When Kelly reached her house she sighed. Her mom's car was in the driveway, she was late. As soon as she stepped in the door, she was greeted with a slap across her face.
"You're late, Kelly."
"Sorry mom, I was helping a friend with their homeowrk."
"Like hell you were."
Another slap.
"I bet you were off buying drugs, or getting drunk. You were, weren't you?"
"No, Mom, I was only--"
"Don't lie to me! Now go get cleaned up and make dinner, your father will be home in an hour, we'll see what he has to say about this."
Kelly quickly walked into the kitchen, washing her hands and getting the spaghetti pan out.
"I don't know why I still try arguing with her, it just gets me in more trouble. Great, now I'm gonna get tested for drugs. Again. Wouldn't be surprised if I win another trip to the gynecologist as well.....effing paranoid parents..."
As soon as Kelly's father walked in the door her mother was all over him, telling him about how worried she'd been when she'd gotten home and Kelly wasn't there, how long it was before she finally walked in the door, stumbling slightly, with a strange slur to her voice. Kelly didn't bother arguing, it would be completely pointless. As everyone as sitting down to dinner, her father began ranting about how she should be smarter than to give in to peer pressure, and not to worry her mother like that, the usual bull. Kelly tuned him out, knowing all the places where she was supposed to nod by heart. Her mother had been doing this sort of thing since she was little.
Kelly finished ehr dinner quickly, waited for her parents to finish, gathered the dishes, washed and dried them, then ran up to her room, leaning against her closed door.
"Yeah, I was right. Mom managed to talk him into getting me tested. Gods, she makes me sound like some rabid dog off the street. I can't wait for Tem to get here...."
Glancing at the small book-shaped computer Tem had made for her, she noticed that a tiny light on it was blinking. She opened it, seeing a message from Tem on the screen.
Kelly, just thought I'd let you know that when I arrive, I'll have a gift or two for you. Also, if you're wondering why I haven't used this to contact you while I was gone, there was something in that planet's atmosphere that blocked out almost all signals. Yup, I'm already over 1/8 of the way there. Can't wait to see you, love Tem
Kelly smiled, Tem still had his amazing sense of timing. She shut the computer and put it away, then sat down to do homework.
She'd hardly gotten through her third math problem when her mother opened the door. Kelly groaned inwardly, she knew what was coming next.
"Kelly, how dare you embarass me like that in front of your father! You didn't even look at him! You should have more respect for the people who shelter and clothe you! Well?! What do you have to say for yourself?!"
Kelly only looked up at her mother. No matter what she did, the result would be the same, so why even bother? Kelly's mom grabbed her by the throat and lifted her into a standing position.
"You answer me when I ask you something, you lady!"
Kelly's mom held her there for a moment, as if waiting for an answer. Of course Kelly couldn't have made a sound even if she'd wanted too, her mother's grip was too tight. Her mother shook her, trying to evoke a response. When Kelly still did nothing, her mother got even angrier and threw her. Kelly crashed into the door, knocking it open. Her mother then descended on her, punching, kicking, scratching. It eventually culminated into her mother once again picking her up, and then throwing her down the stairs. As Kelly tumbled down the flight of 24 steps she groaned, she was going to have one hell of a headache in the morning.
Kelly thanked whatever gods were listening that it was a saturday as she pulled herself out of bed. Standing in front of the full length mirror, she sighed. Her entire neck was purple, along with three spots on her face, at least five on each arm, more on her legs, and scratches everywhere. She slipped into the bathroom and cleaned the dried blood off, then covered the bruises on her face with makeup. Going back to her room, she pulled out a turtleneck, cursing the fact that it was nearly summer.
After she was dressed, she paused and listened, then carefully looked out the window. Neither of her parents were home, good. She ran downstairs and ate a bowl of cereal then went outside, walking quickly to Zim's base.
When she arrived Gir happily let her in, squealing and running around the living room. Kelly just laughed, then winced in pain and headed down to the labs. When the little elevator-disk stopped, Kelly blinked. Zim was laughing loudly while typing something, adn Dib was lying nearby, groaning and holding his stomach. Empty boxes of chocolate were spread around him.
