CHAPTER 32
GOOD TIMES, AND BAD TIMES

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She stood there frozen, but Arnold notices that her eyes soften as soon as a deer runs off frightened out of the shadows

Grandpa laughed for a second to lighten up the mood, and pulled her along "we need to hurry, before Oskar eats all of the Pineapple covered ham sandwiches"

With stomach grumbles they made it to camp, and with just a few steps they reached a large 4th of July themed table that had hamburgers, hot dogs, a huge punch bowl, and all sorts of food poked with spark fireworks and if you looked closer drool dripping down Ernies face "it's about time you guys came" he said in deep tone "Stella forbid us to touch anything until you all came" he said while filling up his plate.

Grandpa and G walked over to the table and sat next to each other, leaving Arnold with no choice but to sit in the only seat left, the one across G.

"Happy Independence Day!" cheered Grandma whom was wearing old-fashioned clothing, while cheering she held her fist tightly into the hotdog she was eating, sending the Winnie flying across the table and over to where Abner was sitting

"lets eat!" exclaimed the woman, she then bit down into a Winnieless hotdog.

Arnold took his eyes of his Grandma and noticed a light smile crawling up G's face "it's nice to see her happy" he thought, as he stared at her willingly filling up her plate "so.. ah.. Do you like fireworks?" he asked trying once again to start a conversation

"WAT…DA..TE..TEE…TAH" Stuttered Grandpa as he rubbed his bald spot, "What do you mean by asking that? Of course she likes fireworks, who doesn't?" stated Grandpa loudly, leaving an embarrassed Arnold shifting uncomfortably into his chair

"Nah… I don't" spoke up G with a serious face, hearing that Grandpa spilled out the punch he was drinking into Oskar's face.

"Ahhhh, Why did you do that you crazy old man"

"Oskar!" gasped Suzie in shock

"But, he is" whined Oskar

"Apologize" Said the now losing temper woman

"NO, he is a crazy old man"

Suzie frowned, stood up and dragged him away by the ear angrily "Fine then, no food until you do"

And from there, the last thing you could hear from those two was a faint whiney voice "but I have old people cooties in my face"

Since that usual scene disappeared, all heads shifted to G "I was only joking" she said with a smirk "they're alright"

"Alright? Eh" said Grandpa as he rubbed his chin "well that makes sense, you haven't seen OUR Fireworks"

"Yes" chimed in Stella, "I wasn't such a big fan before, but no one creates firework beauty like Gertie and Phil, I mean Lewis and Clark" she corrected herself

"Oh ho ho" stood up Grandpa to bow before the crowd "why Thank You mam"

The whole table began to laugh and soon enough Suzie and Oskar joined the festivities.

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"And Then, Arnold fell inside the same trap hole that he dug up earlier that day, finished Miles, Grandpa and Ernie in union while laughing at the previous year Thanksgiving Adventure making the whole table laugh wildly at the memory

Arnold rubbed his burning cheek in embarrassment, seeing that sudden reaction from Arnold made G laugh even harder, she kept pounding her chest so that the food would go down, "Oh man… this stuff is priceless"

At that statement, Arnold furrowed his eyebrows and sunk down his chair, right at that moment G saw a familiar dark shadow standing behind Arnold from afar.

The football-headed boy witnessed G's immediate mood change, the laughing teen that once sat in front of him began to turn into a self erupting volcano, "what happened? did I do something wrong?" he thought to himself, he also noticed that Grandpa's emotions changed, the elderly man paused his laughter to stare at something that was right behind him.

SLAM! G slammed her fist against the table, got up, and ran

"Oh this is not good, not good," said Grandpa softly

The whole Sunset Arms Family was baffled; they had no idea as to what went wrong

Shocked himself, Arnold automatically turned his head around catching a glimpse of the figure "it's him again" with wide eyes Arnold's only instinct was to run after G

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Her breath began to shorten, and the food that she ate earlier was starting to get to her so G stopped her tracks "Why!" she screamed in fury "Why can't you just leave me alone!" and with the top of her lungs she let out a screechy scream, scaring away all the birds that were resting nearby.

