The next day, Helga went in to her appointment with Dr. Bliss. Somehow the room looked just like the one she had remembered. Her seat was in the same place and she took almost hesitation in sitting in it. Dr. Bliss sits in the chair opposite Helga's. "I'm pleasantly surprised that you picked the same chair as last time."
"Yeah. I guess." Helga says trying to keep up the innocent act. The way that her parents finally seemed proud of her made her realize just how much she needed them to really like her. Although she knew that it was going to be hard, she was determined to be nicer. In this world, Arnold likes her, there is no way that she would give that up.
"So. What's new?" Dr. Bliss asks, not particularly sure what you say to someone in Helga's position.
"Well. Ya know, just realized that I've apparently lived in a fantasy world my entire life." Helga says sarcastically. "Although it was not a good fantasy, so It probably was not much of a fantasy at all huh?"
"Well why don't you tell me about it?" Dr. Bliss says as she grabs out a notebook and a pencil.
"I don't even know where to start." Helga remembers her last talk with Dr. Bliss, when she finally declared her love for Arnold. That Helga would have given anything not to share a word to a therapist. But she was determined to be a new Helga and to do that she had to just get right to the point. Besides, the barrier between them was basically diminished during the last session.
"Well, why don't we start at the beginning? Tell me more about your family." Dr. Bliss comments as she crosses her legs. She lays the notebook against her thigh and holds the pencil against the paper, ready to write.
"Well I think I told you once about my blowhard dad and my perfect sister…" Helga says. She pauses in order to wait for some sort of response to tell her that she's not insane. When Dr. Bliss nods, Helga feels more relaxed and comforted to tell her anything. "Well Olga came back from Alaska again. Of course, she's just winning over my parents by giving them some sort of trophy she won for ice sculpting or whatever. Now that I think of it, I saw my parents today and they're nothing like I remember them being."
"Okay Helga, I hope you don't mind but I wanted to give you my views of why I think your parents are so different in what you explained as your 'fantasy' world."
"Go ahead. I'm listening." Helga leans back in the Freudian-like chair. Her hands are tucked behind her head and her legs are crossed on the edge of the seat.
"After hearing your story months ago, I went and asked your parents what they said happened that morning. My conclusion is that when you were four you saw the world quite differently then you normally would. At that age your brain is not fully functioning. In fact your brain is still forming as we speak. Combined with sibling rivalry, I think that just about everything you imagined about your family had to do with the attention that parents commonly give to first-borns. Olga is about ten or eleven years older than you. She wasn't used to sharing the attention with another child. Your parents were just trying to calm her down and complement her like usual. She may not have been the best piano player, but you were only four at the time, the fact that she could even play at all impressed you." Dr. Bliss reads off of a paper. Wow she must take a lot of notes, Helga thinks to herself. She then switches her thoughts to what Dr. Bliss had described. The idea that her precious sister Olga could be nothing more than an ordinary kid, somehow brought her joy.
"What about my parents?" Helga asks. "You can't possibly think for one moment that I just imagined my father's rage and my mother's lack of sobriety."
"Well I don't think that they are as bad as you have come to think. Your dad owns a beeper emporium. He often has to deal with many angry customers. It is only natural for him to come home and not be in the best of moods. It's the same with your mom. She comes home tired after long hours at work. She's not always herself when she takes care of you. I don't think that it's fair how they treated you. They should have been there for you and not just for your sister."
"My mom doesn't have a job." Helga corrects her.
"No, but she is the one who takes care of the house and tries to make sure that everything was okay for you two girls. And actually I have it written down here that she was attending night school when you were really little. That may have something to do with it."
Helga thinks deeply about everything that has been said. With every minute she thinks deeper and deeper until finally she gets a headache. She takes her hands and puts them on the sides of her head.
"It is a lot to sink in." Dr. Bliss states. "Maybe we should end this today and continue later." Dr. Bliss starts to pack up her things.
"Wait, no." Helga says jumping up from her couch. "I want to go back to school. We haven't covered anything that could clear me for it."
"Well you seem fine to me. I think you should be okay to go back as long as you come in for check-ups. The first one should be on Thursday and we will continue them on Tuesdays and Thursdays." Dr. Bliss states. Helga smiles widely. "We just need someone to come in and give you a placement test. You seem oddly intelligent for someone who has been through what you have been through. Who knows, maybe you'll even be able to be in the same grade as your preschool classmates."
Helga, who is overcome with joy, hugs Dr. Bliss. Oh what she wouldn't give to be near Arnold again.