Chapter Four: A Three-Way Dispute
Two weeks had passed since the day Mel had last been taken aboard. Life had suddenly come to a halt and twisted itself upside down for him. Zim had apparently stayed on the ship, for according to his trusty alien- finder device, there wasn't an alien within a hundred mile radius of his house. On top of all this, he was getting sick, and spent most of his time lying in bed, doing nothing.
His UFO magazines hardly interested him at this point, mainly because they were old and repetitive to him, with stories of seeing a UFO hover in the treetops and things that didn't concern him anymore. After all, those sightings were hardly fascinating compared to the fact that his friend was being kept aboard an alien ship along with his Irken nemesis, not to mention the fact that his mother is an alien herself!
None of the usual things that got his mind going about the unexplained were remotely interesting anymore, and he felt alone, bored, and worried. He still had Mel's possessions with him, and they sat dormant in the corner of his room by the door. They looked lonesome by themselves without an owner to enjoy them, and the books seemed to scream out, "Read me!"
If this wasn't enough, he still had the guilt of knowing that he'd left Mel to go outside, alone, on bad terms, and she still didn't know how sorry he was. Nothing was working out right, but he was glad that she wasn't dead in the park, as he'd dreamed.
His stomach churned, and he ran into the bathroom to vomit. However, it was only a false alarm, and he crept back into bed, pulling the covers over him.
Again, no matter how much he tried to divert his mind from the truth he'd learned, it always came back to this thought: 'I'm not human.' It hurt inside him worse than any virus, and there was no cure or medicine to deal with truth. He wondered why it had to be him. The one person dedicated solely to keeping the human race safe from alien invasion was he, and yet he was not even human.
How would Mel react to that? Would she still be his friend, or would she think he was some kind of hideous creature as he saw Zim to be?
"I AM a hideous creature. I'm a monster from outer space. It's no wonder I don't have friends; I don't deserve friends." He still didn't know if he was completely alien or just a hybrid, but to him it didn't really matter. "An alien is an alien; it makes no difference for me."
Wondering these things, he looked up at the stars, and hoped that one would move and take Mel back. 'I have to know.' Every night since his most recent encounter he had watched the sky from 9:00 at night to 1:00 in the morning. It was almost 1:00 now; his 70th hour of watching drew nearer. Suddenly, one of the stars did move, and it wasn't just the Earth spinning. It grew brighter and brighter, faster and faster, and a bluish light flooded his room. Behind him, a gentle voice called his name.
"Mother!" Dib was surprised, for he had been hoping for Mel. "What are you doing here?!"
"I promised I would visit."
"Please, tell me. Is Mel okay?"
"Not exactly."
"Not exactly?"
"There are some problems, some difficulties we've encountered."
"What type?"
"She's in extreme pain. She has a rash all over, and is reacting negatively with the serum we gave her to reduce the discomfort."
"You've got to pull her out of there! We need to get her to a hospital!"
"Dib, that will not work."
"Yes, it will! You've got to trust me! They'll know what to do!"
"They won't. She's in such a condition that...she can't recover."
"What?! She's dead?!"
"No. She just won't ever recover."
"No! Make her recover! You did this to her, now undo it!"
"We can't."
"Why not?!"
"If we remove the objects inserted into her, she'll die."
"Make her live! Make her live, right now!" Dib shook the alien being that was his mother, and she began to cry. Carefully putting her arms around him, she lifted him up.
"I'll try...I'll try...I'm so sorry for all that I've put you through."
"You never should've had me. I'm just miserable."
"I know you are, but things will get better. I promise."
"How do you know?"
"I just know. Believe me, Dib. My only son."
"I don't know if I can."
"Even if you are not human, you may still call Earth your home. You love this planet more than anything, and so long as you do, you may still say you are human. I will forgive you if you should decide to forget about us and live as a human. I can help you forget, if you wish." Dib considered this, but then refused.
"No. I must know."
