Disclaimer: I don't own Invader Zim. And I sure don't own the concept of karma.
Behind bars we can see Dibsthe1, and behind Dibsthe1, mental patients who are weaving baskets and painting pictures of flowers, angels, and sexual organs.
Good evening. For the time being, circumstances require me to speak to you from in here. If I don't get out soon, I really will go crazy.
Rare as it was for the Membrane family to get together in the first place, it was even rarer for them to get together anywhere else besides a restaurant. Yet here they all were, sitting side by side in the doctor's consulting room.
As the doctor had been advised to expect the entire family, three chairs had been placed before the desk. Professor Membrane had sat down first, on the chair closest to the door, and Gaz had herded Dib into the chair in the middle before securing the chair
on the other side to prevent him from making a run for the door.
Gaz was fully occupied with keeping her face glued to the screen of her GameSlave just like always, and the Professor's goggles had always made it difficult to figure out what he was even looking at, much less if he was in the mood for conversation.
A few minutes went by and they were all still waiting. Being careful not to sigh too loudly this close to Gaz when she was playing her game, Dib took a deep breath and began to look around the room. On the wall behind the doctor's desk was ranged an impressive array of certificates from several medical schools. On the side of the desk opposite the door stood bookcases stuffed with books bearing titles such as Applied Psychiatry... Cognitive Psychotherapy... Behavioural Psychotherapy... A Bio-Social Theory of Psychoses... Behind the nameplate reading "Dr. Alladin" sitting at the front edge of the desk, file folders lay scattered among a coffee cup bearing the name of the hospital, a figurine of a running horse, and a box of tissues.
His nervousness increasing from sitting this close to Gaz for so long, Dib would have scuffed the rug back and forth over the floor had the Professor not been resting his heavy boots on his end of it while Gaz tensely pinned down hers. On the wall behind them, a clock ticked away the seconds. That was the only sound in the room, besides of course, the occasional electronic explosion and scream from Gaz's GameSlave.
Finally the door opened and a tall, slender doctor strode in, extending a hand to them. "Good afternoon, everybody; sorry to keep you all waiting. I'm Dr. Alladin... "
Professor Membrane rose, shook the doctor's hand, and started to turn toward the door as if the appointment had just ended, but caught himself just in time.
When Dib shook the doctor's hand, a bracing bolt of warmth and strength flowed up his arm, encouraging his hope that here at last would be the help he had so badly needed for so long.
Gaz was so immersed in her game she didn't bother to look up, let alone shake hands with the doctor. Her only acknowledgment that he was even there was a grunt of, "Yeah yeah."
Dr. Alladin now took his place behind the desk. When he sat down he was directly facing Dib, but addressed his question to the family in general. "Okay, then... why are you here?"
Before Dib could reply, Gaz had already answered the question for him.
"He's always butting in!" she snarled.
The doctor turned his head to face Gaz. "Is that all he does, just talk?"
"Yes, it's all he does! He never stops talking!" Gaz snapped.
"No, I mean, is there something else besides talking that's causing a problem?"
Gaz had never exactly cared for conversations with anybody while she was playing her game, but if it meant putting Dib away for good and leaving her in peace, it would be worth it.
"He... he wants people to listen! He actually CARES what people think of him! Did you ever hear of anything so STUPID?"
"What else?" Dr. Alladin had started taking notes.
"He acts like he thinks he's special or something. He's paranoid. He's obsessive compulsive. And that's just for STARTERS," she added snidely, steadily tapping on the keys of her GameSlave. She looked up briefly to catch the doctor peering at her handheld game console. She narrowed her eyes even tighter and lowered her voice menacingly. "And if you dare to tell me to turn this game off or put it down or I will destroy you."
"Mm-hmm." The doctor made a few more notes.
"All day, every day, he thinks and talks about things that aren't even real." Gaz added, focusing on killing more and more of the
deadly Vampire Piggies. "I am there! I'm up to the last level. Watch out piggies, here comes Gaz!"
"Lives in an unreal world," the doctor noted.
"He thinks any of what he says or does actually matters to anybody! It's garbage! He says there's some good in the world? Well, there isn't! The world is worthless and it's covered with idiots." When Gaz finally killed the last piggy, all conversation came to a halt as she watched the "Game Over; YOU WIN!" display. It rarely satisfied her for long; however. As soon as the display finished playing, she hit the reset button and prepared to play still another game.
"I said, can you tell me a little more about this unreal world your brother lives in?"
Thus cued, Gaz stopped tapping the buttons long enough to crack open an eye and glare at the doctor. "He believes in aliens."
"Aliens?"
"He says this kid in his class is an alien."
"And is he? The kid in his class, I mean."
Gaz curled her lip. "I'M not dumb enough to run around telling everybody THAT." With a condescending snort, she returned to her game, shaking her head disdainfully.
"And at home, what is he like?"
Gaz froze. Answering this question would demand so much of her attention that she actually paused her game. As she slowly looked up, her eyes began flashing fire. She sucked in her breath in ragged gasps; her fists shook. Here at last was her chance to fully describe all the outrageous, unbearable things Dib did to her, but now that someone had finally asked her, she could barely get the words out. "His voice... his VOICE... his voice fills me with a TERRIBLE RAGE!"
