Previously on the last installment of "The Incident," during the flashback Helga had went to the Boarding House to see Arnold and in the present time Phoebe finally caught Helga and demands to talk to her... O.o So yes, I am terribly sorry for like doing this soooo late. It's hard to update and maintain sports, school, and scuba diving! Honestly -_- but look I did it! :D and I promise to update earlier for now on... or at least once a week... hopefully at least twice. Anyway like OMG! So yeah enjoy this you geek baits! It's beautiful O.o So enjoy this wonderful chapter 3 and don't forget to tip your waitress. Now I know what you must be thinking, "what does that have to do with anything?" Absolutely nothing :)
Disclaimer: All Hey Arnold! character belong to the almighty Craig Bartlett and his sidekick Nickelodeon (what?) :O
Helga shrugged and decided to open the door for herself and just wait for Arnold to come back to his room. She put her hand on the door knob and opened the door, stepping inside. She glanced around, noticing that indeed Arnold was not there. Motioning to the bed, Helga took a seat on the side ultimately swinging her legs over and laying down on the sheets. 'Arnold's sheets!'
Arnold's bedroom hadn't changed at all since fourth grade. Everything was still controlled by the universal remote control, even the couch! There were a few miscellaneous items here and there that were changed to keep up with the times. For example, his old computer was switched out for a desktop Mac that his parents had given him for his 17th birthday. The photos around his room also change as the years passed by now involving his grandparents, his parents, Gerald, and Helga. In reality, Arnold's bedroom was coveted by every boy in his class. It was the ultimate bachelor's pad!
Helga sighed a bit. Ten minutes had already passed and Arnold wasn't back yet. At this point, Helga was a bit annoyed.
'Either Arnold has the worst constipation I have ever seen, and I should know because I take constipation medicine, or he isn't coming and this was some stupid ass prank from Sid or Harold. When I get my hands on them I'll...'
Some of you may be thinking,"Come on Helga, a prank?"Actually, a few years ago Sid and Harold had done something similar to what was happening now. It was about a week after Arnold and Helga celebrated their four year anniversary two years ago. Somehow, Arnold was dense enough to not notice that Harold and Sid texted Helga and asked her to come over the boarding house. Arnold, however, was at the arcade with the guys and didn't get to the boarding house until 3 hours after Helga got there.
When Arnold got home and to his room, he saw a sleeping Helga on his bed. He didn't know what she was doing there. He kissed Helga on the forehead, which must have scared her a bit because she violently woke up and accidentally hit him in the gut. She apologized at first, but then realized how long she had waited for him before falling asleep and yelled at him. All things considered, he was very confused. Arnold explained to Helga what had probably happened. To make a long flashback short, Sid and Harold didn't go to school for the rest of the week. Let's just say that because Helga mellowed out over the years, seeing an angry Helga was even scarier than back in elementary school.
Helga was now sitting up on Arnold's bed. She could have sworn she saw someone on his roof! Standing up and walking to the stairs to the skylight exit window, Helga slowly opened it and went onto the roof. What came next she definitely didn't expect.
Arnold was wearing a black tuxedo, or part of it, the jacket being carefully hung over one of the chairs, and a bow tie with his hair slicked back. He was putting a pink and red bouquet of flowers on a small circular table that was covered with a pink table cloth. There were two plates that were covered by cloches, two wine glasses, and even a bottle of sparkling apple cider.
Helga was thoroughly confused and just stood there watching Arnold meticulously place the flowers in the center of the table, after which he turned around.
Arnold was a little shocked to see Helga just standing there wide-eyed. He just looked at Helga and chuckled a bit under his breath.
'I love it when a surprise her so much like this.'
Hearing Arnold chuckle brought Helga out of her confusion. She still didn't really know what to do, so she crossed her arms over her chest and raised her eyebrow, as if demanding a response. She wasn't angry, she was just at a loss for words. Arnold understood what she wanted. She didn't have to ask him what was going on, he could see it in her facial expression that she wanted some answers.
'She is so beautiful. Why am I so lucky.' Arnold smiled and opened his mouth to speak, though Helga impatiently cut him off.
"Hello Arnold. Care to explain what is going on?"
"Well..." Arnold began, "How about you sit down right here in this seat," he motioned to the chair without the tuxedo jacket and pulled it out, "and I'll explain it to you."
Helga's arms dropped. She didn't want to give in to Arnold's charm. 'But, damn it he's so freaking cute!'
Helga walked over to the chair and sat down, prompting Arnold to push the chair in. Helga couldn't help but smile at this little thing he had done. 'Damn him. Damn him and his chivalrousness.'
