(A/N: I'm going to make longer chapters, otherwise this is going to get stupidly long with chapter after chapter, after chapter . . . )
. . .
. . .
Olga arrived home as the police were leaving. She was filled in on what had happened and sat there, shocked. Helga went up to bed, not feeling hungry. But she couldn't sleep. Every time she closed her eyes she saw that girls face. The body had been removed but the area was cordoned off. There would be people arriving in the morning to go over the maze, and probably the rest of the property. Steven had given them access to everywhere. Everyone was shocked, especially Colin. He went right to the security room with a police officer. He'd put in cameras in the maze without saying anything to anyone but Steven. Even Olga was shocked by that.
"Really?" she asked. Steven said he had done it for safety reasons, and it was how he had realized Helga was in trouble. He had seen her go off into the maze. After an hour he had checked the camera's on his computer and saw her wandering around lost. He hadn't known when he went in that she had found a body. Now Colin handed all the disks over to the police.
Helga locked herself in her room, not even bothering with dinner. She just wasn't hungry. Her sistser came by once to check on her, but Helga told her she didn't feel like talking. Steven stopped by, but she ignored him too. She just couldn't deal with all the emotions running through her right now. Between the shock and horror of finding that girl, and then the confusion and . . . something, with Steven . . .she just wanted to sleep.
. . .
A week before Thanksgiving, the police arrived on their doorstep again. Helga was home alone at the time . . . well, Colin was around somewhere, she wasn't sure where. Cally was still away. So it was left to Helga to open the door and let them in.
"Is your sister or brother home at the moment?" the policeman asked.
"No, they've gone out to a business lunch," Helga said. The police officer frowned, before looking at a piece of paper and asking for Colin and Cally.
"I'm not sure where Colin is, but I can page him," Helga said. "Cally is still on holiday."
"Holiday?" he asked.
"After the girl was found, he gave Cally and Colin time off," Helga informed him, just as Colin came in the door.
"I'm sorry, I was around the back looking for a shovel," he told them. "What's going on?"
"We've reviewed the footage, and we have images that we need you to look at," he said, pulling photos from a folder. The three of them went into the dining room and took seats. Colin looked at them first and went white.
"It's Cally," he said. Helga looked over and saw an image of Cally dragging the girls body and gasped.
"There are others, from the front gate," he said, pulling them out. "All involved Cally and her car. We were hoping she would be here to question."
Colin shook his head. "She's still taking leave," he told him.
"But you can confirm, without doubt, that this is Cally Mutch?" Both Colin and Helga nodded. The police officer got up and left abruptly, going out to his car, Colin and Helga followed him and watched as he got onto the radio. Without saying a word, he left.
"I can't believe it," Colin said. "Not Cally. I struggled to get her to use fly spray on flies."
A few hours later Steven and Olga arrived, and Colin was there to greet them.
"They suspect Cally?" Olga asked, shocked.
"She was seen on camera dragging the body through the maze," he informed them.
An hour later the police were back at the door with a search warrant for Cally's rooms at the house. Everyone had to sit in the dining room while they did. Steven told them they had free range.
"Helga," Olga said suddenly. "Did you ever borrow my perfume?"
Helga wrinkled her nose. "No!"
"Why do you ask?" Steven asked her.
"A bottle is missing," Olga told them. "I just thought maybe Helga had borrowed it, and never gave it another thought."
Helga's eyes went wide. That night . . . it seemed so long ago now . . . when she could smell her sisters perfume in her room . . . the times she felt like someone was in there, watching her . . . had it been Cally?
. . .
There wasn't much more that they could do, except notify the police if she showed up. They had checked her apartment that she shared with her mother, and came up with the evidence they needed to prove she was involved in the killings. And who she was doing them with.
"Basically it looks like her boyfriend does the killing, she does the dumping," they were told. A warrant was put out for her arrest. Steven and Olga decided to go ahead with their Thanksgiving Party, determined not to let such things stop them from enjoying themselves.
Helga had invited Lila again, hoping that she would be carrying news from Arnold. Her and Steven hadn't done anything together since that night. Helga did what she could to avoid him, and he seemingly followed her lead. He and Olga were even talking of doing a second honeymoon. But there was never any talk of Helga's future. She still wanted to get away. She had to sit her final exam's the next year. Then she would be free. But, what would she do?
