Finale Chapter: Tannhauser Overture
Days had passed, how many? Who knows, the weather stayed the same with its endless doomsday storm. The only way to know that days had passed was at night when the skies would turn black.
The teenage lovers had roamed for miles without any luck. They tried to find their way back but without a compass, it was impossible and with no sun in the sky, it was hard, and the lack of stars at night made everything hopeless. Their hunger had grown in their empty stomachs, none of the blond kids had hunting skills and with no hunting skills, no food to eat.
With a delay, they lost all faith in ever seeing home sweet home again and even one of those days, Arnold told Helga.
"Let's lose ourselves, somewhere… everyone's dead… there is nothing left for us…"
But they struggled on, day by day, storm by storm, grief by grief and danger by danger. To rest their bones in one doleful night, they ended up in a dead hollow log filled with nasty insects and moss. Although they had already gotten used to the rainy weather and violent currents of wind, they preferred to stay at that place for it was safer than outside.
Tucked up inside, Arnold and Helga hugged to keep warmth as they tenderly stared at each other.
"It's gonna be all right…" Arnold said to Helga who had many ant bites in different parts of her body.
She smiled and kissed him "I know…" Helga replied in a sad tone. Seeing this, Arnold tried to erase her unease.
"When we get home, let's go to the movie theater… I want to watch Flora Flowers goes to the Moon or The Return of eLi Moondog, or maybe walk through the park or even spend a night at Mighty Pete!" He said excited.
Helga giggled "Okay" she smiled "You know, I don't really mind if we ever go back…"
Arnold felt afraid and surprised by her answer as she continued.
"I don't care for anything anymore… I just want to be with you, where ever destiny takes us… I don't mind"
Silence ruled the air, had Helga lost all hope? Did she think they were doomed? Did she think they were going to die? Those questions traveled inside Arnold's mind. He preferred not to ask Helga and kissed her instead, it was a bizarre romantic scene where many insects crawled by.
"Goodnight my love" Helga sighed.
"Good night Helga, I love you" Arnold replied and kissed her forehead.
The night was silent, the only thing you could hear was the wind and grasshoppers.
"Everything is so quiet…" Arnold said to Helga as they hid behind a bush looking at an open field.
"Look!" Helga pointed at the sky "No clouds! Look at all those stars!"
Indeed, the sky was clear as water, sparkled by millions of stars and some gray clouds.
"Why are we here again Arnold?" Helga fidgeted "They will find us, they'll see us… It's suicide!" Helga grabbed his arm to lure the way back but he walked strongly towards the field.
"I have to see, I have to know…" Arnold said as he headed to a sinkhole with a shrine on an edge.
"Arnold! This is the cannibals' shelter, please come back!" Helga whispered loudly.
Arnold rejected the warnings and kept strolling. He remembered the place. The huge hole in the ground where many were thrown off. The abyss where Gerald had jumped in to save their lives. It was a mysterious force that lured him.
Standing on the edge he stared downwards, goose bumps appeared when he saw the abyss, darker than the night above.
"Arnold! What are you doing?" Helga waved her arms.
He felt the need to jump in but he couldn't understand why, and with a leap he entered the hole even though he felt scared and gave some shrieks.
"Noooooooooooo! Arnold!" he heard Helga's frantic screams while they faded away the deeper he fell in.
Arnold couldn't see a thing, he felt fear of hitting a rock on the way down, but even closing his eyes help in nothing. The wind blew his long hair and saturated his ears with white noise. Arnold felt the bottom would soon be reached.
When he felt he would hit the ground he didn't, instead, he felt how he passed through the surface. He panicked when he thought he would never fall anywhere but then he felt he floated in the air. Arnold looked around, everything was in gloom, blinded by the darkness.
'What now?' a sudden giggle distracted his thoughts but couldn't see where the giggle was emitted.
Running footsteps said "Follow me!" the voice was familiar to Arnold.
"But where? I can't see you!" Arnold yelled worried.
The voice chuckled and said "Follow the sound of my voice and footsteps dummy"
Arnold did as told and asked "Wait, who are you?"
