And now, for the next episode which is going to be in the background a bit while the main plot in this fic will be focused on, "Grandpa's Packard'! Anyway, enjoy!
"A brain tumor?" I said in shock. "You gave me... no... you gave HER a brain tumor?"
"...Technically... I AM the brain tumor." Helga sighed as she looked down. "When the personality split happened, any remains of my personality that you bottled up went straight to her head, growing in her brain... thus, the brain tumor. That explains how you get constant headaches at times... aside from the fact that you saw Olga and Lila and I pace around in anger, just seeing their faces. Sometimes, some of them are just coincidental."
I looked down as I looked back at the monitor where Arnold was holding Rhonda's body's hand in worry as Olga and the doctor were talking about what to do. I turned back to Helga as I asked, "Were you ever planning on telling me?"
"Yes, but I didn't think it would be in this moment. Honestly, I just forgot about it because I didn't want you to worry. But... now that you say you want to reunite with me... I got so excited that... that I forgot about the tumor." Helga sighed.
I paused as I looked over to Helga. "What can we do?"
"The only thing to do. We need to get reunited at the brain tumor, combine ourselves together! It's the only way we can both come to terms with being ourselves!" Helga explained as we looked back at the monitor.
"How long will Rhonda be in this coma?" Olga asked in concern.
"I don't really know. It could be for hours... or days... I heard of a case where it took at least a year before somebody got out of a coma." The doctor told Olga. "Either way, she's going to be in the hospital for a very long time... now, this could leave very ample time for the operation... we could remove the tumor while she's in the coma, but keep in mind, when she wakes up, she might feel a bit woozy."
Helga and I looked at the monitor with our eyes wide in shock.
Olga looked nervous as she asked, "Will it affect her brain, as in will she remember who we are or..."
"I understand your concerns, and yes, it is considered a VERY risky operation. But we're professionals. I assure you, we'll be very careful." The doctor explained to Olga.
Olga looked over at Rhonda's body as Arnold looked over to Olga in worry. Olga sighed as she muttered to herself, "Please lend me your strength, Mr. and Mrs. Lloyd. I want what's best for your daughter, I want her to live..."
Olga sighed as she looked up. "Take out the brain tumor... save my little girl's life... just promise me you'll be careful with her."
"Will she be okay?" Arnold asked Olga.
Olga looked at Arnold as she got down to his eye level, showing the same worry he's having. "I don't know for sure... but all we can do is pray."
Arnold didn't look like he liked the answer, but seeing how there was no other alternative, he just nodded. "All right. I just hope Rhonda can just pull through..."
I sighed as I looked at Helga, who looked worried. "We don't have much time..."
"Huh?" I asked in confusion.
"We need to get to the tumor and reunite ourselves before those doctors cut your head and take it out!" Helga said. "See, that tumor is also another bit and part of your personality, and we need to figure out how we're going to combine ourselves back to our regular self so we can get back to my timeline!"
"How are we going to know what's going on on the outside?" I asked as Helga turned off the monitors and put on a few watches.
"I keep a few watches handy just in case stuff like this occurs!" Helga explained as she pointed out the three watches, one pink, one green, and the other orange. "This pink watch will turn on Olga's eyes, so we can watch what she's seeing. I recently got that one up after... well, after the accident..."
I looked down. "My mom and dad may not have been my real parents, but they really treated me as one of their own..."
"You know what?" Helga paused as she smiled. "You're right. I'm sure they would have loved us, even if we didn't get involved in that personality split. Anyway, this green watch will keep an eye on Arnold's point of view. Sometimes I turn that on whenever I get bored with whatever mundane activity you're doing..."
"Hey, need I remind you that I did get Arnold involved in SOME of those mundane activities?" I asked.
"Don't get me started... now, this watch I just got installed, thank Marcie and Curly for that!" Helga said as she pushed a button on the orange watch as I saw the security camera view of my room to see Olga getting Arnold up to leave. "This'll keep an eye on our body, no matter where we go. I didn't think it would come in handy, but now it has!"
Me and Helga watched as we saw Arnold whispering in Rhonda's body's ear as he said, "Please get better... I need you here with me right now..."
Arnold then kissed Rhonda's cheek before following Olga out of the room.
"Come on, Rhon-ga! We got a long journey ahead of us!" Helga said as I followed.
"Why are you calling me 'Rhon-ga'?" I asked, annoyed.
"Face it, princess, deep inside, you still want to believe you're Rhonda, even though you know who you truly are..." Helga sighed.
I suppose I couldn't argue with that.
