a smirk. "Oh, you sneezed just as you were about to review over the plan."
"...I didn't sneeze." Marcie's voice was heard in a frowning state.
Curly winked to Helga, as Helga smirked, playing along. "No, you definitely did. I clearly heard you."
"No, I didn't! You can't sneeze without knowing it!" Marcie's voice said, groaning.
"Well, you can't know it without something having been sneezed." Curly smiled.
"I... I, you know what, I'm not even going to argue. Let's just finish up the review of the plan. Helga, you need to issue a possession of a bod-"
"You're doing it again." Curly said as Helga was snickering. "You must be catching a cold."
"I wonder if ghosts can catch colds..." Helga paused. "Then again, I'm going to possess a body just to get some redemption started, so yeah, hopefully I can make some differences..."
"No, no, no! I'm not catching a cold!" Marcie's voice said in exasperation. "I said 'issue', not 'ah-choo'! And 'ah-choo' isn't even a word, it's a sneezing sound, like achoo!"
"Maybe you should lie down." Curly smiled.
Marcie's voice just groaned. "Are you two going to take this seriously, or not?"
"Fine, fine." Helga and Curly rolled their eyes.
"It's very simple. All you need to do is possess the body of one person... try to make friends with Phoebe and Arnold to start." Marcie explained. "Once they gain enough trust, just go out every once in a while to make sure the person knows what's going on and to get used to the friends she has..."
"Right... but who to possess, that's the question..." Helga said as the car stopped at the pre-school.
"Okay, Thaddeus, we're here!" Helga and Curly heard Curly's mother say as Curly unhooked his seat belt. "You have a good day at school today, and don't cause any fights!"
"I promise, Mom. I won't." Curly sighed as Helga followed him out.
"I'm just concerned, that's all, sweetheart." Curly's mother said as the two went inside the pre-school. "Have a good day! I hear it's going to clear up a little later!"
"I hope so." Curly said as he entered inside, Helga phasing through the door as Curly was putting his coat away. Helga turned and squeaked as she hid behind Curly to see the young Arnold coming in with an umbrella.
"Man... it's just so weird seeing Arnold coming in without him noticing me in the first place..." Helga sighed as she and Curly watched Arnold close his umbrella and took off his rain jacket.
"Tell me about it..." Curly whispered to me as he turned around. "I need you to focus. Come on, let's just get a good distance."
Helga just nodded as she and Curly went over to the side as the two were looking at the people coming in.
"Okay... let me see, who can we possess, who can we possess?" Curly paused as he and Helga were looking at a few kids. Curly's eyes brightened up as he saw a raven haired kid with a red shirt...
That was me! ...I think it was me... wasn't it? I looked so... scared? I was certain I came to school confident...
"Is that her?" Curly smiled as he pointed to Helga. "That's the girl you told me that I had a crazy obsessive crush on?"
"Huh? Oh, Rhonda? Yeah, that's her." Helga said, as if not caring.
"Wow, she looks so cute!" Curly smiled. "It's like falling in love all over again..."
"Yeah, yeah, yeah, I get it! Can we focus!" Helga yelled.
"All right, all right!" Curly said as he and Helga were looking around. "Hmmm... let me see... Sheena?"
Helga shook her head. "No, no. No offense to her, but I don't want to act like a pacifist for most of the time I'm in this alternate world. No, I need someone with a little tomboyish-like personality I can stick with."
"In that case..." Curly said as he pointed over to a young Nadine walking with a spider in a jar. "How about Nadine?"
"The girl who likes bugs so much?" Helga frowned.
"Hey, boys can be into bugs too!" Curly argued. "Besides, maybe you can get her into other things... it doesn't have to be all bugs, you know."
Helga paused. "Hmmm... good point. Okay, I guess I can settle for Nadine's body... ugh, but that means I have princess as a friend. She eventually makes friends with Rhonda at one point, but I don't know when..."
Helga and Curly watched as Nadine was showing Harold the spider, who looked pretty interested. Harold looked ready to smash it with his hand, before Nadine swiped the spider away, frowning as she put it back in the jar to keep it safe.
"Well, I'm sure you'll cross that bridge when we get there... who knows, maybe Rhonda will change her tune." Curly smiled.
"Yeah right." Helga rolled her eyes. "Okay, well, we'll see. I'm going in. She's stopping right there... and now I go!"
Helga quickly jumped and flew straight at Nadine's path... when her eyes widened to see... me, I think?... walking straight in her path.
"No, no, get out of the way!" Helga yelped, but it was too late.