"Good for you. 'The path of ignorance is a tempting road, but the path of knowledge is still more tempting.' I am glad you chose not to forget me."
"I still can't call myself human."
"Yes, you can. You've been calling yourself human for all your life, and you are still the same person. If you want to be human, that's what you are. You're my precious human."
"Thanks...what about Mel? You said that she was beyond recovery. What are we going to do?"
"If you wish, I'll return her to you."
"When?"
"Would you like now?"
"Yes, please."
"I will leave her well-being in your hands." She motioned Dib to get off the bed, and he stood. In a moment, Mel was lying there. Dib tried to communicate by the Falen telepathic method, and succeeded in saying, "Thank you." He turned to Mel, and saw that his mother had left. However, a message remained in his mind:
'It is up to you to tell her that you are an alien. If you do not tell her and wish to keep it a secret, though, it will cost you friendship.'
Dib saw Mel wake up, and got her a wet washcloth, for she had a very high fever. She began to cough, but it soon subsided, and she fell asleep. 'Should I really tell her?' Dib thought. 'I just know that she'll think I'm a monster...I can't afford to lose her friendship. My mom warned me that it would cost me friendship, but I don't know...' He went downstairs and slept on the couch, thinking about what to do when morning came.
Morning. Dib awoke by Gaz pouring soda up his nose, and went upstairs to check on Mel. "Hey, Mel, how are you? Feeling better?" She nodded, and Dib sat on the edge of the bed, thinking, 'She's so lucky...she's human. She doesn't have to worry about confessing that she's an alien...'
"Dib?"
"Yes?"
"Do you have something you want to tell me?"
"How do you know?"
"It's something that the aliens did to me...so, what is it?"
"I'm not sure if I should..."
"Is it important?"
Dib paused. "Yes."
"Please tell me."
"I...I can't."
"Why not? I'm you friend, aren't I? I promise to keep it a secret, if you want."
"You may not want to be friends with me when you hear about this."
"What, did you do something wrong?"
"No, it's not that..."
"Did you hurt somebody?"
"No."
"Do you have a crush on me?"
"No...it's just...I can't really explain."
"If it isn't any of those, I don't see how it could really affect my perception of you. You're my friend, right?"
"All right, I'll tell you. But please, promise not to be afraid."
"Afraid? Why would I be afraid? You're harmless."
"Mel, I'm...I'm a...I'm an...an alien."
"You're a WHAT?!" She cowered back a little, her eyes wide in shock.
"AN ALIEN! A HIDEOUS CREATURE!"
"What are you talking about; you're not a hideous creature! And you're most certainly not an alien! That's ridiculous!"
"Please, believe me. I am."
"But...you can't...you look just like other humans...I know you are human. I can sense it."
"I'm not human. That female alien in that ship you were in is my mother."
"Dib, I can tell that you're human. There's no doubt about it."
"You MUST believe me! PLEASE! I'm an alien! I don't want to admit it, but it's TRUE! When have I been wrong?"
"I don't know. I'll trust you, though."
"Thank you."
"Why are you sad?"
"Because I'm a filthy alien."
"Dib, you are not filthy! You smell fine! What is the big deal?! Well, yeah, I know the obvious, but it shouldn't matter to you! You're the same person as you've always been. You know, just because someone's an alien doesn't mean that they're some kind of horrible monster. I don't think that you realize that. I mean, what if I suddenly said that I was an alien? Would you suddenly think I was some kind of monster?"
"No, of course not! You can't help it if you are!"
"You see? All of that was for nothing. Now, let's get something to eat."
"You look a lot healthier now."
"Yeah...they fixed me up last night. They've taken what they need, so we can now move on with our lives. I'll sleep much easier tonight."
"Me too." The rest of the day went smoothly, and Dib forgot all about the stomach virus he had. However, around 9:00, Mel was about to disturb the peace.
"Dib, I have to be perfectly honest about something here."
