Flare

Towers watching the horizon
Sweaty sheets, a dream of broken teeth
Embraced by a night, so cold
Time to rise and brush off all your lies

Priest-Call my Name

Gaz was acting weird lately, she was sneaking out of the house late at night and on the weekends apparently going over to a friend’s place. It wasn’t impossible that she’d have friends, but she’d never bothered before, and to suddenly have a friend? To actually go and sneak out to wherever it was she was going?

He had to find out what she was up to. Dib wouldn’t rest until he figured it out! So that was why he was following her without her knowledge, he frowned. This area was familiar, it was near Zim’s base...Gaz let out a shout and fell backward, Gir slobbering all over her. She let out a laugh, that was the only thing that kept Dib rooted to where he was hiding. It had been a while since he’d heard Gaz laugh like that, so happy...So free to express her emotions.

“Hey Gir, what have I told you about jumping Gaz?” Zim was speaking like a normal human being? But, why? He’d never bothered to before so what had changed and how long had he known how to? Was it all a ruse to make him think Zim was stupid? 

If it was a ruse it had fooled him completely. What else was Zim capable and why had he pretended to be so stupid? And now that he could see Zim better in the light, his disguise was better too! What was going on and what did Zim do to Gaz?

“Ready for more mission bucket list old man?” Gaz said, Zim smiled at her, dare Dib to say gently? Mission bucket list, that’s what people did later in life when they knew their time was getting shorter to experience things. So why was Gaz doing that with Zim? Both of them weren’t that old right?

“You realize in your years I’m old but not in mine?” Gaz grinned at him and bumped into him.

“If every year for you is ten here I still think that counts.” Ten! What did she mean, did Zim tell her that and how did Zim know that, had he done the math or something? And that was a huge gap! That was 3650 days then that it took Zim’s planet of Irk to circle its sun. 

“Yeah, I know. You Irkens live practically forever to a human though, I mean you're still really young for your people but here two hundred years old is well impossible. Unless that stink brain Dib is right and Vampires exist.”  Zim laughed and linked arms with Gaz, Gir grabbing her other arm, swinging and giggling like a little gremlin.  Dib could almost not hear that last bit, had Gaz just said Zim was two hundred years old? In which world was he two hundred years old? Irk or Earth? 

“What do you have planned for today Gazlene?” She couldn’t punch Zim so she simply glared for half a moment shorter than she would at Dib. It simply made no sense to him, why was his sister getting all close to Zim? Especially since he’d really almost destroyed the earth, had Zim brainwashed her or?

“What do you know about fish or Japan?”