"Ok…what was that all about?" thought Arnold.

One minute, he and Gerald were having to restrain Curly from hurting Eugene, and then he just jumps off of the bed and runs out of the room. But he may have been curious just as much as he was himself. He could see Eugene's confusion as the boy sat up, still rubbing his head from the fall earlier. They all looked at the door that was left wide open.

"Curly is a strange boy," mumbled Gerald, "thinking that Helga screamed downstairs."

Arnold could feel his arms go limp because of the amount of pain in his hands from holding Curly back. And his eyes went wide too.

He turned to his friend. "I think that he's telling the truth." He started to get off of the bed and adjusted his plaid shirt's sleeves. "I've heard Helga scream before, and that sounded similar." Walking to the door, he could hear Eugene come behind him. "I'm coming with you. Because if Helga screamed, who knows what could be going on with the girls."

Nodding in agreement, Gerald also stood up. "Yeah, well I still don't know for sure if you guys are right or not, but it couldn't hurt to, you know, check it out or something." He smiled nervously rubbing his arm. Arnold shook his head. Sometimes, either Gerald could get very suspicious about something, especially if it involved Helga, or a little scared.

He never could try to understand Helga in the past, as much as Arnold tried to tell him that she was a good person. But given her usual attitude, it made sense that Gerald couldn't believe that because of her bullying antics. And besides, if something did actually happen downstairs, like a robber or something, then of course it would scare any person.

Arnold was also nervous a bit himself, but they really had no time if they were going to catch up with Curly. There was obviously something going on, and like Eugene said something may have gone wrong downstairs.

He didn't say much else as the three of them went out of the room, Eugene and Gerald running ahead while he had to stay behind to lock the door for a second. Fishing out the key, he took one last glance at his bed in the middle of the two other ones. Of course he hadn't really discussed it yet with his roommates, but it would probably be best in case if Curly decided to attack Eugene in the middle of the night or something.

But he remembered seeing his blue backpack by the door, still kind of open from pulling out the bottle of aspirin. However, he also saw a glimpse of the journal, causing him to frown. Arnold was happy to be in San Lorenzo to find his parents. But if just hearing Helga scream was enough to scare him, how would he be able to handle it if he had to see his classmates suffer in the jungle? He was basically going out on a limb here with nothing but permission to look through documents and a map his father drew a long time ago. For all he knew, the geography may have changed a bit. New towns and cities may have been built since his parents disappeared…

"Hey Arnold! Are you coming or what?" Gerald shouted. Staring down the hallway, Eugene probably went down the stairs while his friend held the door for him. Oh right. Closing the door and quickly locking it, he ran down the long hallway. This hotel was weird, as random as that thought was. And he could still feel the soreness in his muscles from carrying his things earlier technically up and down two hallways and stairs…so really it wasn't much fun doing that.

Finally reaching him, Arnold rubbed the back of his neck. "Sorry about that, I was just lost in my thoughts I guess." Gerald rolled his eyes and patted his shoulder. "Only you my brother; let's go." They ran down the stairs, and luckily it was easier considering that they didn't have anything to carry. So it didn't take as long either.

Reaching the first floor, they saw Eugene down the hall on the left staring nervously at Curly, who was knocking the door rather loudly.

"Come on my sweet! I heard a scream coming from upstairs and I wanted to see if you were alright or not!" He grinned a bit and Arnold couldn't help but feel a little confused as he and Gerald went ahead to meet them. Curly seemed worried about Helga upstairs, so now he was worried about Rhonda? Sometimes Gerald was right…Curly was a strange kid. But that was who he was, so Arnold tried not to pay much mind to it.

A loud bump could be heard behind the door. "No way Curly! This doesn't involve you!" Walking up next to him, Arnold knocked on the door while Eugene and Gerald stood behind them. "Rhonda, we heard Helga scream from our room upstairs. Is there something wrong with her?"

He could hear more sounds for a few seconds before Phoebe answered the door. And Arnold had to take a step back. There was enough light to see that her eyes were red from crying. Something bad must have happened if she ended up like this. Even from just seeing the other girls on the beds, it was obvious that Helga must have scared them all. "No, nothing's wrong Arnold. Helga just had a nightmare that's all. And we were trying to calm her down."

