I don't own Invader Zim. And I sure don't own the concept of karma.

The world's oldest religions teach that one's every deed, both the good and the evil,

the benevolent and the harmful, will inevitably return to the doer

regardless of any deliberate human attempts to interfere.

Between your past and your present, between your deeds and your fate, lies...

The Karma Zone.

Hello and welcome to the Karma Circle. I am your host, Dibsthe1.

I am less inclined to celebrate each birthday by getting something special than by DOING something special. For this one, I welcome you to Karma Circle's inaugural posting.

These stories will greatly appeal to those who hate to see Gaz hurting... hurting Dib, that is.

While my other stories will certainly continue, I wanted greater flexibility. Some of these Karma fics will be angsty, some will be funny, and some will have elements of both. Some may have multiple chapters, but they will all stand alone without any need to tie things together across stories.

Far more than she ever did in canon, the Gaz in fanfic savagely assaults, tortures and injures Dib for the most idiotic of trifles, frequently for nothing at all. For all the fanatical zeal with which Gaz worships Revenge, somehow she is virtually never brought to account for the innumerable atrocities of which she herself is guilty.

I will now warn you, many of these will contain violence; and quite a few, including this one, will have a character death. It isn't spelled out, but it's certainly a disappearance.

Anybody is free to read any of these, obviously, and anyone so inclined is cordially invited to flame away! My barbecue is piled high with fresh briquettes, and my favorite barbecue sauce is waiting right beside the steak. Mmm, I DO love to barbecue...

But before you begin reading this one, won't you just go pour yourself a tall, cold glass of water first? Before you finish, you may very well be glad you did...!

Hell on Earth

It.

Was.

Hot.

It was so hot that venturing outside the air-conditioned sanctuary of the library felt like stepping into an oven.

It was so hot that it felt like the sun itself had come down to the earth to wrestle you to the ground.

It was so hot that before you'd even got as far as the street, you wished you hadn't taken out so many library books... two.

It was so hot that by the time Dib had gotten as far as half a block, the pounding sun had driven him to remove his trench coat... and when Dib is desperate enough to carry his beloved signature garment over his arm, you know that it. Is. HOT.

The weather channel was warning that this heat wave could be one for the record books.

Spending a day inside that air conditioned haven had allowed Dib to mercifully forget just how hot it had been on the walk to get there. Now he wished he had chosen shorts before leaving the house. Saturated with sweat, his T-shirt and pants clutched at him all over; inside his boots, sweat squished thickly between his toes at every step. His entire body crawled with sweat, sweat which left slimy, sticky pools around his neck. The sweat just would not stop rolling down his forehead and temples to drip from his chin. His lips tasted brine.

Dib could have sworn that the very streets themselves were stretching in the heat. It seemed to take forever before he was finally struggling up the walk to his family's house.

The metal doorknob burned an entire day's worth of blistering sun into Dib's hand. It took him several tries just to turn the knob and as soon as he started to open the door...

"STOP LETTING THE HEAT IN IDIOT!"

Once out of the direct sun, Dib smiled with relief. Ahhh... he felt cooler already.

Gaz had forced the temperature down from the triple digits by cranking the air conditioning to full blast, and both fans stood focusing their air flows on her spot on the couch.

"I don't want to hear one stupid word about how 'hot' it is. Believe it or not, I already know so SHUT UP!" Gaz now snarled, even though Dib, breathless from his long march through the suffocating heat, had yet to utter a single word.

The shattered mug still lay where it had fallen that morning. Before setting out for the library, Dib had paused at the front door to ask Gaz if she would like to go along as well. He had barely ducked in time as a mug shattered against the doorframe. "Shut up and quit bugging me!"

Dib now left his books on the kitchen table, heading straight for the fridge. He tugged it open and stood there soaking up the luxuriant wave of cold air that eased out to buoy him up. As he expected, none of the ice cream remained. Gaz had also finished off all the soda, all the juice, and even every last drop in the jug of water he had that morning left in the fridge to cool in anticipation of his return. Even the ice cube trays were empty.

