HA: Without You 2

Chapter Two

"Ugh…my head…"

Helga's eyes slowly opened, allowing a beam of sunlight to blind her vision. She hissed lowly under her breath and started to twist to awaken her muscles. Helga cried out quickly as she felt something sharp, something mushy, and something alive moving underneath her. The sound of cans banging together as she kicked her feet only confirmed her fear of where she had landed.

"Great…a dumpster...I'm literally trash- AND HOLY FUCKING PANCAKE PUPPIES WHY AM I NAKED?!"
A rather privacy invading breeze alerted Helga to her situation as she threw her arms around her chest and crossed her legs quickly. Almost out of breath and her entire body beet red in embarrassment she sat up and looked around as fast as her head would allow her.

"Alright Helga old girl, calm down, it doesn't look like anyone's around." She whispered to herself, feeling around the garbage absentmindedly for anything that felt like cloth. She started to sweat as she found nothing, and then- a ray of hope!

"Yes!" Helga pulled back at something underneath the pile of filth, it was some sort of clothing, she could almost recognize the fabric. Helga tugged at it quickly and yelped as she fell back against the metal backing of the garbage can, making it produce a huge gong that echoed throughout the alley way.

"Ugh…" Helga rubbed the back of her head, muttering something to herself as she gave one last pull at the ripped clothing in her hands. She squinted one of her eyes to get a good look at it, as the sun was making it rather hard to see anything. She leaned in closer, before groaning.

"No…no way…" She whispered angrily. In her hands laid something she had long put behind her. For in her hands lay a small, pink dress with a stripe down the end. Helga hated that dress. Hated it for everything it stood for, hated it for all the bad memories she'd created in it, but most of all, she hated it because it matched that stupid pink ribbon...

Even in her naked state Helga wasn't about to succumb to it's otherworldly wishes. Helga threw it behind her and continued to dig.

"Hey did you hear something?" A voice asked near the brick wall, accompanied by two pairs of footsteps. Helga gulped and started to dig faster in an attempt to find some sort of clothing, but they were getting closer, and she was finding nothing. Finally she threw her hands in the air and silently cursed the heavens before squeezing her way into the dress she had worn so many years ago.

It still fit.

She let a few curse words fly at that before hopping out of the garbage bin and onto the hard cement. Her feet protested as the shock ran up her legs and to her hips, but she didn't have any time to whine. She quickly hid behind the side of the garbage bin, keeping her legs hugged to her knees as she listened for the two boys approaching her position.

"You're tripping man; it's probably just a raccoon or something. Can we hurry up? It's cold out here."

Helga agreed.

"Yea you're right, let's head out I guess."

Helga bit her lip as she listened to the boys slowly leave, their footsteps becoming fainter and fainter until she couldn't distinguish them from the wind. But it wouldn't be long until someone else crossed this street and found her in such a state; she had to get home. Helga popped up off the ground and without a second thought strutted into a full run down Fifth Avenue.

"Ok Helga, we just left the house when- whatever the fuck that thing was hit, so it shouldn't be too far." Helga said in an attempt to calm herself. Her heart was beating wildly against her chest, making her gasp for breath even during such a short run.

It didn't take long until the large blue house was in sight, but, even though she couldn't put her finger on it, something seemed…different.

The paint seemed fresher, the patio less bruised. Maybe her eyes were just playing tricks on her.

Helga slowly slipped up the steps, cautiously eyeing the new changes, she turned the knob, walking inside as her eyes went wide. The entire inside of her home had been re-done, the living room was filled with plush furniture and gorgeous wallpaper, the hallway glimmered with bright lights and vases, when had her parents done all this?

And how?

"Bob? Miriam? Anyone home?!" Helga called out quickly. She shuddered, walking up the crisp wooden stairs towards her own room. Her eyes slowly turned to the wall, which had portraits of their family descending up onto the second floor.

They never had photos up before…those had been torn down a long time ago.

"Mom and Dads wedding photo….Olga's birth…Olga as a child…Olga as a teenager…Olga graduating from college…Olga getting married?" Helga's eyes widened as she stared at the slimy two faced bastard that had wooed her sister once in college. There he stood, one arm around Olga, the other extended toward the sky as doves flew all around them.

Then, a family portrait, large, and beautiful, of the married couple and her parents, along with one
little new addition on Olga's lap, beamed over the rest of the pictures as she entered the second floor. Helga pinched herself. This was a joke right? It had to be a joke.

