The hall was thick with cologne, nearly suffocating Gaz as she approached her room.
"God, Dib! You smell even worse!" she called out as she shut her door.
"Not listening!" he called back from his own room.
Gaz sighed and dumped the contents of her backpack onto her bed. It was sunday, and she was finally going to do her homework. As she got a start on her geometry, a loud thump echoed through the walls, making Gaz jump and scatter her papers.
"Quit wrecking stuff!" she hollered which was replied with a fit of laughter from Dib and Tak.
"Sheesh!" she grumbled, gathering her papers.
Tak laughed out, followed by Dibs shushing and snickers. Gas rolled her eyes with a sigh, sliding from her bed. She quietly opened her door, tiptoeing down the hall which was difficult when socks on carpeting tends to make shuffling sounds. With little effort she tore her brothers door open.
"I'll tell dad-!" she hollered, but then she stopped short. Instead of commencing in secret relationship things, they were watching videos on youtube. At that moment, a clip of a baby laughing insanely played.
"Tell dad what?"
"That we're watching video clips?" Tak finished, raising a brow line. She still wore her human disguise, so she won't be staying long.
"I thought-"
"Get your head out of the gutter and get out." Dib grumbled pointing behind her.
Somewhat embarassed, she quietly shut the door and left downstairs. She couldn't help but be slightly mad at Dib for acting like that. He always got that way when he was with Tak.
Gaz yanked the fridge door open, scanning for soda.
"DIB! You drank my soda!?" she shreiked.
"Didn't see your name on it" he called back.
"It sucked anyway" Tak called after. It seemed she was catching onto human slang.
She growled and slammed the door shut. There was no juice, milk, or soda. NOw there was nothing more than tap water. Dib took apart the purifyer to build some kind of device to make food safe for Tak. It was 2065, so you'd think there would be built in purifyers in the citys pipelines, but there was nothing but scarcley drinkable water in rusting pipes. It's been that way since the city was built.
She rummaged through the cupboards finding only hash, corn, and condensed milk.
"For what?" she asked herself, reffering to the can of milk. She slammed the cupboard shut.
"Hey! Stop your tantrum before I come down there and make you!" Dib shouted.
"I'd like to see you try!" she shouted back. As if Dib could hurt her!
She was suddenly stark still when Dibs door opened. She hoped he'd only stand in the hall and shout some more, be he then came rumbling down the steps. He came into the kitchen looking quite annoyed.
"Listen you leech! I've got company, so don't act like a brat!" he hissed.
"Company? Don't be so modest. She's your little whore and you know it!" she spat.
"Stuffit you pest! Don't you ever talk about her like that!"
"Pest? What did I ever do to be a pest?!"
"Exist!"
Gaz stood and stared in shock. He's said some pretty mean things before, but nothing like this. She felt her face loosen and her fists drop. She hoped Dib would suddenly regret what he said, but he only continued to glare. It became worse when Tak entered the kitchen.
"What's her problem?" she asked, leaning on the doorframe. DIb turned to her and swiped his hand towards Gaz as if to brush her away.
"I dunno. She's just being a baby."
Tak scoffed, raising a brow at Gaz then turning with Dib as he passed her. Both turned and headed up the stairs, Dib continuing to glare and Tak miming to cry. The door shut, and Gaz stood in the kitchen feeling as if her chest were filled with stones.
It hadn't always been this way. She used to boss Dib around and get what she wanted and needed with words and fists, but after Dib entered highschool he grew a spine. He ditched his creature hunts and made friends, even girlfriends. He joined baseball and weightlifting which gave him the muscles and confidence he needed to gain superiority over his litter sister at last. That's all she had. She had no mother, and practically no father. If she wanted something or needed something, she demanded it. If she didn't her brother would blow it off and she wouldn't get it. She learned to use demands and fists to fullfill her needs. For a while it worked, but he turned the tables. Now she has no mom, practically no dad, and no way to get what she needs. The cupboards where nearly bare, and she was hungry for two days in a row.
'But my dad is filthy rich! How am I starving? Oh yah, because neither of us know how to shop effectively, nor do we have the money.'
Dib used his one god knows what, while she dried her banks long ago with the Game Slave 5. Their father left no money around the house. WIth a heavy sigh Gaz reopened the cupboards and took out the hash and corn, then closed the cupboard as softly as she could manage. She opened both cans and poured their contents onto a hot pan. Gaz stirred with a spatula, the smell ever so tempting. She was hungry and wanted food now, so she pressed down on the mixture with the spatula. The pan sizzled spitefully, grease flying out in all directions. She cried out when a large splotch exploded and bits of seering hot hash flew at her face. She clawed and wiped hystarically, but it still burnt, the boiling grease obsorbed into her pores. She cried out again, rushing to the sink and splashing cold water onto her face. For a moment the pin cold water only made it worse, but the pain evenutally subsided. SHe turned off the faucet, and her cheek spiked in flaming agony. It stung to bad that her eyes watered and tears rolled down her cheeks. Again she turned the faucet, carefully not to turn it too cold and stuck her face under it. Temporary releif. Just then Dib and Tak reentered the kitchen.