"SHUT THE GODDAMNED FRIDGE BEFORE I SHOVE YOU IN THE OVEN AND CRANK IT!" Dib knew she was actually more likely to take his key, throw him outside and lock the door, but on a day like this one that wouldn't be much better. He shut the fridge.

Unfortunately, none of the cooling fluids Gaz had taken were helping her mood in the least. Gaz made difficult company at the best of times, but an overheated Gaz was definitely best left alone.

It was unlikely that she would miss either fan in the living room, but a certainty that she would refuse to allow him one. No matter how much lower the temperature in the living room, Dib knew that his own room would be a much more inviting place that evening. He grabbed a mug but while running the water...

"Dib! Bring me a pop."

Dib used his T-shirt to wipe off the waves of sweat that had begun once more collecting on his face as soon as he closed the fridge door. "There's none left, Gaz." Despite the temptation to add, Because somebody drank it all... and it wasn't me, he didn't dare.

"Then go get some."

"Gaz I just got in the door from walking all the way home in that heat!"

"Whiner."

"You drank everything in the fridge, so that means it's your turn." Dib ventured. It somehow never did seem to be Gaz's turn to do anything, but right now he was in no hurry to go anywhere else today.

"Stop whining Dib. And just get it. NOW."

Dib sighed. "Okay, okay, I'll just put on my shorts and - "

"I said get it."

The water continued to run as Dib considered what to say next.

"I can make it rough for you." To emphasize this Gaz paused her game. In the sudden silence, the cracking of her knuckles was far more unsettling than all the digitized explosions and shrieks. That she wasn't nearing the point of heat exhaustion, as Dib was, meant that she could deliver a very energetic beating indeed.

Dib sighed, the sigh of someone who is beyond fed up with being over a barrel but painfully limited in what he can do about it. He placed the mug under the tap to fill it for a drink before venturing outside again. "Okay, Gaz, okay. I'll just get a drink and then - "

"I said NOW, Dib. Remember, Dad always tells you to look out for your little sister."

Resigned, Dib reached into the fund their father left in the cookie jar for such day to day necessities. He stepped out on the front step and drank the water before placing the mug on the ground. Even as he headed down the walkway, he realized he had had nowhere near enough to drink. It seemed like a very long time indeed before he finally stepped back into the sheltering shade, inside the store this time.

The pop was nowhere near as cold as it could have been; sales of liquid refreshment today were so hectic that none of it remained in the store's fridge for long. Dib still found it soothing to hold the cans to his face and the back of his neck.

Dib tried not to look at the many adults in the long lineup at the cash register casually opening cans of pop and beginning to guzzle with many a sigh of relief. Unfortunately, the mean store clerk was on duty today, the one who treated kids like thieves. He said nothing to any adult who began consuming a food item before paying for it, but would throw out any kid who broke the seal on a package one second before handing over the money.

A couple of library books now seemed like nothing at all compared to lugging home five cans of soda. Even after drinking the sixth, Dib still found it hard to believe he had had anything at all to drink. By the time he reached home the cans numbered four.

He placed all four cans on the coffee table next to Gaz... who immediately began to complain about the lack of ice.

"Gaz... we have no ice either."

"You. FORGOT. The ice?" Gaz lifted her face a half a degree and cracked open one cold, snake-like eye. The look on Dib's face apparently satisfied her, because all she did was say, "Then. Make. Some."

Dib managed to hold back his sigh until he returned to the kitchen, and after filling the ice cube trays he placed a jug under the tap before returning the trays to the freezer.

Dib suddenly found himself wishing the jug was a swimming pool. If only he could plunge his face and whole head into it, then his entire body, for a long, refreshing soak... ah, yes... After a deep drink, Dib headed for the stairs.

The sound of the water running had apparently reminded Gaz of something, because just as Dib was about to reach the first step, he heard the game stop. Gaz stood up. "Oh, and Dib. Don't go near the bathroom. I want a shower."

Dib turned around to stare at her openmouthed. This really was too much. She'd had the whole day in which to do this... but it didn't seem to even occur to her until he got home.

"Gaz! Be reasonable! I'm burning up but I STILL went out and got you that - "

As she walked right past him Gaz shot out a fist which caught him in the stomach. "Whiner!"