"Sure. What is it?"
"You see...I...well...it's something the aliens told me. I'm human, rest assured, but...I won't live that long."
"What?"
"I'll only live for a few more months, at most. I want to get in touch with my family in another reality and tell them that I want to live in this one, so they won't know that I'll die."
"No. That won't be necessary. You're not going to die."
"It's inevitable. It's a side-effect of one of the operations performed on me."
"I...I can't believe that you're...you're going to..."
"...die?" Highly distraught, he picked up her hand, squeezing it tightly.
"You aren't going to die."
"How would you know?"
"I don't know how I know. I just know it." He stared at her, as though expecting to see some change occur. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I...feel a lot better, actually. Thanks. It's nice having a friend that makes me feel better." She pushed her glasses back up to the bridge of her nose, and saw something happen to her arm. "Wait, what's this?" The flaked skin from a rash she'd received as a result of her encounters healed back. A little paper cut on the tip of her right index finger mended itself as well. "Wow. Is that something you're...known to do?"
"No...must be something I've had for a while, though. Strange how it just reawakened right now."
"Yeah...weird."
"So...want to go watch Mysterious Mysteries?"
"Sure, why not?" She stood, and they didn't move for a few seconds. "Last one down there is a rotten abductee!" Mel looked at the door, and it opened. Quickly, she began to run down the stairs.
"Hey, no fair!" Dib tried to dash out of his room, but the door slammed in his face. He threw the door open and slid on the banister to the ground. She was still ahead. Concentrating hard, Dib made her float into the air, and she couldn't move. Laughing a little 'victory laugh', Dib jumped on the couch and turned the television set on. The opening credits were just beginning.
"Dib, let me down!"
"Better talk nicely to me, or you'll have to watch it from the air!"
"No way! You'd better let me down, this instant!"
"Are you SURE about that?"
"Of course I'm--no, wait Dib, don't let me fall! Please?"
"Well..." Dib jotted something down on notebook paper. He floated it up to her, and she took it.
"What is this?"
"Read it."
"WHAT?! NO WAY, I WOULDN'T READ THIS IF--"
"Read it."
"NO!"
"Read it, or I'll make you plummet..."
"Geez, Dib, I never knew you could be so EVIL..."
"Don't forget to shout loud enough so the WHOLE neighborhood can hear!"
"Don't push it, or you'll be SCREAMING loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear."
"Read it."
"Ahem...DIB IS NOT CRAZY...though I wouldn't be so sure after writing this...AND HE IS SO...SO...I can't say it, Dib. This is incredibly lame."
"Say it, over again."
"DIB IS NOT CRAZY AND HE IS SO...SO...SO...AND HE IS SO...FREAKING...HOT!"
"Again!"
"DIB IS NOT CRAZY AND HE IS SO FREAKING HOT! If anyone hears this, you're DEAD!" Gaz walked in, after Dib requested hearing it one more time. "DIB IS NOT CRAZY AND HE IS SO FREAKING HOT!" Gaz raised an eyebrow and left the room. Dib let her down, and she tore the paper to shreds. Seething in anger, she leapt at him, knocking him off the couch. "YOU ARE DEAD!" Mel began to strangle him, and as he started to turn blue, she let go.
"Sorry, it was...just a joke." He tried to act innocent and gave that innocent smile he gave Gaz sometimes.
"A joke? A JOKE! YOU JUST HAD ME SCREAM OUT AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS THREE TIMES THAT YOU ARE 'SO FREAKING HOT'! IS THAT A JOKE?!"
"Sorry...you didn't really have to say it; I wouldn't have let you fall."
"Had I known that, it would've saved you from a week's worth of torment!" Mel pulled him up by the shirt collar and threw him to the wall. "Don't you EVER do that, AGAIN!" Dib started to laugh.
"And just WHAT do you find so FUNNY, Mr. 'I have psychokinetic powers and can do whatever I feel like to manipulate people'?"