Arnold saw the smile on Helga's face. 'I love that smile.' Arnold leaned over and kissed Helga softly on the cheek. She couldn't help but sigh! Arnold chuckled again and let go of the chair, moving to stand in front of Helga.
"Well, Helga." Helga turned her head to face Arnold. She could see that Arnold was a little nervous about explaining it to her. 'Probably because he didn't expect me right now. He probably wasn't prepared for me to show up at that moment and didn't get to fully prepare for whatever is happening right now'
"To start off, you know that today is the 15th of April, right?"
Helga nodded her head, prompting Arnold to continue to speak.
"Okay, and you know that Rhonda planned this whole party thing on the 18th, right?"
Helga nodded her head again, a little more slowly. It was no surprise that the princess wanted to throw a huge 'Happy Anniversary' party for Helga and Arnold. It wasn't that Rhonda particularly liked Helga, though she did like Arnold, it was more like Rhonda wanted the ability to throw a huge party. Sometime after finding out about the party, Helga discovered that Lila had actually came up with the idea, after kind of manipulating Rhonda into thinking it would make her 'ever so much' more popular, something that Helga actually was kind of proud of.
Helga and Lila weren't necessarily friends, but something had come out of the San Lorenzo trip back in fifth grade. Helga and Lila got along better now than back when they were kids, hanging out occasionally together with Phoebe and even having study groups together. In other words, Helga actually doesn't mind 'Little Miss Perfect.'
"Okay, so Helga... Well... Um..."
"Arnold just tell me what's going on before I turn sixty." Helga smirked a bit, hoping that would allow Arnold to be a little more at ease. Seeing Arnold smirk a bit also, Helga knew he was a little more calmer now to continue.
"Well Helga, every year I always plan something for our anniversary, and every year you beat me to it! I've always tried being the first one to say 'Happy Anniversary,' I tried to plan that one party that one year, which you ended up surprising ME with a party, and somehow you always outshine my gifts. So, this year I thought to myself 'this is the year!' And well, again, I was beat to it, except by Rhonda this time who is throwing us a 'surprise' anniversary party, although I'm pretty sure somehow you would have beat me to it also. But, I wanted to do something special this year, because I love you Helga and you deserve the best. So, I thought about it for maybe a month and decided to plan this little dinner a few days before our actual anniversary. An early anniversary if you will. So, Happy Anniversary Helga G. Pataki."
Helga stared at Arnold, tears forming in her eyes. Seeing this, Arnold became worried he had done or said something wrong. It wasn't his intention to make Helga upset, he just tried to do something for her; to make things perfect.
"Helga, I'm so sorry. I..."
"Sorry? Sorry! Why are you sorry? This is the sweetest, kindest, most romantic thing anybody has ever done for me!" Helga got up from her chair and jumped into Arnold's arms, hugging him with as much passion as her body could allow. "Arnold! I love you so much!"Arnold smiled broadly, and hugged Helga back, equaling her strength and passion.
"And I love you Helga."
They stayed in this position for quite a while before Arnold pulled back a bit and looked into Helga's beautiful blue eyes.
'I love her eyes, I love her hair, I just absolutely love this woman! Helga, please never change.'
'Oh Arnold! My beloved, my love God, the love of my life! How can you think you have made me upset? How? You are perfect and I love you with every fiber in my being, with every breath I take. I would be nothing without you, miserable, alone. You give me strength and you are my happiness. Oh how I love you Arnold!'
Arnold pulled Helga in for a kiss. It wasn't heated, just a simple slow kiss, something the both of them both felt was just as perfect. Helga wrapped her arms around Arnold neck, pulling him in closer and Arnold likewise tightened his grip around Helga's waist to pull her closer. They both shared this moment for a while before Arnold reluctantly pulled away, earning a small pout from Helga.
"I'm sorry Helga, but I really don't want the food to get cold. Plus, there are more surprises."
Helga smiled and nodded her head. "That's good Football-head! I'm starving anyway!" Helga walked over to the able and sat back down in her seat, with Arnold following to his seat. "What are we eating? Wait! Wouldn't your mom be mad if we eat something before she makes her chicken pot pie?"
"Well Helga, I wasn't sure if when I made the food that, you know, the boarding house would smell like, well, chicken pot pie, so I had my mom ask that just in case... So then you wouldn't figure out what was going on before hand. You do have a tendency to know exactly what I'm up to..."
"So true Football-head. Well, then lets dig in!"
Arnold couldn't help but smile. For a long time, Helga and Arnold sat, talked, and ate together as Arnold's iPod played some music.