"What the heck did you did this time!?" he demanded.
"I-I tried to make food-" she choked out, " And I burnt myself."
Dib exhaled impatiently. "Of course you did." he said, " You shouldn't of been cooking you clutze!" he scorned.
"I was hungry! And you wouldn't of done anything helpful!" Gaz snapped from under the flowing water.
"Shut up. Just keep your fat face under the water and chill out. Geez" he said
"Dib, I'm hungry too." Tak informed cutely.
"Allright. Let's hit the ChickyLicky." he said assuringly as he led her out.
'oh sure! Now he has money! He wouldn't of had me along anyway! That selfish creep!' Gaz though bitterly.
Minutes passed, but each time she tried to take her face from teh faucet, her skin was met with a slap from hell.
'How serious is this? Can't be that bad!' she thought hopefully, but once again her face screamed in pain as she retreated from the cool liquid opiate.
'this is bad!'
Blindly she reached over and grabbed a dish towel then brought it over to soak in the water. Once done, she quickly took her face from the stream of releif and press the towel to her face. She quickly turned off the faucet, then over to the stove wearily to shut it off.
'what do I do? I can't put cream on it, I might of burnt my skin off!' she thought, panicky. She rushed to the bathroom, hesitantly removing the towel long enough to see discoloured splatches on her face. She groaned, water rising to her eyes again.
'I have a freaking second or third degree burn and my stupid brother, who is supposed to be watching me, is out on a date with his slut!' she raged inside.
She turned from the sink and sat on the linolium helplessly.
'I have to get to the hospital. But how? I can't drive and it's far far away!' she whimpered, ever so afraid.
'How did this happen to me? I used to have ultimate power over him and the household, and now I'm sitting on the bathroom floor with a major burn and nothing to help me.!'
Gaz continued to sit where she was while the towel warmed, the pain seeping back into the depths of her skin. It was so sharp and tangible that it made her want to shreik and sob, punching holes in the wall and kick at nothing, but she sat. The pain was in full force when she finally realized that ice stays colder alot longer, and so mustered enough endurance to stumble into the kitchen and fill a baggie with ice. She pressed it to her festering wound, wondering it it was severe enough that she could call for the ambulance. She instead decided to avoid what may become an overdramitic response and instead find another mode of transportation. She exited her home, looking up and down the street which had a shocking lack of cars and people. Down town was another story, and this was suburbia. With a great sigh, she began her treck to the inner city hospital.
What seemed like hours late, but was only about 43 minutes, help arrived. Gaz shuffled down a slightly ruffied street which meant she was nearing the city when he happened by. It started as a distant whoop then grew louder and nearer. It was then she realized it was a drawn out hystarical laugh. She stopped, squinting down the avanue. Before she could react, a little green rocket made a wide turn around the corner and was blasting right at her. She let out a shout as it crashed into her, both skidded an impressing ways backwards. Carefully she sat up, groping the ground for her ice baggy. Once her hand came into contact with something cold, she pressed it to her face.
'wait, this isn't my ice' she though in confusement.
She took the chill from her face and found not a ziplock baggie of solid water, but instead a familiar little robot dog.
"Hiya!" he piped.
Gaz instantly dropped him, searching frantically for her baggy which had landed nearly behind her. She grabbed it up quickly and returned it to her face.
"Gir? What are you doing? You nearly killed me!" she scolded.
"Imma take food to my master!" he said cheerfully.
'since when did Zim eat human food?'
"Zim eats?"
Gir shrugged. " I dunnoo"
"Well then what's the use of-? Never mind." she said then turned to continue on, but it hit her almost as hard as Gir did. "Wait, you can fly right?"
obviously.
"I can FLY?!" he shouted then went into a fit of hystarics.
"Gir! GIR! Pay attention!" Gir stopped, his eye twitching. " I need you to take me to the hospital." she said urgently.
"But my masters taco-"
"Forget the tacos, this is an emergency." she interuppted.
"We-el" replied Gir thoughtfully his arms rising.
"Gir this it very-"
"OKIE DOKIE!" he screeched, then suddenly flew beneath her barely keeping her on his back as he jetted off.
Withen moments they arrived, and Gir followed her in.