As Dib gasped for breath and clutched the railing to stay on his feet, Gaz continued on up the stairs and shut the bathroom door behind her. The shower started.

Gingerly, Dib sat on the lowest step, too hot and uncomfortable to do anything but wait.

Only when the physical pain had completely faded did Dib feel the lump rising in his throat. By sheer force of habit he hastily pushed it back down; Gaz leaped without mercy on his every outward sign of sadness.

Dib gritted his teeth and wondered for the thousandth time why Gaz treated him so horribly. The few things good about his life she made bad, and whatever was bad already, she always found some way to make worse.

She insisted on her own way every single time and when she didn't get it fast enough, resorted with terrifying eagerness to physical violence. Over the years Dib found himself doing less and less that he found had preceded a beating, but that approach was placing him more and more under her thumb.

Only now was Dib realizing the corner into which he had painted himself, but he wasn't sure how to get himself out of it. He no longer even got those urges to hit her back. If he looked like he was even thinking about giving her a dose of her own medicine she REALLY got mad, and on top of that, his father would later give him one of THOSE lectures about being so mean to his "little" sister.

"Little" sister. In that moment Dib decided that his father had officially lost all touch with reality.

Even though she was by now plenty old enough to listen to reason, she adamantly refused to do so. Even his most justifiable cases were contemptuously dismissed with a withering sneer of "Whiner."

Finally the water stopped... but the door didn't open right away. Gaz was taking her own sweet time toweling off.

Thoroughly.

At last, Dib was adjusting the handles in the shower until the crisp, bracing water stopped just short of being startlingly cold. Dib pulled away the clothing sticking to him all over, then gasped as he eased himself into the icy spray.

The pulsing shower washed Dib free of the salty slime, gently kneading the knots and the throbbing out of his aching muscles to leave him refreshed both inside and out. He shut off the water, stepped out and wrapped a towel around his hips.

Leaving the bathroom Dib once again pushed against a soggy wall of heat. He immediately discarded the idea of wearing his usual clothes; this evening he would wear only light, breezy Bermuda shorts in addition to sandals.

Back in the kitchen he decided to collect enough water to last him as long as possible into the evening. He placed the jug under the tap, and let the water run while he returned to the freezer. No, the ice was nowhere near ready yet, but searching around the freezing compartment Dib now found a lone ice cube which Gaz had somehow overlooked. Dib shut off the tap just before dropping the small scrap of ice into the mug of water, and smiled when it promptly gave him a loud, satisfying crack. That was always fun!

Taking the jug in one hand and the mug in the other, Dib carefully edged his bare back against the fridge door and leaned against if for a few moments. He took another, more leisurely sip of the sweet, cooling water. He felt much, much better now. Totally refreshed, Dib slid his eyes closed, tilted his head back, sighed, and sent a fervent prayer of thanksgiving heavenward.

"Ohhhhhhh... Bless this water!"

X X X X X X

Back in his room, Dib completed his preparations for the evening. That morning he had left both the window and the drapes closed against the heat of the day. Good thing, too; the temperature in his room was still higher than the temperature in the living room, but a vast improvement over the outdoors. The drapes subdued the light just enough to grant Dib's refuge shade without gloom.

From the way the trees outside Dib's window were beginning to stir, a wind did finally seem to be rising. Dib rummaged in his closet until he found an old shoe and used it to prop open the window for ventilation. A day such as this one could leave a room pretty stuffy.

Without bothering to close his closet, Dib walked to his desk, finished off the mug of water and poured some more before setting the jug on the floor against the leg of the computer table. Keeping water and electronics very much apart was always a very good idea just in case something got spilled.

So many fascinating supernatural entities beckoned from just outside the frontiers of knowledge, Dib always had a tough time deciding where to begin! What to look up tonight?

Dib pushed a hand through his rapidly drying hair. Man! It was as hot as...

Hell...

X X X X X X

Dib's favorite search engine turned up enough pages on demonology to keep him busy for a month of Sundays. However, as he skimmed one page after another without finding what interested him most, his frown deepened.

"What's with this?" he finally muttered in frustration. Dib hated it when adults, as they so often did, stopped right before they would have told him the very thing he most wanted to know.