"His voice? Is it just his voice, or is it what he says? Or bo - "
"EVERYTHING! Everything about him annoys me! Unbearably! Everything he says! Everything he does! His whiny voice! Always talking when when I don't want to listen! He's crazy, completely crazy... and he needs to be locked up in here forever WHERE HE BELONGS!" The last few words jerked out of Gaz in an unnervingly pitched shriek. All present wondered if they had heard flames crackling somewhere.
"He... makes me... lose... my game... " Hellfire now blazed in the depths of Gaz's eyes. "I play my game... and he m-makes... me... l-lose... he... always... does something... STUPID... it's as if... as if... " The mere idea unleashed a manic frenzy in Gaz. Her chair fell over unheeded as she stood up and began to prowl stiff-legged up and down the office like a caged panther, unable to contain her rage by sitting still. "It's as if he just sits... and waits... somewhere until I get to the good part, and that's when he barges in and opens his big stupid mouth! I beat the living daylights out of him each time... but he never learns!
"He always takes the last soda on me! AND! He always takes the last slice of pizza! Can you believe that? I won't let him take any while I'm still eating of course, and when one slice is left... THAT'S the very one he ALWAYS has to take! Oh, I doom him for it, and put him in the hospital a couple of times," she snorted proudly, "but he never... ever... LEARNS! He still takes MY! Pizza! AND my soda! It's like he's missing a piece of his brain!"
Having stalked right up to the edge of the doctor's desk, Gaz now leaned over it; in one motion she grabbed the doctor's lapels and yanked him toward her until they were forehead to forehead. Narrowing her eyes, her glare drilled into the depths of his soul as she ground out the words through gritted teeth. "Lock. Him. Up. If you do not put that selfish psycho away where he can't bug me any more I will plunge you into a nightmare world from which there is no awakening."
Only slowly did the doctor realize that she had released her iron-fisted grip and was once more sitting in her chair, playing her game faster than ever as if to make up for valuable lost time. "Well... Professor Membrane, and Dib, I couldn't believe it at first, but I have to say... "
Gaz smirked to herself.
"... you were absolutely right. She does indeed have a problem, to say the least. Many problems, actually; her condition is even worse than you described. But rest assured, I promise you that we will do our best for her."
Gaz now slowly raised her head, dumbfounded, as the doctor read through his list. Her game continued running unheeded.
" ... self-imposed social isolation, narcissism, delusions of grandeur, negativity and pessimism suggestive of depression... major, MAJOR anger management issues, extremely low tolerance for frustration, control issues, with minimum provocation she intimidates and assaults others and enjoys doing so... video game addiction, obsessive-compulsive video game playing ... "
Not until the words "video game" were spoken did it fully dawn on Gaz what had just happened. Her GameSlave fell to the floor and she flew into Dib with a bestial roar that sounded like nothing remotely human. "YOU TOLD ME YOU NEEDED HELP! YOU TOLD ME YOU WERE GOING CRAZY!! YOU WILL PAAAAAYYYYYY!!!"
Dib had been bracing for something like this. Already off his chair, he held it up and fended Gaz off as if she was a rampaging wild animal. In the grip of an overpowering need to vent her spleen immediately, Gaz now turned on the doctor. She leaped over his desk straight at him, face contorted with rage and both her hands out, ready to claw and/or strangle him to death.
Dr. Alladin barely managed to frantically reach under his desk; seconds later two huge and burly men in white coats burst into the room to find a shrieking, raving Gaz with both fists firmly around the doctor's neck and Dib and his father struggling to pull her off.
"... AND WHEN I FINISH WITH HIM LET IT BE KNOWN THAT FROM THIS DAY I HOPE YOU LIKE NIGHTMARE WORLDS IF YOU WANT TO KEEP ALL YOUR LIMBS...!"
As the bigger of the men caught Gaz up in a chokehold, the other quickly filled a syringe and injected it deep into Gaz's rump. Whether the needle actually caused her to scream any louder it was impossible to say. After a few moments they could begin to maneuver her, now limp, groggy and muttering even more incoherently, into a straightjacket.
"How many years... how did you... survive that?" Dr. Alladin hoarsely asked Dib, rubbing his neck.
"I still can't believe I did. Most of the time I was sure I'd go crazy," Dib admitted, with a shudder. "I know I went out of the house a lot, doing... stuff."
"I just bet you did," marveled Dr. Alladin, now straightening his tie. "Well... " he dropped back into his chair, his brisk, professional manner slowly returning. "She undeniably is a danger to others, no doubt about that. So, Professor, if you'll just sign these papers... " He held out a sheet with the words "Involuntary commitment" at the top, three blanks for signatures at the bottom, and a lot of legal jargon in between.
But Professor Membrane had lowered his head, and was now shaking it slowly and sadly. "My poor, insane daughter... "
The End.
The camera now trucks out so we can see that Dibsthe1 is wearing a lab coat with a name tag on it. After reaching into a pocket, Dibsthe1 takes out a key, unlocks the door, steps out, and locks the door again.
Ahhhh! I thought quitting time would never come. Thank God it's Friday.
They say that if you wonder if you're insane, it's a sure sign that you are not, so just to be on the safe side, I keep wondering if I am.
The selfish believe all else are selfish... and the one who is bugged by everything is the one who's got the problem. And Gaz begrudges everything Dib eats and drinks, while claiming EVERYTHING he does "bugs" her, which obviously means...
Oh, that reminds me, before I leave I'd better make sure that the ECT machine is fully revved up.
The Karma Circle is now closed. Thank you and good evening.