"Um, Zim....What did you do to Dib?"
"Success! By force-feeding every stinking worm-baby exactly 8 pounds of chocolate, they will all be incapacitated and I can take over the world!"
Kelly decided it was best if she didn't reply to that. Instead she removed her sweater, which was very hot and itchy, then went over to help Dib sit up. Zim turned around to see what she was doing, and noticed the bruises.
"Kelly-human, why is your flesh discolored?"
Holding Dib's long hair back as he vomited, she sighed.
"My mom's a bitch, that's why."
Zim shrugged and returned to recording Dib's reaction to the overdose of chocolate. Once Dib had stopped throwing up, Kelly had the computer clean up, then helped Dib lay down on a cot the computer provided. Zim watched, slightly curious.
"Why did you come here, Kelly-human? Do you not have some pointless stink-beast thing to do?"
After she was sure Dib was okay, she went to sit next to Zim.
"Actually, I was hoping you had some sort of healing pod that I could use."
"What do you know of healing pods?"
"Enough to program one to deal with a human. I need it to fix the discolorations of my flesh."
Zim nodded, and instructed the computer to transport her to the pods. As she walked away he looked over at Dib, who was now asleep and curled up into a ball. Zim walked over to him, crouching down to look at his face. After a moment, he began poking the human until he woke up.
"Unnghh...whaddya want, scum?"
"What causes discolorations in a human's flesh?"
"What?"
"Blue spots on a human's skin, what causes them?"
"Blue..? You mean bruises? Well, usually if you're hit by something hard enough, it'll cause one, or if you fall....why?"
"Kelly had quite a few, including some that were masked by a strange substance that had the same color as her usual flesh."
"Huh?"
"She had these so called bruises on much of her body, that I could see, and the computer detected more that were covered by clothing. They were all over her body."
Zim poked various spots on Dib, relating to where bruises were on Kelly.
"Do you know what would cause such a pattern of these bruises?"
"No clue...ugh, I still feel sick.."
Zim snickered, amused by his foe's pain. Well, until Dib threw up on him.
Zim was just putting a new uniform on when Tem contacted him.
"Hello Zim, is Kelly there by any chance?"
Zim nodded as he straightened out the uniform.
"Yes, I beleive she's still in the tanks. Computer! How long until Kelly is finished?"
"She is just getting out now."
"Good. Well, she should be here in a moment, Tem....What is wrong?"
Tem was holding his hands over his eyes, shoulders slumped.
"It's...It's nothing, Zim. But could you, maybe, keep her at your place until I get there?"
"And why would he do that, Tem?"
Kelly walked up to the moniter, still rubbing at her damp hair with a towel. Tem sighed, and motioned towards her neck, which was still slightly bruised.
"You missed some. I can't beleive she's still doing that to you. You need to get out of there."
"Tem, she's always done this, she won't stop just because you want her too. Besides, I can't just leave, you remembered what happened last time I tried."
"I know, I know, but....I can't stand to see you go through that, Kelly."
"I know, Tem, but it can't be helped."
"I still don't see why you don't report them, Kelly."
"Because I CAN'T! You know that."
Tem sighed, looking down for a moment, before his head shot back up as an idea hit him.
"I'll be there today."
"What? How is that possible?"
"There's a wormhole that opens up pretty close to where you are. It'll be risky, but I can handle it."
"Oh, yeah, great. You're so worried about taking care of me that you're gonna go get yourself KILLED."
Tem just grinned and cut the connection, causing Kelly to swear under her breath.
"Damn fool's actually gonna do it....If he dies, I'm gonna kill him."
Kelly pulled her sweater back on, then helped Dib stand up.
"Zim! you keep an eye on Tem's ship, make sure it doesn't implode or anything. I'm taking Dib home."
"Oh, okay...Hey! You can't just walk off with my prisoner!"
Waiting impatiently for a reply, it took Zim a moment to realize he'd been yelling an empty room.
