I have returned. Sorry guys, college has eaten up my free time! D:
Chapter 13 is a little different, however.
It is not actually Heartless, but I will eventually write it, I promise.
But I did want to write you guys something so you wouldn't go too long without a story.
This story is called Anthem of the Angels by Breaking Benjamin. Yes, yes, I use a lot of Breaking Benjamin, don't be surprised if it comes up a lot more.
I'm working on Chapter 2 of Mission Forever still too. But as I said, college is eating away at my social time and this creative writing class doesn't really have me working on actual stories yet. But once I do, Mission Forever will get updated a lot faster, I'm hoping.
But for now, Chapter 13 is up and ready!
Enjoy!
Disclaimer: Hey Arnold characters and Anthem of the Angels are not mine. Respective owners own respective things.
PS: This is a bit depressing. So if you aren't good with depressing stories, I suggest you don't read it.
White walls surround us
No light will touch your face
Rain taps the window
As we sleep among the dead
She found herself waking up in a bright white room. Nothing in it. Just pure white, almost like the first snow of the winter, before it got swept to the side by the snow plows. It was almost too blinding to imagine. She had realized that she was sitting on a table in the middle of this room, or was it even a room? There were no windows, no walls, no doors, just white. At least for the few brief seconds that her eyes had managed to flutter back open. As she focused, she saw a window in the distance. A small patter against the glass of the window and in an instant, she leapt of the table and ran towards the window. It was raining, she sighed but as she looked through the window, she saw herself.
A mirror?
"It's not a mirror. If that's what you're thinking."
She jumped from the voice behind her and fell to the floor. She had turned her head slowly and looked up in wonder. There stood a man with forest green eyes and brown hair shaggily resting on the top of his head. He smiled and extended a hand to help her up.
"Matthew."
"I'm…"
"I know who you are, Helga."
She instantly pulled her hand away.
"Where am I? Why am I not there?"
She turned back to the window as she noticed that it wasn't just her reflection that she could see now, but an entire scene. Was she in a hospital room? It looked like one of the hospital rooms at Hillwood General. She was in the bed, nurses walking in and out of the room at brisk paces. She gasped in pain as a needle went into her arm but felt no pain at all. The man frowned and rubbed the back of his neck.
"Helga, I'm not entirely sure how to explain this…"
"Just say it."
"You're dead."
Days go on forever
But I have not left your side
Arnold paced the hospital hallway outside of Room 310A of Hillwood General Hospital and waited for a response, any kind of response. He had remembered the phone call, how the voice on the other end was sobbing into the phone and he remembered sitting in silence on his bed, trying to take everything in.
And now he just kept waiting. The rest of the gang was here, huddling into positions on the random couches in the waiting area, all of them with some sort of tears in their eyes, whether they were only the tiniest spots or streams, not one single eye was dry. Except for his. He couldn't work up the courage to cry.
It had been three days and there was still nothing.
He realized he hadn't left her alone in three days.
We can chase the dark together
If you go, then so will I
"You're saying I'm dead. As in kicked the bucket, done, kaput."
"I'm saying all those things, yes."
"How?"
"Car crash."
"I died in a car crash? Great. There goes my rep of being a good driver."
"I shouldn't be telling you this. Any of this. You're just supposed to come with me and not look back."
"Look, Matt. I'm not ready to die."
"I know."
"So is this the time where you say, it was your time, you have a special purpose here and all that other garbage?"
"No."
"No?"
"I'm saying that I'm going to help you go back."
"I can go back."
"You have to listen to everything that I say. I can get in a lot of trouble for this, you know."
"You got it. Just I need to go back."
"Then here is the thing. You have…let's say 24 hours… to fix something that you messed up."
"Something I messed up? When?"
"I don't know. That's the problem. It's something in your past. It's a lot easier for you, you're only 18. But some people that die at 30 or 40, they might have done something back in elementary school that they can't remember that could have saved their life."
Helga sat on the floor and leaned her head towards the window, surprising herself when she didn't fall backwards.
