"Admittance"
Months... So many months. Yet, life still went by. Time still went by, the seasons changed, and so did the people around. The creature of interest, Zim, had vanished months ago... leaving everything behind... even his own front door open.
Dib, being a very paranoid and curious young man, of course, was suspicious. The Irken's security systems were down, and it looked as though someone had trashed the place. It left so many unanswered questions. Questions that Dib really wanted the answers to.
Professor Membrane had been home more than often lately... and he was not liking the behavior of his son. For years, the man had been concerned for his son's mental health. His obsession with the paranormal was unsettling at best.
Dib of course, knew his father thought he was crazy... Everyone did... and that bothered him more than he believed it should have... More than anything... he wanted his dad's approval... and he was unsure if he'd even get that... ever.
Right now, the boy sat in his room, writing about his findings on Zim's empty base... The only thing that was in there, was the lonely Gir... still peering out the window for his master every now and again. He refused to speak to Dib about what happened.
Dib wrote, and typed silently, logging his information into his laptop, when his father had entered the room. "Ah, I thought I'd find you here son... Doing homework?" Stunned, Dib lifted his head. It was the first time his father had shone interest in him for a long time.
"Er.. No... I'm writing down my findings on... the alien's base... It's been empty for a while, so I thought I'd... Investigate..." From the look on his father's face, Dib began to feel hot with embarrassment. Membrane was slowly shaking his head...
Dib desperately lifted his head, "Dad, I know it sounds crazy... but-" "Son." The professor said... "I think it's about time that I put you..." He trailed off... Dib frowned, "What?" Membrane shook his head, "Never mind. I think it's about time that you started trying out something... less... strange..."
Dib slowly narrowed his eyes... He had this talk one too many times... "Dad... I've been into the Paranormal for a long time... If you can't accept that... then... Well... that's not right... This is who I am... I think... you should-"
Professor Membrane shook his head, "Now son... I understand that... but you're mental health really is a concern of mine." Dib glared, "I'm perfectly fine! Just because I believe in something you don't-" Membrane shook his head, "Don't take that tone with me, boy. You see things... It really concerns me... not to mention I've seen you talk to yourself... terrorize other people, like that boy, Zim."
"I don't talk to myself because I have some sort of mental problem, I just think out loud... and maybe if you took the time to actually get to know me and listened to what I have to say instead of just shrugging me off as insane, then maybe-"
Membrane glared, "That is enough!" The man stood up, storming to the doorway, then he turned back to Dib, "You know... It's times like this... a lot of the time... I wish Gaz was an only child." He slammed the door after saying that with much malice in his voice.
Dib silently stared at the door... anger surging through him, he slammed his laptop closed, and his notebook. He heard the door creak, and Gaz peered in, a smirk on her face... "I told you Dad loved me more than-"
"GET OUT OF MY ROOM, GAZ! I STAY OUT OF YOURS! YOU STAY THE HELL OUT OF MINE! LEAVE ME ALONE!" The boy's voice shook at the last sentence, and Gaz slammed his door shut.
Dib just flopped down onto his bed, face hot from anger... the boy shut his light out, and just stared at the ceiling for a moment, he could feel something sliding down his cheek, and the boy wiped away a single tear... a tear that turned into many as he sobbed face down in his bed... he could feel his chest heave with each whimper, and cough... and he cried himself to sleep, for the first time since his mother died.
A few hours had passed, and Dib woke up, feeling stiff from sleeping curled up in a ball. His face still felt warm from crying, and he wouldn't be surprised if Gaz teased him for crying later... The boy sat up, rubbing his eyes, then put his glasses on...
He stepped out of his room, the whole house dark... It was a cold winter night... and was very quiet. Dib walked down the stairs... Then turned to head down to his father's lab... perhaps he could at least attempt to talk to his father... Even if it wouldn't make much of a difference...
He quietly headed toward the stairs, then saw a note on the door, it said, "Dib, I took Gaz out to eat... just find something in the fridge... Dad." Dib glared at the note... 'Guess he couldn't be bothered to take me... I miss Zim...'
Dib did a double take on that thought... then sighed... In all honesty... Dib did miss his rival... Zim was the only one who really took him seriously... then he just... disappeared... It made Dib miss him more than he thought he ever would... Why had the Irken left...?
Perhaps Dib could track the Irken on his dad's computer... it certainly was powerful. Though his father told him to never use his things for Paranormal Science... Dib didn't care at this point... He walked down the stairs, then climbed up onto the chair... the monitor was turned off. Dib calmly turned it on, then peered at the screen as it lightened...
The view... shocked him... Onscreen was a website... researching Mental Institutions... Dib clicked on another tab his father had open... it was another hospital... called Throne's Research, Science and Treatment Center. There was an online slip on the page... one that was already filled out... Reading through it... Dib realized... His name was written on the Admittance slip... His father was preparing to put him into a mental ward.