"Nothing, it's just that...nah, I probably shouldn't say."
"What is it, DIB?"
"It's just that...It's just that...It's just that you look funny when you're angry."
"Oh, and I suppose you'll think that THIS is funny when I throw it into your face?" Mel made her hand into a fist and waved it in front of Dib's nose. "I've given people bloody noses and one-way tickets to the hospital with this fist. Don't think I'm so funny when I'm mad, now do you?" Dib gulped and shook his head no.
"I didn't know you were so violent."
"I'm not REALLY violent. Just a little." Silence. "It's a joke. Get it?"
"Yeah. Mysterious Mysteries is halfway over, though."
"Forget about it; it's the Chickenfoot episode. Why don't we go into the kitchen, now?"
"The kitchen? Why?"
"You shall soon see. Whew, that's a tongue twister! Come along!" She yanked him forth, and they went into the kitchen. "I have something important to tell you."
"Really?"
"Yes. Really."
"What?"
"It's about...well, me. I...I kind of have a confession to make. That message you had me write: well, about it..."
"Mel, are you saying that you..."
"Yes, Dib. That's precisely what I'm saying."
"Then you mean..."
"Yes. I mean every unspoken word."
"You mean that you think that I'm 'so freaking hot?'"
"NO! I meant that the message was stupid! Geez, you're too hopeful."
"Hopeful? What do you mean by that?"
"You were hoping that I meant that!"
"No I wasn't, I--"
"Quiet! You see, I am...I am..."
"Yeah?"
"I can't tell you. I must leave."
"What? Don't go!"
"Why not?"
"You're my friend! I'm worried! First, you're in the emergency room, then you're abducted by aliens, and now all this conflict! I can't let you go out alone!"
"Why?"
"I had this dream, and you were missing, and I looked for you, I even filed a missing persons report, and then I found you in the park...dead."
"That's horrible. I can see why you'd be concerned, but you must trust me. I'll be back soon."
"No. I can't let you."
"This dream...how did I die?"
"You were lying in the snow, and you had died because of the cold."
"I won't let that happen."
"Mel, you CAN'T!"
"You can't stop me!"
"Yes I can!"
"How?"
"What's something that you would NEVER want to happen?"
"Hmm...I don't think I'll tell you, or you'll use it against me."
"Well, then I'll take something I know for sure would affect you...if you leave alone, I...I'll kill myself."
"You wouldn't really do that, Dib. I know you too well."
"Just watch me." Dib pulled out a knife from the drawer, a sharp, shimmering butcher knife. He held it, hovering, right by his heart. "If you step out of this kitchen, I'll thrust it into me. I'm serious about this. Stay here with me, or I'll have to leave."
"Put that down, Dib. Put it down; I'll stay here with you. Just put it down."
"Okay. And don't go running off into the night, either. I'll still have this knife and others hidden that you wouldn't be able to find."
"I won't." He set it on top of the table, and it clanked noisily on a plate that had been left there. "Just promise you won't use that or any other weapon on yourself."
"I promise." Mel was truly scared. She had a friend who was potentially suicidal, and she'd never been in that situation before.
'I only pray that he doesn't develop a kind of a crush on me...that would severely worsen the situation. After discovering that he's an alien, a rejection might be fatal.'
There is much more to understanding of the human mind than simply electro- magnetic pulses and psychological reactions. To truly begin to understand the mind's functions, one must delve into the physical world around us. Doing so, we find that there is not an explanation for everything of our minds in the world as we know it. We encounter that there are two obvious explanations to account for that which we think "missing" -- it might be due to parts of the brain we have not yet begun to assess, and it may very well be due to another plane of existence resting parallel to our own, perhaps even unimaginable quantities--both of which seem likely under thorough study.
For everything that we do not know, we either make up an explanation or pretend to understand the greater reality at hand.
--Invader Mel's Diary of Perception.