Once Kelly had gotten Dib home, she ran to her house. Not only did she want to get all her stuff packed up, but Dib's creepy sister thought she'd been the one to make him sick and had sent this scary zombie-kid chasing after her.
She ran in the door, closing it quickly behind her. The zombie scratched at the door for a while before giving up and wandering away, mumbling something about brains. Glancing outside to make sure it had left, she saw that he'd left some noticiable scratches on the door. Swearing, she grabbed a bucket of paint from the garage that was the right color, and began painting over them. Just as she was finishing up, a large shadow fell over her. seeing her mom's car in the driveway, she cringed and looked up.
::SMACK::
Kelly quickly pulled heraelf up from the ground where she'd fallen when her mother hit her.
"First you stay out late, worrying me sick, then you don't pick up the phone when I call, and now you've shredded the door! I can't beleive what an ungratful little whore you are!"
Before Kelly could utter more than a small noise in protest, her mother had punched her hard enough to send her flying onto the driveway. Realizing that someone might see them, Kelly's mother picked the now bleeding teenager up by the back of her sweater and pulled her inside the house.
As soon as they were inside, Kelly managed to wrench herself out of her mother's grip, ripping the back of her shirt as she did so. When her mother saw her neck, she grabbed Kelly by the shoulders, pulling her closer.
"And what's THIS? You've been sleeping with some guy, haven't you!? In fact, I bet you even got paid for it! You little slut!"
Kelly's mother smacked her across the face again. Before she could land a secong hit, Kelly pulled herself out of range.
"Mom! Stop! You're the one who caused the marks on my neck when you strangled me yesterday!"
"How DARE you!? I would NEVER do that to you!"
"Then what are you doing right now?!"
"Don't talk back to me, young lady!"
Kelly backed away, her mother had completely lost it this time. As She ran into the living room her mother followed her, sreaming obscenities. Kelly tripped, nearly hitting her head on the fireplace. Before she could get back up, her mother had pulled the poker out of the fire and was holding it above her. Kelly found she couldn't even scream as hermother began choking he with one hand and beater her with the poker using the other hand. Eventually, Kelly managed to kick her, but that only made it worse. Her mother let go of her throat, then used both hands to stab Kelly with the still white-hot poker. Kelly finally managed to scream when she heard the poker crunch through the floor beneath her.
Tem grinned to himself as he was shot out of the worm-hole.
"And Kelly said it'd kill me. Okay, lessee....Coordinates for Kelly's place, check...Gift for Kelly, check...New disguise to completely freak her out, double check! Computer, how long until we reach our destination?"
"For the LAST time, three minutes!"
Temm giggled amusedly, then sat down to watch the blue sphere approach.
Once they'd landed, Tem left his computer to set up a house while he quickly donned his new disguise, which consisted of a long brown wig, blue contacts, and very baggy clothes. He ran down the street to Kelly's house, hoping her parents weren't home yet.
Halfway down the street, Tem paused. A blood-curdling scream had just ripped through the air, and it was an awfully familiar blood-curdling scream. Quickly sprouting mechanical legs from his pak, he darted towards Kelly's house. When he got there, he kicked the door down, and nearly screamed himself. Kelly was pinned to the floor by a smoking iron rod, covered in cuts and bruises, with her mother crouching over her, apparently STILL beating the crap out of her. Tem withdrew his metal legs and ran over to Kelly, pushing her mother away.
"Kelly! Kelly, answer me."
Kelly smiled up at him, before coughing up a few droplets of blood.
"Shit. Kelly, stay very still, and try not to scream."
Kelly nodded, and Tem carefully reached under her, to where the poker had stuck into the floor. After a few minutes, he managed to pull it free, but left it stuck through Kelly.
"Okay, Kelly. I'm going to take you back to my base, the computer will know better than me what to do, alright?"
Kelly nodded feebly before resting her head against his chest and going limp. Cursing in every language he could think of, Tem activated the emergency jet in his pak and hauled ass back to his base.