Dib's drive for knowledge, especially forbidden knowledge, lay in the powerless feeling that consumed his day to day life. Adding to this vast and growing collection of obscure literature compensated, for at least a few moments, for the never ending feeling of being helpless and trampled down.

"YES!" Dib's diligent search had finally yielded results. One page, topped by a red upside down pentacle but otherwise an unremarkable grey, actually did give the text of such a spell, heavily buried in disclaimers and warnings not to actually try to cast it. Of course not; who wanted a demon in their homes?

The language appeared similar to Latin but with far more consonants, with a decided emphasis on the g's and r's. In a classroom full of kids who struggled with "?Como esta usted hoy?" Dib's facility with ancient Latin resulted in his being bored beyond endurance every day of the skool year. At least during the summer he was free to study anything at all that caught his interest.

"Hey, I bet I could even say these words!"

Unable to resist this linguistic challenge, Dib began to slowly decipher the text, muttering the words, one by one, very slowly and carefully under his breath, confident that he wasn't running them together closely enough to form an effective spell. If the text wasn't hand lettered, the ancient, obscure typeface certainly suggested it. Hunching intently over the keyboard, Dib succeeded in sounding out the words all the way to the bottom line... "... urr... uhr-ghur, grr- ooh, wahhhhh... waugh!"

A loud spark popped somewhere and Dib blinked, his back snapping straight. He immediately checked to make sure that his jug of water hadn't fallen over, but not even a ripple marred its surface.

Next a loud creak suggested Dib's computer was about to topple to the floor and he whipped around once more to check on it. He knew he hadn't touched, let alone pushed it! While waiting for his nerves to settle, Dib reached for the mug. Finding it nearly empty, he leaned down for the rest of the water.

As he did so, the corner of his eye noticed as the screen began to shake.

In his hours on the net, Dib had once found a humorous file describing how you can tell that your computer is possessed by Satan... your monitor spins 360 degrees, you find yourself with 666 MB RAM... etc etc. Just a joke, of course. But just in case...

Just as Dib decided against sitting back up right away, the screen belched forth a great billowing cloud of grimy smoke.

Spinning around in his chair to stare at the smoke in sheer disbelief, Dib found himself doubting his senses even more when an object resembling a large grey football shot out of these dirty clouds to streak through the air, rebounding off the walls all around the room. Guttural, inarticulate roars and snarls froze Dib's blood, and across the walls it spewed long greenish brown torrents which stank so horribly Dib couldn't decide if the splatters were vomit or diarrhea.

In his shock, all Dib could think was, How am I ever going to explain that to Dad?

X X X X X X

When the football finally stopped leaping around the room, for a long moment Dib could only think that a barbecue unit... a barbecue unit upon which someone was roasting a live, madly fluttering bat... had somehow come to life and begun to walk with the jerky, unnatural movements of old stop motion films. Next he could only describe it as what two things it seemed to combine. It certainly looked like nothing he had ever seen before.

So heavily dusted was the thing with greyish white ashes that all Dib's shocked mind could suggest was a clump of hot briquettes, and whatever form these briquettes took, it paced furiously back and forth like an exceptionally agile bulldog or a crippled monkey. Dib could have called it a gargoyle... if ever a gargoyle had served as a stove. Hot though the room already was, an even greater heat was radiating from this... this being. Bright orange flashes made Dib's comparison to a barbecue even more fitting. Where its eyes should have been, the briquettes left vaguely rounded gaps, exposing somewhere deep inside it coals lighting the interior of its skull with an ominous, deep orange glow which seemed to originate in another world, one far below this one. But most horrible of all, this twisted misshapen hybrid actually resembled nothing more than a small... human being... one with horns... and a muzzle... and a furiously lashing tail. Despite the heat, whenever its hollow fiery stare met his own eyes, Dib felt icy claws gripping him.

A steady stream of the most guttural and menacing sounds imaginable poured from this creature's fanged and snarling mouth; time and again it flew straight at Dib, only to pull up short at the last second as if some unseen master holding it by an invisible leash had checked its charge.