"Oh my goodness! Arnold, you're songs are so sappy!" 'But I love them anyway.'
"Well, I just figured you would like the songs, since, you know, most of them are Disney songs." 'You know you love them Helga.'
Helga gasped as the next song came on, earning a chuckle from Arnold.
"Arnold! Holy shit! I love this song!"
"I know." Arnold smiled, watching Helga sing along to the words of the song.
"And at last I see the light. And it's like the fog has lifted. And at last I see the light. And it's like the sky is new. And it's warm and real and bright. And the world has somehow shifted."
By now, Helga was so into the song that she didn't notice Arnold get up from the table and go into his bedroom from the skylight. She just continued to sing along to the song with her eyes closed.
As the song came to the end, Helga opened her eyes and noticed Arnold was missing. Multiple things ran through her head at once.
'Where's Arnold? Oh my God! What if he hated my singing!? Wait, but he's heard my singing before and told me that he's loved my singing... Maybe he just needed to go to the bathroom... Maybe... But what if-'
Her thoughts were cut short seeing Arnold come back from the skylight. Inwardly sighing, Helga was very relieved to see Arnold come back, smiling and holding a small present in his hands. Sitting down again, Arnold handed Helga the small present.
"Happy Anniversary Helga."
"Oh Arnold! But I don't have your present with me!"
"Helga, I don't need a present."
"Yeah, right. You're still getting one, Football-head."
"Whatever you say, Helga."
Helga couldn't help, but smile at this Arnold-like response.
"You're right! It is whatever I say."
Arnold just chuckled at this response, and Helga motioned to open her present. Opening the small package, Helga brought her hands to her mouth and gasped. Arnold liked this response. 'I mean, that's a good sign. Right?'
"Oh my... Arnold... It's... It's beautiful!"
Helga pulled out a gold heart locket. It had a beautiful flower design on it with little diamond accents all around the flower, emphasizing it. In the center of the flower was a small heart shaped diamond. On the back of the locket it said 'H & A Forever.'
"Arnold..."
"Wait, Helga. Open it."
Helga slowly opened up the locket. Seeing what was inside just made her lose all control as the tears slowly streamed down her face. The locket had a photo of Helga and Arnold in the park together about a month ago. Arnold was kissing her cheek and holding her tightly from behind as Helga was smiling broadly with her eyes shut. On the cover there was a small note:
'Helga,
I have known you for as long as I can remember. From the moment I saw you standing in the rain covered in dirt saying something about liking that wonderful pink bow of yours to now. I should've always known I loved you. I'm glad we are finally together, and I will love you always and forever.
With eternal love,
Arnold'
Arnold was now kneeling down and using his thumbs to wipe the tears from Helga's cheeks. During this whole thing, Helga openly cried. If it wasn't for the smile on her face, Arnold may have mistakenly though he had upset her, being the dense character he is.
"Helga?"
Helga looked up from the locket and stared into Arnold's green eyes.
'Those beautiful absolutely wonderful compassionate green eyes. The ones of my one true love. Oh how I love those eyes. How I wish to look into them for all eternity. Arnold! How I love you Arnold...'
Helga smiled broadly, and Arnold smiled back.
"Helga- Mmmm"
Helga's lips clashed against Arnold's heatedly, hungrily, and it had taken Arnold a while to realize what had happened and reciprocate. Helga ended up leaning in further and further accidentally leaning too far pushing Arnold down onto his back on the roof floor and Helga landing on top of him.
"Ow..."
"Sorry, Arnold."
"It's okay, Helga."
Helga looked down and smiled at Arnold, initiating yet another kiss...
Helga continued to stare down Phoebe, an expression of shock on her face at Phoebe's bold suddenness.
"Helga... We need to talk."
"Phoebe, please! I can't. If you are my friend, then please! Phoebe, I am constantly reliving that fucking damn day. It repeats itself in my head constantly! Every time I sleep, do something else, any time! I can't forget that blasted day no matter how hard I try! And I can't talk about that day. Whenever I think about it, I break down! It was all my fault Phoebe! The reason it all happened, why it happened, and the results that followed because of my own fucking stupidity! Please, Phoebe just leave me alone!"
During this time, Phoebe could see the change in Helga's facial expression. Phoebe had never known Helga to cry, or at least show her depression. Seeing Helga now, crying the way she was, her mascara running down her face, Phoebe's heart broke. Phoebe knew just about as much as everybody else knew about what had happened two some two weeks ago, but she knew there was more to it, a part that Helga didn't want to share, a part that Helga put upon herself to avoid sharing her pain and spreading the burden of just knowing the truth about what had happened. But, Phoebe knew she couldn't let her best friend go through this ordeal on her own. Phoebe grabbed Helga's arm and pulled her through the school hallway. She was never known to skip a class, ever, but her best friend needed her more than Phoebe needed her advance calculus class.