"Yah hi. I need to docter to look at this burn I have. It's pretty bad" she informed blandly.
"Well He-lo little girl! It'll be, mm-oh about a 40 minute wait. Mm-hm!" the rotund women said overcheerfully.
"Maybe you didn't hear. It's pretty bad."
The lady just looked down at her for a moment. "Maybe you didn't hear me. It'll be about-"
"IT'S A FREAKING GREASE BURN LADY! MY SKIN IS MELTING OFF OF MY FACE!" Gaz inturpted.
"Oh my, deary me! Ok, I'll see what I can do"
Gaz sighed and plopped down on a nearby chair. Gir occupied himself with a wirebead toy. Minutes passed, and the ice was melting.
"Little lady, fill out this form please" the attendant saidcheerfully as she handed a worn clipboard over the counter towards Gaz.
She slid off of the chair and shuffled over, then brought it back to her seat where she filled it out. Alot of the information is what an adult would fill out, but there was never an adult around long enough for even an emergency. Of course somebody would ask for one or to contact some parental unit, but nobody did. They possibly didn't care, or they knew who her father was and knew it was a waste of time to try and contact the most succesufll scientist in the world.
A few moments after she returned the clipboard she was called in by a nurse. Of course she was young and pretty, so she spent more time with the docters than she did assisting them.
The smell of rubbing alchahol was nearly as odiferous as Dibs cologne, but not quite. She finally arrived at small room and sat on a small stool. The pain was surfacing, and a docter had yet to come. She was down to the last sliver of icecube when one finally entered. To her shock, he seemed well in order. Or maybe that's why he took so long to get there. He glanced at his own clipboard and looked her up and down.
"What seems to be the problem?" he asked boredly.
'Seriously? He can't even tell? And to think this is one of the bozos who delivers babies and diagnosis diseases.' Gas thought harshly.
" I burst an artery in my ankle. That's why I'm applying an icepack to the lack of skin on my face." she falsly informed with a sneer.
"Ah ok. Well one, an ice pack won't do anygood. Two, you wouldn't be walking. Three, your ankle is at the end of your leg." the docter said without even looking up from the clipboard.
'There probably isn't actual information. Just a slutty pic of one of the nurses.' Gaz hpothesized.
"Listen you starched ape! I melted off half of my face and I feel like it's in a deep fryer. I had to ride a "
don't say alien rocket robot dog, ' dog all the way here and wait 30 minuted while my skin continued to fester and fall off. My stupid brother decided that taking his slut to stuff her face and ther arteries was more important than his little sister burning her skin from the bone. Then you take like, 20 minuted to actually get here while the only opiate I have melts into a useless baggy of chlorinated water. At last, you sit here and actually have to ASK me what is wrong with me when I'm holding a melted baggie to a ditch gouged into my face by hot grease and then totally miss it when I tell you I busted an artery in my ankle. What kind of moronic pion gave you a docter diploma? " she bellowed.
Now the docter looked up and to her face.
"Oh. Uhm...just get some cortizone." he said thoughfully then pivoted and left the room.
Gaz sat in a stupor. Was the cities docters really that stupid? With a growl, she rose and marched out. Instead of heading out the door, she marched down the corridor. A door closed a little ways up and she barged right through in time to confirm her suspicions. Sure enough a bedraggled nurse lay sprawled acrossed an examiners table, jerking to a sitting position as Gaz entered and trying in vein to cover herself with the ends of the the paper. Her docter whipped around, and luckily for her, he only managed to unwork a few buttons.
"Young lady you are not permitted to-"
"Save it starch zombie. I could call my dad and you could lose your job faster than Nurse Bellum here can whip off her thong. So you get your ill-learned butt back to that office and give me a proper examination or you and Stockings will be out on the corner selling chiclets to inbred mexicans!" she threatened as she pointed out the door. The nurse scoffed and sat back,
"Geez, what a brat." she commented post gum-pop.
Gaz shot her a glare then proceeded to pull out her cell phone. With one finger she pressed her speed dial. She raised it to her ear and after a ring somebody answered.
"Hello, This is Gaz, Membranes daughter? Yah, I need to speak to him about some malpractice issues" she said sweetly into the phone, all the while raising a brow and a pleasant smirk towards the Nurse and Docter.
"Fine Fine! Go. I'll be there in a minute."
"20 seconds."
"What?!"
"Hello Dad. You're familiar with Docter Rootwak right?"
"Ok ok! Just go!"
Gaz tilted her head smugly, " I just wanted to let you know I'm in his office taking care of a little injury. Oh no, nothing too bad. But you may want to give Dib a ring. Okay. Kisses, goodbye." she hung up and turned, then left. The burn was barely a pinprick compared to the sweet victory."