Once everyone goes to their rooms for the night, I start up my computer. It feels so good to have it. Curiously, I check for any pictures of Zim. Nothing. Not even in the trash. I know that someone deleted them. I had so many. They weren't enough to prove he was an alien but they were enough to prove that he existed. There are a couple files full of notes hidden away in some fake school folder. Again, they're not even of Zim. Just Bigfoot, vampires, and the like.
"Come on, Zim, you couldn't have been this thorough. You make mistakes. There has to be something, anything left," I mumble.
Hours go by as I tediously search every file on my computer. The blue light starts to make my eyes sting. This is hopeless. I searched this thing up and down several times before I was put in here. There's no way anything has changed.
I rub my eyes. It doesn't matter. I just need to get out. Then I can find Zim. He's not a priority right now.
I begin hacking away. This asylum has way less cameras than I thought they did. A few are out of focus. Some in the basement and the cafeteria aren't working. All it takes is a couple blind spots to get out. As far as this alarm goes, there's a maintenance mode for it. That'll turn it off for a couple hours. Once those two hours are up it resets. If any door is open it'll go off. I close my computer.
Leaning back on my pillow, I smile and sigh, "I'll be home free. Just need a couple days to prepare and I'm out of here. I'm coming for you, Zim."
A small silhouette stands at the foot of my bed. I restrain myself from moving.
"I'm not scared," Zim laughs. "You won't find me, human. Not even if you manage to escape this horrible Earth holding facility."
"What are you?" I ask, gripping my bed sheets with sweaty palms.
"I am Zim! Have you forgotten?" he exclaims.
"You're not Zim. He wouldn't be here. You're a ghost, aren't you? You're taunting me, playing with me."
"Believe what you want, stink-beast. Zim doesn't care as long as you stay trapped in here."
"No, there's no way you planned for me to get trapped in here! How could you?"
I see him flash his jagged teeth. Almost every part of me is screaming that he isn't real or at least isn't really Zim. But a random ghost couldn't know so much about Zim. It's also impossible for him to be here. He keeps disappearing, reappearing.
"Don't bother trying to escape," he commands.
He turns his back to me. Tossing my laptop to the side, I lunge towards him. I pin him to the floor in the dark. He growls and slaps me across the face. I hit the floor. My hand grabs at his small frame.
Escaping to the door, he asserts, "Listen to me, pathetic Dib, you are going to rot in here and never get out. You will never find me."
I jump at him again. My hands hollowly smack against the door. He's fucking gone.
Biting the side of my lip, I croak, "Why the hell did you leave me?"