Oh please God no, Dib prayed silently, frantically huddling behind the jug of water. A sudden idea that Satan himself had been taking this creature for a nocturnal walk when he had accidentally summoned it, and could be here in his room lurking beyond mortal sight, was numbingly terrifying in a way Dib had never before dared to even imagine.

With each lunge of this beast, Dib winced and shut his eyes, expecting every moment to be his last one alive. When several minutes succeeded in crawling by without those fangs tearing him apart, it finally dawned on him that what was stopping this monster was not the jerks of any leash, but the jug of water he was ducking behind.

Of course... water puts out fire!

Dib took a deep breath and cautiously held out the jug to the fiend... and sure enough it scuttled backwards, snarling with increased rage as its attempts to claw at him grew more timid. Dib then dipped his fingers into the jug and the next time it prowled too near, tried flicking a few droplets of water over it.

The demon shrieked with agony, turning uncountable backwards somersaults in place. When the demon finally stopped its convulsive tumbling to crouch a good deal more warily, Dib could see steam rising from it in several places as a rapidly fading sizzle hissed through its snarls of impotent rage.

No longer paralyzed with fear, Dib now began to deliberately wield the jug.

Okay. So this was an effective conjuring spell. Dib no longer had any doubt that it worked. Dib knew that once one had summoned a demon one could issue orders to it, but the only command he wanted to give this one was the command that would send it right back where it came from. But he didn't know where to start. He knew of no other words in this demon's language other than the ones he had used to summon it, and dared not take his eyes off it to look for what to do next or how to get rid of it. Belatedly Dib resolved that the next time he went anywhere near a demon summoning spell, to make good and sure he had first obtained the demon banishing spell beforehand.

As Dib frantically tried to figure out what to do next, the being began to sound even angrier.

"You idiot shut the HELL up in there!" Gaz suddenly shrieked.

The creature turned to face this new sound, its guttural growling subdued for a second as if doors didn't exist wherever it came from and it was now wondering how to get out of the room.

Dib froze with horror. Somehow... he had to contain this horrible monster! To keep himself from screaming he began to chant. "I read too fast I read too fast I read too fast I talk too much and I read too fast... " With his free hand he shakily groped behind him for the mug, and hastily sloshed it full of water without taking his eyes from the creature. With a sharp whistle Dib broke its utter fascination with the door.

Keeping the water containers in constant motion kept the creature on guard and in motion, as slowly, very slowly, Dib forced himself to advance on it. It kept drawing back away from the water, and whenever the creature crouched as if to fly, Dib drew back a vessel as if to splash water over it; thus threatened, the creature would retreat another step.

Similarly Dib cut off each of its attempts to bolt with the appropriate water container. Maneuvering the jug and the mug in this manner allowed Dib to steer the creature backwards, steadily backing it closer to his closet.

Once the being had been herded just inside the closet door, Dib suddenly swung the handle of the jug around his thumb and with his fingertips slammed the door barring the creature inside, hastily placed the jug against the door and sprang back holding the mug up to his face; afraid to breathe, he silently praying that the jug would hold it...

The doors rattled furiously, but when rattling wobbled the jug so that the water nearly spilled, the rattling died down. Though it roared loud enough to raise the roof, the being did not come out. It sure hated that water!

Dib watched until it reasonably seemed that the demon was secure for the time being before staggering back to his desk, determined to find some way to banish it. Even after he sat down and after the noise in the closet had faded to a low rumbling, Dib's knees simply refused to stop shaking.

At least the greenish brown substance, whatever it was, had slid completely off the walls. Dib still didn't look forward to cleaning up the floor the next day.

As Dib once again sank back on his chair and prepared to steady his nerves by drinking all his water in one gulp, the door flew open. At that moment, Gaz looked just about as forbidding as the monster.

"You NEVER learn, do you... DIB."

Dib fervently hoped she didn't know about the demon.

"Some soda was supposed to be left, Dib." Gaz seethed with barely controlled rage. She was never... ever wrong. "I drank only four sodas, so this time, you took the last TWO! You will pay!"

"Gaz, I was thirsty. Real thirsty." Dib wanted to add, "You can understand that, can't you?" but all things considered, did not dare.

