When it's over

What happens when you have an Invader ZIM/Dib obsession and you listen to "When It's Over" by Sugar Ray too many times? Well, you write a songfic about obsession, of course! I dun own IZ or the song "When It's Over." It's been slightly modified.

                  

---

When it's over

The girl fell back onto her bed, eyes wide open, heart pumping, mystified.

That's the time I fall in love again

One more a half hour had gone by, and such a bewitching half hour it had been. The only TV show that made her blood race, the only show that had her eyes tracing all the images during the opening.

And when it's over

Such anticipation for the next Friday came, waiting for the time-stopping feeling to resume once again. At the same time, all those thirty minutes went by in flash, always leaving the thought, 'Is that it?'

That's the time you're in my heart again

The girl pulled out a cardboard cutout of her favorite character, Dib. Putting in onto the creamy-colored sheets of her bed with her, she dreamily caressed it. The alien made her eyes shine as well, but this one was special in a way, for it was the first good guy she'd ever loved. Falling in love with factitious characters was not uncommon with her, but usually such obsession was fleeting. She desperately wished with all her heart that this desire would never leave her.

And when you go go go go

I know

It never ends

It never ends

The passion would burn within her soul for seven days until Friday night came once more. She would examine every single detail of the newest episodes and spend the week dreaming of what would happen next. What new facts would be discovered? The series was so new; no one knew everything. She was a writer, and she knew one little line could mess up a whole story that had before seemed perfect.

As always with any obsession in the part, she wanted to become a part of this. To meet the characters, to be with them, to have her dreams come true. Her fondest wish. Her most common thought. 'Anywhere but here.'

chorus

All the things that I used to say

Appearing in their world, seeing the Skool, ZIM's house, Dib and ZIM themselves, was such a shock.

All the words that got in the way

Grabbing a newspaper out of a machine with fumbling fingers, she read the headlines. None were like those of home. The headline was that Congress was passing a new bill prohibiting Human Cloning. That was it.

All the things that I used to know

Her family, her acquaintances, her home, her life… did it exist? She stormed into a library and hopped onto the Internet on one of the computers. She did a people search, a yellow pages scan for places in her hometown that she had liked to spend time at.

Have gone out the window

Nothing. Her parents weren't living and her hometown didn't even exist. Was this the price to pay for such joy that had been suddenly bestowed upon her? Her old life had been one that had driven her nearly insane. She had no real friends, no one that shared her opinions, no real life. And now…

All the things that she used to bring

Nothing of her old life had happened…or did it? This really wasn't a question worth asking now. What was important was the 'here' and 'now.'

All the songs that she used to sing

Walking out of the library, she saw some girls her age going past. They were singing loudly and laughing, happy with their lives. It was surely to be a popular song, but instead being one of the stupid love songs she recognized, she heard unknown and unfamiliar lyrics.

All of her favorite TV shows

Smiling, she strode up to the front of the Skool at stared at it. Through the windows inside she could vaguely make out a familiar scythe-like hairstyle. A soft giggle escaped her lips as a large phantom-like shape flew throughout the room and stopped to reveal that it was, in reality, an old woman. Ms. Bitters.

 

Have gone out the window

Crossing her arms casually, she walked over to the fence that separated the sidewalk where she stood from the playground, which soon would hold the kids that went to this Skool. As a bell rang and the children poured out, she noticed her garments for the first time. She plucked at the trench coat, grinning. It had the same magenta lining inside as the one she had bought back home. She wore plain blue long-sleeved shirt, blue jeans, and Skechers shoes that were part of her 'Dib Outfit' as she called it.

end chorus

I'm wishing you

He awoke. He had had a dream explaining where she had gone, but as he wandered into her room, he felt torn apart. His daughter…gone… But he knew now this was her sincerest wish.

You never said you weren't pretending

She had been on her own a lot. She had played way too many video games, listened to way too many songs about aliens, and been absorbed in way too many things. No one had made the connection; no one had realized she wanted to get out.

A little later he found a note on the keyboard. It contained a web address.

I'm wishing you…

The address was to her diary, the place where she had spoken completely honestly. She had professed love, hate, lack of faith, assumptions of insanity, unabridged thoughts, and varied states of mind. She had not been what everyone had thought. There were even traces of wishes of life to end.

'This world is so disappointing.'

'I want to have a life worth living.'

…You'd feel content and just come back to me

How did someone become like that? What chain of events had to occur to them for such an undertaking to happen? Why couldn't she just be happy with her life like everyone else?

