A/N…I could have sworn that this story had more chapters, oh well. I don't really remember where I was going with this, but I've decided to continue solely based on the number of "favorite story" alerts I've gotten over the past couple of weeks.
Basically the story up past chapter three is going to be back story. Starting chapter 4 I will be fast forwarding to 16 year old Helga. I'm trying to slow things down because I tend to speed up to the parts I'm excited about writing. =) This one is kind of boring, but it's necessary.
Here is chapter 2, hope you enjoy.
~*~*~
It was late September, a chilly night to be on the streets. Helga made her way from the bus station, passing barred up liquor stores and sketchy looking buildings as she made her way down the sidewalk.
She rubbed her arms trying to warm them with friction as she worked on formulating her next steps. She's alive, but now she's all alone. As mediocre of a mother as Miriam had been, at least Helga hadn't needed to fend for herself.
18 hours. It had been 18 hours since all hell broke loose. The sun was beginning to set along the western skyline .
"What to do Pataki, What to do?" She mumbled to herself.
She had spent most of the day on a bench outside of the bus station, having arrived in Cincinnati early in the afternoon.
A loud crash emitted from the alley she was passing, causing her heart to jump almost out of her chest. She looked around frantically, breathing a sigh of relief when she saw a rat scurry across the street.
"Happy to see a rat?! Come on Helga ol' girl get a hold of yourself."
She surveyed the area before entering the alley. About thirty steps in, Helga climbed to the landing of a fire escape. It wasn't the ideal place to spend the night, but the walls blocked the wind.
She pulled her memo pad from her pocket.
Dear makeshift Diary,
I'm not sure how I got into this mess. One minute I'm getting ready to spend the night at Phoebe's. The next minute Bob is going postal. It's not like I didn't see this coming. He has been on edge for a couple of weeks now, snapping every time I would look at him wrong. I just never thought it would get this bad. The last thing I really remember was asking him if I could have $15 so me and Phoebs could order pizza. The next thing I know I'm getting a lecture about how he isn't my money tree. Fast forward 5 minutes, Miriam is dead and I'm hiding in a closet. I really don't know where to go from here. Is Bob still after me?
Helga closed the notebook and shoved it back in her pocket. She pulled the hood of her sweat shirt up and leaned against the damp brick wall. This was going to be a long night.
~*~*~*~*~
Helga awoke with a jolt to the sound of an ambulance siren whizzing by.
"Too jumpy Pataki" she thought as she checked the time on her cell phone. 4:57 am. She climbed down two stories worth of ladder before jumping the last few feet to the ground. Her stomach grumbled. It had been almost two days since she had eaten anything substantial.
Checking her pockets she produced the last of her money. $10 and some change…that had to last her until God knows when. Her flip flops clicked against the sidewalk as she searched for somewhere to get some food. A 24 hour convenience store's neon signs caught her attention.
Sliping through the glass doors, a jingle of bells notified the cashier of her arrival.
"Can I help you miss?" the man greeted her.
"Uh..no I…I'm just getting my caffeine fix.." she walked through the aisles appearing to browse as she filled the front pocket of her hoodie with candy bars and bags of mixed nuts. Her last stop was the soda fountain, where she filled up a 44oz glass with coke.
She went to the counter to pay for her drink, trying her best not to act nervous.
"$1.05" the cashier stated.
She counted out her change and slid it across the counter, before turning to flee the store.
~*~*~
Back at the fire escape landing, Helga counted out her loot. 2 Snickers, a bag of skittles, 4 bags of beer nuts and a weight watchers meal bar. It wasn't much, but it would keep her stomach from throbbing. She tore a bag of nuts open with her teeth.
20 minutes later she had eaten over half of the food, stashing the rest back into her pocket for later.
Dear Makeshift diary,
I stole today. For the first time in my life, I took something without paying. It was kind of a rush, I was sure I was going to get caught. I can't say that I want to experience that again. I just hope I can figure out something soon, street life isn't something that I want to delve too much into.
The days were starting to all blurr together, she found herself on the swing set of a local park as the sun began to set.
She always knew her life was bad, but she never imagined herself becoming a petty criminal.
"Miss?" a young man approached her, he couldn't be older than 20.
"What do you want?" Helga snapped. She couldn't imagine this ending well.
"I'm with the Lighthouse group for runaway teens. Is there anything I can get you…water, food, a shower?"
Helga gaped up at him. " A shower… I'd love a shower."
"Is it really that bad?" He asked
"You have no idea." She responded simply.
~**~*~**~*~**~
"Attention class!" Mr. Simmons announced frantically "There is a serious matter that we need to discuss."
Phoebe shifted in her seat. She knew where this was going. The police had questioned her all weekend. She wondered how many other people knew. Her best friend had vanished without a trace; obviously she was the person that should know what had happened. And because she didn't know, something really bad must have happened.
"Detective Hicks would like to have a few words with you" He stated, motioning to the uniformed officer to his side. "But first I would like to speak."
Mr. Simmons scanned the class as he began his speech, which had obviously been rehearsed. "I'm not sure how many of you have watched the news this weekend, but Friday night a member of our class faced a great deal of tragedy. Looking at the only empty seat in the room, it isn't hard to guess that the student was Helga Pataki. Between late Friday night and early Saturday morning, there was a murder suicide that took place in Helga's home. Both of her parents are deceased. The reason that we wanted to speak with you is that no one seems to know where Helga is." He motioned for the officer to take over.
"Students," The officer began." I know that all of this news must come as a shock to you. This being such a tight community, it is hard to imagine this type of tragedy occurring. I want to let each and every one of you know that our main concern right now is bringing Helga home. If any of you know anything, please let us know."
A small hand shot up from the back of the class. The officer nodded at the student, permitting her to speak.
"I just want to know," the high pitched voice began. " If you think she's st… still…still alive." Pheobe broke off into a sob.
"I'm sorry miss, but at this point we just don't know. We know the first 72 hours are the most crucial when dealing with lost or abducted children."
Across the room the preteens were exchanging somber glances.
"Do you think she's really the killer?" Rhonda whispered loudly to Nadine. "I mean, that would explain why no one can find her right? She's probably hiding so she doesn't go to jail."
"Don't start Rhonda, you know she isn't like that. She's scared, she might even be hurt and you want to sit here and make up stories?" The football headed boy snapped from the seat behind her.
"Whoa, calm down Arnold. What's got your panties in a bunch? Its not like anyone really liked her that much anyway…well…except for phoebe that is." She responded, glancing at the sniffling Asian girl.
"Seriously pull yourself out of Rhondaland and take a look at what has happened. If it was you're family, or even your friends' families, how would you be feeling right now?" Arnold tried to reason with her.
"Things like that don't happen to people with money Arnold. We leave that to the trailer trash."
"Too bad all that money will never be able to buy you a heart." Arnold stated, giving up trying to talk to her.
Rhonda scoffed and returned to her previous conversation with Nadine.
Arnold shook his head and turned to Gerald. "All of this is just so crazy. I mean, Three days ago she was sitting right here with us and now…who knows?"