[A/N: Hey all! Sorry for such a long delay. Ahhh, life is so crazy. I'm doing transcription for a grad assistantship and it's driving me nuts! Transcribing every mumble, stutter, and fragmented thought of an elementary school classroom video. That's kind of ruling my life right now so I haven't been able to write or do much of anything other than transcribe. But hopefully it'll be done soon and then I can relax a little bit. I got some free time and wanted to write a little bit so I pumped this out. It's not as long as I'd like it to be but I ran out of steam and figured this would be a good place to stop. I'm still setting a lot of things up but I hope you guys are enjoying what's happening so far and it's catching your interest. Trust me, there will be a LOT of drama happening in later chapters and it won't be for the faint of heart!
Also, it's snowing! Ahhhh! So much snow and we weren't expecting this much. We'll see how much we get before it finally stops but it's been coming down strong for several hours now!
Anyways, let me know what you guys think and I'll try and get more done as soon as I can! Please be patient and review to tell me what you think and where you think it's going!]
Present Day
A fresh blanket of snow had coated the ground as Helga pulled into a parking space in front of the Columbia Nursing and Rehabilitation Facility. She parked and stepped out of the car, snow crunching beneath her boots. She frowned at the black BMW that was parked in a space marked "Director".
The inevitable smell of urine and feeding tubes filled Helga's nose as soon as she entered. It was a small building and the nurses' station was immediately inside, as soon as she passed through the breezeway. The snowflakes that had fallen onto Helga's coat and hat quickly melted as she waited for the nurse's attention.
"Can I help you?" The woman, a petite brunette in colorful scrubs, asked.
"Yes, hi," Helga said, unbuttoning her coat as she started to warm up. "I'm here to see Mr. Chambers,"
"Okay, one sec," She said sweetly and picked up the phone, punching a couple buttons. "Mr. Chambers, there's a Ms…" She looked up at Helga questioningly.
"Pataki," Helga supplied.
"Ms. Pataki, here at the nurses' station to see you… Okay, great," The nurse said and hung up, then looked back up at Helga. "He's waiting for you in his office," She stood up and started gesturing as she gave directions. "Head down this hallway and take your first left. His door in the last one on the right next to the fire extinguisher,"
"Thank you," Helga said simply and walked in the direction she was told. Some of the patients' doors were open. Elderly men and women reclined in their beds; some sleeping, some watching TV, some staring listlessly into space or out the window. Helga finally came to her destination and tapped on the door which was slightly open.
"Come in," a voice behind the door said and Helga entered.
Mr. Chambers was a balding man in his late forties. He had small eyes and wore a white collared shirt with a navy blue striped tie. "Ms. Pataki," He stood up to shake her hand and Helga politely obliged before sitting down in the chair across from his desk.
"Good morning, Mr. Chambers," Helga nodded, her face unreadable.
He turned to a table behind him with a coffeemaker. "Coffee?"
"No, thanks," Helga shook her head. "I'm fine. We should probably get down to business, don't you think?"
Mr. Chambers paused, caught somewhat off-guard by Helga's direct approach but he quickly recovered and smiled, though it never reached his eyes. "Of course," He nodded and turned back around.
"As you know, it's come to my attention that your facility has run into a bit of financial trouble," Helga began, leaning back against her seat and clasping her hands together calmly.
"Yes, how do you –"
"I'm not required to inform you of my sources as long as their facts check out," Helga cut him off and raised an eyebrow challengingly. "Anyway, I'm well-aware of the discrepancy between your unpaid back taxes and the continued running of this facility. I'm also aware of the fact that your company has taken out a large loan as of this past fall. Now look, I'm not with the feds so I'm not looking to sell you out here. But your situation has sparked my curiosity," She looked at him inquisitively.
Mr. Chambers nodded and leaned forward, resting his forearms on his desk. He took a breath as he began to speak, not looking directly at her at first. "I have to admit it's been a tough few years. We're managing the best way we can to ensure our residents and patients receive the best possible care,"
"I see," Helga said, pulling a small notepad out of her coat pocket and writing something in it. "Yet you're still accepting new patients? Do you really think that's responsible considering your struggle to manage finances as it is?"