When the party day arrived, Helga carefully did her makeup, her hair, and went to her sisters wardrobe to find something more grown up to wear. She settled on a red backless dress with, and took her sisters silver heels. Helga was never one to admire her body, but she did smile when she noticed her boobs were a bit bigger. She left the room, and made her way downstairs, hoping for single young men. She was in a mood to flirt. Or . . . attempt to flirt. Okay, she was probably going to make a fool of herself, but still. She was going to rub in Steven's face that she could get other guys attention.
All that flew out the window though when Lila arrived.
"Helga!" she cried out, running over to her and hugging her tightly. Helga hugged her back and breathed in the scent of her perfume. She knew it was kind of creepy, but it was so good to seen, touch and smell someone "new". "Oh, Helga, I drove here myself, in my own car, you have to come see it!"
She waved as they went past Olga and Steven, Olga smiling and waving back and going back to her conversation and Steven frowning.
"Your really excited about your, huh?" Helga asked, laughing. She never thought she would think of Lila as a saviour.
"Oh, it's less about the car, and more what's inside it," she told her excitedly.
"Why, what's in it?" Helga asked.
"Not what," Lila whispered. "Who."
Lila had parked in a darker area of the driveway, and Helga was getting a bit nervous seeing as how the police hadn't apprehended Cally yet. What if she was out there? Or her boyfriend?
"Surprise," a familiar, yet more masculine voice said. Helga's heart stopped and she inhaled sharply. Standing on the drivers side outside of the car was Arnold. Her hand flew to her throat, and she clamped her mouth shut to prevent her squeal of delight from coming out.
"He had to hide in the back seat," Lila told her. "Not that it mattered. I figured you two could do whatever, while I cover for you."
Tears came to Helga's eyes. She watched as Lila handed the keys over to Arnold. "Don't dent it!"
"I won't," Arnold said laughing. He came around and opened the passenger side door of the car. So nervous she thought she was going to spew, Helga went forward and hopped in. She looked back up at the house.
"Don't worry," Lila said. "Just don't be too long. I'll come up with a story if need be."
Arnold closed the door and climbed in the drivers side. "We'll be back soon, Lila. Thanks."
"Don't do anything I wouldn't do," she sand teasing and laughing afterwards. Helga went red and looked down, something that didn't go unnoticed by both of them. They gave each other a look. How odd. Where was Helga's comeback?
Not giving it too much more thought, Arnold started the car.
"Wait, let's just wait til she's inside again," Helga said. "Just to be sure she gets in okay."
They sat there while Lila disappeared inside, and then Arnold started the long drive down to the gate.
Arnold noted that Helga was quiet, but fidgety, and kept looking in the rear veiw mirror. And as they got closer to the open gate she got near to hyperventilating.
"Are you okay?" Arnold asked worriedly. Helga just nodded. He went back to looking forward when they came to the end, and he turned onto the road. "I thought we could go to the beach, maybe? Take a walk?"
"This is too risky," Helga blurted. "What if they do find out I'm gone?"
"Since when are you so averse to risk?" Arnold asked.
"I'm not averse, I'm just . . ."
"Just what?"
Helga just shook her head, and started breathing exercises to calm herself down.
. . .
Lila dodged and avoided Olga and Steven and eventually snuck upstairs to Helga's room. She would stay there for a while and then make her way down, telling them Helga felt unwell and had gone to bed early. She looked at her watch. Twenty minutes were gone already. She sat down and read a book. After another ten minutes she went back downstairs. It was another thirty minutes before Steven found her.
"Oh, she wasn't feeling well, so we went upstairs for a bit," Lila told him. "She just wants to be left alone for now." She walked away quickly, finding a cute boy standing alone and striking up a conversation. She saw her father talking to another older man. Then she went off to dance.
. . .
Steven walked up to Helga's room, suspecting Lila of lying. Something seemed off. He hadn't seen Helga around once, and when he had spotted Lila she was alone. He knocked on her door and getting no answer went in anyway. Sure enough it was empty. He charged back downstairs, and finding Lila pulled her aside.
"You ied to me, she's not there, where is she?" he demanded. Olga noticed and came over.
"I'm every so sure I don't know what you mean," Lila said, trying to look as innocent as possible.
"What's going on?" Olga asked, looking between them. "Your causing a scene."
Steven took a step back. "Helga is gone. Now where is she?"
"Helga's missing?" Olga asked. "Oh God, Cally is still out there. Lila, please, where is she?"
"I don't know," she honestly replied. "She was in her room when I saw her last. Maybe she's somewhere else in the house."
"I hope so," Steven said, before going to look for her.
. . .
