Sixth Grade Beginnings

Chapter 20

The jungle that surrounded Arnold was hot and lush with green vegetation and various noises from the local fauna that lived there. He was searching for something, but what? He already had found his lost parents so what was left in the jungle for him to find? He looked down to see that the Green Eyes emblem was still hanging around his chest but he had no journal to follow. Holding it up to his eye, he looked through its green glass. Nothing seemed to change in his view, which disappointed the young man and he placed it back down.

"What am I doing here?" He asked himself, looking around to find any sort of clue. "Mom? Dad?" No one responded and Arnold frowned. "Am I lost?"

"Lost? That's one way of putting it, bucko." replied a familiar voice.

Arnold spun around to see Helga standing there next to him with his father's journal. Overjoyed to know he wasn't alone, the boy ran up and hugged his companion tightly.

"Gross! Who said you could touch me, Hair boy?" The girl yelled before pushing him off of her and brushing off her already dirty clothes. "It's so damn hot and humid here, why on earth would you think it's okay to hug me?! Ugh!"

"I'm sorry, Helga." He replied with a smile. "Where's everyone else?"

Helga cocked an eyebrow and looked around. "Have you been eating the berries? There is no one else here but us now hurry up or we'll be late."

Her words confused him. "Late?" He asked but instead of getting a reply, he watched as she walked in front of him "Late for what?"

Helga ignored him and pushed forward, causing him to follow curiously. There were many large bushes and vines in front of their path, but Helga pulled a machete out of her backpack and began to cut them all down. "It's only a little further..." She murmured to herself, quickly glancing at a page in the book.

"Helga, where are we going?" He asked, blocking every branch that happened to swing in his direction as he followed. "Why do you have my dad's journal? And where did you get that sword?"

"Geez do you ever shut up?" She hissed. "Maybe if you stop asking questions we would be there sooner!"

"Be... where?" He asked again before getting a bunch of leaves in the face. "Helga, slow down!"

Just as he finally got the brush out of the way, he noticed his companion had disappeared. "Helga?" He called out to her. "Helga you went too far ahead!"

Still there was no response and Arnold began to get nervous. He stopped and listened to his surroundings. There were no noises of her footsteps, only the chirping of exotic birds and the sound of the wind blowing through the trees. "Helga... Stop hiding, this isn't funny." He called out again, hoping she would pop out from behind a tree or something but sadly it didn't happen.

Pressing forward, he began to follow something that somewhat looked like a trail. Where did it come from? Had Helga made it before hand? Just where was he going? Arnold's nerves began to attack him every step he took.

Just then, he took a step forward and pieces of the earth beneath him crumbled, causing him to trip and fall down a large slope. The slope seemed to go on forever as if he was being taken to the very middle of the earth itself. The further he went down, the hotter it got. Finally, the fall ended and Arnold crashed into something soft. Opening his eyes, he saw that Helga lay in front of him.

"Helga!" He shouted as he got a closer look at her. She seemed like she was asleep. "Helga, wake up!" He said as he shook her lightly; however nothing he did seemed to matter.

Laying his head down on her chest, he could hear that her heart was still beating and assumed she had just been knocked unconscious by the fall. "I gotta get us out of here..." He whispered as he looked around. They had fallen into some kind of underground cave. It was dark but there was a dim red light coming from somewhere. Hoping it was coming from someone's campsite; Arnold got up and followed the glow. "Hello?" He called out as he went further. "Is anyone there? I need help, my friend is hurt!"