The voice giggled "Don't worry man! Just follow me!"
Arnold felt lots of nostalgia, he knew that voice from somewhere, the problem was where. He knew it was the voice of a little boy, perhaps in his eleven years of age maybe.
"Keep up the pace grandpa" The voice laughed.
"I can't see a thing! It's too dark!" Arnold was afraid of crashing on a wall or something.
"Ha Ha… you're funny, come on, you're too slow, hurry granny!"
Arnold was now jading, how many miles had he run? He followed the voice for some more time until it faded away.
"Hey! Where are you!?" He yelled but no one answered "Don't go!... please!" no reply. Arnold felt loneliness and felt tears filling his eyes.
"Oh you are such a cry baby" the nostalgic voice told him in a friendly tone. Arnold shook back and saw something amazing and special for him.
A little boy about 9 to 10 years old, with curly black hair and a red shirt with a thirty-three logo on it. Gerald from the past, a Fourth-grader standing with his hands on his hips and a grand warm smile.
"Gerald!" Arnold joyfully said.
'Our voices have changed over the years, I forgot the sound of our voices'
They did their handshake even though his hands were bigger and finished with a hug.
"Gerald! I missed you!" Arnold forgot about everything even the jungle, it was as if nothing had ever happened.
"Arnold my man!"
"What are you doing here?" Arnold asked.
"Emm, nothing... just cheelin' here with you"
"Well let's get out of here and go play with the others at Gerald's Field! Come on!"
"Okay man, but first I have to tell you something" little version of Gerald said happily.
"Yeah, tell me, what is it?" Arnold felt so delighted he had lost the scent of time and space.
"Everything is all right and will be all right" he said "don't be afraid"
Confusion was in Arnold's eyes "Wha... What do you mean?" Arnold twirled.
"It's okay Arnold, everything's fine! … I'm alright!"
Arnold couldn't figure out what he meant "You're alright? What do you mean by that?"
Gerald smiled "Come on, let's go, follow me" Gerald skipped around joyfully and so did Arnold as they strolled around the darkness.
After a while walking, something caught their attention.
"What is that smell?" infant Gerald asked.
"I don't know… it smells like something burning"
"Oh man!" Gerald complained.
"What? What is it!?" Arnold trembled.
The child crossed his hands as if something bothered him and then giggled "Looks like my time with you ran over… darn."
"What? Ran over?"
"Oh well, Arnold, it was great seeing you man! See you later!" he said while running off "Oh and follow the snake, till she falls and calms down! She'll lead you home!" and he vanished in the darkness.
"No wait! What about Gerald Field and the others!" Arnold ran "The guys are waiting for us!"
Suddenly a fast blatant sound came crashing from above.
"Wow! Where am I?" Arnold laid on the ground and the sound of lightning thundered close making the earth shake. Some bugs crawled around on top. The smell of burned grass and threes flew on the air. He then realized where he was, back in that hollow log and he sweated in vast.
"Oh… it was only a dream…" He muttered in disappointment "But… everything was so real… I wish it was real…" Something was different, he looked around and finally noticed Helga wasn't beside him. He panicked and glanced everywhere.
Where was she? Did she abandon him? Was she kidnapped by the natives? Arnold crawled out of the log to begin his search.
The night still ruled the skies, the clouds covered the moon. Nothing had changed, the storm seemed to never end, only this time it was worst. Thunder usually strikes different locations once in a while, right? Not for this storm, thunder randomly struck the grounds almost every eight seconds. They hit so close to Arnold's surroundings that he felt his internal being shake.
Sudden flashes blinded him for a long time, almost eternal. You'd say that a lightning strike makes one loud thud after the flash, well you're wrong because when a lightning hit almost 9 feet away from him, he heard billions of tiny sparks colliding into each other.
"What the fuck is going on!?" Arnold yelled when he saw in front of him not very far away, the jungle on fire. The greatest of firewalls burned and the heat touched Arnolds face. Not even the rain could cease the chaotic fire and more thunder hit trees making the fire even greater.