"What do I have to do, time travel?"
"It's not like that. You can't go in the past to change the event. That would be too easy. Instead, you have 1 hour to change the world out there."
"Meaning?"
"It's always that you have touched some person in some way. And when you did that, it changed everything, leading to your early death. Can you think of anyone that you may have touched in a certain way that maybe you shouldn't have? Maybe you hurt them instead of helped them out. Something like that. Usually it's like some guy got stabbed and you didn't save him so you reach out someway to the family and help them get over him."
"I've never witnessed anything like that…"
It was at that moment that she might have realized who this person could be. She gulped.
"You know who it is, don't you?"
"It's my job to know. I'm not allowed to tell you."
"Why?"
"If I tell you, then that's an advantage to you. Angels aren't much for giving people advantages."
"But if I know…"
"If you know, and you're right, I'll tell you so."
She pulled at her clothes until she found the chain of the locket and pulled it up and into her hands. She stared at the picture in the frame.
"It's Arnold."
Cold light above us
Hope fills the heart
And fades away
Skin white as winter
As the sky returns to gray
"Hey Arnold!"
"Huh? Gerald, Sid, what are you doing here?"
"Coming to get you, I thought you'd be hungry or something."
He stared back into the room where a comatose Helga laid in her bed. His stomach flipped.
"I'm not very hungry."
"Are you sure?"
"Yea. I'm sure."
Gerald shrugged towards Sid as they walked down the hallway as Arnold turned his attention back to the door. With a quick peek around the hallways for any doctors and nurses, he slipped through the doorway and towards her bed. As the monitors blinked and beeped, he stopped at the edge of her bed and knelt down on the floor beside her, taking her hand and holding it. He looked at her face, her skin pale and her eyes closed, her hair in knots as it framed her face. The last time he had seen Helga; she was running down the street, high heels in hand and tears streaming down her face. He had struggled to keep up with her. It was the night of Rhonda's last party.
Someone had noticed the copious amounts of bruises on her body. Along her shoulder blades, on her arms and legs, they were almost everywhere. Someone had noticed and laughed, thinking that she had lost a fight. She had punched them in the face, knocked them out and then she ran and without any other reaction, he had ran after her, but he never caught up.
He regretted not going back to find her.
"Helga. I know that you can't here me…but there's something I need to tell you…"
It started to rain again.
Days go on forever
But I have not left your side
Helga looked out the window, as the rain got louder. Staring at herself in an empty room was too much for her to handle and she was about to turn away before she noticed the football shaped shadow in the window of the door. She felt her heart skip too many beats. Or at least, she thought she would have felt it, you know, if she hadn't been dead. She sighed.
"I'm right, aren't I?"
"I'm impressed, most people don't figure this part out."
"Arnold's been in my life for 15 years. How can he not be a presence?"
"For some people, this person is someone they might have glanced at. Met for a few seconds and then they disappeared. Obviously, it's a little easier for you."
"What do I have to do?"
"You know what to do."
She turned back to the window and put her hand up to it. She phased right through it and grinned.
"Time starts now?"
He smiled.
"Now."
We can chase the dark together
As Helga blinked quickly, she was back in the hospital room, not in her own body, as much as she wanted to be. She walked over to her body and cringed. She was a mess and hopefully she would actually be able to have her senses back. She had one hour. She looked back at the clock as she walked over to the door. As she was about halfway there, she heard the door handle jiggle and she froze.
The door clicked open and Arnold walked inside, quickly peeking over his shoulder before he walked into the room and rushed to her bedside. He paused over her as he took her hand in his and she wishes that she could actually feel him touching her skin. She sighed quietly before walking beside him. He started to speak.
"Helga, I know you can't hear me…but I have to tell you something…."
She sat on the chair beside the bed as she looked intently at his face. He seemed to be struggling to find the words that he wanted to say. It was something that she wasn't used to seeing from him.
"About Rhonda's party…"
She cringed as she remembered the night. Running down the street with tears in her eyes, jumping into her car and driving as far away as she could. Or at least, she had tried to.
