The Last Hairbender (![]() ![]() @ 2011-06-23 22:10:00 |
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Entry tags: | ! narrative, helga reinhardt-schweitzer |
Backdated narrative
who: Helga
what: ET phones home
when: Father's day, a little while after this
where: On campus, probably close to the infirmary
status: Complete
Through their computer screens and television sets, the world watched grainy pictures of Helga that were tinted an ugly shade of green. Once she was alone, Zdenka having stalked off to the infirmary, Helga sank back to the cool ground. Tucking her feet beneath her body, she blinked rapidly and sniffled, forcing her chin up. Because even thinking she was alone, she wasn't going to do something as foolish as to start crying in a public space.
A long time passed before she moved again. For a while, she just sat and let her fingers graze along the concrete, not lending thought to how dirty it might by or how crazy the gesture seemed. Helga's thoughts were elsewhere.
The sun was nearly rising when she reached for her phone. For a second, the cameras focused in on her face, at the look of her deciding whether or not she wanted to make a call. But, quite quickly, the phone was being dialed and then resting against her ear. The words were hard for the fans to hear, but the people at the studio were smart and had the German words translated into English and flashing underneath Helga with only a few seconds of delay.
"Mother," Helga was nearly whispering in her native tongue. "I'm sure you're busy or sleeping. I know I don't call much. It's Father's Day in America now. It's a stupid holiday." There was a pause. Helga felt quite unsteady and knew this call would probably throw her mother off whenever she got around to listening. "I wanted to say thank you... for having never left me. I know I am a shitty daughter. I hurt you. And you haven't been very good to me, either, let us be honest. But you haven't left. So thank you." Helga pulled the phone away, stared at its screen for a moment, and then clicked it off.
She then rose stiffly from where she sat, rubbed her face with the back of her hands, and wandered back to her dorm, hardly aware of the fact that there was an entire world of people who'd been privy to such an intimate moment.