Arnold twirled wondering where Helga might be, so he faced the firewalls once again and saw Helga. She was heading straight to the burning woods. Holly hell!
"Helga!" Arnold yelled "Heeeeelgaaaaa!" but she wouldn't stop "What the fuck does she think she's doing!" He mumbled as he ran to fetch her.
"Helga! Come back!" Helga wouldn't stop "Helga! What the fuck!" The heat and temperature increased till it was actually burning but he finally reached her and tackled her to the wet ground.
Helga shook like crazy "Wha… but… hol… I am… wa. Du.. diff…Criminy ! What the fuck is going on!?" She shouted a confused twirl as she jaded. Helga screamed when she saw the great firewalls that got closer and closer.
"Helga! What the hell were you thinking!?" Arnold shouted.
"What!?... Hey, get off me!" she struggled but Arnold held her tight.
Helga gave astonished glimpses "Oh no… it's back" She said.
"What? What's back?" The fire got closer.
"Slee…" she harrumphed "I sleepwalk!" she yelled, the increasing fire got highly loud.
"Sleepwalk!?" He repeated "You sleepwalk?"
"Yes football head, now get over it!"
"Get what? I can't hear you!"
"Doi!" She closed her eyes and both screamed in pain.
"Agh! It burns!" they cringed to the burning heat waves.
"let's get out of here! Now!" Helga commanded.
They ran down hill and SHRRRRK a lightning hit the ground throwing them faraway. They twisted to the pain like a snail in salt.
"Crap…" Arnold moaned.
The couple stood on their knees and gimped away and two lightnings hit trees near them.
"What the hell is wrong with these thunders!?" Helga pouted "It almost feels like they are following us!"
Arnold agreed "Come on… the fire is right behind us!"
They fidgeted looking at the night sky, frightened, wondering when and where the next lightning might fall. They ran and the ground unexpectedly turned white.
"Move!" Arnold pushed Helga away from him and jumped. Tsrucck! A silver string from the sky collapsed right between the teens.
Helga's eyes filled with horror 'That could've been us!' She thought looking at a burning cracked ground.
"Helga!" Arnold called out "We gotta carry on!" he yelled holding his chest. She nodded and once more, the two lovers ran dodging several lightning till they reached a cliff a very high one, you could see a great amount of the jungle.
"How the hell did we get this high!?" Helga grunted "Let's go back"
"We can't" He said looking back. It seemed that the thunder was mystically on to them and every time it stroke, it left a new wall of fire that spread in all directions.
Arnold tried to find a way out but found none, he peered down and saw tiny treetops. He looked around once again and gasped 'Oh boy'
"Get on my back!" Arnold desperately yelled.
"What!? Have you gone loony!?" Helga's legs shivered.
"Come on! Now it's not the time to argue, now get on my back, now!"
Helga cringed and twirled her eyes "Criminy! Fine! But you better know what you are doing football head!" she mounted on Arnold's back and mumbled rubbish.
Many long type of roots hanged on the brink of the cliff, so Arnold grabbed one and slowly began to descend. Helga wasn't that light, she was heavy and hung on Arnold's neck. Let us not forget about the weather, it still rained hard drops of water and made the root slippery. Due to this, the way down was incredibly slow and also, vertigo made the two teens feel dizzy.
Imagine two sixteen year old teens, hanging on a slippery root, thousands of feet above the ground, perhaps the height was the same as a skyscraper, who knows. A pair of kids swinging down in the middle of nowhere, in the time of a deadly storm.
"Don't look down, do not look down" Arnold muttered.
Helga just stuck her claws on Arnold like a cat, she didn't say a thing, she only shivered around her love and shrieked once in a while.
Arnold began to have second thoughts about his desperate decision 'I think we shouldn't have gone this way' he raised his head at the far top of the cliff that by that time, wild flames burned to the sky 'well, at least we are safe from the fire' in that second, his hands slid down the slimy root.
Helga yelled and Arnold grasped on the root burning his hands but luckily he got the grip of it. The sudden stop made Helga bounce off.
"Arnold!" she screamed and her wits held Arnold's long hair hanging on them.