Despite Phoebe's small figure, she successfully pulled Helga, against her will if I may add, out of H.S. 118 and into her car. Helga struggled to get out of the car, she couldn't! Being in a car right now scared Helga more than anything else and she wanted nothing more than to just bail and leave Phoebe there. However, Phoebe being quite prepared for Helga to try to escape her car, had made it impossible for anybody to get out of the car through any other door except the driver's side, and Phoebe was fully prepared to stand her ground and prevent Helga from getting past her.
'Helga you may not understand this now, but this for your own good!'
"Damn it Phoebe! Why do you have to do this?! And why the hell do you have to be so smart and make sure every fucking door in the God forsaken car doesn't open from the inside?!"
"It's called 'child lock' Helga, and like I said earlier... We have to talk!"
Helga stopped struggling and sat still in the car. She didn't want to talk! What part of that did Phoebe miss?! Why can't everyone just leave her alone! Why does everyone have to think they know everything? Helga continued to cry, just more silently now, small tears hear and there falling down her face.
"Helga, can't you see that I'm concerned about you? And it's not just me! Everyone is concerned. Gerald-"
Helga looked up at Phoebe with a mixture of fear, shock, and dread. Phoebe has been dating Gerald for just about 3 years after both of them finally admitted their feelings for each other. Now, to Helga, that wasn't a problem. She always though that Gerald and Phoebe seemed kind of perfect for each other, though Helga did have to do some major threatening. Gerald definitely didn't want to lose a major part of his body, if you know what I mean. But, that wasn't the problem at the moment. The problem was what Gerald would think of Helga if he ever found out the truth, the small amount of truth that Helga had been keeping to herself for the last two weeks.
"Phoebe! No! Don't talk about Gerald, please! I don't want to know! God, he must fucking hate me! I mean look what I did! Me! He must hate everything about me and just wishes it were me instead... instead..."
"Helga! Calm down! Gerald is just as concerned as I am. In fact, he always tries to find you some time during lunch, but he never can. He wants to talk to you Helga. You're not the only one who's hurting! We all are! But it seems like you are taking it to the extreme, and I can understand why! But Helga I know you haven't even gone to-"
"How can I Phoebe!? I avoid the Boarding House at all costs, taking the stupid long way to school. That whole family must hate me for what I had done! They must know it was all my fault that it all happened! It's only been two weeks!"
"Yes, Helga it's been two weeks and next month when it's May 18th it would have been a month. And next year when the exact day, when April comes around all over again and the calender falls back onto the 18th once again, it would have been a whole entire year! But Helga, it's as if you have completely given up! Like everything is always going to be like this! Why can't you just face the fact that things could get better? The Helga I knew would never run from anything or anybody!"
"Phoebe-"
"No Helga! I'm not done! You're going to shut the fuck up and let me finish talking!"
Helga looked at Phoebe's face seeing the anger in her eyes. Helga could practically feel the anger radiate from Phoebe's body. Helga slunk into her chair, afraid to say anything. She's never heard Phoebe even curse before! Hearing those words come from Phoebe's mouth scared her even more.
"I understand that you're hurting a lot. I would be too if I were in your position. But, you need to face what has happened and do something about it! I would be there right now, or even everyday! You haven't gone once because you're afraid, completely afraid, and I understand that, but Helga you need to just come into terms with it all. You're trying to run away and I know for a fact that you can't run away from it! You said it yourself, you constantly think about that day!"
"Phoebe-"
Helga looked up and saw the annoyed expression on Phoebe's face. Instantly, Helga closed her mouth.
"Now Helga, I need you to tell me everything from the beginning, since you seem to think that it was all your fault, which it wasn't."
At this point Helga looked away. She knew this was going to happen. She knew that Phoebe would ask her to relive that day again, no matter how much Helga didn't want to. Helga turned around to face Phoebe, newly formed tears streaming down her face.
"Okay Phoebe, here's what happened."
"And that's it Phoebe. That's what happened. From beginning to end. This is why it is completely my fault. Why I am to blame. Why I could never forgive myself. Why nobody should ever know the absolute truth."
Phoebe looked at Helga with a pensive face. 'I don't understand. It sounds like it was all an accident...'
