Invader Zim ZADR: How did we get here?

Chapter 15: There were consequences

Consequences there will be, as Dib soon will find out.

Happy to see that you're back for this chapter, and hope you're excited to see what kind of surprise Zim has been planning for Dib. Here's a spoiler: It isn't a nice surprise.

"*Ding dong*"

Both Gaz and Dib, who were sitting on the couch, gave a half-hearted look toward the door, from where the sound of the doorbell had come from. They then returned to blankly staring at the tv, which was currently airing an ad for foot warmers. While their silence before had been out of mutual respect, it had quickly turned into awkwardly waiting to see if the other would answer the door. The tension only grew, as the ringing continued, and they both stubbornly acted like it wasn't there.

Gaz was the first to break, as the sound was becoming more infuriating than just annoying. She first tried giving Dib an annoyed look, trying to nudge him toward answering the door. Dib ignored her to the best of his abilities, as her eyes started to bore into the side of his skull. In the end, Gaz got tired of staring, and let out a dissatisfied sigh.

"...Aren't you gonna get it?" She muttered, finally asking the question that they both knew would only lead to something terrible. But unfortunately for her, Dib had already prepared a comeback.

"Well, you're the one whose technically sitting closer to the door, sooooooooo..."

Gaz stared at her brother with what could only be described as morbid curiosity, as she wondered if he really was willing to go down that route.

"We're sitting on the same couch." She said, with a bit of disbelief in her voice.

"And you're still the one who's closer to the door." Dib calmly explained, deciding that he would rather die on that hill than leave the couch.

"Dib, I swear if you make me leave this couch, I will-"

Her threat was promptly cut off, as the ringing of the doorbell suddenly became constant, echoing throughout the living room, making it practically impossible to focus. While she tried to hold out in the hope that Dib would be the first to break, it became visible clear that she was the one who was the most affected by ringing. Her body was shaking as she stared at the tv, and her breathing became heavy and filled with frustration. Dib on the other hand was doing quite fine, and could easily take listening to the sound for hours.

"Diiiiiib." She slowly said, pushing the name through her gritting teeth, in some vain attempt to threaten him once again.

"Gaz, I'm the one who has had to listen to Zim's screaming for several years. We both know that if one of us is gonna break...it's gonna be you." Dib calmly explained, never moving his head or eyes away from the tv screen.

"FINE!" Gaz exclaimed, before jumping off the couch and marching with furious steps toward the hallway.

"I'm gonna make you regret this, Dib." She ominously commented, before walking out of the living room.

"You can just add it to the list." He apathetically answered back, though he had the feeling she couldn't hear him.

Finally, he moved his head away from the moving pictures on the screen and silently stared at the ceiling instead. He wasn't quite sure why he was feeling the way he did. He wasn't quite sad, but just...down. It was as if his motivation for just getting up in the morning had disappeared. Which arguably was what had happened, as he hadn't talked to or seen Zim for over a week. He didn't know why, but suddenly the alien just stopped coming to skool. At first, Dib had just brushed it off as the green gremlin still being angry from the last time they talked. But as the days went by, he ended up walking over to Zim's base, to try and see if he was there. The security was still working, so he hadn't had any luck getting close to the house itself. He had tried yelling for Zim to come out, but after the neighbors started giving him more stern looks than usual, he had decided that it wasn't worth humiliating himself over. And even worse, he didn't want to look too desperate in front of Zim. If he did, Zim would never let him live it down. But in the end, all he was left with was just waiting for Zim to appear. Which he usually had a knack for, but only the most inconvenient of times.