Two weeks had passed since the day Mel had last been taken aboard. Life had suddenly come to a halt and twisted itself upside down for him. Zim had apparently stayed on the ship, for according to his trusty alien- finder device, there wasn't an alien within a hundred mile radius of his house. On top of all this, he was getting sick, and spent most of his time lying in bed, doing nothing.
His UFO magazines hardly interested him at this point, mainly because they were old and repetitive to him, with stories of seeing a UFO hover in the treetops and things that didn't concern him anymore. After all, those sightings were hardly fascinating compared to the fact that his friend was being kept aboard an alien ship along with his Irken nemesis, not to mention the fact that his mother is an alien herself!
None of the usual things that got his mind going about the unexplained were remotely interesting anymore, and he felt alone, bored, and worried. He still had Mel's possessions with him, and they sat dormant in the corner of his room by the door. They looked lonesome by themselves without an owner to enjoy them, and the books seemed to scream out, "Read me!"
If this wasn't enough, he still had the guilt of knowing that he'd left Mel to go outside, alone, on bad terms, and she still didn't know how sorry he was. Nothing was working out right, but he was glad that she wasn't dead in the park, as he'd dreamed.
His stomach churned, and he ran into the bathroom to vomit. However, it was only a false alarm, and he crept back into bed, pulling the covers over him.
Again, no matter how much he tried to divert his mind from the truth he'd learned, it always came back to this thought: 'I'm not human.' It hurt inside him worse than any virus, and there was no cure or medicine to deal with truth. He wondered why it had to be him. The one person dedicated solely to keeping the human race safe from alien invasion was he, and yet he was not even human.
How would Mel react to that? Would she still be his friend, or would she think he was some kind of hideous creature as he saw Zim to be?
"I AM a hideous creature. I'm a monster from outer space. It's no wonder I don't have friends; I don't deserve friends." He still didn't know if he was completely alien or just a hybrid, but to him it didn't really matter. "An alien is an alien; it makes no difference for me."
Wondering these things, he looked up at the stars, and hoped that one would move and take Mel back. 'I have to know.' Every night since his most recent encounter he had watched the sky from 9:00 at night to 1:00 in the morning. It was almost 1:00 now; his 70th hour of watching drew nearer. Suddenly, one of the stars did move, and it wasn't just the Earth spinning. It grew brighter and brighter, faster and faster, and a bluish light flooded his room. Behind him, a gentle voice called his name.
"Mother!" Dib was surprised, for he had been hoping for Mel. "What are you doing here?!"
"I promised I would visit."
"Please, tell me. Is Mel okay?"
"Not exactly."
"Not exactly?"
"There are some problems, some difficulties we've encountered."
"What type?"
"She's in extreme pain. She has a rash all over, and is reacting negatively with the serum we gave her to reduce the discomfort."
"You've got to pull her out of there! We need to get her to a hospital!"
"Dib, that will not work."
"Yes, it will! You've got to trust me! They'll know what to do!"
"They won't. She's in such a condition that...she can't recover."
"What?! She's dead?!"
"No. She just won't ever recover."
"No! Make her recover! You did this to her, now undo it!"
"We can't."
"Why not?!"
"If we remove the objects inserted into her, she'll die."
"Make her live! Make her live, right now!" Dib shook the alien being that was his mother, and she began to cry. Carefully putting her arms around him, she lifted him up.
"I'll try...I'll try...I'm so sorry for all that I've put you through."
"You never should've had me. I'm just miserable."
"I know you are, but things will get better. I promise."
"How do you know?"
"I just know. Believe me, Dib. My only son."
"I don't know if I can."
"Even if you are not human, you may still call Earth your home. You love this planet more than anything, and so long as you do, you may still say you are human. I will forgive you if you should decide to forget about us and live as a human. I can help you forget, if you wish." Dib considered this, but then refused.
"No. I must know."
"Good for you. 'The path of ignorance is a tempting road, but the path of knowledge is still more tempting.' I am glad you chose not to forget me."