A lump formed at the back of his throat, so he couldn't say anything. But luckily Gerald could. "That's all Phoebe? Then why are all of you girls crying and stuff?" He sounded concerned. "I mean, it must have been something else. So many people can't cry just because Helga had a nightmare. Why don't you let us talk some sense into her?"

"No you can't." Sheena stood up from one of the beds and came to the door, resting her hand on Phoebe's shoulder. "Phoebe is right, but I think that Helga had a sleep terror because of all of the events that have happened the past few days. She's finally calmed down enough that she's sleeping peacefully." She sighed shaking her head, "So if you guys want to help we would appreciate it-"

"But I ever so believe that we can handle it." Lila said coming up behind the other two girls. "All we really can do at this point is just wait for her to wake up on her own. Sheena said that's what a person should do anyway." Phoebe nodded as well, taking her hand up by her mouth as if to hold a sob.

Arnold wasn't sure what was going on. Ok, so Helga had a sleep terror and shouldn't be bothered. But if that was the case, then why were only the girls allowed to help? That's all he wanted to do. Normally Phoebe and Lila appreciated his concern. Now it seemed like they detested him for some reason. He hadn't been arguing with either of them so there was no reason why they should be mad at him.

Phoebe wouldn't really look at him in the face, instead choosing to turn her head to see if Helga was probably alright. Meanwhile, Lila was glaring at him a little bit with a stern expression – which was rare for her. In fact, he didn't think that she could ever look like that.

"Um," Curly mumbled, "just so that we are all clear on this business with Helga, what exactly is a sleep terror? Because it sounds as if it's just another word for nightmare. So what makes it so different anyway?" He waved his arms in confusion. But at least he had a good point.

Sheena smiled sadly as she leaned against the door. "Well, what makes a sleep terror different from a nightmare is that a person reacts physically instead of just waking up."

Suddenly, Arnold could feel that lump go away, but for a bad reason. "What do you mean Sheena? What happened to her?" He could feel the sweat on the side of his face. Did Helga hurt herself because of this? And for some reason, that feeling in his gut wasn't good at all.

Stepping forward, he pushed Sheena, Phoebe, and Lila off to the side as he went into the bedroom, which had the same layout as his because his room was right above Helga's. Gerald and the other guys came in as well, and to be honest the room felt rather tight – probably because there were four guys and seven girls in the space but still…

It was like Helga didn't even know what was going on. And as he went to closer to the bed in the back, it seemed like she was napping peacefully. Almost as if she didn't just scream a few moments ago. He quietly sat at the foot of the bed, not really sure what to do. Maybe Phoebe and Lila were right…maybe they could handle this themselves. After all, Olga was in the room, and she probably knew Helga's medical problems more than anyone.

Everyone gets sick at some point. So maybe if this was just because of the travelling, then it wouldn't last for long.

Coughing slightly, Arnold turned his face toward Phoebe, who walked toward the two of them by the dressers. She was still upset, so maybe that cough was just a way to cover up a sob. "Well, Nadine came in here earlier while we were in the other hotel room helping Rhonda feel better when she saw Helga not feeling well. We came in her seeing her move around in her sleep crying. I tried to calm her down by telling her some of the things that we could do later for fun, but, oh."

She had a few tears in her eyes. Arnold could feel himself arching an eyebrow in confusion. "Phoebe? Are you ok?" asked Gerald as he put an arm around her from behind. She smiled slightly from the comfort, which made Arnold happy. Sometimes he had talked to Gerald about trying to get closer to her as a friend because it was a step toward getting her to like-like him. But it seemed like she already did. He just didn't –

"Oh. Well it just occurred to me that I may have said something that got Helga stressed enough to shout earlier. And that was probably what you heard upstairs." She hiccupped at this a bit, but that was fine. Arnold nodded. "I'm sure you probably didn't mean to say it Phoebe. It probably just slipped out. It happens to all of us sometimes." She smiled and wiped her eyes with her hand.