Helga and Arnold sat quietly, staring out at the waves and listening to the radio. They hadn't said much, not quite knowing what to say to the other. Helga hated it as much as Arnold did. It shouldn't be like this. Arnold had noticed a lot of changes in Helga. Where she would tease him, she was quiet. There was no "Football Head", just Arnold. She used her manners with him. She looked like she wanted to cry.
"What's happened, Helga?" he asked. Finally she did burst into tears.
"I don't know, I don't know," she said between sobs. "I want to run away, but I'm too scared to leave, we had a killer in our house, living there in our house. I found a body, Arnold, a fucking body!"
Arnold put his arm around her shoulders and pulled her head down to his shoulder and let her just cry. She kept on going.
"I have no friends, no one to talk to but Steven and my sister, and neither want to talk to me," she gasped. "Olga is always busy, and Steven . . . I don't know what he wants. One second he will kiss me, then he ignores me-"
"He's kissed you?" Arnold demanded.
"Sometimes I wish I would just stay asleep, never wake up . . ." she admitted. Things that she wouldn't even admit to herself, she was admitting to Arnold. Arnold listened with growing concern and alarm. She was basically saying, in a round about way, that she wished she would die. Or so it seemed to him.
"It feels like I'm alone, completely alone," she finished with. Arnold held her for a long time, until she finished crying. He looked at the clock on the dashboard. They had to get back, she had to sneak back in.
"I want to see you again, Helga, please," Arnold practically begged.
"Steven goes to work on Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday," Helga told him. "The rest of the time he works at home. Olga is more erratic . . ."
"Fine, meet me every Saturday morning at the bottom of the gate at nine thirty. I'll be there, I promise," he swore. Helga looked at him and swallowed the lump in her throat and just nodded. "We'll go out, to the beach, to the movies, anything you want to do, we'll do it."
"But in winter . . ."
"We'll find a way," he said. "Your eighteen soon, and when you are, you can leave, come stay with me."
Helga felt a light of hope ignite in her.
"But if we're going to do that, we need to get you home, now," he said, starting the car.
. . .
Lila stood at the front door and saw Arnold pull up in her car, and raced down to meet them.
"Steven is on a warpath looking for you," she told Helga.
"Steven is?" she asked confused. She would have thought it was Olga. "Where has he looked?"
"Pretty much everywhere I think," Lila told her.
"I know where he wont," she said, taking off around the back of the house. Arnold got back in Lila's car, but watched Helga dissapear, his heart breaking. He had to get her out of here. Somehow.
. . .
Helga went over to the outside pool, quickly stripped off the dress and shoes, and hopped in, dipping her head under the water. Then got herself back to sitting on the steps. Just as she was standing up she saw Steven come out of the house and stare at her in shock, standing there in her wet bra and panties.
"Helga, what the hell are you doing?" he asked, coming towards her. "It's November, are you trying to catch pneumonia?"
"I was going to go to the spa and warm up," she said, picking up the dress and shoes. "I just found it too stuffy in there and needed to get out."
"To a un-heated pool in November?" Steven demanded. Helga just shrugged and started toward the house. Steven stood there, stunned for a moment, before turning and following her into the indoor pool room, where the indoor pool, spa and sauna were. She went straight to the spa and hopped in, leaning over and pushing the buttons. Steven watched her for a while before undoing his tie and belt.
"What are you doing?" Helga asked.
"Joining you," he said. "It looks nice."
"I'm just in here to warm up, then I'm going up to my room," she told him. "I'm not in a social mood tonight."
She watched as Steven finished stripping off and joined her in the spa. When he sat close she moved away.
"Aren't you worried Olga will see us?" she asked. "I am." She got up and out.
"Get back in, Helga," he said in a stern voice. Having offloaded on Arnold felt like emptying an overfull suitcase. She smirked. There was a spark reignited in her. The old Helga was rearing her head, now that she had pushed off all the shit weighing her down. She wasn't alone.
She had Lila on her side, for starters.
And she still had Arnold.
"I'd really rather not," she said, and without looking back at him, left.
. . .
Helga watched Steven leave that first Saturday after the party. She looked at the clock. eight am. She had an hour to get ready and get down there without being seen. Hurriedly she again dressed, brushed her hair and and got dressed. It was unseasonably warm. She would be surprised if there was snow for winter, though she knew how the weather could just change. When she was finished she rushed down the stairs, and out the door, and down to the gate. She'd gotten the password to get out from watching Steven punch in the numbers while taking her out for her driving lessons. She still hadn't had any formal ones. Then she waited, and looked at her watch. It was ten past. Had he changed his mind? Should she go back in? Just as she was thinking about it, she saw that old green Packard coming down the road. She had to admit, she was shocked. She couldn't believe the thing was still going!