"I ordered a pizza, Dib. I like soda with my pizza. You'd better hope you didn't drink them both," Gaz growled, sweeping her stare around the room like a prison searchlight. "If I find them both full you will still pay. If I find one full and the other empty you will pay dearly. But if I find them both empty... " Very slowly, Gaz turned to face him again. " ... well... you'd better just hope I find them both full, Dib."

Even considering what his closet now contained, this threat could still throw a jolt into Dib. He swallowed an acid spurt of fear.

"Gaz... the ice should be frozen by now, okay? That'll make your water nice and cold." Desperately Dib forced himself to sound nonchalant. The very last thing in the universe he needed right now was anybody searching for anything in his room.

She picked up on his nervousness immediately. "Aha. So you do still have them!"

"No Gaz I don't - " She cut off his protest by snatching the water from his hand and hurling it viciously into his face mug and all. A chipping tooth drove a loud bolt of pain through his face. "Ooow!"

"Shut up, whiner. Your voice makes me ill."

She who went ballistic at the mere idea of Dib darkening her own floor proceeded to yank open his dresser drawers one by one, strewing their contents across his floor and kicking through the piles of socks and T-shirts. Then, to better see what was behind them, she swept his belongings from the top of his dresser to the floor.

Years of thanklessly doing whatever was necessary to preserve Gaz's safety had by now made it a reflex, something Dib no longer needed any conscious thought to do. Lately however, he had more and more often begun to experience mixed feelings while doing so. But right at this moment Dib faced no such conflict. No matter what happened, that demon being must not leave this room to wreak who know what kind of havoc on an unsuspecting world. He had summoned it; only he could get banish it.

As Gaz swaggered around his room arrogantly scattering his possessions in search of a couple of cans of soda, Dib watched, holding his breath.

Just sit still... that thing must not get loose... just... don't move... this won't take long... I hope...

In spite of himself, Dib kept glancing toward the closet, a nervous twitch which Gaz eventually noticed. She followed the direction of his eyes to the closet. "So. They ARE in there." Gaz sneered, then she turned back to mercilessly pin him down with her stare. "So you resented it that much that your little sister needed a DRINK. Or was it the shower, Dib. When in the hell are you going to GROW UP!"

Dib opened his mouth but didn't know what to say. She would never believe him if he said the soda wasn't in the closet, but he sure couldn't tell her it was in the closet either.

Gaz slitted her eyes nearly shut to bore a glare like a laser beam into his eyes. "Dib if you're going to hide something from me for cheap kicks and a death wish you could at least be a little less stupid about it," she gritted out through gritted teeth. She turned to head for the closet.

"NO GAZ! Not the closet!" Dib couldn't stop himself from blurting as he sprang from his chair to stand between Gaz and his closet. "Something dangerous is in there! Something terribly, horribly dangerous! Please, you've got to believe me!"

Gaz curled her lip into the most skeptical expression possible. "Oh right Dib. A monster in your closet. THAT'S original... to say nothing of mature."

"Gaz... please... just..." Dib gulped. "Just don't, that's all... please!"

Dib pleading for Gaz not to do something made it an ironclad guarantee that she would.

Gaz shoved Dib aside as she bore down on his closet, but he came back even more desperate to stop her. This time she was a lot less forbearing, whirling around to catch him with a wild roundhouse kick. With a grunt, Dib staggered backward and tripped over one of the drawers she'd dropped on the floor; a pile of his socks and T-shirts cushioned his fall.

He looked up just in time to see Gaz flick aside the jug of water...

"NO!"

... spilling it and...

"I called you! No one else! Take - "

Dib leaped to his feet and slipped past Gaz as if he could possibly block the demon from leaving the room, but...

... a blazing streak shot from the closet and dodged right past him to lock onto Gaz like one spider clutching itself over another; once more a grey football flew around the room through the air bouncing off walls and spewing more streams of biliously stinking projectile vomit and even worse fluids all over the walls and Gaz screamed, "Dib you damned useless idiot get off your worthless ass NOW and AIIIEEEEEEE!"

... and the demon finally found the window and scratched and clawed its way through the opening until Gaz and the demon together flew screaming into the summer night. Frantic, Dib ran to the window, but already he could see nothing of either of them; they were both gone, already returned to whatever dimension the demon had come from.