I need you and when you go go go go

He was her best friend. He couldn't believe she was gone. He'd heard her speak such nonsense before, and even he had gone on about magick at one point or another, but…how? It was impossible!

The phone rang. He walked over to it and picked it up. It was her father. He had a web address for him to check. Her journal. Yes, he'd seen it before, but not recently. Her father suggested checking a certain date.

He found rants about him. He had a closed mind, all he did was lie, he only thought of himself. There were wisps of pity and words in more recent entries that he deserved better than his current friends. This girl had clearly been more clever and wise than he had ever imagined. He thought he knew her so well…how could these thoughts surprise him?

I know

Well, he knew the truth now. He was kicking himself every moment, even when his grieving period was over and he was back at school, for being such an ass around her. Such regrets can only be realized with death. He also felt great pangs of envy. She got her dream life, and he was still stuck as a normal guy, forced to write and daydream of what he could be.

It never ends

It never ends

When it's over

Can I still come over

Would she ever come back? Apparently, only he and her father believed what had truly happened. Everyone just dismissed the dream and said it was kidnapping and - most likely - murder.

 

And when it's over

Is it really over

When it's over

That's the time I fall in love again

Classmates held a prayer service. The town was baffled for a while, and even started up a little search. Strange that a girl that always preferred to be left alone in the dark could call up such attention, but there they were. After a week or two, the efforts died, and life got back to normal. There was even an obituary in the paper.

chorus

All the things that I used to say

She walked up the stairs toward his room. Smiling, she entered the room and saw the boy at his computer consoles, tapping away.

All the words that got in the way

He hopped out of his chair and brought over a chart of some kind, then explained it. She smiled lovingly at him, and he returned it with a quick grin. A rotation model of a familiar, freakish house spun on the computer screen, and disappeared to show a green figure with red eyes and antennae, then that diminished and a model of a small robot came up. She commented on it, and realized she had never dared to hope she would ever say and do what she was doing now.

All the things that I used to know Have gone out the window

Her home, her parents, and her old life…everything was gone, but she couldn't be happier. Sometimes she felt a pang of regret, but it was quickly pushed aside by the presence of her new friend, and her new family. She had been adopted since his father was quite a genius and was working on what happened to her exactly.

"Let him take all the time he wants," she murmured softly, flicking off her shoes across the hall into her room. The boy inquired about what she said, but she made a dismissing hand motion. They had work to do. She smiled again; just being with him was eternal happiness plus another day.

 

All the things that she used to bring

Once in a while, she'd try to explain the subtle differences between her world and his, but it was usually interrupted by 'business,' i.e., the alien or another Swollen Eyeball meeting (it was nearly as creepy as she had thought…before).

In the beginning, she had been like an alien. Not knowing what was going on, not knowing where she was and what she should do, but that feeling had diminished almost as quickly as he had started to trust her. They even had Skool classes together. How she loved Skool now! Ms. Bitters was, despite doom and gloom, a great teacher (in the girl's opinion), just the kind she liked: just talking and lectures, and wonderfully doomy facts. Of course, the alien's misguided attempts at being human were nothing short of hilarious. She would have liked to have been there for the 'room with a moose' incident.

All the songs that she used to sing

Often, she'd be humming an old song by artists that didn't exist in this world. Actually, it wasn't a different world, as she had found out, it was a different timeline. The birth of his father and all the things his father did greatly affected this timeline, but in her world, the professor was never born or, of course, heard of.

All of her favorite TV shows

She could hardly talk about Invader ZIM during lunch, but there were fairly entertaining shows here. StarGate SG-1 still existed, thankfully. The Bloaty's Pizza Hog commercials were really, really funny, and the piggy video games were much more entertaining than they looked. Strangely, Bloaty's had good pizza. She liked nothing more than watching Mysterious Mysteries with him, or just hanging out. That was her dream after all.

 

Have gone out the window

Despite all this, it was a great turnout. As she lay in her new bed, she realized with a glance to her neatly-hung trench coat that she had sworn by way of caressing a cardboard cutout that she would side with him. It really wasn't only the start of new life, but her redemption. She wasn't evil in an evil way; she was just bad in a way ZIM didn't like. Of course, that meant she was actually a good guy…what ever sense those statements made. Always one to fall for the bad guys, this new attraction was surprising and pleasing to her.

She was looking for to a real good life with Dib.

end chorus