"Argh!" Arnold reacted to the pain on his scalp.
"Help me! Help me! Aaaaah !" Helga's fearsome yells were as loud as the thunder above.
"Hel… grab my… shoulders…" Arnold gritted.
"I can't!" she shrilled.
"I… can't help you… I mean… I can't let… go of the root!" he could hardly talk, he felt his head skin would soon rip off "Hurry… it hurts!"
Helga gulped and reached Arnold's shoulder with one hand and soon after grasped the other one. He felt relieved but not for long, Helga hung her long arms on his neck making him unable to breathe.
Arnold's eyes turned red as he said "Helga…. You… are cho... choking me"
"Oh… emm… sorry… he he" She giggled in embarrassed.
They carefully made their way down the long green root, till another obstacle block their pace.
"Oh no…" Helga moaned.
"What? What's wrong?"
"The root will soon come to an end, and we're not even halfway down"
Arnold glared bellow, in fact, the root's end was a few feet from them.
"Damn it!" he regretted "What now!" Arnold gazed above to the brink "mmm maybe we could wait till the rain ceases the fire… and climb back up…" Arnold wasn't sure.
"No…" Helga said and pointed out "look"
"What?"
"Look at crag of the cliff in front of us"
"So?"
"Well it's filled with plants and roots, we could climb them down"
Arnold shivered when he imagined that idea "I don't know Helga… maybe it's too risky…what if.."
"Risky!?" Helga smirked "This trip has been dangerous from the start, I think that's the last thing to worry about bucko!"
Helga was right, but that didn't cease Arnold's fear.
"I'll go first and then you, okay?" she said.
"But how are we gonna get there? It's too far"
"Like this, doi!" Helga pushed Arnold forward and back making them swing.
"Aah! What are you doing!?" Arnold cried, the root made squeaky sounds as if it were to rip.
"Oh don't be such a wuss!" She grinned and reached the weeds when they finally got close enough. Helga crawled like a spider as Arnold swung back.
"Now what?" he yelled.
"Well, swing!" She yelled back.
"And then what? What if it suddenly rips" Arnold felt quite lonely.
"Then you jump!"
"What!?"
"You jump and hold on to the plants and stuff!" Helga was feeling pissed.
'Oh boy…' he thought as they stared at each other.
"You can do it! I know you can! Look at me, look at me!" Helga yelled "…do it for me!" She taunted from afar. It worked because Arnold felt motivated, he took a deep breath and began to bravely swing getting closer and closer.
'Okay Arnold, you can do this, come on' he incited himself 'one… two….three!" and he jumped off to the cliff's walls next to Helga. Arnold saw the small treetops, for a moment he was flying and then reached the mount of plants. He held on tight but the plants unexpectedly broke off.
His chest shrunk as he wept feeling doomed but his grief perished when an angel with the hair of the sun, held him by his blue muddy shirt.
"I got you!" Helga grimaced and Arnold held the weeds again staying still as a statue.
"Thanks…" he shrilled shaking in shock "Let's… let's .. cli.. climb… do.. dow.. down" he stammered.
Slowly once more, they descended till they were above the treetops.
"We're almost there" Helga smiled to Arnold.
"Yeah, I can't wait to touch the grass again" he replied.
"Helga raised her brow "Hey, what's that sound?"
Arnold concentrated and heard some kind of smooth sound breaking the air and rain, getting closer and closer each second.
Helga was about to turn around to see what the fuss was all about but before she could turn her head, a spear nailed right next to her. Both of the teen's eyes popped open. Arnold took a quick peer and saw the natives on a rocky peak. They grunted as others got ready to throw more spears.
"Oh no! climb down faster!" Arnold yelled.
Spears flew near, some pinned and others bounced off, but luckily none hit the ventures. They kids reached the grown when Helga slipped and grabbed Arnold, taking him down as well. They collided on the ground, twisting around like worms on fire.
"Augh!" Arnold cried "That… hurt... a lot!"
Helga only twisted and sob while Arnold dragged himself to her aid.
"Helga! Helga! Talk to me!"