Dib backed off, slipping and falling off the chair and onto the floor. He shakily stood up, suddenly feeling sick to his stomach... Why would he do this?! 'He didn't even talk to me about this!' Dib began to back away from the computer, then turned and fled up the stairs, across the living room and out the front door.
The boy yelped as he slipped on the icy path that lead down the lawn, and fell into the snow. He quickly picked himself up, running through the snow, already feeling tears stream down his face for the second time that day. He ran mindlessly down the dark sidewalk... The world seemed to be empty... No cars passing down the road, and no one walking down the sidewalk... Well, no one would be out in the dead of a cold winter night.
Dib's running took him instinctively to the Cemetery. He stopped in front of it, gasping for the crisp air after all that running he had done... After regaining his breath, Dib looked in front of him, staring quietly at the gravestones, and just walked in, slowly moving down the path, in search of a grave...
He finally found it after doing some searching in the night... He stopped in front of the large stone... One that read, "Rest In Peace, Kathrine Membrane... Beloved Wife and Mother... Dib shook his head silently, wiping snow off the face of the stone, then sat down, pressing against the stone, pulling his jacket to himself for warmth...
The night was darker and colder than most... Snow fell from the sky gently and quickly... Not a single sound but the gentle wind and snow hitting the ground softly... Dib shivered, staring into the cold night... What could he do? He couldn't run away... His father would have men looking for him... He'd be discovered... Perhaps his father hadn't sent the slip yet...
Dib could try to convince his father that he was okay... Why would his father send him to a Science Research Hospital of all places? He didn't know what to do at this point... He felt lost... and he had no one to turn to... no one whatsoever...
He turned to the stone silently... "Mom... What am I going to do? I'm not crazy... you know I'm not crazy... I need help... I need you..." His voice began to shake, and he cried for the third time that night... 'Why did you have to leave me...? You were the only one who ever understood me...and you just had to get stomach cancer... It's not fair! Why did you have to die? Why couldn't it have been Dad?! At least you cared about me! He doesn't... and I know for a fact that Gaz doesn't either... Now I'm going to be put away because I believe in the Paranormal... only because of that small thing... He hates me... He said he wishes I was never born...'
Maybe that was the truth... 'Maybe I shouldn't be alive... I could be with you, Mom... I don't have to be locked up in some crazy hospital... I don't have to live anymore... What's the point... Zim is gone, what do I have left? My classmates hate me, my teacher hates me, my counselor lied to me... My own father doesn't love me... and my sister could care less if I... killed myself...'
The thought of death seemed to become more and more of an occurrence to the young boy... One that seemed like the only way out... Maybe Dib wouldn't come home tonight... Perhaps he'd never come home... Sure the police would find his body... but who cared... They'd probably just throw him into the empty plot next to his mother and forget him anyway...
Dib pressed himself closer to the stone... unsure of what to do at this point... Killing himself was an option... but he could almost hear his mother's voice, gently scolding him, 'You know that isn't the way to do it... You're only eleven, my dear boy... You have your entire life ahead of you...''Yeah... A life of being locked up in an asylum...' 'You don't know that... You never know what life will give you... Sometimes bad things happen... but there's always a tomorrow... Always a light at the end of the tunnel...'
Dib shivered from the cold, pressing his jacket tightly against his chest... This was not good for him... Thinking this way wasn't going to change anything... and he knew that... He didn't even know if his father really sent the slip yet. Knowing the man... it was quite likely that he already sent the slip in, to send his son away... Like he was some sort of monster that had to be locked away.
Dib closed his eyes, just listening to the wind... his body feeling colder and colder by the minute... He could hear footsteps, and opened his eyes... There, He saw two men in white coats... with a Bloodhound on a leash...
One of the men stepped closer... "We've been looking for you, Boy... Your father, Professor Membrane sent us to take you to our hospital..." Dib's eyes widened in horror, "No! I'm not crazy, and I'm not going with you!"
Dib jumped up making an attempt to run away, when the second man held up a gun, shooting the boy in the arm, with a tranquilizer dart... Dib fell to the ground with a loud grunt of pain. The men walked up to him, the Bloodhound sniffing the boy's back.
The first man bent down, "Boy, you really do have problems... We're only trying to help you... Your father says you've been hallucinating... thinking you've been seeing aliens and ghosts... things like that... Sleeping in a Cemetery isn't helping your case... Kid..."
Dib stared back at the man in fear... He could feel exhaustion clouding his thoughts, his mind processing the man's speech sluggishly... His body began feeling weak, his vision blurring in and out as he stared at the man in the white coat... He shivered hard, feeling his stomach begin to churn...
The man who bent down to him, picked up the dizzy boy... "I think we should take a closer look at you..." The last thing Dib could hear, was the man say... "We've got some tests that will do your mind good... The guys back at the lab are gonna wire you up like a Christmas tree..."
Dib could stay awake no longer as his eyes slipped closed and he fell into unconsciousness. He was unaware of the dangers,mysteries, and life changing experiences that awaited him in the very near future...