Hide n Seek

Chapter 1. Breaking Point

Dib stood in the middle of the hallway, his breathing becoming uncontrollable and loud. His eyes were wide underneath his largely framed glasses, dotting around everyone at the disgusted and mocking stares.

His whole body felt frozen, stuck in place for everyone to gawk at. Dib quickly darted his eyes towards the sound of that infuriating manic laughter. The green boy stood in front of him, his grin splitting up to the side of his face.

"Now everyone knows the lowlife that you are."
Zim said in an almost perfect voice. His voice was no longer loud or high pitched. It was more ominous and vengeful. Dib stared back at the boy his eyes shaking in the realisation spoken by his very nemesis. His body began to shake as his voice grew raspy and weak and his vision became blurry with tears. Everywhere, all around him were all his hard work, something he desperately tried to keep secret. Now exposed.

Everyone began to mutter and whisper things that filled Dibs head with paranoia.

"Who the fuck spends their time doing this?!"
A student screamed out, what everyone was thinking.

"Yeah! He probably even watch people sleep at night that creep!"
Another student added, Dibs conscious slowly disappearing, wanting to be far away from this as possible. More and more voices arose as Zim just watched him break down. People began to grab the scatter photos all over the ground, scrunching it up into a ball and throwing it at Dib. He covered his face with his arms as more and more paper was aimed for him. More students began to cackle like sick little witches as Dibs fight or flight finally kicked in and he ran straight past Zim, shoving him aside as he broke through the angry crowd.

Dib kept on running through the hallways, his mind becoming cloudy as only the thoughts of "get away" filled his head. The tears were dripping down his face as he clenched his teeth harder down. Past all the students who were clueless of his situation and Gaz, his sister who locked eyes with Dib for a split second. Only disappointment and pity showing on her face as Dib ran faster and faster out of the school. Only stopping once he was out of sight of everyone. Even humanity, inside a fenced off part of the woods near his school.

He was able to get inside through a small crawl space that he had made a couple years back when his anxiety was getting really bad. Deep, deep, deep into the woods he sat down beside a tree. Huddling his knees against his chest as he tried to wipe away his tears. There was no way out of this and he knew it. All the kids, adults and even some parents already despised him and his whole existence. Only not going to the extremes of getting rid of him because of his father being such a big figure. Dib looked down at the pile of leaves that crumbled underneath his feet. He wished he could just disappear. Start a new life, live life as someone else- as not Dib Membrane.

"Crybaby."
A voice erupted beside him. He didn't even bother to look up, facing away from Zim, resting his head in his knees.

"You can't stay here forever."
Dib stayed silent, not wanting to argue right now, trying to distract his mind with the nature around him. Zims eyes curled down in frustration. His PAK legs that was still behind him now sprinted like a bullet towards Dib. Piercing the ground just in front of his feet and startling Dib. But Dib still didn't look at him.

"You can't hide forever! You'll have to face your pathetic sad reality eventually!"
Zim raised his voice, going back to high pitched for just a moment. Another PAK leg peirced the ground by Dib, then another and another and eventually Zim was towering over the balled up Dib who still wasn't paying him any mind. Zim clenched up his small hands into a fist, his teeth clashing together tightly in his mouth. Grounding together, enraged.

"Speak!"
He demanded but the human still didn't. Zim froze, expecting him to suddenly say something, with no reason but he felt like the human would of by now. But instead the human stretched his legs away from his head, adjusting himself upwards and walking from Zim, still completely silent. Zim wanted to chase after him but he knew that would be a waste, as he obviously isn't going to say anything. Letting him disappear into the woods, only his loneliness to accompany him as Zim retreated back to his fort.

Dib walked back to his home, opening the handle and expecting nothing. No sympathy or support, just silence. Dib was right, inside was barren, his father was yet to get home and Dib was still spectacle whether Gaz would be home by now. He walked inside, seeing the clock reading close to 4:00pm meaning that it was possible Gaz was home. Dib walked upstairs and straight towards his room, walking past Gazs room in the process.

"Dib?"
Gaz spoke up, still sounding peeved about something but also confused. Dib turned his head to see Gaz standing there still holding her game slave. Dib waited for her to continue as she saw his tired and completely drained expression.

"What happened today?"
She asked, her hands lowering her game as she finally looked at him without pity or embarrassment. Dib was silent, looking away from her as he contemplated what to say.

"Just some people... it's fine."
He blurted out, not really going anywhere with it but taking it as an answer, while Gaz didn't.

"People? What people? And what did they do?"
Gaz investigated further, now not even focused on her game as it flashed the game over screen.

"You know, people who don't like them that all. It's fine... now."
Gaz was quiet, giving Dib the chance to walk away and hide in his room, closing the door softly as he fell against the door, feeling like everything was just... over. Dib looked over at his gadgets and computer set, feeling totally betrayed by it. The rage quickly fuelling his adrenaline, he grabbed his computer, forcing all the cords out of the machine and shoving it down to the ground, cracking the screen. Dib looked down at the pathetic computer, raising his foot and smashing it down on the screen, breaking it to no return.

Dib looked back and grabbed the other devices connected to similar cords, forcing them out and doing the same process with them. His frustration and feeling of betrayal driving him to continue to smash and jump and kick and snap and break almost everything in his room, until there was nothing left. He finally stopped, catching his breath as he looked around with somewhat comfort. Now no one can expose anymore of his secrets. Now no one can ever find out about anything more.