'IB' - Chapter Five

Chapter Five

As Dib stood outside of his home, he couldn't help the overwhelming loneliness that washed over him. After the neighbours reaction, he highly doubted anyone would take him seriously. Not like they had taken him seriously before anyway.

On top of the extreme aloneness, the boy was feeling a massive amount of paranoia. His house had proven to be just as dangerous a place to be now, and after seeing how easily and quickly Zim could infiltrate it, he realized he would never feel at peace inside of it. He would always be looking around himself, checking to make sure he was truly alone.

Dib took only small, slow steps towards the house now, his eyes flicking everywhere as he scanned for any threats. He was quite jumpy now though, so when a small leaf flew by him he jumped backwards a step and let out a high pitched scream. He began to breathe rapidly until realizing it was just a leaf before taking a deep breath and staring forward again, his eyes continuing to scan his environment rapidly.

There didn't seem to be anyone around though of suspicion. The only thing truly fearful that might be in his house was his own sister. As for Zim, he could be anywhere at this point after he had left the door open. Perhaps he had left, maybe he was too lost to find his way out of the door on the other hand.

Dib stopped outside of the doorway a moment as he examined the door slowly. There were a few scratches on it, but nothing that caught his attention. He continued inside and slammed the door behind him. He assumed Gaz was still out somewhere, otherwise she would have closed the door by now. He was still alone...

With that, the boy made it up the stairs very slowly and towards his bedroom with the hope that he would get at least some rest. He avoided looking at the mass of blood stains that soiled his carpet now as he rushed right towards his bed. He lay down and buried himself in his blankets and closed his eyes as he shivered violently, whispering nonsense to himself which eventually lulled him into a rather light sleep. His mind wouldn't allow him to sleep for very long or very comfortably though.

It was a little later, when it had grown darker into the night when things started to act up again. From the corner of his room, there were sounds of weak whines every few seconds, followed by a series of what sounded like rushed quiet murmurs. With the window busted open, it wasn't hard for something to get into his room.

The repetitive sounds roused the boy almost as soon as they started, causing him to spring up and out from under the blankets. His eyes flicked hyperly towards the corner where the sounds seemed to be emanating from, almost growing louder by the second. Dib let out a low whine as he slowly brought his knees to his chest and closed his eyes, starting to murmur to himself as a way to try and distract himself from the chilling sounds.

The sounds halted quickly at the sound of someone shifting off a spring bed. Silence followed for quite a while before the wind blew through the broken window, carrying a word with it.

"...IB..."

Dib's eyes sprung open at the unnerving sound of that name as he began to shiver steadily now out of pure trepidation. He glared at the window now, watching for any signs of someone, or something, outside of it. Upon realizing nothing was there, he came to the conclusion that it was all in his head.

The fantasy of Zim arriving to school as his normal self sprung into his mind again, making him chuckle eerily to himself at the thought.

"Everything.. Will... Be fine tomorrow." He muttered to himself.

However, Zim would still be that same demented creature he was the day before, somehow being able to hobble himself to the skool building. He wasn't as great being silent in class, but the teacher never cared about his loud screeches or gurgles.

Dib looked back towards the wall now, though the dark shadows cast along the floor and wall caught his attention now, created by the large tree outside of his window. The eerie breeze rocked the tree, causing the shadows to move along the wall. He stared blankly at them, watching them with great intensity as if something were about to pop out of them at any given moment. And after two minutes of watching through strained eyes, the unnerving form of the demented Irken began to take shape again, only this time the shadow seemed to stand apart from the wall. The only details were those blank eyes along with that terrifying smile, creating the illusion that Zim really was standing right in his bedroom again. Dib shook his head and brought his hands up to grab handfuls of his hair, digging his nails into his scalp.

"Go.. Away..." He whimpered.

And then came that eerie 'e' noise he made when he attempted to give a laugh. The idea that the Irken could be anywhere at any given moment was also not a settling thought.

Dib flinched at the sound and ripped at his hair now, actually managing to pull out a few small wads of it. His eyes remained peeled, staring at the shadow as it seemed to move inches closer to him everytime he would look away for a brief moment.


In his closet sat a pile of clothes that had gathered from the week of tossing them aside after being worn. Now they looked as if they could come to life as the Irken at any moment and just grin at him with those eyes staring into him. That, along with the lingering shadow, seemed to be putting him over the edge as he began to hyperventilate and shiver even more violently, the shapes beginning to look more realistic the longer he stared at them.

Even though Zim was not there with him, in a sense, he was. With every thought the human made it gave life to these Zims that he was creating in his absence. In a way, Zim was still with him.

The shadow that had been steadily getting closer to him had seemed to reach the edge of his bed now, staring at him with a grimacing smile. Dib held his breath now, staring in terror lowering his hands from his head to grab the blanket and cover his face half way. The figure just stared, tormenting the boy with each second that ticked by.

After a while, the figure opened its jaws to reveal it's rows of sharp teeth, then it sprung towards him at a rapid speed, drawing a loud, high pitched wail from the boy's throat.

Seconds later, Gaz had slammed the door open, which drew another scream from Dib as he jumped violently, just barely staying on his bed.

"It's 1 AM... I have a test tomorrow... Do you mind shutting your stupid mouth?!" Gaz spat at him, feeling no remorse for scaring him so badly.

Dib took a moment to collect himself, drawing deep breaths as he attempted to bring down the rate of his breathing. "G-Gaz... Zim... He's.. Going to kill me." He managed to choke out.

His sister growled, reaching over towards the light switch and flicking it up, though the bulb still hadn't been changed so the room remained dark. She left for a moment and returned with a flashlight, turning it on and scanning the room. Upon further examination, nothing looked out of the ordinary. Except the fact that the window was broken open which he was sure to get hell over later.

Gaz groaned and shone the light towards Dib now, shining it right in his eyes intentionally. "Dib. I don't know what kind of stupid drugs you're on, but there is nothing here. "

"But, Gaz!" Dib started, though he was interrupted.

"If I hear another sound from you tonight, I will deck you so hard in your giant head you won't know your own name anymore." She threatened before backing up and beginning to draw the door closed. "Now...GO TO SLEEP!" She screamed, then slammed the door all the way shut.

"GAZ, WAIT!" Dib pleaded, but she had completely ignored him.

The lights were turned down again, and the darkness returned to the room. In turn, the shadows and forms re-awoke to come out and torment him a little longer. It was a long six hours until first day light too.

Dib hadn't gotten even a minute of rest that night. His eyes remained peeled open as the the shadow had actually seemed to be on the foot of his bed now, sitting on it's knees and staring directly at him with the chilling expression. Meanwhile, the figure in his closet remained far from him, staring at him from the spot where the clothing actually sat.

He seemed numb to it now as he could only watch the figures unspeakable terror. Only the small whines of the wind would snap him from his trances, causing him to crouch in a fetal position and cover his ears until they had gone away.

Dib was exhausted at this point, but there was no way he would find rest tonight. The only thing he could do was wait the night out with his Zims as they silently, and gladly, tortured him out of his right mind.