"Hey, isn't he cute?" Helga heard the young Nadine say before the scream was heard as Rhonda turned around... just as Helga's spirit form entered inside... me, I guess... causing her to stumble and trip... right near Arnold, who looked in surprise.
"Whoa..." Arnold said as he looked up to see an upset Nadine, then my unconscious body on the ground. Curly was standing in horror and shock as he put a hand to his ear.
"Marcie, something went wrong here..." Curly said as Arnold leaned towards me.
"Are you all right?" Arnold asked as I watched myself getting up... which I guess was Helga getting up, preferably to get rid of the dizziness. "Are you... okay?"
Helga in my body groaned as she held her head, then looked at Arnold as she squinted. She looked ready to be her old self, but knew she couldn't do that right away. She didn't want to leave a bad first impression again. "Uh... I'm... fine, I'm okay. Are you?"
"Yeah, though you gave me quite a surprise." Arnold said as he offered his hand to Helga in my body. "My name is Arnold."
Helga in my body just looked at Arnold's hand in surprise, but knew she had to roll with it as she shook it. "I'm-"
I now finally realized why my first distant memory was of meeting Arnold at preschool, the minute I watched Helga-in-my-body looking at the mirror and being flustered and worried... back then, I thought it was all me, but...
"I seen enough..." I sighed as Helga switched off the monitor. "I'm guessing things didn't go quite as planned when you entered my... nay, Rhonda's body?"
"Afraid so." Helga said as she and I looked over at the test tube where the four year old me was held. "That girl you see in the test tube is the real Rhonda Lloyd... who had been put on temporary stasis until my redemption was done... unfortunately, something happened that didn't go according to plan..."
"What happened?" I asked.
"You happened..." Helga sighed. "I suppose I better start from the beginning, before I possessed your body."
"What's there to know about the beginning?" I asked. "You were having a horrible life back in your world, you snapped at Olga, you hurt Arnold, Phoebe severed ties with you, you made a deal with a demon girl named Solara, who tricked you into going back to the past... my past..." I said that with some doubt in my mind. "...and you caused yourself... not to get born. She was about to drag you somewhere, but then Marcie, an angel, saved you at the last second. She told you to wait for a bit until more answers were received..." I paused.
"Well, pretty much. After she told me to hide in a pure place, I realized I was sitting right next to the boarding house where Arnold was going to live. What were the chances of that!" Helga explained as she showed some more of the monitor to see some moments of Helga sitting around in the boarding house where Arnold was living, only... it felt a little empty, sometimes with different people walking around... I noted that in some of the clips I seen, Helga was sitting next to Arnold's parents and little Arnold. "So, I started to hide out there, because it was the purest place I could think of. And it worked out great for me for all those years. I saw Arnold's parents for the first time in my life, I've seen how they interact with them..."
"...they were the greatest parents that could ever love their own child!" I smiled... then covered my mouth in shock. How would I know that? I never... did I?
"You said it. Sitting around with Arnold's grandparents and Arnold's parents, looking at Arnold growing up... it felt... wonderful. It was hard to believe he would grow up without someone like me in his life..." Helga sighed. "The more I watched Arnold with his parents, the more I was reminded... and then came the day that Arnold's parents had to leave..."
"I think I know that part. You witnessed Arnold's parents talking to that Eduardo guy, and you learned what truly happened with Arnold... after that... you met up with Curly, who was the only one who could see you..."
Helga nodded. "After I met up with Curly the first time, I kept meeting with him and Marcie as we talked over a plan about how to redeem myself... and in order to do that, I had to redeem myself through the eyes of three people... and if I had to use body possession to do it, it would have to be done, because in order for someone to trust me, even if it isn't me, it would be worth being friends all over again..."
"How can... wait... if a person finds you redeemable and trusts you completely, knowing you thick and thin, you can tell when you see a rainbow glow in the eyes, right?" I asked.
"Exactly! But despite that, we knew it would take some time before I could get those rainbow glows... we knew it would be tough, but with some training from Marcie and advice from Curly, I knew I could do it, I knew I could get back home. I knew I had to redeem myself with Arnold and Phoebe, that much I knew, and it would be simple, really. I didn't know who the third person was, but I figured once I had Arnold and Phoebe done, I could go around and see who else I had to redeem before I could get home... when that day in preschool came, it was finally time... that was when I... that was when WE went inside Rhonda's body and possessed her spirit..."
"Why has she not been let out, then?" I asked. "I mean, we clearly have Phoebe and Arnold done now."