"Helga... It wasn't your fault. It was an accident. And it sounds like you're blaming yourself for no reason at all. What you told me sounds exactly like what everyone else is saying happened except for one part of it, which is what you are blaming yourself for, but you couldn't know that it would happen. I mean, nobody could. First of all-"
"Phoebe I don't want to know. And yes, Phoebe it was all my fault. I should've seen it coming in that moment, or stopped that stupid ass from... from..."
Helga looked away from Phoebe again. She already told Phoebe everything, but it seems like Phoebe didn't understand it at all. 'Why? Why is she still saying it wasn't my fault? Doesn't she understand! It is my fault. I wanted to go, I started the domino effect that caused that to happen, and now she is saying it isn't my fault! I-'
Helga was brought out of her train of thoughts by a tight embrace from someone...
"Ph-Phoebe?"
"Oh Helga! I promise you it wasn't your fault! Please, stop blaming yourself! You never could have known. Stop taking it like it is you fault. Don't you see how much you've changed? You've cut your hair, dyed it completely black, stopped writing your beautiful poetry, stopped wearing your pink bow around you wrist, started wearing all black, and even stopped being the Helga G. Pataki who has been my best friend since pre-school! This ordeal has impacted you more than you seem to know and all because you believe it's all your fault when it isn't!"
Phoebe released Helga from her grasp and looked, crying a bit for her best friend.
"Helga promise me you'll go."
Helga looked at Phoebe with wide eyes.
"And do what Phoebe! What... What if they are all there. It's been two weeks Phoebe and I haven't even... I can't Phoebe!"
"Helga, it's better now than never."
Helga thought to herself for a while. In a way, she knew that Phoebe was right. She knew that she should go, for more reasons than one, the most important to apologize.
"I'll think about it Pheebs, now please can you open my care door?"
Phoebe smiled at Helga's nickname for her, something she hadn't heard in a while. 'Obviously I got through somehow. And obviously all she needed was to talk instead of keeping all inside.'
"Opening."
Phoebe got out of her car door and opened the passenger's side allowing Helga to finally get out of 'the death trap' as she now called every vehicle she saw. There were a few moments of awkward silence between the two teenagers, mostly because Phoebe waited until Helga would say something. A long while passed before Helga finally spoke up.
"So, uh see you tomorrow, maybe, Phoebe."
"Bye, Helga."
Phoebe stood by her car, watching Helga walk away from the school. Helga was now walking, to where she didn't know. She couldn't think straight anymore. That whole conversation with Phoebe left her thinking about everything over the past two weeks.
She took out her iPod and put on the Pandora app. It was so easy to listen to music from the radio station live that way.
"What hurts the most was being so close..."
'Damn it...' Helga switched to the next station, obviously not wanting to listen to that song at the present moment.
"They say bad things happen for a reason, but no wise words gonna stop the bleeding."
'Seriously!' Again, Helga switched the station she was listening to...
"Oh why, there's no comprehending. And who am I to try to judge or explain..."
Helga took her iPod and turned off the music. 'Oh fuck this shit! I don't need this!'
Putting her iPod into her backpack, she looked around at where she was at.
'I would end up here.'
Sighing, she walked inside the building being bombarded with a mixture of scents from multiple different cleaning supplies. 'It's better late than never Helga ol' girl.' Walking up to one of the ladies, Helga gave her everything she wanted. The lady led her to where she wanted to go, walking down the long corridors, obviously noticing the tears and the running mascara on Helga's face.
'This must be hard on her. Poor dear.'
She motioned for Helga to go inside the room, giving her ample warning for when she has to leave. Helga nodded and went inside. She looked down at the person in front of her, and began to cry a bit again. The heart rate was constant, and that was kind of comforting.
'At least he's alive.'
Moving around the bed, she sat down in one of the chairs to be closer, grabbing the patients hand. She could feel the lifelessness of the patient.
'I know Phoebe said I'm not to blame, but I just... I can't believe that.'
She leaned in and gave a small peck on the patient's forehead and couldn't help but completely give in to her tears now. What else could she do? She knew what was wrong, they had told her on the day it all happened. She remembers it as vividly as if it had happened just yesterday. The words still haunted her. Coma.
Sitting back in her chair, Helga wiped her eyes still crying hard. "I'm so sorry Arnold!"
Oh my God... I am like so evil! I know... I know... another "What the hell" moment that I must explain. And I will... maybe... eventually XD. Don't forget to tell me what ya'll think!
Songs:
"I See the Light" from Tangled (I love this song)
"Breakeven" by The Script (Psh. Love them!)
"Why" by Rascal Flatts (Another great song)
"What Hurts the Most" by again Rascal Flatts (Yes, I do like country songs)
Seriously, look up these songs, they are amazing!