She threw herself onto the ground; her sweaty palms torturing the ground before her "I can't stand it any longer!"

The frustrated girl once again regained power and began to use a thin tree as a punching bag "Is there any place where he won't go!" she kicked with all her might, snapping the tree in half "Errrrr… Stupid tree, Stupid Alex, Stupid World, Stupid Humans" The Dark Haired girl was about to take her anger out with an older tree when…

Woosh

Both of her legs got caught on a rope and she ended up upside down by a hunter's booby trap

In haste, Arnold grabbed a flashlight and turned it on, he ran to where he heard a loud scream, the birds flying of a certain spot helped and in a flash he was there.

The Football-Headed boy found G but the current sight before had his legs frozen.

G was hanging upside down, attempting to squiggle out of the trap, during that process gravity pulled her shirt down revealing her stomach and her bra. G paused her struggles as soon as she noticed the Football-Headed boy standing in front of her with a bright light "Ya little creep" she huffed while purposely swinging herself so that her back would face him.

Once he saw her back Arnold gasped in horror, G shut her eyes tightly in frustration, she felt exposed "Arrrghh, Just get me down will ya!"

Arnold gulped and in the gentlest way he could….. helped her down.

The dark-haired girl didn't even dare to look anywhere but the ground; she knew what was coming next, The Interrogation that occured every time someone saw her back.

Arnold closed his eyes in sadness "I wonder how she got that scar in her stomach? I wonder where did she get that deep wound in her back? Could it have been something to do with that guy who keeps following her around?" He sighed looking over into her direction, he noticed how stiff she walked "I can't ask her now, she already looks uncomfortable… The right thing to do right now is to at least cheer her up a bit"

"Hey" he said softly

G grunted and crossed her arms

"I think we're walking the wrong way" he tried to laugh, but failed… he just wasn't in the mood

"I don't want to" G stopped at mid sentence, not believing her ears

"Yeah" said the boy softly while pointing to his right "the fireworks are that way"

Filled with confusion the girl let out a soft "oh" and followed.

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"He-He, atta Shortman, I knew you'd find her" smiled Grandpa proudly at his Grandson

"Where's everyone?" asked the boy

"Looking for you" Replied Grandpa as he pointed at G, making her blink in surprise

"You don't think we'd start the show without you? did you?" asked the Old man

"Well um…"

"Oh there you are" squeaked Stella happily running towards G to give her a hug, and fuss over how worried she was, as bad as G wanted to pull away she stood stiff

It didn't take long for the rest of the boarders to join into the "are you okay?" questioning either, once confirming that she was, everyone gathered around for the show as if the previous events never happened.

Loud popping sounds, glitter filled skies, laughter that could be heard from a good distance and with a soft smile G couldn't believe she was part of it.

The Celebration lasted for a few hours, everyone stayed up late laughing about old times, and how this was the best show out of the previous years, but before they all knew it everyone began to yawn, so they all decided that it was time for bed.

Everyone except for Arnold, he stayed behind staring at the sky, where not too long ago bright sparkling lights shone.

He sighed and laid on the cool grass in thought "Helga, it feels as if it was just yesterday when you sat beside me on the docks" the sky was clearing up and revealing a bright star, it felt as if he stared at the same star every night, maybe it was… he wasn't sure, his mind traveled from Helga to G "G, she looks so beautiful when she smiles, even if she thinks no one is looking" The boy, whom had an unaware goofy smile on his face instantly changed expressions "That wound on her back looks serious, I wish I could help her, but I just don't know what to do" his thoughts were cut short by none other than G, she silently sat beside him and stared ahead.

After what seemed like an eternity of silence she spoke up in a strong tone "you remember that blood test that you were reading the other day?"

Arnold nodded

"Well" her voice began to crack "I" G didn't know where to begin

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Silent Flashback

Pink Uniform, Blonde Hair and Unibrow growing out, looking at herself in the mirror gave G a shudder down her spine, and the overweight Guard with no front teeth knew it.