Mr. Chambers sighed. "You make a valid point, Ms. Pataki, and that's why as of last month we have begun implementing new policies, including closing our doors to new patients for the time being," He paused and leaned back in his chair. "This story you're writing – what, may I ask, sparked your curiosity about my facility in particular?"
"Can anyone ever truly pinpoint why something interests them?" Helga responded rhetorically, not giving him the chance to reply. "Now, I'm perfectly capable of writing this piece and giving your facility a spotlight that could perhaps garner donations, sponsorships, etc. – highlighting the good work you do here and the need for community support. Would you be interested in something like that?"
Mr. Chambers grinned but quickly toned down his delight. "Ms. Pataki, that is a very kind offer and I ensure you, any support from the community, public or private, would be integral to the sustained functioning of this facility,"
Helga merely nodded and watched him. "I'll be in touch," She said, standing up. Mr. Chambers quickly mirrored her, seeming slightly confused. "O-okay. Is there anything more I can do to assist?" He offered, extending his hand to shake hers again.
"For the time being, no," Helga said, crossing over to the door as he followed behind. "Thank you for your time, Mr. Chambers,"
"Thank you, Ms. Pataki," Mr. Chambers nodded and started down the hallway, turning into one of the rooms as Helga stood by and wrote something in her notepad.
She clicked her pen closed and flipped through her previous notes. In a scribbled version of her handwriting she found the first one she'd written before she left the apartment that morning.
Neil Chambers. Kidney. Lupus. Columbia Nursing & Rehab.
Helga bit her lip in thought and began to walk back down the hall when her ears pricked up at the sound of Mr. Chambers' voice sounding a bit more frustrated than he'd been when they spoke. She poked her head around one of the doorframes and found him standing at the bedside of an elderly woman with long white hair. A nurse stood on the other side of her holding a plastic cup with pills in it.
"Helen, you need to –" He started, clearly aggravated, but he noticed Helga's presence out of the corner of his eye and quickly changed his tone. "Ms. Davis, you need to take your medicine,"
The woman pursed her lips tight and spoke not one word, turning her head and noticing Helga in the doorway. Her eyes were pale blue and sad. The nurse tried to offer the pills but Helen swatted a shaky hand at the young woman. Mr. Chambers' jaw clenched in irritation but he maintained an outward appearance of calm as he took the little cup from the nurse's hand. Helen, seemingly trying to speak, made sounds of disagreement, emphatically turning her face away from Mr. Chambers. The scene plucked at something within Helga. She locked eyes with this woman again and the pleading look on her face could have broken her stoic façade. To be trapped in your body, unable to speak and surrounded by people who didn't understand what was wrong – it hit home.
Mr. Chambers, apparently giving up for the time being, muttered something to the nurse and stood up to leave.
"Ms. Pataki," He nodded at her pleasantly as he passed through the doorway. "Please let me know if there's anything more I can do to assist you in your piece,"
"I will," Helga nodded as he continued down the hall and the nurse emerged from the room, her face in contorted in something resembling regret.
Helga furrowed her brow, watching as the two headed down the hall and turned in opposite directions before disappearing from sight. She looked back into the room at Helen who'd turned her head in the other direction. The small plastic cup with two small pills inside sat atop a tray on a cart next to her bed.
"May I come in, Ms. Davis?" Helga asked quietly, knowing the woman probably wouldn't be able to respond. She slowly approached the woman's bedside and sat down in a chair next to the bed. "Um… hi…" She said softly, her gaze cast down at the pattern of the white blanket on this woman's bed. "My name is Helga. I uh, I was hoping to just talk with you for a minute," She looked back in the direction of the door. "I was hoping you could tell me something… about Mr. Chambers," Helen turned her head around to face Helga and her brow was furrowed, her eyes still as pained as they had been before.