Helga just sighed. "About three days after we possessed Rhonda's body, I was excited. It meant I could walk around the human world again, and... do all the things I could do... there were a couple of times where my mindset was still set on going back home to the Pataki household, but I quickly recovered when I see the limo come up and realize, 'Hey, I don't live with them anymore! And... I'm in the body of the richest girl in the world!' But I knew I had to keep it a secret. That's why I kept a diary and started writing entries... and in fear of Rhonda's parents snooping around, I quickly took their stapler to staple the entries. I guess Rhonda's parents started noticing how weird their daughter was acting strange, since we were so used to our own parents not even paying attention to us and..."
Helga sighed as she looked at me. "You remember that dream you had a couple days ago? Well... that was part of OUR flashback... you see, after she left, I was stapling the diary pages when I heard my parents coming up, calling my name. I guess I had my locket of Arnold out at the time, and the letter I never read, because, in a panic, I put them behind the diary and stapled the pages together when they came in. I just wanted them to leave, but then they said something that... that I couldn't control."
"What did they say?" I asked, in curiosity.
"They said something that my parents rarely said to me... they only ever say it when we win something or Big Bob notices we're competing for something... and..." Helga sighed. "They said they loved us. It wasn't 'we won the game' love or 'hey, compete and I'll continue to brag about you' love. No, it was an actual love, a genuine, concerned love. But then, my spirit started feeling weird... it felt like I was being ripped apart... it was then you took over everything... ruined any chance I had to go home... it was the first time in my life I lost control of my own being... lost all control of the hidden happiness that I always hid and rarely showed... and you were replaced... in fact... the only feelings the side of me represents is anger and... regret."
Helga looked down as I looked at her. "You took entire possession of the body, and resumed the name Rhonda because you loved everyone right back, and only stepped up protective boundaries if somebody hurt our friends. There were still a few urges, but you shook them right off. So, because of that... I never left the body, because I couldn't get out of your mind... you have to get out of the body willingly..."
"And so... Rhonda... that Rhonda... never resumed her own life?" I gasped.
Helga shook her head. "The one time you got beaned on the head and we were in the body together was the very first time this Rhonda came out."
"Oh my God..." I looked down. "I can't believe I've been living a lie from pre-school to the end of fourth grade... what am I going to do?"
"I don't know about you, but you did really good... you managed to get Arnold and Phoebe redeemed, they know that no matter what world we're in, they can still trust us." Helga smiled. Then she looked down. "Of course, considering how we're never going to leave this body... I'm not sure how we'll ever find that third person... and on top of that, Solara knows where we are... and she won't stop hunting us... I don't think she knows our personality split... but it doesn't matter... we'll never find the third person, and we'll just continue living that lie for the rest of my life..."
I saw Helga looking sad before I felt myself being pulled back...
I quickly recovered as I looked at the sky. The sun appeared to be setting. I sighed as I looked down at the water. How could I have betrayed myself... how could I have lost sight of it...
"Hey, kid..."
I froze in shock as I looked worried... but then I turned around and sighed in relief as I saw a familiar face. "Dr. MacFarlane?"
Dr. MacFarlane nodded as he came over and sat down. "Reflecting?"
"I... I guess you might say that." I sighed as I looked down. "Actually, I've been doing a lot of soul searching recently..."
"Ah..." Dr. MacFarlane said as he laid down. "Yeah, I guess when you look down at the water, you can see a different person staring back... but I guess that's how life is, isn't it? You start living your life all fine, but then you recently found out something awful, and it leads you staring in a lake at a dock, trying to search through, wondering what was different... you following me so far, kid?"
I nodded. "I guess so..."
Dr. MacFarlane gave a nod as he looked up at the sky. "Well, for me, it's always looking up at the sunset... I can't explain it, but... the orange sky has always been a sign... some say it's a sign of bad when it's dark orange... but if it's more of a light orange... you'll know that there are good things yet to come..."
"You can tell how bad and good things will be just from the shade of a sunset?" I asked as I looked up to see that the sky was partly light and partly dark orange. "What does it mean when it's both dark and light?"
"It means that... while something good can happen, something disastrous will come from that good." Dr. MacFarlane said as he said. "But the sunsets depend on how people view the shadings."
"Wow..." I said. "I... I guess I'm just looking for... a part of me that's split..."
"Yeah, I suppose a soul can split itself... but in the end, it can be mended back together..." Dr. MacFarlane said.
"What do you mean?" I asked, looking at Dr. MacFarlane.