She wiped the object that held her reflection clean without looking "Grrrr I'd prefer to live in Ratsville than to be in this hell hole" she complained while slamming the wet and dirty towel into the next bathroom mirror.

"Ohhhh look, It's whittle Helgaaaa, tired of seeing your ugly face in the mirror yet?" said the Overweight and toothless Guard with an evil grin

Helga clenched her fist and bit her tongue, she knew this was just another way for the woman to purposely make her snap since she was connected to them, but no….. unlike the other Envys that got sent here, Helga was not going to fall for her trap.

"Helga, Helga, Helga" repeated the Guard, "Did you know that every Envy that enters this building never leaves without a facial re-arrangement?"

As soon as the woman finished her sentence three girls popped out from behind her, all three flashing off their "Hells Street" tattoos, and blades

"I've been waiting to do this for Months" laughed the tallest girl, holding the never washed bloody blade into view "sweet number ten, or who knows number two"

Helga gulped not because she might be the tenth girl to get her face re-arranged, nor because she might be the second girl to die from that same blade, but because she knew very well that one of the Envy's that were a victim of the sharp object had HIV

A short girl with a clean blade stepped forward to say something, but Helga was too busy studying her body language to pay attention, her body spoke louder than her words, all Helga knew was that this girl was new to this type of thing.

"This is going to be fun" finished the inexperienced girl

Helga raised one side of her unibrow "more like interesting" she thought

The Evil Guard signaled the leader of the group to "start playing" and left the Restroom laughing

Taking the big guy down first was Helga's usual defense, but this time was different, this time she had only fists and feet, while they had the same plus blades.

The three girls came closer, enjoying their upper hand but surprisingly to them, Helga grabbed her bucket of soapy water and tipped it on the ground, making the bloody blade girl and the newbie trip.

Helga then grabbed her towel in a threatening neck choking manner while eyeing the third girl with cold eyes, she could tell that the girl got chills at the sight, she could also tell that the girl was thinking to run out the door, so she instantly charged at her.

Everything went so quick, that one of the two girls that were already in the ground pulled Helga down along with them "Not so fast" she laughed, as the third girl escaped the room

Helga tried her best to stand up but the other girl that was on the ground managed to get up and to pull at her

"Make her stand up" ordered the tall girl to the newbie

They then dragged her over to where the recently clean mirror was and smashed her face into it "look at yourself" she spat

Helga shut her eyes tightly

"Open your eyes," yelled the tall girl

Helga with her head down opened her eyes and noticed the two blades on the ground, "now this is a fair fight" she said lowly

"What the Hell are yo…..?" the tall girl didn't get to finish her sentence because Helga shoved both girls heads into the sink

Both girls didn't know what hit them, all they knew was that Helga was free from their grasp, but then as she was nearing the door Helga felt her hair being yanked

Boom

Another blade sliding down across the room, Soapy water on the floor and all, Helga fell down on the ground with the third girl who ran away earlier, she felt a sting on her leg and when she lifted her head to see, that girl was biting her on the leg.

The other two girls joined in and began to beat on her…. but without their blades, they were no match for Helga, with hard kicks and fists from the unibrowed girl, all three girls ended up knocked out cold on the ground.

Body ache and all Helga's mission was to get the hell out of there, she was too weak to stand up so she began to crawl out, but suddenly out of nowhere Helga felt a huge pain on her back, and with low energy looked behind her to see what it was.

There stood the tall girl with a bloody blade in her hand, and a nasty grin on her face…. "Now, where did I leave off"

A Huge whistle was heard and in ran a bunch of legit Guards

That was the last thing Helga saw before everything went pitch black

End of Silent Flashback

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"I… it" began to stutter G as she rocked herself back and fourth

It pained Arnold to see her that way, he felt useless, and in his own mind he came up with a theory of his own on how she got that wound, he needed to help her but didn't know how "it's okay G" he whispered while softly putting two fingers up her lips "you don't have to say anything"

"It was the clean blade" was all that she said; "it was the clean blade"

Arnold took her fragile body onto his and kissed her head "it's over, okay it's over, he won't hurt you anymore"

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