"I still can't call myself human."
"Yes, you can. You've been calling yourself human for all your life, and you are still the same person. If you want to be human, that's what you are. You're my precious human."
"Thanks...what about Mel? You said that she was beyond recovery. What are we going to do?"
"If you wish, I'll return her to you."
"When?"
"Would you like now?"
"Yes, please."
"I will leave her well-being in your hands." She motioned Dib to get off the bed, and he stood. In a moment, Mel was lying there. Dib tried to communicate by the Falen telepathic method, and succeeded in saying, "Thank you." He turned to Mel, and saw that his mother had left. However, a message remained in his mind:
'It is up to you to tell her that you are an alien. If you do not tell her and wish to keep it a secret, though, it will cost you friendship.'
Dib saw Mel wake up, and got her a wet washcloth, for she had a very high fever. She began to cough, but it soon subsided, and she fell asleep. 'Should I really tell her?' Dib thought. 'I just know that she'll think I'm a monster...I can't afford to lose her friendship. My mom warned me that it would cost me friendship, but I don't know...' He went downstairs and slept on the couch, thinking about what to do when morning came.
Morning. Dib awoke by Gaz pouring soda up his nose, and went upstairs to check on Mel. "Hey, Mel, how are you? Feeling better?" She nodded, and Dib sat on the edge of the bed, thinking, 'She's so lucky...she's human. She doesn't have to worry about confessing that she's an alien...'
"Dib?"
"Yes?"
"Do you have something you want to tell me?"
"How do you know?"
"It's something that the aliens did to me...so, what is it?"
"I'm not sure if I should..."
"Is it important?"
Dib paused. "Yes."
"Please tell me."
"I...I can't."
"Why not? I'm you friend, aren't I? I promise to keep it a secret, if you want."
"You may not want to be friends with me when you hear about this."
"What, did you do something wrong?"
"No, it's not that..."
"Did you hurt somebody?"
"No."
"Do you have a crush on me?"
"No...it's just...I can't really explain."
"If it isn't any of those, I don't see how it could really affect my perception of you. You're my friend, right?"
"All right, I'll tell you. But please, promise not to be afraid."
"Afraid? Why would I be afraid? You're harmless."
"Mel, I'm...I'm a...I'm an...an alien."
"You're a WHAT?!" She cowered back a little, her eyes wide in shock.
"AN ALIEN! A HIDEOUS CREATURE!"
"What are you talking about; you're not a hideous creature! And you're most certainly not an alien! That's ridiculous!"
"Please, believe me. I am."
"But...you can't...you look just like other humans...I know you are human. I can sense it."
"I'm not human. That female alien in that ship you were in is my mother."
"Dib, I can tell that you're human. There's no doubt about it."
"You MUST believe me! PLEASE! I'm an alien! I don't want to admit it, but it's TRUE! When have I been wrong?"
"I don't know. I'll trust you, though."
"Thank you."
"Why are you sad?"
"Because I'm a filthy alien."
"Dib, you are not filthy! You smell fine! What is the big deal?! Well, yeah, I know the obvious, but it shouldn't matter to you! You're the same person as you've always been. You know, just because someone's an alien doesn't mean that they're some kind of horrible monster. I don't think that you realize that. I mean, what if I suddenly said that I was an alien? Would you suddenly think I was some kind of monster?"
"No, of course not! You can't help it if you are!"
"You see? All of that was for nothing. Now, let's get something to eat."
"You look a lot healthier now."
"Yeah...they fixed me up last night. They've taken what they need, so we can now move on with our lives. I'll sleep much easier tonight."
"Me too." The rest of the day went smoothly, and Dib forgot all about the stomach virus he had. However, around 9:00, Mel was about to disturb the peace.
"Dib, I have to be perfectly honest about something here."
"Sure. What is it?"