X X X X X X

Dib couldn't think. He fell over his chair and read the spell forwards and backwards as loudly as he could, then followed every link from that page and read them all out loud from top to bottom, all to no avail. Finally he slumped panting down in his chair, trying to think what to do next, trying to figure out what had happened in the first place...

He had run right at that thing, with no water at all to shield him and it had slipped right past him. How? Why?

Dib scratched his head, trying to understand why on earth or below it he had survived the chance he had taken in actually running toward the demon, holding neither mug nor jug. He ran a quivering hand through his hair, which was wet once again...

Wet... the water! The water Gaz had thrown over him in her vicious fit of ill temper had ended up saving him. The demon refused to touch him because of the water.

In this heat, the water on his belly had mostly dried by now. Only his hair and the waistband of his shorts remained damp.

The doorbell rang and Dib leaped in the air. In no frame of mind to be rational, all Dib could think was that Gaz had bitten the demon so hard it had dropped her and she'd made her way home. But why would she ring the -

It wasn't Gaz. It was a very nervous pizza delivery man, profusely apologizing for taking all of fifteen minutes to bring the pizza, and glancing around as if he had heard the demon and believed it was still present. Finally he managed to look Dib in the eye long enough to ask him, "Is it just you home, son?"

Dib could only nod.

The delivery guy sighed with relief. "This is my lucky day after all! Whoever called in the order from this number sounded like they'd be pretty upset if the pizza didn't get here 'NOW,' and threatened us all with sheer hell on earth. I drew the short straw, so that'll be ten dollars and twenty cents so can I get out of here with a whole skin?"

Numb, Dib headed to the cookie jar for the money. Only when he returned to his room did he realize he was carrying the pizza sideways under his arm. Hastily he set it on the floor and returned to his computer. He had much to do.

Far into the night, Dib researched and researched, following every link offered by every page on demonology every search engine would offer him. Finally, overwhelmed by the terror of the previous night, and his mind numb with mental exhaustion and lack of sleep, Dib looked around and with a start, realized his room had once again grown light; the morning had pushed the darkness back under the bed and into the closet; no demons lurked now in either place.

Outside the window through which the demon had flown the morning sounded like any other morning. No screams, no fleeing mobs, no flaming cars crashing into houses... Actually, it was an extraordinarily peaceful morning... the most peaceful Dib could remember. He looked back at the computer once more and wondered... just why he was trying so hard to make it less peaceful?

Dib turned his chair to one side and sat staring into space. The only problem now was how how his father would react when Dib broke this news... but at least he was confident that his father wouldn't beat him. He never had.

Eventually Dib noticed the pizza box lying on the floor right in front of him. Double cheese, pepperoni, green peppers.

Single sized.

He didn't move right away. Even now, the lingering dread of Gaz's wrath could still keep him from touching that first slice.

However, he had eaten only a light lunch since breakfast the day before, and his stomach was becoming steadily louder and more insistent.

Dib walked up to the pizza box, then picked it up and carried it back to his bed. In spite of the roar in his stomach, he still took a cautious look around, listening intently for a few minutes before daring to open it.

As Dib reached for the first slice his heart began to pound. He could barely remember the last time he had done this, but the savage beating that followed had been enough to dissuade him from ever doing so again, no matter how hungry he was.

To dare to start eating was another enormity, but once he actually did take the first bite, Dib inhaled the entire pizza in no time. Having skipped supper the previous evening and after toiling intently through the entire night, he was by this time positively ravenous.

After closing the box and setting it back on the floor, Dib collapsed on the bed, staring up at the ceiling. His stomach was full and he felt no more hunger. In fact, he now felt nothing at all. Not regret, not grief, not sorrow, not guilt, not fear.

Beneath everything, another feeling kept trying to push its way up into his mind. Whatever it was, it was NOT relief. He most especially did not feel relief. That was one thing he had to keep telling himself he was not feeling. None. None whatsoever. None... none.

The End

You've been reading the first installment of the Karma Circle, a collection of fics written to redress a very specific glaring deficiency in the IZ section.

The Karma Circle is now closed. Thank you and good day.