Helga took a breath and sighed. "I-I… I need to know if he's a good person," She said quietly and Helen watched her intently. "It's in my power to give that man a gift, in more ways than one, and… but, I… I don't want to do that if he doesn't deserve it. So, can you tell me – nod, or something? Is Mr. Chambers a good man?"
Helen's eyes flashed and Helga watched her inquisitively as the elderly woman became flustered, making sounds that Helga could only assume were whimpers. She turned in her bed to a nightstand on the opposite side of her bed where a pad of paper and a marker lay. Her movements were shaky but Helen managed to grab the pad and slowly but deliberately write for Helga. As she did so, Helga noticed her eyes beginning to water.
"The… drug… he gives me… makes me dizzy," Helga read as Helen wrote, nodding thoughtfully. "Okay,"
Helen looked up at her, her gaze fixed as she turned to write more.
"It makes me… feel sick. I don't want it…" Helga continued to read. "I want a different one…"
"That makes sense," Helga said. "Anything else?"
Helen paused, her lip quivering as she looked away. Helga watched as the woman began to write again, her movements even shakier than before. Helga's face fell in disappointment and disgust.
"He's punishing you?" She repeated the words back to the woman in an incredulous tone. "How?"
The woman's face contorted as her will to keep from crying diminished.
"How is he punishing you, Helen?" Helga urged her and the woman began to sob, trying to communicate though she was unintelligible. Helga sat patiently, controlling her own emotions as the elderly woman in front of her broke down, tears flooding the corners of her eyes and sliding back down to her pillow before she finally stopped shaking long enough to write some more.
Moments later Helga stormed out of the woman's room and down the hall where two nurses, an older woman with greying brown hair and a young blonde with a thick, sleek ponytail, were talking.
"Room 246," She stepped between them, not caring if she was being rude. "Get that woman a fucking bath,"
She didn't pause long enough to allow either of the women to argue. Mr. Chambers, who had been talking to someone farther up the hall, heard the outburst and rushed over. "What's going on here?"
"What the hell are you standing around for?" Helga turned back to the two women who were still staring at her, stunned. "Give Ms. Davis a bath now, or so help me you'll ALL be out of the job," The younger woman scurried off and into Helen's room with the older woman in tow.
"Ms. Pataki," Mr. Chambers began, trying to diffuse the situation.
"And you!" Helga turned to him, furious. "If I hear again that you are denying that woman the ability to BATHE, I promise I will run your sorry ass into the ground. Damnit!" She exclaimed, her voice almost a growl. "I almost believed you, you slimey son-of-a-bitch!" She shoved him and the back of his head hit the wall. "Ugh!" Helga took one last look down the hallway as she saw Ms. Davis being wheeled out of her room, a hopeful look of relief on her face as the young blonde pushed her wheelchair into the washroom.
Mr. Chambers watched in shock, rubbing the back of his head, as Helga stormed out of the building.
. . . . . . . .
Flashback – High School Graduation
Helga stood in a long, wide hallway with the rest of her graduating class. She could hear Arnold and Lila talking a little ways behind her and she cursed the fact that P's and S's were so close to one another in the alphabet. She stepped out of line to check out the front of the line where Phoebe and Gerald were able to actually chat with one another because only one person's last name happened to come between Heyerdahl and Johanssen.
"This sure is excitin', don't ya think, Helga?" Stinky drawled from behind her and she cringed, then sighed.
"I just can't wait to get out of this hellhole," She muttered in reply, crossing her arms and the huge sleeves of her green gown swished. "This stupid cap itches," She complained, regardless of whether Stinky was still paying attention to her or not.
Everyone around her was dressed in either a green or orange cap and gown – green for the girls, orange for the boys.
Count on Hillwood High to have the same ugly ass school colors as P.S. 118. Helga thought to herself, scowling as she surveyed the room. Everyone was lined up and waiting for the ceremony to begin.
