The man is mine. Every other character belongs to Jhonen Vasquez or Nickolodeon.

"Who- who are you?" he shrieked taking a step back hitting the cold shower tiles with his bare back.
"I?" the man asked innocently "I'm just a friend."

Staring at the man in the mirror who seemed to have had lost his grin for just about a second Todd regained his senses and calmed down a little while still being scared.

"A friend?" he asked cautiously.

The man grinned broader this time, which made Todd wonder if he was some sort of super-powered being seeing as the grin showed more teeth than the osmond family and even defied law of physics as it went literally from ear to ear.

"An old friend."the strange man reassured "You might remember me, Todd?"

"No. No, I don't remember you. I can't think of the last time I saw you." Todd put a hand on his head to check his temperature. Maybe he got a strange virus in the hospital. Probably one of those resistant viruses which caused hallucinations.

Setting a finger to his temple and poaching it the man tilted his head before saying in an imperative voice "Think harder, rodent!" Todd shrieked "N-Nothing. I don't remember anything!". This was stupid he was afraid from a hallucination. The best would be if he went to be and called in sick for school and afterwards he would destroy every mirror in his house to encounter the problem.

The man glanced sideways his eyes became a lot brighter suddenly, dangerous intent and mischief displaying in his eyes."Aha!" he pointed towards the pills in the orange pillbox "There we have the rascal!" he screamed causing Todd to cringe and try to dive further into the wall.

"M-My medicine? I need it."

"You know and I know, we both know very well that those are not good for you. You would be better off without them." was there a hint of concern in the man's voice, or was it just Todd imagine it? Was this even real?

Todd shook his head "I don't think so."

"But don't you miss your dreams? What about Shmee? Don't you want your fear sponge back? Or the aliens? Some would kill for a life like that." Todd thought about Dib for a moment before shaking his head in disagreement.

The man grinned "Or... what about your sex drive?" Todd looked on the tiles embarassed "When was the last time you wanted to jerk off? Oh wait you never wanted. You never felt the need of another being touching you, never felt the need of an intimidate moment am I right, Todd? You only do it because of the pressure right, Todd?" he spit his name out like an unsavoury taste lingering on his tongue.

"I- I..." Todd went beat red as blood rushed up to his face hiding his face in his hands.

"All your dirty thoughts are neatly suppressed. All your wants and needs hidden deep inside your subconsciousness. Don't you miss it?"

"I don't!"

"That's what those sediments do to you. It's not natural for a boy your age having so little sex drive. Don't you want to fit in? I thought you wanted friends and an ordinary life. Wouldn't it be much easier for all of us if you just would give up on those?" he pointed a trail-thin finger towards the pills. "Stop torturing yourself. Throw them away. You don't need them neither do I. Look at me I am happy. And you can be happy too. Just get those rascals out of your house and you will finally be able to enjoy your young life."

Todd grasped the pills uncertain of what to do "Throw them away." the man reassured.

The man vanished and the only thing looking back at him was his mirror image. Damp hair pressing on his head and still a look of uncertainty on his youthful face.

Meanwhile at Dib's house:
Dib woke up. Warm sunbeams tickled his skin as the sun shone through the slightly opened curtains. Yawning he pushed the bedsheets down and went down to the kitchen in his pajama.

His sister already sat on a chair by the kitchen table and was playing her favourite game on her game-slave.

The sounds of buttons being repeatedly pushed filled the room.

The toast jumped out of the toaster the moment Dib poured himself some orange juice.

Taking the toast and the orange juice he sat down besides his game-slave addicted sister and chewed on his toast.

"What are you playing?"

"Piggy-slayer the Revenge. Now shut up I need to concentrate."

She hit a few buttons and sliced a piggy through its stomach.

Dib finished the rest of his toast in silence and gulped down the remains of his juice.

Taking a look at the clock he quickly threw the used kitchen utensils inside the kitchen sink and ran upstairs to make himself ready for school.

Back to Todd:

Todd sighed as he leaned against the now cold shower tiles. His body had cooled down and he felt like something heavy had fallen from his soul as the last pill had been swallowed by the toilet going down towards the sewers as he had flushed the toilet.

He didn't know how long he had stood there naked back against cold tiles, breath shallow and short as if he had just finish a marathon.

He went to his room trying follow his usual morning routine and not thinking about what he had just done.

Packing his lunch which consisted of the usual sandwich and a bottle water he gave the clock in the kitchen a short look.
Suddenly he jerked up. he was sure he had seen a shadow moving outside the window but it was probably just his imagination.

He let his head sink on the table. "It's just a hallucination. It can't hurt me..." he repeated the same sentence a few times, eyes closed and concentrating on the dripping of water falling in the sink. Which became louder. He looked outside: thick grey clouds poured out gallons of water.

And what is Zim up to?

Zim grinned from ear to ear. He knew it.

Since the time he had first seen him.

The research showed the proof for his expectations. It would be the final moment to carry out his new plan. And this time he leaned back in his seat and grinned this time the useless earthworm would not interfere with his the great Zims plan!

That's all folks! Yeah the man is his subconsciousness or insanity personified who wants to be let out, I have numerous other interpretations for him but this place is to small for all of them. Interpret the grinning man any way you want.

Also I hope you are interested in knowing what Zim is up to. I just say: It wont be pretty.