"Thank you Arnold."

Eugene sat on the bed by Olga, still looking confused. "Ok, but I was wondering what happened next." He kicked his legs back and forth while leaning back on his arms, not really sure what else to do.

"After Helga screamed," said Rhonda who was still over on the bed closest to the door by Nadine, "Sheena jumped on me and ruined my new outfit." She groaned straightening her blouse, and so did Arnold but that was in his mind. Nadine sighed as she rested her hand on her friend's shoulder. "Rhonda, you know that Sheena didn't mean to because Helga's shout was unexpected."

But the girl shrugged her off and folded her arms. "Well whatever. Point is after that Sheena tried to help Helga by asking a bunch of questions, telling us that she had a sleep terror, and then she jumped on Olga."

Gerald raised an eyebrow. "Wait a minute," he said looking to Olga, "Sheena jumped on you by accident right?" He pointed a finger at her from over Phoebe's shoulder.

Looking over at Olga, Arnold was surprised when Helga's sister actually shook her head, and not nodding it. She played with her hands a bit. "Honestly, I wanted to help my baby sister out when Sheena said that she was sick, but I shouldn't have done it. She had every right to stop me. And I'm glad she did because now my baby sister is sleeping better."

Wow. Turning to Sheena, who was sitting on the bed to Eugene's right, it was obvious that she was blushing from embarrassment and tugging at her sweatshirt. "I thought it would be best if no one touched Helga until she wakes up because then she wouldn't be so surprised and act out again."

Arnold agreed with Sheena on that. Because Helga went through all of that, it wouldn't be shocking to see her react violently at all.

"Uh huh," mumbled Curly. At this, Arnold turned to see him leaning against the wall, by Rhonda of course, tapping his foot with his arms crossed. But the weird thing about it was that his face, well, it didn't look as crazed. "So what you're saying is that Helga is only having this problem because of all of the travelling," he lifted his head a bit, "She didn't say anything else?"

Nadine stared at him. "No. Actually, I found her not responding to me when I came in here to ask something. Did anything else happen that you know of Curly?" At this, Arnold couldn't help but look at him. He had the same face he made when he was about to punch Eugene upstairs. Did something happen between Curly and Helga earlier?

If anything, something must have happened because the boy hit the back of his head on the wall. Putting his hand over his glasses, he groaned. "Well you see-"

"Hmmm…"

That sound, Arnold immediately turned, was coming from Helga. She went on her right side facing everyone else. Her eyes were closed, but her eyebrow scrunched as if she was actually waking up. And even though she didn't look her best at the moment, she probably wouldn't care about that much when she woke up anyway. He could feel others gather around her, but that really didn't matter to him.

She was going to be wake up, be safe, and probably ask what happened. And he and the others would be more than happy enough to answer her questions.

Then suddenly, choosing to lie on her back instead, her head faced the light of the window – making her skin shine a bit, her right hand seem more gentle, and her hair…

Was even more different. Helga no longer had the bow. She hadn't worn it since the day before her performance – his birthday in fact. And that was a few weeks ago. Even more so, she got rid of the pigtails in exchange for a long ponytail. And now even that became undone, and almost familiar…

Helga brought her hand up to face and rubbed her eyes. Phoebe and Olga moved quickly away from Gerald and the bed and sat beside her while she attempted to sit up. They each had to hold her up as they tugged her back to rest against the headboard.

"Easy does it, Baby Sister," Olga said gently.

Helga grumbled, not liking the movement. Arnold could tell that much. She brought her knees up slowly as if she wasn't sure what to do with them. Wrapping her arms around herself, she rubbed her head.

"Man, I feel like I got hit by a truck." And immediately, Arnold sighed in relief. He reached out to pat her knee, forcing her to look up.

Her eyes were blue still, but mostly gray. She really must have been through something.

"Helga," he asked, "Are you alright?"

She didn't say anything for a moment, just stared at him for a few seconds before looking away. Tightening her grip, she stared at Phoebe.

"Hey Pheebs, um, what's the Football Head doing in here?"