Author's Note: Have you ever looked back on a fic that you wrote 2 years ago? Then you know how I feel abou this story. I think it has potential; I did some fairly heavy-duty editing and polished the edges, making it a bit more realistic. I hope you all like this, and yes, an update IS imminent!
Disclaimer: Plot and Jenn are mine. IZ is Jhonen's.
"I think she dumped me, Gaz, ever since we were in junior high we walked to Skool together!" Gaz looked up at her panic-stricken brother and sighed.
"Dib. Maybe she's sick. Think, please, for once."
"Yeah, that's it. She's sick. Right!" Dib told himself that it was the reason, but a nagging feeling in his mind told him that it was something else.
Dib was now seventeen and as obsessed with the paranormal as before. His black hair was spiked in the strange shaped spike he had before, he still had his trenchcoat, and his style was pretty much the same. But now his older years were beginning to show. His head was more proportionate, and his face was starting to grow leaner, more like a man's every day. He was extremely tall, around 6'5, 6'6, taller than everybody in the school, practically. He was extremely thin, pale, and a bit more muscular. He was the butt of almost all the jokes in Skool, as always, but now it hurt him more. Sometimes he had overwhelming depression, inherited from his long-dead crazed mother, and also had a few mental problems, which came from the same source as before. The only thing that kept him from going off the deep end was a girl. Her name was Jenn.
Jenn, beautiful Jenn, with the trenchcoat just like Dib and interest in the paranormal. Jenn, who believed Dib that Zim was an alien. Jenn, a social outcast because she liked Dib. But she stuck with him. And Dib liked her, too. They had been dating since fifteen, and building up a steady relationship since she moved to Dib's neighborhood at the start of Middle Skool. They had been friends since they first met. And they had always walked to Skool together! Naturally Dib was worried.
"She wasn't home or maybe she just didn't answer the doorbell. I rang it 10 times! Literally!"
Gaz shot her brother a steely glare. "Listen Dib, if you don't knock it off about Jenn and don't shut up and keep interrupting my game, you'll soon have another one courtesy of me."
'Bright, sunny' Gaz hadn't changed very much. She was addicted to her GameSlave 4 and was now tall, purple haired, and gothic, like when she was young.
When they approached the Skool and there still was no sight of Jenn, Dib kept feeling increasingly lower. It seemed everyone was whispering about something, huddled in groups of three or four. He would have been whispering about something with Jenn. He would have been belonging, with Jenn.
Dib and Gaz went their separate ways, and as Dib approached the door, he walked past a group of popular girls. He heard them whispering about the name Jenn. 'Just a rumor', he hoped. 'Just a rumor. They don't know her like you do; they're too shallow to know who Jenn really is.' But the fact remained that the nagging feeling he'd had all morning had returned.
He went to his homeroom class where about 20 kids were already. The other kids were frantically finishing homework, talking, or applying makeup. As usual.
The teacher, Mrs. Alaston, was at the front of the room, standing erect and tall, wearing an immaculate plain blouse and skirt, graying bun perfect. As usual.
The principal, Mr. Raushfurt, said over the intercom, "Rise for the Pledge of Allegiance." Everyone recited the Pledge, barely making any noise at all. As usual. But what came next was nowhere near usual. It was devastating. It was a terrible announcement, and it was one that Dib was to wish many times over that he'd never heard.
"Students, I realize some of you may have known Jenn Sommers," Mr. Raushfurt said.
'What the hell? I KNOW her,' Dib's mind protested.
"As you may know, she was killed in a car wreck yesterday. She was going to the store for her mother in her car. All evidence shows that she was driving sensibly, but was rammed into a telephone pole by a drunk driver. She was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital."
Whatever he said after that was drowned out to Dib. Dead? Jenn? No... He didn't believe it. He couldn't believe it.
He realized he'd had much stronger feelings for Jenn than he had realized, and now she was gone... The corny melodrama of it all was exactly the sort of thing that was often present in the movies that he'd laugh at with...Jenn.
Dib choked down a sob. He leaped out of his seat, grabbed the hall pass by the door, and ran to the bathroom.
**********************************
All through the day, people who had seen him and Jenn together and knew about their relationship came up to Dib and told him they were sorry, it was horrible, I'm so sympathetic for you, blah blah blah. Although they were kind words, most spoken honestly, they truly annoyed Dib. He felt like they were poking fun at him, even though they weren't.