She panted holding her back and stomach, Helga had lost her breath and it hurt her an unbearable pain.
"It's okay Helga! You'll be alright" Arnold tried to distract her from her soreness. Helga slowly began to breathe again and both got on their feet and gimped away.
"Oh god! It was those fiends again right?" Helga cried "at this speed we aren't gonna make it!" Helga was hysteric. Arnold thought hard but couldn't find an answer but to run nowhere.
"This way!" he grabbed her hand and fled were he thought would be best. There wasn't any sign of the cannibals, in fact, it got pretty calm that the only sound they heard was the rain falling on the leaves and trees.
"Boy, it sure is quiet" Arnold said.
"Yeah, but it's too quiet, don't you think Arnold?"
Arnold nodded "Let's be careful"
They walked quietly and reached another edge "Oh damn it! Another cliff!" Arnold groaned.
They were on another cliff, not quite the same, over on the other side was another cliff that created a huge gap where a violent river flowed aggressively, it twisted and crashed on rocks. Helga and Arnold looked down at the river which was a long way down.
"I don't think we could climb down this one" Helga said as she looked at the smooth vertical stone walls.
"Well…" Arnold touched his chin "maybe we could jump down" Arnold suggested.
"Are you out of you mind! There are lots of rocks down there, we can't jump Arnoldo!" She scoffed "Besides, look at the shape of the river, it has many turns and twists, like a snake" Helga pointed with her finger following the direction it took and saw something new "Look!" she suddenly hollered.
Arnold jumped "what!?"
"Over there, it's some kind of natural bridge!" Helga excitedly said. Far away, a tiny shadow that looked like a bridge made out of the own cliffs.
"I see it!" Arnold said "Let's cross it then!"
But the sound of moving bushes behind them made them hesitate. Arnold and Helga froze when they saw two kids about their age.
"Yua, tul!" The native girl threatened with her spear.
"Wata-ki yutami!" The native boy pointed an arrow at Arnold.
Both of our hero teens ran out of the way as an arrow passed right beside Arnold and Helga moved avoiding the spear.
"Holly crap!" Arnold said "What kind of people are these!?" he wisely hid behind a tree unlike Helga which had to go toe-to-toe with the cannibal girl, her sharp spear against her bare hands.
"All right, you indian cunt, you wanna fight! Come on! Come on!" Helga roared dodging as the girl tried to stave her.
Arnold searched for an idea to vanquish his foe 'no rocks at my reach' he thought and then an arrow hammered on the tree log Arnold hid on 'damn it!' he fled to another tree.
The sharp point of the wooden spear brushed against Helga's right arm "Argh!" Helga moaned as she held her arm. Another swing cut open her left leg and the native girl warrior finished her murder attempt by swinging her spear towards Helga's chest, lucky the new wound on her leg made her slump on the ground and the spear punched a hole on a tree's log.
'Focus' Arnold said in his mind and focused his hearing. The young warrior was near, the breaking branches and dry leaves let him know how close he was. As the cannibal got closer Arnold prepared, and when he finally got close enough, Arnold swung out of his hiding spot and grasped the boy. Arnold struggled to hold him still, but the young native was stronger even though he was slim.
The cannibal warrior freed and gave Arnold a beat, punches, kicks, headbutts and jabs. Arnold hit a few punches and kicks, but the native's skills showed better results. A direct punch on the nose and a knee to the testicles were more than enough to take Arnold down.
The grin on the idian boy's face scared Arnold as he crawled back until his hand slipped down on the edge of the cliff where the river ran.
"Helizu Canitulta! … yo tu mici nos!" The boy said as he walked closer dropping his bow and arrow.
The native girl gritted as she tried to get her weapon off the tree. Helga couldn't stand up fast, so she took the opportunity and bit the girl's tendon behind her feet. The female native yelled and Helga shook like a dog on the ground, biting hard till she bit it off.
It was a bloody mess, the native girl on the ground to never stand up again, moaning and agonizing while Helga stared, filled with blood on her mouth and chin.
The cannibal boy sat on top of Arnold and began to choke him with both of his hands, Arnold tried to break free, but that only angered the boy as he punched his face and continued choking him.