High school hadn't exactly been easy for Helga but it'd been bearable for what it was worth. She had mixed emotions about where she was going from here. Phoebe had been accepted to a school in Washington state on the complete opposite side of the country and even though Helga was also going to go to a great school here in Hillwood to study English, she couldn't help but feel apprehensive at the idea of separating from her best friend.
And what about Arnold? He was still with Lila but Helga couldn't help the pangs of despair and longing that tormented her. She chastised herself for not letting him go. She'd certainly tried but it was to no avail. Somehow he still managed to linger in her heart like the ghost of a love long passed.
As the line moved forward, Helga could see the crowds of family and friends out in the gymnasium waiting for the graduating class to enter. Olga wouldn't be there – she was currently teaching English at a primary school in Sweden, but her parents had said they'd be here. She'd even made it a point to remind Miriam before she left the house that morning AND text Bob before she was forced to turn her cell phone off. She hated to admit it but she actually did want them there. Through everything she'd done in school – writing competitions, playing girls lacrosse in her first year of high school and the awards banquets associated with that, her parents hadn't shown up. She hid how she felt with a thick blanket of anger but deep down, it really hurt. But this was her graduation. They had to understand how important this was.
The line began to move faster and Helga was startled out of her thoughts as they filed into the gymnasium, the crowd roaring with cheers as families screamed for their children.
"I reckon this is it!" Stinky said excitedly.
"Woohoo," Helga responded in monotone, but inside she was a bundle of nerves and excitement herself.
. . . . . . . .
The venue was a jungle after the ceremony as everyone tried to reunite with their family members. Helga passed through throngs of people taking pictures, talking, and hugging. Some people were, like her, wandering around looking for someone.
She pulled her phone out of her pocket and pulled her cap off as she waited for it to turn on, running a hand through her long blonde hair to loosen it up. Once her phone was on, she dialed her mom's cell phone number.
After a few rings, Miriam finally picked up and in a lazy voice answered, "Hello?"
"Hey, Mom?" Helga said, her voice without its usual edge as she tried to look through the crowd. "Where are you guys?"
"Oh, what?" Miriam questioned, confused. "Oh! Oh, honey we tried to get to… to your thing but the roads were so bad,"
"What?" Helga stopped looking around, her brow furrowing.
"Wha – oh, hold on, Helga," Miriam said and Big Bob picked up the phone.
"Hey," He said.
"Hey, where are you guys?" Helga repeated her question, though her heart was sinking as the conversation continued.
"Traffic downtown was a bitch, girl," Bob said brusquely. "We couldn't get through,"
That's why I told you guys to take the subway down here with me… Helga thought to herself angrily. "It's fine, whatever," Helga brushed it off and she listened to sounds from the other line as Bob gave the phone back to Miriam.
"Helga?"
"I'm here, Miriam," Helga said bitterly. "Look, I gotta go,"
"Okay honey," Miriam said in a voice that seemed totally oblivious to how important the situation was. "We'll see you at home,"
Helga hung up without saying anything more and muttered to herself, "Pfft, yeah if you even notice that I get there," She stuffed her phone back into her pocket and stomped out of the building. The sun was periodically peeking through clouds, causing the lighting outside to alternate between bright and overcast. Helga walked over to a set of concrete steps and plopped down, yanking her gown off and tossing it next to her with the cap on top. She was wearing a bright pink sundress and brown wedged sandals, a choice she now resented because as much as she wanted to slouch and brood, she had to be conscious of how she positioned her legs so as not to flash anyone.
"No fucking big deal," Helga muttered to herself, leaning her head against a metal railing and sighing. "It's just graduation," I'm so done with this shit.
"Hey Helga," A familiar voice behind her caught her off-guard and she turned around, her face brightening involuntarily.
"Hey Ar—" She stopped when she noticed it wasn't just Arnold but also his grandparents, a few of the boarders, and Lila. "Hi," She muttered, scowling again and turning back around.
"Are you alright, Helga?" Lila asked as the group descended the steps.
