I do not own Hey Arnold

Chapter 4 (Josh perspective)

Beep…Beep…Beep.

My pager was going Cedar House was one of the few facilities of those I rotated at that gave medical students their pagers.

"Excuse me, Miss Pataki, we may have to put a pin in this for today," I said as I gently took patted her on the shoulder as I rose, stiff from sitting for so long, "but I look forward to hearing the rest soon."

A flash of disappointment was on her face as I announced my leaving, but it was quickly replaced with her well-rehearsed look of ambivalence.

"Whatever floats your boat, nerd," she dismissed me and rolled over in bed to sleep.

"You should really consider getting out of bed for a minute. Wouldn't want any blood clots now would we?" I said as I strode toward the door, trying to refocus on the contents of the page from Dr. Niven I just received.

"Yeah, yeah," I heard her say.

I left the room and quickly grabbed a nearby phone to call Dr. Nived back.

"Locker, where have you been all day? We have conference in 5 minutes, get up to the Adler Room now!" Dr Nived's irritated voice came through the phone.

"So sorry, Dr. Nived, I'll be right there." I said and hung up to hurry down the hall.
-

That night I reflected upon the events of that day in my studio apartment I rented downtown so I could easily uproot myself next year for residency. I thought of what Helga Pataki had told me. So many questions filtered through my mind.

Was she telling me the truth?

How can I find out if this is the truth?

Should I tell the rest of my team?

And most importantly, do I even care?

That last question may seem harsh. But that is the nature of medical school. I get up early, get home late, am expected to read up on the patients I see during spare evening hours I get and then must find time to study for the exam that takes place after each rotation. I don't even want to think about all the extracurriculars and research that are juggled as well. Finding time to verify Miss Pataki's story naturally fell low on my list of priorities. Nonetheless, there was something about her that intrigued me. When I really thought about it. I knew she didn't belong in this facility.

She wasn't crazy.

She needed out.

Woah, where did that thought come from. I needed so much more information before even thinking about taking any sort of action on her behalf. I would need to hear the rest of her story.

Before I knew it, my stream of thoughts had taken me to the late evening hours. I put a frozen pizza in the oven which also served to warm up the entire apartment.

Still in my scrubs from today, I looked out my window to the rainy city and again thought of tomorrow.

Did Helga's dad abuse her?

If he had connections to get her into this facility, couldn't he make things equally unpleasant for me?

That last question unnerved me greatly. But I didn't have time to dwell on it as the pizza was getting burned.

I ate the entire burned pepperoni pizza. All 1250 calories. Then off to bed.

I strolled into Cedar House bright and early. Trying to put the many thoughts of last night out of my mind. I completed my morning pre-rounds and went to check on Helga for the morning. She was sleeping as it was still quite early. I elected to visit with her later so as to not wake her.

I went to meet with the team in our very cramped workroom. I was roped into helping our intern, Dr. Perez, prepare his talk for the afternoon on the efficacy of cognitive behavioral therapy. This ate up the morning hours, then it was time for lunch.

Now, I deemed this would be a good time to check on Helga. I went to her room and saw she was eating a chef salad, vinaigrette dressing on the side while sitting in the recliner next to the bed.

"Morning Joshie boy," she greeted me with a surprisingly warm smile.

"You seem to be in better spirits today," I remarked.

Helga turned her attention back to her salad as she gestured for me to sit in the chair opposite her recliner.

"What can I say, I'm known across the world for my spectacular attitude. And you would not believe how great the chef salad is here."

"Really?" I asked genuinely interested as the cafeteria seemed pretty subpar to me.

"You just have to adjust your expectations," Helga said to me with a sly grin.

"Noted." I responded. "So how is everything going otherwise, how did you sleep, how's your mood?"

"Slept about as well as one can in this joint. As for my mood, well we've discussed my fantastic attitude already, Josh." Helga said in-between bites of lettuce and chopped onions.

"Good point. Nothing gets by you Helga."

"So, did you come by just to watch me make quick work of this salad or was there another reason," she ventured.

"Again, Miss Pataki your intuition is impressive," I half-sarcastically reply as it is clear I am interested to hear how her story continues from yesterday. "I recall us discussing the circumstances of your arrival here, and I am anxiously wanting to hear the conclusion of that."

Helga, now done with her meal, sat up in her chair and adjusted her hospital gown to get more comfortable.

I unpacked my lunch consisting of a ham and cheese sandwich on wheat with a bag of salt and vinegar chips.

"So where were we…"

That is all for now. Shorter chapter I know. Thought it was necessary to get back to Josh's perspective and have a break from the flashback. Will revisit that next chapter(s). Am excited where this story is going. Please rate and review!