Dib was woken in the middle of the night by something tapping on his window. Realizing that it was Zim, he immidiately jumped up, grabbing for the emergency water pistol he kept next to his bed. Zim rolled his eyes.
"Put that down, Dib. You need to come with me."
"So you can do more experiments on me? I don't think so."
"Kelly's been hurt."
Dib paused.
"What happened?"
"Tem arrived just a few minutes ago, and went to get Kelly. When he walked into the house, Kelly was literally pinned to the floor by some sort of metal pole, and her mother was hitting her."
Dib shook his head.
"You're kidding."
Suddenly another alien appeared behind Zim, this one with glowing purple eyes.
"He's not. Please, come with us. I promise you won't be harmed in away way."
Tem gave a meaningful look at Zim, who gave an irritated nod. Dib threw on his trenchcoat and Tem helped him out the window.
Deciding that using the mechanical legs would be faster, Tem carried Dib. Giggling a little to himself, Tem looked down at the human boy.
"You know, if I hadn't met Kelly first, I might have ended up going for you. You're really very pretty, and soft."
Dib blanched.
"Your girlfriend was impaled, and you're making jokes like that?!"
Tem giggled again.
"Aw, Kel'll be fine, she's been through worse. Besides, that wasn't a joke."
Dib's eyes went wide, and he actually considered making Tem let Zim carry him.
Kelly slowly opened her eyes. Her entire body hurt like hell, and she could tell that she was floating in a tank. Through the pinkish water she could see Tem's eyes, tired and concerned. She grinned, and his expression lightened considerably. Her eyes slipped closed again, and she went back into a healing sleep.
Kelly woke again when the tank shook. her eyes immediatley shot wide open, and she moved to the glass to better see what was going on. Zim and Dib were fighting again, and had taken out weapons. Tem was shouting at them, she couldn't tell what he was saying. Kelly couldn't see the clock that said how long she still had, so she looked at herself. She couldn't find any bruises, though her neck still felt tender. The hole in her stomachs seemed to be just about healed up, but the wound was probably still in danger of opening again if she did too much. Shrugging, she hit the emergency stop button located just above her head and the liquid began to drain. As soon as the liquid level was low enough that it wouldn't spill out when she opened the hatch, she stepped out, grabbing the robe Tem always had next to the tank. Then, before any of the others had noticed she was out, she shouted at them.
"Hey! What the HELL is going on here?"
Everything stopped. Dib looked at her and quickly looked away, red-faced. Kelly giggled a little, the robe was just a bit smaller than she'd have chosen. Zim just glared at Dib, and Tem ran over to her.
"Kelly, you weren't supposed to be out for at least another hour! Your wound's going to re-open!"
Kelly grinned and shook her head.
"Don't worry, Tem. Now, will someone please tell me WHY there were weapons drawn inside Tem's base?"
Dib glanced at Zim.
"He started it."
"I did not! You was all your fault, Dib-worm!"
"Stop! Tem, could you possibly tell me what happened?"
Tem supressed a grin.
"Dib fell alseep and fell over onto Zim, who took it as some sort of attack. It just escalated from there."
Kelly sighed amusedly, looking at the two boys who were now avoiding her gaze.
"Well, as long as it wasn't anything major. Ugh, the liquid feels so weird when it starts to dry. Tem, is the shower still in the same place?"
"Not really. The computer will lead you."
A small droid popped out of the wall and began floating away, Kelly walking after it.
Once she was gone, Tem looked at Zim and Dib.
"If you two do that again, you'll be the ones needing a tank."
Tem walked off, leaving the two to look at each other. Dib tilted his head.
"Are you aliens usually that portective of people?"
Zim snorted.
"Tem's genetic structure is defective, as far as proper irkens go. Normal Irkens do not even bother to form relationships, there's no need. Besides, any relationships that do exist are rarely more than what you humans refer to as 'one-night stands'. Irkens have loyalty for the Tallets, and only the Tallests."
Yay, 2 down, at least four more to go...>< sigh...