'I can't lose,…. I…I…' he felt he was passing out but then he remembered a trick back from home. He pinched both backs of the native's upper arms as hard as he could. The young warrior grunted like a little child and immediately released Arnold, and using his knees, he pushed off the native to the river where instead of falling directly to the water, his spine cracked on a peaky rock. The boy no longer moved, not even blink although some of his muscles had ticks, but the boy stayed drooling like an idiot.
Helga grabbed a hand-sized rock and crawled to the agonizing native girl.
"You think you could kill Helga G. Pataki!" She yelled angrily "I will fucking murder you! You won't be the first!" Helga reached the girl and began to smash the rock against the native's forehead. Helga thought she'd had success like the last time but the young Indian teen was fast and headbutted Helga's nose which bled instantaneously. Helga held her spurting nose and lost control, the cannibal chick was now on top of Helga, colliding violent punches with rage.
"Wakatu zimuriki ya!" The girl scoffed and threw more punches on Helga's face.
Helga began to feel dizzy and almost out of energy but what could Helga do? The native had put her right knee on Helga's left arm, immobilizing it and forgot to do the same with Helga's right arm.
'She's killing me…What can I do!?' The rock was out of reach 'I can't give up…' she thought and felt her body numb, except for her right arm. She reached into her bra and fetched out her sacred locket. Moving it around to where the pointy part of the heart was, she swung her arm and punched through the native girl's left ear.
The girl roared as Helga twisted her locket around, blood dripped in vast and Helga was free. Thinking quickly what to do next, Helga grabbed once again the rock. She forced it inside the native's screaming mouth , got on her feet and with no other word but a frantic grunt, Helga stomped on the stone.
With the first stomp, the girl's teeth broke, her jaw dislocated and blood burst out. The second stomp broke her jaw in three and her nose deformed. The third stomp opened her throat, STOMP, STOMP, STOMP, STOMP ! By then there wasn't much left of the native's face.
Helga stopped a moment to catch her breath and Arnold stood near. She looked at him with no regret or pity on her colorful eyes.
"Wow…" was the only thing Arnold thought and said.
"What?" Helga grimaced "You killed the other one!"
Yells from the insides of the wild startled them.
"Oh man! We got to get out of here!" Arnold said and Helga nodded and gimped towards the distant bridge.
Helga glanced back and saw at least twenty new cannibals chasing them "Hurry! They are right behind us!" She said.
The brawl with the young native warriors had really wasted them and Helga's wounds made it painful to run. By the time they reached the bridge made out of earth's natural mysteries, the fiends were ten meters away and they crossed the bridge only to stop at the middle.
"Oh shit!" Arnold pouted when he saw that at the other side, more cannibals ran to fetch them.
"No! No! No!" Helga lamented.
Arnold held Helga back unknowing which side to look at, for on both sides cannibals smirked their way closer.
Helga finally said what she really didn't want to do "We have to jump!" she cried and Arnold growled at the foes.
"Fine!" he suddenly said, but in that precise moment, an unexpected event took place as the natives were inches away. A tremendous earthquake shook everyone by surprise.
"What is this!?" Arnold yelled.
"Hold me Arnold!" Helga cried as she balanced with a look of fear in her eyes.
The grounds opened while the storm continued, the natives fells to the river and others where eaten by the ground. The two teens maintained on the bridge but a landscape broke the bridge and so, the two love birds fell to the most violent currents of water.
"Arnold!" Helga yelled "Where are you!?" she looked around when she felt a hand.
"I here!" Arnold said.
"Hold me tight!" Helga shrilled.
The earthquake hadn't stopped, pieces of mass land broke off and splashed on the waters of the river.
"Look out!" they said at the same time as a huge tree fell from above Shrrrsh! The tree created a great wave that sunk them away. Both coughed out water as they floated together.
"We have to get to that tree!" Arnold wisely said already swimming to it, dragging Helga by the hand. When they reached the gigantic sized tree, they climbed it and stuck on it like glue.