"You see...I...well...it's something the aliens told me. I'm human, rest assured, but...I won't live that long."
"What?"
"I'll only live for a few more months, at most. I want to get in touch with my family in another reality and tell them that I want to live in this one, so they won't know that I'll die."
"No. That won't be necessary. You're not going to die."
"It's inevitable. It's a side-effect of one of the operations performed on me."
"I...I can't believe that you're...you're going to..."
"...die?" Highly distraught, he picked up her hand, squeezing it tightly.
"You aren't going to die."
"How would you know?"
"I don't know how I know. I just know it." He stared at her, as though expecting to see some change occur. "What's wrong?"
"Nothing, I...feel a lot better, actually. Thanks. It's nice having a friend that makes me feel better." She pushed her glasses back up to the bridge of her nose, and saw something happen to her arm. "Wait, what's this?" The flaked skin from a rash she'd received as a result of her encounters healed back. A little paper cut on the tip of her right index finger mended itself as well. "Wow. Is that something you're...known to do?"
"No...must be something I've had for a while, though. Strange how it just reawakened right now."
"Yeah...weird."
"So...want to go watch Mysterious Mysteries?"
"Sure, why not?" She stood, and they didn't move for a few seconds. "Last one down there is a rotten abductee!" Mel looked at the door, and it opened. Quickly, she began to run down the stairs.
"Hey, no fair!" Dib tried to dash out of his room, but the door slammed in his face. He threw the door open and slid on the banister to the ground. She was still ahead. Concentrating hard, Dib made her float into the air, and she couldn't move. Laughing a little 'victory laugh', Dib jumped on the couch and turned the television set on. The opening credits were just beginning.
"Dib, let me down!"
"Better talk nicely to me, or you'll have to watch it from the air!"
"No way! You'd better let me down, this instant!"
"Are you SURE about that?"
"Of course I'm--no, wait Dib, don't let me fall! Please?"
"Well..." Dib jotted something down on notebook paper. He floated it up to her, and she took it.
"What is this?"
"Read it."
"WHAT?! NO WAY, I WOULDN'T READ THIS IF--"
"Read it."
"NO!"
"Read it, or I'll make you plummet..."
"Geez, Dib, I never knew you could be so EVIL..."
"Don't forget to shout loud enough so the WHOLE neighborhood can hear!"
"Don't push it, or you'll be SCREAMING loud enough for the whole neighborhood to hear."
"Read it."
"Ahem...DIB IS NOT CRAZY...though I wouldn't be so sure after writing this...AND HE IS SO...SO...I can't say it, Dib. This is incredibly lame."
"Say it, over again."
"DIB IS NOT CRAZY AND HE IS SO...SO...SO...AND HE IS SO...FREAKING...HOT!"
"Again!"
"DIB IS NOT CRAZY AND HE IS SO FREAKING HOT! If anyone hears this, you're DEAD!" Gaz walked in, after Dib requested hearing it one more time. "DIB IS NOT CRAZY AND HE IS SO FREAKING HOT!" Gaz raised an eyebrow and left the room. Dib let her down, and she tore the paper to shreds. Seething in anger, she leapt at him, knocking him off the couch. "YOU ARE DEAD!" Mel began to strangle him, and as he started to turn blue, she let go.
"Sorry, it was...just a joke." He tried to act innocent and gave that innocent smile he gave Gaz sometimes.
"A joke? A JOKE! YOU JUST HAD ME SCREAM OUT AT THE TOP OF MY LUNGS THREE TIMES THAT YOU ARE 'SO FREAKING HOT'! IS THAT A JOKE?!"
"Sorry...you didn't really have to say it; I wouldn't have let you fall."
"Had I known that, it would've saved you from a week's worth of torment!" Mel pulled him up by the shirt collar and threw him to the wall. "Don't you EVER do that, AGAIN!" Dib started to laugh.
"And just WHAT do you find so FUNNY, Mr. 'I have psychokinetic powers and can do whatever I feel like to manipulate people'?"