"I'm sorry I never got to reach you in time. I should have gone out looking for you. To make sure you were okay."
"It's not your fault." She whispered.
"I just wish I knew everything that was going on. I didn't want to ask about all the bruises cause I knew you would never tell me. I think I know where they are from though."
She looked up at him as he cleared his throat and continued to talk to her body.
"Maybe that's why your parents haven't been here in the last three days."
"Not a shocker."
"You know, I don't think I'd ever tell you this. But I knew. Actually, I saw."
If she had the ability to go white in fear, she would have. He knew? Worse yet, he had seen? She curled herself into a ball on the chair.
"What he did. I should have said something to someone. Anyone. Gotten you help. It's my fault. I could have stopped it earlier…I…"
She reached out for his other hand and felt a warm rush on her fingers. Arnold shivered and looked back at his hand in Helga's.
"Are you awake?"
"No Football Head, it's me. Over here."
She flew to the other side of the bed to look at his face.
You're dead alive
"Arnold I'm here, I'm right here!"
You're dead alive
" HEY ARNOLD!"
There is nothing left of you
I can see it in your eyes
"Helga…there is something else I wanted to tell you. I just wanted you to know that I will always be there for you, from now on. You're so important to me and I know it took me a while to say something about it… actually it's been almost 11 years since…well the last time I heard you say that you love me…and I love you too. I guess I always have, I just didn't want to believe it."
She looked at his face again as the tears started rolling down his face and he knelt back down to her hand and rested his wet face against her hand. At that moment, Helga thought that she could feel the pressure of his face against her hand and smiled until she noticed the hand of on her shoulder.
"I'm out of time, aren't I?"
Sing the anthem of the angels
"I'm afraid so. But the court is giving you some time, not very long though, to talk to him. But they don't usually. They must like you or something."
"I get to say goodbye?"
"Make it count."
I keep holding on to you
But I can't bring you back to life
Helga opened her eyes again and felt the pressure on her hand, the light shining brightly into her eyes as she stared up at the ceiling. She felt the smile forming on her face.
"Arnold?" She whispered.
Arnold slowly raised his head and she watched the happiness in his eyes, just from the color alone made her heart sink. There was no possible way that she could be with him now.
"Helga!"
He hugged her as she squealed but then groaned in pain.
"Ow, Arnold, criminy. I'm still sore."
"I'm sorry. I'll…just…"
She grabbed onto the collar of his shirt and kissed him and he didn't pull away. Her heart soared but as she let go and watched the love struck look on his face, she started to cry.
"Helga? What's wrong?"
Sing the anthem of the angels
"They aren't giving me long. I have to say goodbye."
"Goodbye? What do you mean goodbye?"
"They're not letting me stay here…with you… I'm lucky I made it this far."
"Who won't let you stay?"
"You…you won't believe me…."
"Try me."
"The angels won't."
Sing the anthem of the angels
"The angels won't."
"Arnold, just know that I love you. I always have and I always will."
"Helga, you can't…no…"
"I have to."
"You can't…you can't leave, you hear me? You hear me you sons of bitches, you can't have her!"
"Arnold, my love, it's no use."
"If you go, then so will I."
"No. No, you won't. Just promise me…"
"I…"
"Promise me! Promise me that you will be happy without me. Promise me Arnold!"
"I…I promise."
She pulled him back towards her with another kiss.
"I love you Arnold."
"Helga, please don't."
"I'm…sorry…"
She laid back down on the bed and closed her eyes.
"I love…"
And say the last goodbye
As Helga watched Arnold cry and yell up at the ceiling, Helga felt herself sink further and further away. She felt a hand on her shoulder again.
"Ready?"
"As I'll ever be."
"Get to say everything you wanted?"
"Just for him to know I'll always love him, I think that's enough of a final goodbye."
She turned her vision to watch the pale blue wings sprout and flutter behind her and smiled.
"Goodbye Arnold. Goodbye."