Olga never got married…she never had a kid! And, where was she? Why wasn't she in ANY of these? She knew her parents didn't love her as much as they did their perfect child but, not even one picture? This was too weird…

"Mom!" Helga yelled out running down the newly furnished hallway. She threw open the door to her parents room only to be faced with more and more changes, only adding to her confusion. Helga ran inside and picked up all of the frames that sat upon their dresser- Olga, Olga, Olga, Olga, Olga, Olga, Olga!

"Dad?!" Helga called out again, tripping over her own feet as she opened up the door to his office.  
She stepped back gingerly as no one replied and then burst toward her own room quickly. Without haste she moved the door open, hoping and praying to see her closet and bed, the paint on her
walls, the entrance to her shrine, still intact.

"….what…"

Glass cases, full of trophies and awards sat in front of her, it ran as far as the eye could see, nailed into the wall, obviously in use for quite a long time. Helga stepped inside, running her fingers down the glass walls slowly. Fear suddenly gripped at her heart as Helga jumped out, grabbing onto the attic's stairway before climbing up quickly, if her room was gone then- then-

"No…."

Helga stared at the dusty and blank attic before her. It had been abandoned long ago, and as she stepped towards the circular window, dust sputtered into the air. Helga's heart went into frenzy as she wiped at the dust quickly, as if expecting her belongings to suddenly rise into the air magically.

"No, no, no, no no!"

All of the photos, the mementos of their first date, they were all gone.

"How did this happen…" Helga whimpered out slowly, looking at her hands slowly, expecting them to start fading away as well. She fought back tears as she slowly stood, taking one last look around her. Everything that she had grown up in, everything she'd collected over the years, it was all gone…everything but a little pink dress….

"Miriam did you leave the door open AGAIN?"

"Uh….no-no-no I, I remember…closing it…uh….but….I might have left the keys INSIDE."

"Mom! Dad!" Helga had never thought she'd be so happy to hear their voices. Quickly picking herself back together she ran down the attic stairs full speed toward the sound of her parents voices. She smiled happily, the thoughts of this madness being over sending her into a giddy excitement.

She would run downstairs and they would tell her it was all a joke, it was all just to get back at her for running away, that it was just to teach her a lesson- then they'd laugh together and go back to being the dysfunctional family they normally were. But at least things would be normal, things would be how they were supposed to be.

Helga huffed out breathlessly as she reached the bottom of the stairs, her eyes a light with happiness at the sights of their faces. They however, did not seem so pleased.

"You guys really got me this time." Helga laughed out walking down the last couple of steps. The sound of a gun clicking made her stop on her tip toes.

"Who are you?" Bob demanded shakily, having grabbed a pistol from a desk drawer and now had it pointed at the young woman. Helga's wide eyes looked down into her father's as she crossed her
arms quickly, in an attempt to shield herself.

"Dad! Jesus it's me! Helga!" She yelled out. Miriam stood fearfully behind him; he did not budge,
despite her plea.

"What are you doing in my house?" He asked in the same fearful, yet demanding tone. Helga gulped some as she looked at her mother, pleading inwardly for her to step up and stop this madman.

"Dad have you lost your mind…?" Helga whimpered out. "I live here! This is my house! I'm your daughter!" Helga screamed out.  Bob raised a brow and cast a glance back at Miriam who in turn shook her head, as if to say, 'well I didn't have her'.

"Look kid, you've obviously lost your mind, so I'm gonna let you go with a warning….but if I see you near the Pataki's again, I won't hesitate to shoot." Bob informed her. Helga stood dumbfounded at her father's words.

"This jokes going too far…" Helga whispered. She was fearful now, for she didn't see anything dishonest or joking in her parents eyes- just anger…anger at a complete and total stranger being in their home.  With this knowledge came a slow realization, and Helga slowly backed down the stairs and away from the couple.

"Right…I'll….just be on my way then…" Helga whispered, placing one foot behind the other slowly.

Bob watched her go, not letting his gun leave her until the moment she closed the door and walked down his patio.

"…it's just a joke…right?" Helga whispered to herself.  She could feel herself losing her senses. It was obvious that something had gone terribly astray, but what that something was she couldn't place.

As Helga looked up at the oddly sunny sky above her she could only be reminded of the ominous voice inside of her head before the lightning hit above her, and the wish that it promised to grant. The wish that she'd never existed...the wish to be wiped from the Earth's memory...

Helga started to sweat, her hands shaking as she brought her fingertips to her lips, chewing on the skin gently. This was really happening. This was real wasn't it?

"…I was never….born…" Helga breathed out.