The river was fast and had many curves, like a sig sag between two high cliffs and the sky had changed from the black of the night, to a bit gray of a soon morning, but they storm kept falling. The river had small falls, twists, splashing rocks and the tree bumped on many.
Helga had a truly bad feeling, that kind of feeling you get when something bad is going to happen and you don't know what, but you know it's awful. She wondered where the river would take them, her last experience had her pretty paranoid. Arnold shared the same doubt, he became afraid, but why? A waterfall isn't that bad? Or is it? Movies made them look harmless and fun, but why? The reality of their unexpected adventure made them see that this was no fairytale. It made them see that humans aren't made out of steel and they could die in any moment, that humans aren't gods and are as fragile as small ants stomped by a foot.
Both of the teens stared at each other, sharing the same fears 'what should we do now?' their eyes asked, well the only thing to do now was wait, wait till the river ceased or wait for the end, only fate knew what was to be of them.
Helga's eyes perceived awkward movement on top of the cliff "Arnold!" she twirled.
"What?"
"It's them!" she stammered "the the the… natives!"
On the surface of the left cliff, about seven cannibals ran following the river and had a certain look for a coming frenzy.
"Oh boy… do you think they'll jump?" Arnold raised an eyebrow "Do you think they'll actually jump on to us?"
"God I don't know!" she pulled her hair as her heart beat increased.
"Let's brake something off to defend ourselves in case they do jump" Arnold advised.
While they crawled on the log trying to peel off some wood, stones began to bounce near. The terrible people began to throw rocks that actually hit their targets. Arnold took one on the leg and one on his shoulder. Helga got hit on an arm and also her head. The tried to avoid them and stood up, it was hard to balance, Arnold fell back on his butt and Helga on her knees a few times till they got the hang of it.
"Damn it!" Arnold cried angrily.
"What? What is it?" Helga panicked.
"More of them!" he pointed at the right cliff, where more male natives pursued them. Now there were more hostiles on both sides, and the worst thing of all was that the cliffs were narrowing together, making it easier for them to jump on.
"Shit, shit, shit, shit!" Arnold fidgeted "Helga … I…"
"Shut up!" Helga shook her head denying "Let's get ready for them!" She quickly said and Arnold nodded.
As is was expected, the natives stood on the edges ready to jump on board. Ten seconds away, Helga and Arnold held firmly their broken wood. Five seconds away, their nerves tingled wildly, three, two, one….
The cannibals jumped like crazy monkeys and on to the tree. Not all of them made it, some jumped too far, others crashed into each other, some couldn't keep their balance and fell off and only two didn't make it because our brave friends pushed them away. But in spite of all of that, there were still many to fight.
The bad Indians threw themselves at the kids, Arnold punches one out of the way but soon was brought to the log's surface. Helga staved one on the ribs with her piece of wood but also got held by two.
Another awful and painful beat was given to Arnold, while Helga kicked in the air like a lunatic dog trying to escape.
"Let me go you filthy coons! Get off me!" Helga saw how Arnold was being killed "You're going to kill him!" She weakened and began to cry "Leave him alone! Please!" she begged.
Helga's pleas and sobs were in vain, it was only a matter of time till both of them were dead. The environment became extremely loud in a sudden.
"Oh…no…" Helga muttered, her nightmares had come to life. She could hardly believe it, she stared for a long time repeating to herself 'This can't be true, please no!'
About twenty seconds away, the end of the river showed, disappearing into the sky, falling and dragging everything along with it. The highest of waterfalls roared right in front of them.
"No!" Helga suddenly became hysteric "Let go off me you sick bastard!" She struggled and finally bit the native's arm and grasped her bony fingers to the log. The natives hadn't noticed the danger, for they were too entertained killing the teenagers.
"Arnold!" She screamed and Arnold peered away and saw the inevitable. His eyes widened and became speechless, he glanced back at Helga and made the most pitiful expression in his life. Helga knew that look on his face, it was the expression of lost hope, a look that said 'we're gonna die'
They saw the edge come and the noise had drastically increased, everything seemed to be so slow, but they were now on the edge about to fall and with nothing else but their faith, our heroes and foes slowly fell down the enormous waterfall.