"Well, think about this, kid... if you had your soul split, no matter how long, what would you do? You'd find a compromise, you find a way to mend yourself back to... well, you." Dr. MacFarlane explained. "In the end, wouldn't it be a lot better if you reunited yourself and set things right?"
I paused as Dr. MacFarlane got up. "I have to get back to my house, kid. Lot of things going on tonight. Good to see you again."
"Th-thanks, Dr. MacFarlane." I said as he left the docks. I paused as I looked down, meditating again.
Helga was pretty surprised to see me walk back as she looked down. "Just leave me alone, Rhon-ga. You did enough..."
"Just listen to this, Helga!" I frowned as Helga looked up. "What if we just... reunited back?"
"It's not possible, princess." Helga said. "When a personality splits..."
"But that's just it! It doesn't matter who I am or who you are or who she is!" I said, pointing to the young Rhonda on the last one. "We're still people... and if you want that redemption, Helga... no, if WE want that redemption, we're doing it together!"
Helga looked up to me in surprise as I continued. "We can do this! We will find that third person! We WILL find a way back home! And most of all..." I said as we looked towards Helga. "We will give this young girl the missing years of her childhood back! I don't care how long it takes, we're going to get back to our timeline!"
Helga looked at me in shock as she whispered in a quiet voice, "Do you honestly mean it?"
I smlled. "Cross my heart..."
Helga smiled as she hugged me. "Thank you..."
I hugged her back as I said, "You're welcome... we WILL find a way to reunite ourselves, even if it kills us!"
I then felt myself being sent back.
I quickly recovered when I heard the cry of "MONKEYMAN!" around the dock. I looked up as I saw Monkeyman looking over. "I found her!"
"Monkeyman?" I asked myself... then my eyes widened in shock as I saw Olga's car stopping by. Olga stepped out of the car as she looked inside for a moment, then ran up to me.
"Sweetheart! Thank goodness! Arnold said you ran off after school, and thought you were at the boarding house! We got worried when you didn't come back, so... we thought you were lost." Olga hugged me close.
"I'm sorry, Olga... I just... I just felt a need to do some searching for myself... but I'm back now." I sighed.
"Arnold said you were upset because of the marriage predictor... he said you started acting weird when he noticed the blank folds, yelled at him and ran off." Olga said.
I looked down. "I didn't know what to do... I mean, I know it was just some childish game... but I didn't know what to say. It was the first time I didn't know... it was like... experiencing a flashback..."
Olga's eyes widened as she hugged me. "Your parents?"
I wasn't exactly talking about Rhonda's parents anymore, but I knew I had to give an answer, so I nodded. "Yeah..."
"Oh, sweetheart..." Olga said as she got up. "Why don't we go home? I'm sure Arnold didn't mean to upset you... he knows it."
"Hey, I forgive him. I mean, I love the guy." I laughed.
"Let's get you home..." Olga smiled.
I nodded as I was getting up... but then I started feeling woozy as I held my head.
"Rhonda?"
I was starting to get a little dizzy as I kept holding my head.
"Rhonda, are you okay? Sweetheart? Rhonda? RHONDA!"
I fell down as the next thing I knew... I lost consciousness.
"Wakey-wakey..."
I groaned as I got up, Helga looked at me in concern as she sighed. "Helga, what happened?"
Helga sighed. "There was something I neglected to mention when we had the personality split... the side that represented me got attached to Rhonda's brain and it started growing a bit..."
"What do you-" I started before Helga lead me to the monitors and turned one on. On them, I saw... myself on a bed? And Arnold's hand was holding mine in comfort?
"Come on, Rhonda, you got to be okay, please..." I heard Arnold begging.
"Just relax, Arnold... I'm sure the doctor will tell us..." The monitor moved over to see that Olga was staring back, as if concerned... then realized I was watching this in Arnold's eyes.
"Hang on, let me get a better view..." Helga said as she switched another monitor on to reveal now I'm watching security camera footage, Arnold and Olga were both sitting in chairs next to me laying in the hospital bed, unconscious as a doctor was coming in... holding some results.
"How is she?" Olga asked in concern.
"For the most part, she's pretty healthy... but there was something odd when we took the X-Rays... inside her head, we noticed something odd... and Miss Pataki... I believe your little girl has a brain tumor. It looked like it's been there for at least four to five years." The doctor explained.
Olga gasped. "A brain tumor?"
I looked at Helga in shock as Helga looked down in shame.
And that's part two of episode one hundred and sixty-five! How was it? Anyway, read, review, criticize and suggest, folks!