"Nothing, it's just that...nah, I probably shouldn't say."
"What is it, DIB?"
"It's just that...It's just that...It's just that you look funny when you're angry."
"Oh, and I suppose you'll think that THIS is funny when I throw it into your face?" Mel made her hand into a fist and waved it in front of Dib's nose. "I've given people bloody noses and one-way tickets to the hospital with this fist. Don't think I'm so funny when I'm mad, now do you?" Dib gulped and shook his head no.
"I didn't know you were so violent."
"I'm not REALLY violent. Just a little." Silence. "It's a joke. Get it?"
"Yeah. Mysterious Mysteries is halfway over, though."
"Forget about it; it's the Chickenfoot episode. Why don't we go into the kitchen, now?"
"The kitchen? Why?"
"You shall soon see. Whew, that's a tongue twister! Come along!" She yanked him forth, and they went into the kitchen. "I have something important to tell you."
"Really?"
"Yes. Really."
"What?"
"It's about...well, me. I...I kind of have a confession to make. That message you had me write: well, about it..."
"Mel, are you saying that you..."
"Yes, Dib. That's precisely what I'm saying."
"Then you mean..."
"Yes. I mean every unspoken word."
"You mean that you think that I'm 'so freaking hot?'"
"NO! I meant that the message was stupid! Geez, you're too hopeful."
"Hopeful? What do you mean by that?"
"You were hoping that I meant that!"
"No I wasn't, I--"
"Quiet! You see, I am...I am..."
"Yeah?"
"I can't tell you. I must leave."
"What? Don't go!"
"Why not?"
"You're my friend! I'm worried! First, you're in the emergency room, then you're abducted by aliens, and now all this conflict! I can't let you go out alone!"
"Why?"
"I had this dream, and you were missing, and I looked for you, I even filed a missing persons report, and then I found you in the park...dead."
"That's horrible. I can see why you'd be concerned, but you must trust me. I'll be back soon."
"No. I can't let you."
"This dream...how did I die?"
"You were lying in the snow, and you had died because of the cold."
"I won't let that happen."
"Mel, you CAN'T!"
"You can't stop me!"
"Yes I can!"
"How?"
"What's something that you would NEVER want to happen?"
"Hmm...I don't think I'll tell you, or you'll use it against me."
"Well, then I'll take something I know for sure would affect you...if you leave alone, I...I'll kill myself."
"You wouldn't really do that, Dib. I know you too well."
"Just watch me." Dib pulled out a knife from the drawer, a sharp, shimmering butcher knife. He held it, hovering, right by his heart. "If you step out of this kitchen, I'll thrust it into me. I'm serious about this. Stay here with me, or I'll have to leave."
"Put that down, Dib. Put it down; I'll stay here with you. Just put it down."
"Okay. And don't go running off into the night, either. I'll still have this knife and others hidden that you wouldn't be able to find."
"I won't." He set it on top of the table, and it clanked noisily on a plate that had been left there. "Just promise you won't use that or any other weapon on yourself."
"I promise." Mel was truly scared. She had a friend who was potentially suicidal, and she'd never been in that situation before.
'I only pray that he doesn't develop a kind of a crush on me...that would severely worsen the situation. After discovering that he's an alien, a rejection might be fatal.'
There is much more to understanding of the human mind than simply electro- magnetic pulses and psychological reactions. To truly begin to understand the mind's functions, one must delve into the physical world around us. Doing so, we find that there is not an explanation for everything of our minds in the world as we know it. We encounter that there are two obvious explanations to account for that which we think "missing" -- it might be due to parts of the brain we have not yet begun to assess, and it may very well be due to another plane of existence resting parallel to our own, perhaps even unimaginable quantities--both of which seem likely under thorough study.
For everything that we do not know, we either make up an explanation or pretend to understand the greater reality at hand.
--Invader Mel's Diary of Perception.