IZ belongs to Jhonen Vasquez, Nickelodeon, and Viacom.

Chapter 4- Nevers

"Hello?" Dib called into a dark, empty office. On the other side of the room the wall was made entirely of windows, giving the room its only light source. A large desk with a tall, backed chair set infront of the window, but there was nobody in there.

"Is anyone here?" Dib called, giving whoever was suposed to be there one more chance to answer. He shifted his drawing tablet and raised a hand to his mouth to stiffle a yawn. With everything he'dgone through the night before, Dib had completely forgoten the interview he'd schedualed weeks before with a illustrating company. He was hoping to get a job with this company so he could get his own place, get through college and get away from his dad.

Now the time had finally come and he was fighting to stay awake. He hadn't slept at all last night, even if he had tried he wouldn't have gotten any sleep. Zim had laughing insanely and muttering to himself in Irken every few minutes.

Dib closed the door to the office. Maybe the secretary had given him the wrong office number, he could go back and ask. He turned around preparing to go back to the reseptionist desk.

"Hello."

Dib screamed in surprise and jumped back, slamming into the door he'd just closed and dropping his tablet. A very strange looking, short man with a lobotomy scar and thick glasses was stand in front of him, a bit too close to Dib for comfort, staring at him. Dib glanced quickly up and down the hall, looking for someone he could call to for help, but the hall was deserted.

"Uhh... Hi. I... I was just looking for... er, the secretary told me to come here." Dib stammered, still recovering from the shock.

"Oh, yes." The man replied. "Yes, I was told you would be coming. Have some drawings for me to see, eh?"

"Uh, yeah." Dib answered, not sure about the situation. At least his heart beat had returned to normal. The strange man grinned and moved around Dib to open the door to his office.

"Come in, come in. Sit down." He said as he walked over to the high backed chair and motioned for Dib to sit in the smaller chair infront of the desk. Dib sat down and took the other man's hand when he extended it. "I'm Mr. Nevers." The man introduced himself.

"Dib." Dib replied. The man took his hand back and touched the tips of his fingers together.

"I know." Nevers answered, grinning in a way that made Dib feel even more nervous. "Now... let me see these pictures of yours."

"Okay..." Dib said as he slid his tablet across the desk. Nevers took it and began flipping through the drawings. "It's just something I started about a year ago, you know, for something to do. They're not much, mostly pencil scetches, some of them I out-lined with ink, a couple have some color to them, but..." He trailed off, feeling like he was talking too much.

"Yes, I see." Nevers murmered absently. There was a moment of akward silence.

"I really plan to go into Professional Paranormal Investigation." Dib went on, finding that silence was worse. "But so far my experiences in that field haven't been too... sucessful."

"I should supose it wouldn't be." Nevers replied with a nod.

"Why's that?" Dib asked.

"If it doesn't excist I don't think it could be too sucessful." Nevers told him. Dib glared at the man. Nevers, However, didn't notice. He had stopped on a certain page and was studing it carefully. He touched his finger tips together again and gave a thoughtful "Hmmm..."

"What?" Dib asked, leaning forward to see which picture Nevers had stopped on. He stared at the picture coldly, shutting out any emotions.

"This green boy seems to show up quiet often in your art." Nevers told him. "Always being tortured." He pointed at the particular drawing. "This one he actually seems to be dying. A stab wound." Nevers paused then added. "Is he your own charecter?"

"No." Dib answered blankly. "That's Zim. He was.... He was an alien." Nevers looked up a moment, then looked back down at the tablet. "He was trying to destroy the Earth." Dib went on, thinking out loud. "But he's been dead a year now.... Exactly one year."

"That's nice." Nevers said, carefully closing the tablet. He slid the drawings across the desk to Dib then pushed his chair away from the desk, and Dib, a foot or two.

"So? What do you think?" Dib asked. Nevers hesitated a moment then grinned.

"Have you tried putting monkeys into your work?" He asked. Dib stared at him.

"Monkeys?"

"Yes, cute little monkeys! Product testing has found they work very well in drawing and paintings and such. People love monkeys!" Nevers exclaimed. Dib just stared. "No?" Nevers went on. "Well, how about chipmunks or puppies? Unicorns are pretty."

"I'm not drawing unicorns." Dib told him bluntly. "What's wrong with the subjects I draw now?"

"Well, they're just so dark and make you look kinda... what's the word I'm looking for? Oh, yes, crazy." Nevers replied. Dib picked up his tablet and held it tightly.

"I'm not crazy." Dib muttered angrly. "I came here for an oppinion on my drawings, not a diagnosis on my mental health."

"Of course." Nevers agreed quickly. "But I'm sure I know a few ways to make your pictures.... urmmm.... happier."

Dib held the notebook tighter. He had the sudden, almost uncontrolable urge to drive a pencil through the man's head. Luckily for Nevers Dib didn't have a pencil at the time.

"I think my pictures are fine the way they are. Not everything is happy and full of monkeys and unicorns, and my drawings are a few of them." Dib told him through gritted teeth as he stood up. "Thank you for taking the time to look at my art, but I've really got to get back to skool."

Nevers stared up at Dib a few moments then the grin returned.

"Pixies?"

"I'm leaving." Dib replied flatly. He turned and walked out the door, seriously hoping that the old man would get hit by a car on his way home.

"Another brilliant failure for the Dib." Zim chuckled as Dib walked down the hall.

"Shut up." Dib growled. He ignored the lady who stared at him with a surprised look and was wondering what she had done.

"Ya know, maybe you SHOULD try drawing some of those unicorns that vile old man suggested. It might relieve some of the stress you're under." Zim suggested, mocking him. In his mind, Dib saw that dying smirk that had been plaguing him.

"I told you to shut up. You're the last person I want to ecknowledge right now." Dib said, his voice growing louder, and turning more heads, as his anger grew. He pressed the down button on the elevator. "So please, for once in your life, can you just leave me alone?" The doors opened and Dib walked into the unocupied elevator.

"Hmm... I would consider that..." Zim began, then chuckled darkly. "If this were my life."

Out of pure fusteration Dib let out a loud scream, causing all the people in their offices on three different floors to stick their heads out their doors. People on one floor witnessed the doors of the elevator closing to block their view of an apparently insane teenage boy.

Okay, now that you know who the other charecter is, please dont stop reading this when I post again. Hopefully I'll post sooner next time. There's only a few more chapters left and they're my favorites. That and I've just gotten a lap top which I've been bringing to skool once in a while to work on my own stuff durring study hall. So if all goes well I hope to have at least one more chap up by the end of the month. Thank you to anyone who has read this and is willing to put up with my short attention span. Reviews will help keep me going. (kinda like a clap if you believe in fairies type of thing clap clap!) Thank you again.

HelgaGP