But Dib wasn't stupid and he had never been. He knew that those same people who were offering sympathy to him were the same people who'd be laughing at he and Jenn's clothes, beliefs, and values, if Jenn hadn't have...died.
Whenever he was with Jenn and they were teased, Jenn had stood up for him. Over the years, Dib had also grown shyer.
It was fourth period chemistry lab when he decided he couldn't take it. He asked to go to the bathroom-that time lying-and instead of turning left at the end of the hall, he kept walking out the door and down the street. It surprised him, the easiness of it all. No angry teacher, no lone student, nothing. When he reached his house, he entered with his key, ran up the stairs, and fell into his bed. It was then he cried.
When he woke up, it was exactly 11:39 PM. He had slept for 12 hours straight, which surprised him, because usually his dreams were riddled with insomnia. He then remembered the day. No Jenn. With no Jenn, he then considered what he did have. An inattentive father who only had annual outings with he and Gaz? A long dead mother? A video game playing obsessed sister? Nobody who understood him at Skool? What did he have to live for? Nothing. Virtually nothing. Before he'd felt this way, but Jenn had told him it would always be all right, and to never give up hope. Dib tried to imagine her voice telling him that, but it was just too painful. He made up his mind. He had nothing left. He silently slipped out the window and ran down the road towards the city.
The household had no guns; knives would be too bloody; hanging had too many chances for something to go wrong. There was another way. He found himself downtown, and at one particular building.
He was at the tall Bank. 20 stories. A fall from it would kill anybody. Dib smiled grimly. He and Jenn would soon meet again. He walked to the elevator of the crowded bank, surprised at the number of people there since it was late, and stepped in. Floor 20, he pressed. That took him to the top floor. It was easy to go into the stairs and climb up a bit to the roof. He got out and walked to the ledge, looking down at the dizzying fall below. Then he looked up.
He'd always found city scenes strikingly beautiful. People would always be ranting somewhere about how cities stifled REAL life. But no matter, the neon lights, the landscape dotted with random yellow, the streaky headlights of the cars, all were appealing. But admiration was not the task at hand.
With a final prayer that he'd again be with Jenn, Dib closed his eyes and jumped.
Disclaimer: Plot and Jenn are mine. IZ is Jhonen's.
"I think she dumped me, Gaz, ever since we were in junior high we walked to Skool together!" Gaz looked up at her panic-stricken brother and sighed.
"Dib. Maybe she's sick. Think, please, for once."
"Yeah, that's it. She's sick. Right!" Dib told himself that it was the reason, but a nagging feeling in his mind told him that it was something else.
Dib was now seventeen and as obsessed with the paranormal as before. His black hair was spiked in the strange shaped spike he had before, he still had his trenchcoat, and his style was pretty much the same. But now his older years were beginning to show. His head was more proportionate, and his face was starting to grow leaner, more like a man's every day. He was extremely tall, around 6'5, 6'6, taller than everybody in the school, practically. He was extremely thin, pale, and a bit more muscular. He was the butt of almost all the jokes in Skool, as always, but now it hurt him more. Sometimes he had overwhelming depression, inherited from his long-dead crazed mother, and also had a few mental problems, which came from the same source as before. The only thing that kept him from going off the deep end was a girl. Her name was Jenn.
Jenn, beautiful Jenn, with the trenchcoat just like Dib and interest in the paranormal. Jenn, who believed Dib that Zim was an alien. Jenn, a social outcast because she liked Dib. But she stuck with him. And Dib liked her, too. They had been dating since fifteen, and building up a steady relationship since she moved to Dib's neighborhood at the start of Middle Skool. They had been friends since they first met. And they had always walked to Skool together! Naturally Dib was worried.
"She wasn't home or maybe she just didn't answer the doorbell. I rang it 10 times! Literally!"
Gaz shot her brother a steely glare. "Listen Dib, if you don't knock it off about Jenn and don't shut up and keep interrupting my game, you'll soon have another one courtesy of me."
'Bright, sunny' Gaz hadn't changed very much. She was addicted to her GameSlave 4 and was now tall, purple haired, and gothic, like when she was young.
