A/N: So…I decided to write another chapter. Mostly because one reviewer left a rather ominous "This is good…so far" which spurred me to try and finish the story :D
This is sort of the "in-between" chapter, so don't expect much out of it!

Hellerick, I hope you like this! I'll update again soon.

December 6th
Boarding House, 9:00 PM

The fairground music was tinkling faintly. Arnold watched a carousel spin slowly with a half-lidded expression and started to walk towards it, sand warm and pleasantly crunching beneath his feet.
What was it he had to remember?...Well, it didn't matter…Lila was waving to him from far, far away…there was Gerald, and Phoebe, in fact all his classmates waving and smiling in the vivid summer heat…and Helga, on a seat at the top, her dress as pink as candyfloss…

And suddenly there was Helga in front of him with her searing blue eyes, grasping his hand and asking earnestly, "Did you read it?" The carousel spun faster and faster, like a blade churning the sky into deep blackness that he could not tear his way out of––

Arnold sat up with a gasp. His digital clock (a new one – Sid had broken his old self-modelled alarm) blinked somberly: 9:00. It was still early.

He could hear someone that was probably Grandma clanking pots and pans distantly in the kitchen; the familiar sound calmed his shallow breathing. Arnold had been unable to relax, unable to rid himself of regret ever since, a few hours earlier, Helga had told him how she felt about him.

No, that isn't quite right, he thought. I forced it out of her.

He exhaled unsteadily and kneaded his forehead with his knuckles.

How could I have done it?

He felt sick, and cruel; never had he been so disgusted with himself. He had always been the one in school to remind everybody what the 'right' thing to do. Why had he so easily given in to the temptation to look into Helga's diary?
What had he been hoping to find?

Swathes of moonlight streaked across his room from its ceiling of glass. Arnold could see his pale reflection in it and could hardly bear to look at himself for shame.

As he sat on his bed thinking, another less audible voice asked a pressing, overwhelming question that needed to be answered.

How could I have not known about--

Arnold quickly shoved that thought out of his mind. He was not ready to deal with that just yet. Helga's feelings were too intense, too blindingly real, to think about or even believe right now. He closed his eyes but quickly opened them again as Helga's face, full of despair and sorrow, pierced his mind for the umpteenth time that day.

He heard the noises in the kitchen die down as his grandma retired. A toilet flushed somewhere in the building, and then all was silent. He sighed, and came to the unwilling conclusion that he had to talk to her – say something, call her, anything.

Arnold made his way downstairs to the phone, after digging Helga's number out of an old yearbook, and earnestly prayed that none of the boarders were awake. He had a feeling that this conversation was not going to be something he'd like discussed at breakfast tomorrow morning. He shifted nervously from one foot to another, hastily trying to fabricate a speech in his head.

A listless female voice answered after several rings. "uhh…hello?"

"Hello? Can I speak to Helga please? This is Arnold, a…friend from school."

"Oh…I'm sorry, Archie…Helga's gone out––hold on just a sec, ok?" The receiver was muffled by an invisible hand.

"Yeah B, I'll be there in a sec…stop yelling…"
"She said she was staying the night at Phoebe's place." Indistinct shouting. "I'm on the phone, B…alright I'm coming…"

There was some fumbling with the receiver.

"So, I'll tell her you called, Argus," Helga's mom said rather wearily. There was an abrupt click as she put the phone down.

"It's Arnold," Arnold said above the flat buzz of the dial tone, to no one in particular.

He stretched slowly and started to make his way down the corridor, reflecting. He had done the best he could; there was no way he could contact Helga until she came back from Phoebe's; and in a few days time he would call her and apologize and everything would be alright again.

Yet something was niggling at the back of his mind – something that didn't seem quite right, like when a door won't close properly or when a note is just a fraction sharp from the melody. True to that inexplicable way in which night paints the familiar world in unfamiliar and frightening shades, the boarding house corridor seemed longer and more twisted than usual. Arnold paced past each door, suddenly feeling very, very tired, and reached up to pull his bedroom stairs down.

Helga is at Phoebe's, no problem. Arnold closed his eyes tight, concentrating on the thought, letting it swim sluggishly around his mind.

At Phoebe's…no worries…Phoebe's….

Phoebe's…but…

Phoebe had gone to Japan two days ago, to meet her grandparents for Christmas.

Like a cold wind from a door that has unexpectedly been thrust open, Arnold understood. Helga was gone. She could not be anywhere other than Phoebe's: Arnold remembered too well, and with a disturbing twinge of pity, that Helga really didn't have any other friends. Which meant that she was somewhere out in the night, alone.

He turned around with one decisive movement and strode purposefully down the stairs, pajamas and all, only stopping to grab his jacket from the hall stand. He had to find her. This was his fault. He had to apologize, somehow, and bring her back home.

As he opened the door, Arnold stared out into the wintry night and paused at the doorframe. The wind blew in crisp, inhuman gusts around the weak streetlights; he listened to the screaming of its ghastly song and shuddered with some feeling that was not quite from the cold.

What could he possibly say to Helga that could make up for what had happened? And where would he look for her, anyway? The city was unwelcoming, vast. Helga could be anywhere.

His stomach clenched with livid determination as the image of Helga's eyes, filled with anguished tears, flashed into his head. Arnold closed the door carefully behind him, and walked into the dark.

I know the phone conversation was a bit messy but…well…I tried. I'll update faster if there are any reviews at all.

RCA