"Oh yeah," Helga said, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Can't you tell I'm simply overcome with joy!"
Arnold shot Lila a look and nodded his head toward Helga. Lila shrugged and walked away with his family as Arnold leaned against the railing. "What's wrong, Helga?" He asked gently.
"Nothing's wrong, Football-head," Helga muttered.
Arnold bit his lip, eyeing her knowingly before looking around. "Your family's not here," He said quietly as he realized.
"Your powers of observation astound me," Helga rolled her eyes. "Guess that's what a good ol' high school education'll getcha, huh?"
"Do you—"
"Can you just go?" Helga cut him off but he was surprised to find that her voice didn't have the same aggressiveness it usually possessed. Instead, what stood out was the look in her eyes. It was a look he recognized from some far corner of his mind of a little girl, broken-hearted and alone.
"Are you sure?" He asked hesitantly. A little ways down the sidewalk, Lila and his family were watching and waiting. Helga noticed and nodded.
"Yeah, go take your pictures or get lunch or whatever," She waved him away. "I'm fine,"
"Okay," Arnold said, still not quite wanting to leave her. "Let me know if you need anything,"
Helga sighed and watched him walk away. "Unfortunately, you can't give me what I need, Football-head," She whispered.
. . . . . . . .
Present Day
"I just came home and found the place like this and she was gone," Arnold explained as two detectives, Mickey Rollins and Janet Sullivan, inspected the apartment. He followed them as they wandered around, checking everything out and asking questions. Detective Rollins had eyed the overturned coffee table in the living room strangely as Detective Sullivan surveyed a number of framed photographs sitting on another table nearby.
"Do you know of anyone who may have had a problem with you or your wife?" Detective Rollins asked as Detective Sullivan moved into the kitchen, noting a mark on the cabinet above the stove.
"No, I mean," Arnold said, shaking his head. "It doesn't make any sense,"
The detectives continued looking around, inspecting and taking notes on the appearance of the place before requesting that Arnold come down to the station and talk with them in more detail.
Arnold rode in the back of the police car and used his cell phone to call Lila's dad who only lived a few blocks away. He met them at the police station about ten minutes after they arrived and Detective Rollins went to talk with him while Detective Sullivan talked to Arnold in her office.
"So where were you this morning, before discovering your wife was missing?" She asked, leaning on her desk as her pen was poised to write.
Arnold tapped his fingers against the arms of his chair. "I was taking a walk for maybe a couple hours, hour and a half,"
"Anywhere in particular?"
"Not really," Arnold contemplated. "I like to walk around the city sometimes to clear my head,"
"Clear your head?"
"You know, just to figure things out," Arnold said, shrugging. "It was actually her suggestion,"
"Was anyone with you?"
"No," Arnold shook his head.
"I see," Detective Sullivan wrote this down. "Does Mrs. Shortman have any friends she's particularly close with?"
"Hmm…" Arnold furrowed his brow in thought. He couldn't remember the last time he'd seen Lila socializing outside of events they went to together like Rhonda's party. "Not really. We have a friend, Rhonda Lloyd, that we went to school with but we only see her once in a while,"
"You don't know if your wife talks to this person or anyone else regularly?" Detective Sullivan quirked an eyebrow.
"Um… not really," Arnold admitted.
"Would you say that she rubs people the wrong way?" Detective Sullivan leaned back in her seat slightly.
"No, she's uh… she's been a little more withdrawn lately but around people she's pretty sociable," Arnold said, nodding as he did so.
"Okay. Mr. Shortman, what is your wife's blood type?" The detective asked. "We're gonna need that information for forensics,"
"Umm…" Arnold pursed his lips. "AB, I think. Or A,"
"You don't know your wife's blood type?" Detective Sullivan raised an eyebrow at him. "Alright, c'mon," She said, shaking her head and standing up. "Let's go join Mr. Sawyer – maybe he can help fill in some of these gaps,"
"Alright," Arnold said, following the detective obediently.