It pretty much took almost a week just walking alongside Helga... well, a day outside this body, God knows how many days I've been following Helga... during that time though, thanks to those watches, we did catch up on what was going on outside our world, through the camera in the security room, where I saw Nadine and her parents, Phoebe and her parents, Lorenzo, Lila and their respective parent, Tucker and his parents, Gerald and his family, and even Arnold and the whole boarding house people, including, to my surprise, Mr. Potts and Lola Tilly, who have came over and left cards and wished me luck, even though they think I couldn't hear them. Surprisingly, none of us saw Sharlene with the group, but we did see Carver and Monkeyman with Olga.
However, we did see Sharlene in Olga's point of view when we looked at the watch as she and her were talking outside a coffee shop.
"I am so sorry to hear about Rhonda." Sharlene said as she took a sip of her bottle of that foul drink she always took with her. "You two were relatively close to each other."
"She always has been." Olga sighed. "I can't explain it, but Rhonda and I have been growing really close... I just hope that brain tumor is gone and my little girl can live for much longer... I don't know what I'd do..."
"I think I might know..." Sharlene said with an odd looking grin on her face.
"Have you visited her yet? I know you and Rhonda were a little close too..." Olga asked.
"Oh, no, I just didn't have the time... but rest assured, I will see that girl... I'll even take a little picture, just to show it to you. Granted, I don't know WHEN I'll have time to visit, it could very well be after the operation is done, for all I know. But rest assured, I will see her before she knows it..." Sharlene smiled as she looked at her watch. "Well, I better get back to work. Running a huge company is taking tolls!"
"Sharlene? Do you think Rhonda will be okay? I mean... if she wakes up... do you think she'll live?" Olga asked.
Sharlene gave a slight pause as she said, "Oh, Olga, I'm sure she'll be dying just to get another chance at life."
"Oh, good..." Olga sighed. "That makes me feel better. And the picture?"
"Don't worry... I'll take it when I get there. I promise." Sharlene smiled.
As Helga turned off the watch that saw Olga's point-of-view, I sighed as me and Helga kept walking. "How much longer until we get there?"
"We're about there... why don't we switch over to see what Arnold's up to?" Helga offered as she turned on Arnold's point-of-view so we could watch what was going on.
Pretty soon, we saw that despite Arnold being depressed that Rhonda... or me... wouldn't wake up from her... my... coma, he decided to try to have fun as best as he could. I heard from Arnold's grandparents that they did plan a vacation on the beach for everybody, but because of the recent events, they were polite enough to postpone the vacation until I was well recovered.
"That's right... the summer vacation where... we basically won that... sandcastle..." I gasped. "Wait a minute, I shouldn't even know that!"
"Really, princess, does any of this really surprise you at this point? Now that you know who you are, your old memories are slowly resurfacing... starting from the good times you had with Arnold..." Helga smiled.
"What good times? All I remember from that other timeline was you suppressing me from confessing my true feelings to Arnold!" I growled.
"Did you really want to be teased about that for the rest of your life?" Helga rolled her eyes.
I paused as Helga explained, "Look, maybe in this timeline, you were smart and everyone got a little more lenient and were cool with your feelings... but you forget our timeline. We were afraid! We were afraid of admitting our crush, as we feared not only for our safety, but for Arnold's! We didn't care back then on our actions, some of which I, admittedly could have approached a little better, but if the secret got out... well, can you imagine Harold's reaction? Sid's? Rhonda's? This world may be cool with two kids having a crush on each other... but back in my timeline, it's a cruel place out there. Please understand, we did this for... for..."
"...for us?" I finished as Helga looked down.
She said nothing as we continued watching Arnold trying to get through his every day life, starting with him going to a car show with his grandfather.
All in all, it wasn't too bad, it felt like watching a mystery... which I really wished I could have been involved in, me being a James Bond fan and all... then again, this was more 'Sherlock Holmes' or 'Hank the Cowdog' material, so not so much 'spy' material... you get what I mean. It was hard to believe the mystery along the way as sometimes it got pretty silly... even the person who was revealed to have stolen Arnold's grandfather's Packard did it for a petty reason.
I wish I could have been there to describe it. In fact, maybe you should use your imagination on how the case of the missing Packard went. I'm sure it'll come pretty close to what I had in mind.
Anyway, as soon as Helga closed Arnold's point of view watch, we stopped. I turned to Helga in confusion as she said, "Well... we're here."
I looked in amazement at the huge black blob standing right in front of us, sticking in front of a wall. This... was Rhonda's brain tumor...
With that, we'll end episode one hundred and sixty-six right there! How was it? More will be coming along the way, so don't miss out! Anyway, read, review, criticize and suggest, folks!