When they approached the Skool and there still was no sight of Jenn, Dib kept feeling increasingly lower. It seemed everyone was whispering about something, huddled in groups of three or four. He would have been whispering about something with Jenn. He would have been belonging, with Jenn.
Dib and Gaz went their separate ways, and as Dib approached the door, he walked past a group of popular girls. He heard them whispering about the name Jenn. 'Just a rumor', he hoped. 'Just a rumor. They don't know her like you do; they're too shallow to know who Jenn really is.' But the fact remained that the nagging feeling he'd had all morning had returned.
He went to his homeroom class where about 20 kids were already. The other kids were frantically finishing homework, talking, or applying makeup. As usual.
The teacher, Mrs. Alaston, was at the front of the room, standing erect and tall, wearing an immaculate plain blouse and skirt, graying bun perfect. As usual.
The principal, Mr. Raushfurt, said over the intercom, "Rise for the Pledge of Allegiance." Everyone recited the Pledge, barely making any noise at all. As usual. But what came next was nowhere near usual. It was devastating. It was a terrible announcement, and it was one that Dib was to wish many times over that he'd never heard.
"Students, I realize some of you may have known Jenn Sommers," Mr. Raushfurt said.
'What the hell? I KNOW her,' Dib's mind protested.
"As you may know, she was killed in a car wreck yesterday. She was going to the store for her mother in her car. All evidence shows that she was driving sensibly, but was rammed into a telephone pole by a drunk driver. She was pronounced dead on arrival at the hospital."
Whatever he said after that was drowned out to Dib. Dead? Jenn? No... He didn't believe it. He couldn't believe it.
He realized he'd had much stronger feelings for Jenn than he had realized, and now she was gone... The corny melodrama of it all was exactly the sort of thing that was often present in the movies that he'd laugh at with...Jenn.
Dib choked down a sob. He leaped out of his seat, grabbed the hall pass by the door, and ran to the bathroom.
**********************************
All through the day, people who had seen him and Jenn together and knew about their relationship came up to Dib and told him they were sorry, it was horrible, I'm so sympathetic for you, blah blah blah. Although they were kind words, most spoken honestly, they truly annoyed Dib. He felt like they were poking fun at him, even though they weren't.
But Dib wasn't stupid and he had never been. He knew that those same people who were offering sympathy to him were the same people who'd be laughing at he and Jenn's clothes, beliefs, and values, if Jenn hadn't have...died.
Whenever he was with Jenn and they were teased, Jenn had stood up for him. Over the years, Dib had also grown shyer.
It was fourth period chemistry lab when he decided he couldn't take it. He asked to go to the bathroom-that time lying-and instead of turning left at the end of the hall, he kept walking out the door and down the street. It surprised him, the easiness of it all. No angry teacher, no lone student, nothing. When he reached his house, he entered with his key, ran up the stairs, and fell into his bed. It was then he cried.
When he woke up, it was exactly 11:39 PM. He had slept for 12 hours straight, which surprised him, because usually his dreams were riddled with insomnia. He then remembered the day. No Jenn. With no Jenn, he then considered what he did have. An inattentive father who only had annual outings with he and Gaz? A long dead mother? A video game playing obsessed sister? Nobody who understood him at Skool? What did he have to live for? Nothing. Virtually nothing. Before he'd felt this way, but Jenn had told him it would always be all right, and to never give up hope. Dib tried to imagine her voice telling him that, but it was just too painful. He made up his mind. He had nothing left. He silently slipped out the window and ran down the road towards the city.
The household had no guns; knives would be too bloody; hanging had too many chances for something to go wrong. There was another way. He found himself downtown, and at one particular building.
He was at the tall Bank. 20 stories. A fall from it would kill anybody. Dib smiled grimly. He and Jenn would soon meet again. He walked to the elevator of the crowded bank, surprised at the number of people there since it was late, and stepped in. Floor 20, he pressed. That took him to the top floor. It was easy to go into the stairs and climb up a bit to the roof. He got out and walked to the ledge, looking down at the dizzying fall below. Then he looked up.
He'd always found city scenes strikingly beautiful. People would always be ranting somewhere about how cities stifled REAL life. But no matter, the neon lights, the landscape dotted with random yellow, the streaky headlights of the cars, all were appealing. But admiration was not the task at hand.
With a final prayer that he'd again be with Jenn, Dib closed his eyes and jumped.