Disclaimer: I own NOT Hey Arnold! But I love the football-headed boy, so I write fanfics about him and his pals!

This is a little sad, or maybe too sad. Anyways, enjoy (if you like sad stuff) and review!

DEATH IS AT THE DOOR SHORT STORIES

Forever together

Phil had decided to stop talking and eating. He couldn't walk, and refused to use the wheelchair anymore. He didn't have sense of time, which made him unaware of the amount of days he had been that way. The only thing he was sure about was how much it had hurt him to learn that Pookie had passed away, and that no one had let him know. He decided to part to where she was without asking for anyone's consent.

The nursing home staff members were very worried. They had tried to establish contact several times with the family of Philip and Gertrude Shortman when she had passed away. They had sent several e-mails, ignoring that Miles, Stella and Arnold Shortman were in a two-year expedition through the Amazon jungle. They had called hundreds of times, but the land line number they had belonged to an indigenous Costa Rican tribe which spoke Boruca and Spanish. They had sent a few letters, which were mostly lost in the mail for being the address too deep in the jungle. They had, at last, published the obituary in a local newspaper, but they hadn't received any news from the old couple's family.

The management office had then taken the resolution of not letting the old man know what had happened to his wife until a family member showed up, for fear that he may pass away of sadness, and so it had been done. Whenever a senile Phil asked about his wife, the personnel told him that she was sleeping, listening to the radio, sunbathing, training young kids in karate or taming wild lions. The staff members' answers became more and more creative, and Phil always cracked a laugh. It had been that way until two weeks ago, when Phil had bluntly asked a young staff member if his wife was still alive. The shocked girl couldn't answer and that had been an answer itself. Ever since the incident, Phil had closed himself to the world.

…

Arnold went to the post office in Brasilia. He had tried to keep in contact with Helga ever since he had moved to the jungle with his parents. The post service was very bad and his letters got lost quite often. He had agreed then to rent a post office box in the nearest city to the location where he was going to be. He would let Helga know in advance, so she didn't mail him to the wrong address. It had been working well for a few years, until his trip to the Amazon which had been something neither him nor his parents wanted to repeat. They were supposed to work there for two years, but things went as bad as they could, forcing them to return before time. They were ready to go back from Brazil to Costa Rica and then home, to the US.

Arnold picked a huge bunch of Helga's letters and carrying it, rode along with his parents the jeep that would take them to the airport. Their arrival was going to be a surprise.

Arnold opened the last letter Helga had sent. He had sent her a few letters from different places whenever he had been able to, just to let her know that he was fine. He figured that she would have looked for him throughout the whole Amazon Jungle if he hadn't let her know that he was alive. He expected a very angry letter from her, but instead, he found a newspaper obituary, his grandmother's name was on it. He opened several more, and they all had a copy of the same paper. Arnold put his head in his hands and started to cry. Miles took a piece of paper from the bunch Arnold had opened and read his mother's name.

…..

Phil had been able to see his son and grandson before parting. Miles had begged him to eat while Arnold had tried to cheer him up. They didn't understand, life without Pookie meant nothing to him. Death hadn't taken him, he had decided to embrace it to be reunited in infinity with she who had loved him even before he knew what loving meant.

…..

"I'm so sorry Arnold!" Helga said after the burial. She held him strongly with both arms, forgetting for once her facade, to support him during that painful moment.

"It's ok Helga. At least we were able to say goodbye to him." Arnold said while hugging her back, tears rolling down his cheeks. He put his head on her shoulder and added "It seemed to me that he wanted to go with her."

Helga softly pulled herself away from Arnold's embrace, her confused eyes asked a question.

Arnold embraced Helga again and answered "You see, he died exactly a year after she did."