Disclaimer: I owneth not these Invader Zim characters... and THOU art a witch!

Witch Hunt

"... the wind beganst to blow harder, and the ghosts, sly fiends that they were, choseth that very moment to wail even louder! The trees outside beganth to shake their branches at the ghosts; clearly they would sayeth if they couldst, "Stay away, vile spirits!"... but the ghosts slippeth through the walls. I risketh a glance upward... and they wert swirling about the room!"

Dib's audience shrank back in terror as gasps greeted this latest development. After a moment, he resumed his tale. "All over the walls! They were everywhere I looketh. I jumpeth behind the chair, and raiseth my Bible to protect me, and shouted at them, 'Leave me, spirits! Begone!' One of them loomed directly over me! I fell back to get away from it, and at that moment my lamp went out... !"

The crowd screamed and groaned in terror, too afraid to utter a word, until at last a small voice from the back of the meeting house could endure the suspense no longer and spoke for all of them. "And then... ?"

"All light vanisheth, and so did the shadows... but as the wind dieth down, I heareth one final, ghostly wail dieth away in 't. The ghosts hath left us in peace... for one more day at least."

The townspeople let out the breaths they had all been holding since Dib began his terrifying tale of how he had, only two nights previously, faced the ghosts. Many in the crowd hastily blessed themselves; others drew from their pockets crucifixes and looked around as if expecting to see at any second a ghost in the rafters, or even behind their own pew. With a low cry, Sara fainted, falling in a heap at Torque's feet. Shaking, he bent down and held her hand. They all gazed gratefully at the only citizen of the town with the courage to face these evil spirits.

All except one.

"Idio's," Gaz muttered.

A few quick ears caught her disagreement; brows knitted in her direction. Had not a dozen appointments with the ducking stool taught this scolding shrew her lesson? How many would it take?

The family had moved into this small town, little more than a village just outside Salem, a short while ago, right before their father had run off to live as a hermit in the forest and pray for the salvation of souls from the Devil, whose agents freely prowled the world as ghosts, witches, demons and God Himself knew what else. Dib and Gaz had lived alone ever since. The townspeople had at first been as suspicious as they always were of strangers, meaning any persons they hadn't known all their lives. However, Dib was the only person they had ever met with courage enough to challenge ghosts, and his willingness to use this rare and valuable talent to help frightened people by facing down phantoms very soon got him welcomed with open arms. Being invited to stay for dinner was thanks enough for him.

Gaz, however, was a different story. She was interested only in what she could get, how soon she could get it, and how little she would have to do in return. She refused to reach out to the townsfolk, spurning invitations to quilting bees and weddings to sit at home staring into the fire, jabbing at it with the poker as she grumbled toothlessly away to herself by the hour about how completely useless and stupid everyone else was. Invitations addressed to Gaz soon arrived farther and farther apart, and then stopped coming at all.

Then she began complaining that everyone was too useless and stupid to invite her to anything.

Dib kept trying to marry Gaz off, but no man would have her; rumors whispered that in addition to her notoriously vicious and acid tongue, she was a brawling vixen with a physically violent temper. Sometimes Dib half wished she would... NO! Such sinful thoughts came from none but the Devil. After catching himself Dib always prayed for God's forgiveness... and then he prayed some more for Gaz's attacks to stop.

"Hush Gaz, holdeth thy tongue!" Dib now said cautiously, trying to quiet her. As the most popular, well-respected and sought after citizen in town, he well knew the low regard in which the townsfolk held her.

"I SHALL NO'!" she barked.

"Gaz, for thine own safety, I prayest thee to - "

Gaz now began to mutter sulphurous threats about sending this one and that one's immortal soul to a nightmare world from which there would be no waking and other such foul curses. By banishing the ghosts Dib had driven the terror from the townsfolk's faces, but Gaz's threats now placed it right back on them again.

- - - - - - -

Then came the day not long after this when everything turned upside down for them both.

At first Gaz merely gave the fireplace an even more vigorous jab than usual and snarled, "Ge' ou' o' my house," but unfortunately for her the bailiffs were even more afraid of not arresting Gaz than they were of arresting her.

To be continued...