Authors Note:

I took this poem in this story from

Nik sat on a small top bunk of a bunk bed in dirty dark cell somewhere in an Irken prison. She had 3 other roommates, all boys, and since boys could relate to her because she had grown up with three brothers, she didn't think her company was so bad, and neither did they. First off there was Mac, a heavy young Irken with a high squeaky voice and an attention span just as small as his height. Then there was Pat, a tall Irken who seemed to enjoy making other people suffer, and it took a lot to gain his trust and not a lot to lose it. Last there was Chi, a small boy who seemed to talk a mile a minute. He had been born several months earlier than expected and had a very fragile health record, his body contained 0 fat and his height was normal, so overall he looked pretty sickly. These boys were all convicted for the same crime, banding together and forming a resistance against the Tallest.

Nik herself was actually very pretty, and when she told people she was Zim's sister, they laughed, loudly and cruelly. They would tell her she looked nothing like him and then offer their deepest sympathies. That was her crime, being Zim's sister. She never actually knew that her dad had been the Tallest before Red and Purple, because he had died when she was very young. A few months after Lou, her baby brother, was born he dad had to go to Red, his cousin, and ask him for help in leadership. Red was well behaved at first, sitting quietly at the sidelines and feeding her dad directions, but after a while he began to gain more and more power. This power resulted in anger, instead of ruling side by side with her dad, he had to kill him. After he murdered her dad and made it look like an accident, Red made a speech in public saying that her father had three sons, one of which was lazy, one of which was crazy, and one of which was still a baby. Claiming that putting any one of these boys on the throne would be suicide to Irk, he claimed the throne and got his brother purple to help him.

Nik would have gladly accepted the throne, but unfortunately girls could only rule if they married a man who was the tallest, so the tallest blood skipped over Nik, which really sucked.

Soon people on Irk got smarter and smarter, seeing that Red and Purple were becoming too powerful, almost like dictators and if they didn't get them off the throne then the whole empire could lose its freedom and become slaves to the Tallest. So the tallest got to thinking, for once in their life, that they had to imprison and destroy all descendents of Coy, her father, so that the public couldn't impeach them because the Tallest has to have tallest blood in him. Red and purple do but not as much as Zim, Mat, and Lou, her brothers do. Then they would kill the four of them and claim it was an accident leaving them as the tallests forever

They had already imprisoned her, Mat, and Lou, but Zim was far out of their reach on planet Earth, she just hoped it would stay that way.

She heard a low mumbling from under her.

"Are you reciting depressing poetry again, Pat," Nik said in a strained voice.

She heard Pat speaking a poem in a deep voice.

"My fears, my dreams, my hopes
they are what make me.
But they are not always
as they seem to be.

I am let down time after time
As my fears become reality
my dreams are shattered
and my hopes were never there

My fear of betrayal
of being alone
is beneath the surface
waiting to come forth

My dreams of a perfect life
of having it all
become nonexistent when I took my fist step
and proceed to fall

My hopes for the future
for having whoever I desire
were not there
because I receive no desire in return

Why does life
seem to have a way
of letting you down
on each and every day?

I want some answers
to help me out
so my dream, my fears, and my hopes
may come about."

"That was really good," Mac said in a soft voice.

"And true," Chi squeaked out.

It was amazing how much spirit drive and determination they had when they came into this cell. Now it was all gone, all washed up.

"If we ever get out of here," Nik said in a soft promised to the three boys gathered below her, "I'll take us all to Earth where my brother is and our dreams, fears, and hopes will come about."

Pat let his head droop as the four captives drifted into another restless night.