Arnold pulled it into the drive and she hurried to get in. She smiled at him, and he smiled back.
"So, where to today?" he asked.
"I think a nice stroll along the beach would do wonders," she said. "Maybe some lunch somewhere nice-"
"I know just the place," he said, pulling out and heading in the direction of the beach. But instead of taking the road that led to the beach he took a road to the left.
"Where are we going?" she asked.
"You'll see," he said. "Just relax."
. . .
Sitting in a booth of the pizza eatery, she shook her head. "I never knew this place was here. How did you know it was here?"
"I came out this way nearly everyday during Summer, just hoping to see you," he admitted, going pink.
After they had eaten, they just strolled along the beach, eventually holding hands.
"I've been worried about you," he told her. "After everything you told me . . ."
"I'm sorry," she said, "But I have no one to talk to, and you were there. It wasn't fair of me to off load on you. But I'm glad I did."
"You are?" he asked.
"Yeah," she said, nodding and smiling. "I felt like I was drowning, and after pouring out everything I felt like I'd reached the surface, and could breath again. I hadn't even known I was in such a bad state."
They stopped and stared at one another, before Helga leaned in and kissed him. And he kissed back.
. . .
The next Saturday she again watched as Steven left, then repeated what she had done the previous Saturday. Once in the car, Arnold drove her into Hillwood, where she saw Phoebe again. They hugged and talked, and laughed. Gerald joined them a little bit afterwards. Phoebe and him were awkward around each other, though Arnold didn't know why when Helga asked. Arnold and Helga went to a movie. It had been over a year since she had been to the movie theatre and that had been with Steven!
Again they held hands and kissed, though things got a little more heated when they stopped on the side road. Helga couldn't help herself. Arnold had become her life raft, her link to the outside world. She loved his smell, the taste of his lips, the feel of his skin, everything, absolutely everything! She didn't want to leave his presence. He made her feel alive and revived and in love and loved! It was so hard to stop herself. The coming Winter scared her. They would most likely get cut off from each other. How would she survive?
When she got back into the house she went straight to her room, dug out a diary and began to write, just as she once did. The words flowed from her hands to the pen to the paper. Once again she dug out her paints and pencils and brushes, and would lose herself in her art. Sh was again seeing the beauty in everything.
Except the maze. If she had it her way she'd destroy the damn thing. It seemed to have a dark cloud hanging over it.
During the week, she kept up with her studies, even though if she were in a normal school she would have stopped. Olga would go out with her friends, never offering to take Helga along, not that she would have gone anyway. Helga lived for Saturday. She was also getting her snark and attitude back, and often turned it on her sister or Steven. It bothered Steven more than Olga, and Helga saw that and would neddle and heckle him, taking great delight in making him annoyed or uncomfortable. She was feeling powerful again.
And that third Saturday neither she nor Arnold stopped themselves. Feeling him inside her, hot and sweaty skin against skin, oh, oh, ohhh, she delighted in it. She gave him the code to get in the gate. Though that Saturday was an odd one, and they were almost caught. Helga saw Steven' car coming.
"Shit!" she said, sinking low in the seat. "Keep driving, don't stop."
Arnold didn't ask why. He saw Steven's car as well. Steven didn't even look at the car, and Arnold dropped her a little down the road. The kissed and promised to meet again, and he drove away. Helga trudged back to the house, and as she got most of the way along the drive she saw the police cars sitting there.
"What now?" she muttered, hurrying her steps. Her body was still humming from her time with Arnold. Had she been foolish? Three days together, one spent in the backseat of that old Packard . . .
When she arrived they were already speaking to Olga, Steven and Colin. She went in and saw that everyone had a stricken look on their faces. "What's going on?"
"They found Cally and her boyfriend," Olga said quietly. "Murder-suicide."
Helga felt the wind knocked out of her.
She didn't hear much else, and walked away. How sad, Helga thought. What had happened in Cally's life that led to that?
A little while later Steven found her sitting in the sun room, easel set up, painting half done, brush poised in the air, notebook beside her, staring out at the grey clouds. She closed the notebook and moved it under her bum when she saw Steven's reflection in the window.
"Been a lot of death lately," he said, resting a hand on her shoulder.
Helga gave a short laugh. "Just call me the Grim Reaper."
"Your sister is going away for the weekend," he told her. "I am too. Doing an out of town trip. Want to join me?"
Helga shook her head, continuing to stare straight ahead.
"Why not?" he asked. Helga stared at him.
"Because i don't need you."