Everyone screamed trying to hold the tree but even Helga and Arnold who braced on the tree, fell off by gravity's natural pull. Many natives fell on rocks, some were flat and some were sharp and spurted out many blood. After that, everyone disappeared on the spumes of the bottom.
Dead bodies floated on a peaceful lake, where a tree slowly passed by. A young teen with long blond hair gasped out for air and flouted unknowing where she was. Helga opened her eyes and discovered that she floated in a lake. The feeling of survival spread in her thoughts 'I… I survived…' she amazed herself and twirled around desperately "Where's Arnold!?" she said. She looked around but all she saw were the corpses of the natives. Arnold wasn't in sight, Helga feared the worst, after all, he had taken a really bad beat. She remembered the last look on his face.
"Oh god no! Arnold where are you?" she kept looking till suddenly Arnold's body popped out of the water as it floated faced down.
"No!" Helga swam to him and seeing his motionless body shattered her heart.
Using one hand, she dragged him across to the tree. Helga struggled to lift Arnold onto the tree and then, crawl herself out of the water and onto it. As the gigantic wet tree slowly floated, Helga tried revive her love.
"Please don't die!" She shook Arnold "Wake up my love! Wake up!" Helga shook him more and even slapped his face, but nothing worked. Her eyes began to moist and her voice became weak.
"Don't go! Please…don't … don't leave me here alone… take me with you…" Her last hope was to give him mouth to mouth, so she did as she remembered. Using her mouth, she passed air as much as she could several times.
"Wake up my love… come on… please…" She said as she pressed his chest with both of her hands.
"Please! Please!" Helga desperately gave more mouth to mouth but he didn't blink.
"No… no… please…" Helga began to cry, her tears were the signal of all of her dreams and hopes die and perish. She gave up and turned around, she couldn't bear to see his dead body any longer.
Helga noticed that they were now very far away from the waterfall and floated in a vast lake, a nostalgic feeling made Helga cry even more.
"So close… we were so close…" She moaned and kept sobbing as she looked at the sky. It was now light gray and the rain had stopped, even the wind was soft.
"Why?" she wondered, Helga was shattered inside
'I can't live without you…' she kept looking at the sky 'If you die, I die too' she repeated a verse from one of her poems. A coughing noise interrupted her thoughts and made her look back.
Arnold coughed a vast of water out and moved unsteadily on the tree. Helga could not believe what she was witnessing , Arnold kept vomiting out water and bile but Helga crawled close to him.
"My love! You're alive!" Helga said delighted.
Arnold got on his knees, still spitting some more till he felt better.
Helga…" he uttered "Helga! You saved me!" He was astonished and happy. Helga didn't seem to listen to him, Helga hugged him and kept telling him over and over that he was alive.
"You're alive! I can't believe it! You're alive!" Helga held him tight and heard all the beautiful sounds of the universe.
"I'm alive! You saved me!" Arnold giggled.
"You're alive" Helga laughed "My orzo shaped Prometheus! You're alive!" Helga said and began to kiss him everywhere, many colours appeared, the angles sung and Helga he cuddled with him. Arnold blushed and joined Helga's parade of happiness.
The gray clouds and penumbra vanished as the fat old sun came out, shinning radiant beams of light, orange, yellow, blue and even purple now filled the sky in front of our surviving teens. The couple contemplated the sublime skies above as they floated on a tree in a lake they had been before.
"Look!" Helga smiled and pointed to a near land straight ahead.
Phoebe jumped and waved her hands like a loony along other familiar faces. A shirtless Brainy and Stinky shouted and moved around, Sheena stood behind wearing Stinky's shirt. Rhonda was also there wearing Brainy's shirt. She sat giving her back, Rhonda only peered back once and turned around.
Millions of butterflies flew by, many birds sand and they realized where they were. It was the first lake they crossed before entering the real jungle.
'It's finally over' Helga and Arnold thought. They stared at each other as they hugged tight and waited to reach their friends. The young teen explores contemplated the most beautiful of morning skies together, alive and in love.
The End