Chapter 19

I'm in his room…

"Arnold, the mail's here! Would you get it?"

"Sure, Grandpa," Arnold said, as he walked over to the door and picked up the stack of mail.

"Bill, bill, Sports Illustrated, bill, postcard from Bill, bill, From Anonymous, bi…From Anonymous? What on earth's that?" he wondered, as he stared at the envelope.

"Short man, hurry up!"

"Coming, Grandpa," Arnold said absentmindedly, as he walked into the kitchen and dropped the mail on the table.

"Hey, wait, Arnold! You forgot one!"

"What, this?" he said, holding up the mysterious letter. "This one's to me."

"From Anonymous, aye? Well, Arnold, I won't say anything since Pookie ordered me not to but…well, whatever. If it's yours, take it."

"Okay," he said, as he walked into the hall, up the stairs to his room, and shut the door.

"From Anonymous," he said, turning the letter over. "That's weird. I wonder what's in it."

Helga quickly climbed the fire escape and crawled across the roof of the building, until she got to the humongous sky light that was the ceiling of Arnold's bedroom. She quietly peered over the edge.

"Criminy!" she muttered. "I'm too late! He's got the letter! Now what am I supposed to do?"

"Hey, Arnold! Someone's here to see you!"

"Coming, Grandpa!" Arnold called, as he dropped the letter on the bed and walked out of the room.

"Eureka! Here's my chance! Now if only I could get this blasted window thing to open…" she said, fiddling with the lock. "Wait, I think I got it…AHHH!" she screamed, as the pane of glass fell open, and she fell into the room.

She landed on Arnold's bed. She laid there for about half a minute, recollecting herself. When she finally opened her eyes and was staring into the sky.

"Did I die?" she wondered. "Am I in heaven?" Then she glanced around. "No, but close enough."

She slowly sat up. "Wow. I'm in his room," she murmured, taking in her surroundings.

She had landed on a small twin sized bed that was pushed up against one side of the wall. All of the walls were covered with shelves that held lots of electronics. The sky light ceiling had lots of lights installed into it. There was a huge stereo set on one wall and a closet on the other. There was also a red couch that folded in and out of the wall when a button on a remote was pushed. His entire room was fully automated and could be controlled with the remote.

"Wow. What a cool room. Mostly because it's his, and I'm in it. This is too good to be true!" she sighed, as she turned around, fell back on the pillow, and breathed deeply, forgetting for the moment her reason for being here. "I've got to know what that shampoo is," she said into the pillow.

She lay like that for quite a while and had almost fallen asleep, when she heard footsteps coming up the stairs. She quickly stood up and looked around for a place to hide. She thought about running to the closet, but she would never make it. Against her better judgment, she lay down on the couch, grabbed the remote, and pressed the button. The sofa folded into the wall, and she fell off it.

"Ow! Stupid floor," she mumbled, as she pressed the button to make the couch fold back out again. She was in a small, rectangular space, just big enough for the couch to fit into. She couldn't see a thing, but she could look out a crack between the wall and the couch to see what was going on.