Disclaimer: Ah, the traditional once-per-story disclaimer. I do not and never have owned Invader Zim. It belongs to the amazing Jhonen Vasquez, whom I am not. Thank you. : )
Only my stupid brother would pick the rainiest night to go alien hunting. He always does weird stuff like that.
It was raining so hard that it sounded like it would break through the roof and rain down over our heads. I glanced up from my GameSlave2 just long enough to see Dib hang a camera around his neck.
" You're going out now?" I asked, listening more to the pouring rain than to him.
" Of course! This is the perfect defense against ZIM!" He had spoken eccentrically, flailing his arms everywhere, " He can't stand water you know. It must be like some kind of poison to him…"
He continued on, but I had stopped caring long before. I didn't see why he bothered trying to stop Zim everyday. It was blatantly obvious that he was an alien and it was obvious he was trying to take over the earth…but Zim was a moron. He would never actually be able conquer Earth, because he would always screw it up somehow.
My stupid brother always insisted on stopping him though. Moron.
After he realized I had stopped listening, he stopped speaking. As hard as it must have been for him, he went on getting ready in silence and I went on slaying vampire piggies on the couch.
Most people looking at us must think that it's so sad that we are the way we are. That we can barely stand each other and that our dad is never around. That Dib is insane and I never let anyone talk to me. I hear people say that I would be more popular if I was more sociable and hear them say Dib would be all right if he wasn't so crazy…but those people don't get it.
Even if we don't get along, we can still understand each other on some small level. I understand that Dib needs to go chase his aliens, even if they aren't competent enough to successfully enslave us and even if it means going out in a monstrous storm. He understands that I need my video games, or else I may spontaneously combust. We both know, of course, that our dad needs to lock himself in his labs day and night, or else he won't be able to cope. He sees too much of mom in us I guess, and can't stand to be near us.
That's where this all starts really. Mom died and took everything to hell with her. I suppose we were a normal, happy family before that. It happened so long ago that I was too young to remember. Dib remembers. He refuses to talk about it though.
" Well, I'll see you later Gaz!" He beamed as he headed out the door, " I've got an alien to catch."
" Idiot." I called out to him, my usual goodbye.
I turned back to my video games, all alone in this big empty house. I suppose the weird thing about it is that I'm used to it by now. I could sit there for hours with my GameSlave 2, not noticing the world pass me by. It wouldn't bother me in the least.
Hours did pass by, many hours since Dib had gone to fight Zim. The storm had gotten incredibly worse. The wind howled outside as the lightening seemed to strike all the way to the moon. The thunderous crashes were almost a constant. It was amazing that we hadn't lost power yet.
The very small, sisterly part of me wondered if Dib would be back soon. The loud thunder seemed to almost answer my question. Dib wouldn't stop for something like this. Now maybe if there was a tornado outside…
Then again, their fight really couldn't have lasted this long, could it? It had been almost five hours since he had left and since Zim can't be out in the rain. They couldn't possibly still be fighting.
Swiftly, I shut off my GameSlave 2 vowing to kill him when I found him for making me worry. I was just about to head out after my stupid brother when the door swung open wide. I could see the rain coming down in sheets, but no one came inside.
I wasn't scared of course. I was far scarier than anything that would ever try to threaten me. Though it did successfully make me stop in my tracks.
Then I saw him. Dib had fallen over into the bush I suppose, and used the doorframe to pull himself out. His eyes were wide and he was breathing hard. His clothes were torn so much that they hung limp off his bones. There was also a strange red mark around his neck that had begun to bleed a bit, as though someone choked him with his camera and then ran off with it. Also, his clothes had somehow been painted an ugly dark red. There were cuts on his face and his hair was matted down from both rain and blood.
That wasn't even what bothered me he most. The look on his face…I'd never seen it on him before. His eyes were saucers and all of the color in his face had washed off in the rain. The floor refused to hold him and he had to use the doorframe for support. His free hand covered his mouth, as though he was going to gag.
" …Dib?" I called out weakly, hoping desperately that somehow this wasn't my brother or that it was some sort of prank of his.
Dib didn't say anything. His head turned slowly in my direction. It finally occurred to me just what was wrong with my brother (well…more so than usual anyway).
Dib was scared.
Something had really scared the shit out of him.
Somehow, that thought scared me just a little too. Zim wouldn't have been able to scare him like that. There must have been something else that shook him this badly. It wasn't just some sort of silly phobia-type thing either. The look on Dib's face was one of pure terror, as though he had been brought to the depths of hell and back and was wishing he weren't alive to tell the tale.
" Dib…what happened?" I asked softly, hoping it was no big deal…that he would be okay.
Again, I was monked by him. He carefully made his way across the room, using the wall to steady himself. A trail of blood and water paraded behind him, staining the rug.
This wasn't right…Dib could never keep his mouth shut normally. He would usually have told me every detail, whether I wanted to hear it or not. It wasn't like him to be silent. This wasn't like him at all. There was something really wrong here.
Dib didn't ask for my help, nor did I offer it. I think it would have scared him more if I did. That was just the way we were, I guess.
Dib limped up the stairs and his blood rolled down the guardrail gracefully, spinning and swirling with water. It was painfully obvious that something had killed him. Something inside him had died that night and I wasn't entirely sure if I was okay with that.
I decided to let him sleep it off. Maybe I could force him to tell me in the morning. For now though, I thought that sleep might do me some good as well. I arose to shut the door, but stared outside at the fierce winds.
There was something out there that hurt Dib. It wasn't just anything though. It must have been something truly horrifying to make him react like that. Whatever it was though…it was still out there in that storm. I wondered if I should go and chase it and make it pay for everything it did to Dib with its life.
Soon though, I shut the door. Scaling the stairs and avoiding the blood, I retreated to my room. I kept telling myself I would do something in the morning.
That Dib would be all right in the morning.
I had a feeling I was wrong though.
Believe it or not, I was.
(A/N: Geez, barely two weeks after I finished my last story and I'm already writing another. XD. So hello everyone and welcome to Somber! How do you like it so far? Please R&R and the next chapter will be up very soon. : ) )