Chapter 60

Heartbreaking

Helga expected to burst into tears, but she didn't. She didn't have the strength to cry. Or do anything else for that matter.

She'd been rejected. The one thing she had always feared. The one thing that had kept her secret a secret. Fear of rejection.

She used to have nightmares about being rejected. Horrible nightmares. But she had always woken up before things got too bad. She had never thought about what life would be like afterwards. But now, she was living her nightmare.

She felt like someone had taken a sword and run it through her heart. Her heart was broken without any hope of repair, and she was sure that nothing could ever fill up the emptiness. Everything she had lived for, everything she had ever dreamed of becoming, everything that she was, had just been destroyed by a few words.

Helga stood in the exact same spot for almost a half an hour before she started to walk, almost subconsciously, out of the field, in the opposite direction of Arnold. She eventually came to a road. She caught a bus and sat motionless for two hours before it dropped her off by her house. She walked up the steps of her house, opened the door, and stepped inside.

Inside was quite an interesting scene. Her older sister, Olga, was sitting on the floor crying her eyes out. Her mother was screaming something into the phone, and her father was nowhere to be seen, but judging from the racket coming from the television in the next room, it was pretty easy to figure out where he was.

Helga quietly closed the door, hoping not to make a scene. Sadly, that was not the case.

Olga glanced up. "Helga!" she squealed, jumping up and running to her. She hugged her tightly, then grabbed her hand and pulled her over to Miriam.

"Mummy! Look! Helga's come home!" she cried, her voice attempting to break the sound barrier.

"In a minute, Olga," Miriam muttered, before returning to the phone. "You listen here, Mister! You can't expect me to stand here listening to you tell me that the helicopter is off the radar! My little girl is out there! Go send someone-"

"But, Mummy, Helga's right here!" Olga exclaimed.

Miriam glanced at Helga. "Sorry, I have to go," she said slowly, hanging up the phone. She stared at Helga in disbelief.

"Um…hi," Helga said without feeling.

"Helga! Where have you been?" her mother asked in a daze, bending down to give her a quick hug.

"An island."

"Oh, that's nice. What happened to the helicopter?"

"Crashed."

"Are you hurt?" she inquired.

"No."

"Well…it's nice to have you back, Helga," she said, uncertainly. Talking with her daughter wasn't something that she had much experience with. "We were worried."

"Oh, I just missed you so much, Baby Sister!" Olga cried out, her high, annoying voice completely contrasting to her mother's hesitant one.

"Oh." Helga didn't have time for this. She didn't care what her so-called 'family' had to say to her. She just wanted to be alone.

"How on earth did you survive out there all by yourself?" Olga asked.

"I wasn't alone."

"Oh? Who were you with?"

"A-a boy," Helga said softly, hoping they couldn't hear the tremor in her voice.

"A boy?" Olga cried in shock.

"Yes."

"From your class?"

"Uh-huh."

"What's his name?"

"Arnold." Did they not realize how much it hurt her to even utter his name?

"Where is he?"

"Don't know."

"Is he home?"

"Probably."

"Well, that's good. We wouldn't want your little friend Arnold-"

"Alfred?" her father asked, stepping into the hall. "Why are you talking about the orphan boy?"

"Helga was on an island with him! That's where she's been all this time," Olga explained, seeming bent on getting Helga in some sort of trouble. It worked.

"What were you doing with him on an island?" Bob bellowed.

"It's not like I planned it."

"You shouldn't be associating with people like him, Olga. Think of what it would do to the Pataki name if my daughter was friends with an orphan!"

Helga just glared at him.

"Now Daddy, it's not Alfred's fault he has no parents."

Bob looked at Helga quizzically. "You didn't do anything with him, did you?"

"What's it to you?" Helga snapped.

"Hey! Don't take that tone with me, missy! Just answer the question!"

"I-I don't want to talk about it."

"Give the girl a break, Bee," Miriam said, coming to the rescue. "She's been through a lot. She needs rest."

"Good idea," he stated, too lazy at the moment to come up with a better plan. "Go to bed, Olga."

"But Daddy, I'm not tired!" Olga protested.

"Not you, the girl. And you should go to bed too; it's almost one in the morning!"

"Really?" Olga asked in amazement. "I must have been so worried, I didn't notice."

Helga quietly snuck past them and climbed the stairs. She stepped into her room and shut the door. She stood in the pitch blackness, trying to collect herself.

"Come on, Helga," she said out loud. Her voice sounded hollow and distant in the empty room. "It's not the end of the world." Yeah, right. "It could be worse." How? "I-it's not that bad." Her voice started to crack. "So what if he d-doesn't l-love me? Big deal. I-I can live without him. I-I…" Helga ran over to her bed and threw herself facedown on it, sobbing hysterically. "Why?" she screamed. "Why did he have to do that?"

"Helga? Are you okay?" her mother's voice came from the other side of the door.

Helga sat up. "I-I'm fine, Miriam! Criminy!"

"Oh…okay. Goodnight, dear."

Helga waited for her mother's footsteps to die away.

"This is stupid," she said to herself. "Crying won't get me anywhere. I-I just need to write something." She pulled out her poetry book and read the last poem. "And by your kiss you've shown true love. I'm yours forever, my own true love. I sound so happy," she thought sadly. "Well, that just goes to show how cruel the world can be." She began to write.

He broke my heart,

Every piece shattered.

All I wanted was his love,

Real as he promised.

True was mine for him,

But he left me,

Right in the middle of paradise.

Every piece of my heart

Aches for his love.

Kindling the fire,

I will wait by the light,

Never losing hope.

Grief will be my only comfort.