Mind of Membrane

Invader Zim was one of my favorite cartoons as a child. So, when my friend offered me a DVD for it, I was ecstatic. The only problem, my friend had never looked so traumatized when I went to see her. Her eyes were usually bright, and her hair was usually neat. Her skin often was glowing in perfection. Now, she was shaking, pale with sunken eyes. I could tell she wasn't suffering from just a little cold... she was psychologically ill.
"Hey, are you good?" I asked her cautiously.
"D-Do I look 'good' to you?" she stammered in both fear and anger.
My friend hadn't been in school this past week due to being sick. When she sent me the text to pick up the DVD after school, I agreed hesitantly, thinking maybe she'd binge-watched all the Invader Zim episodes, then decided to let me enjoy them, too. I was excited, given that I hadn't watched the cartoon since I was eight. As a 17-year old now, it was about time I went back to the good old days, when I was just that child watching cartoons without a care in the world. But that feeling had passed after seeing my poor friend suffering like that.
She shoved the Invader Zim DVD case into my hands.
"Th-they're all good, Jess. I promise. All except for th-the last episode. Please... It drove me insane. DON'T WATCH IT!"
I could see my friend tearing up. There was clearly something demented about the last episode, so I decided to stray away from it. At least, until that evening. It was Friday night, and I had invited my boyfriend Dalton over to watch the show with me, too, since he also liked the cartoon when he was a kid.
"Jess, did Lindy give you the DVD?" my boyfriend asked, taking off his shoes upon entering my room. "And is she doing okay?"
"Yeah, I got it from her. But she looked like she was actually losing her mind."
Dalton laughed and sat down on my bed as I pulled out the Invader Zim DVD case. "Her little brother must've—"
"-I'm not kidding!" I spat, cutting him off. "She looked disturbed. Like, loony-bin insane."
Dalton nodded. "I think she'll be okay with some more rest. Let's watch some Zim!"
I turned on my DVD player and pulled the disc out of its case. The disc looked normal. I popped it in and checked out the list of episodes on the back of the case. There were 20 in total. I'd seen them all... except for the last one, titled "Mind of Membrane." Membrane was the last name of several characters in the show.
As the DVD player scanned the disc, I said to Dalton, "Lindy told me to not watch the last one. She said it drove her insane."
"Must be a horror episode, " Dalton said. "She gets scared at everything, Jess. Don't take her word for it."
It was that moment I realized Dalton was right. My friend is a scaredy-cat. I laughed and said, "okay, okay."
And so, Dalton and I watched the first 19 episodes in a row while cuddling, chatting, and laughing at the show. Then came to Mind of Membrane.
"Maybe this episode is like Dark Harvest," Dalton suggested. "You know, the one where Zim steals everybody's internal organs?"
I shuddered. "That one still gives me the creeps."
The episode started with its title popping up on the screen. It starts off with Dib Membrane, one of the main characters, staring at the floor while his alarm for Skool goes off. There was no background music. Instead, Dib just let his alarm clock keep ringing.
Dib's younger sister, Gaz, entered his bedroom and angrily smashed the alarm clock to pieces. Of course, Gaz loses her temper here and there. But I had never seen her act so angrily. I looked at Dalton, who looked back at me in confusion as well.
Gaz nags her brother as he silently stands up, still staring at the floor. The camera slowly pans in at Dib's blank expression as Gaz's nagging slowly fades, and a sharp ringing noise replaces it. The screen then abruptly cuts to black.
"What the hell?" Dalton whispered under his breath.
The next scene shows Dib sitting in his desk, and he is still staring at the floor. Still, no background music.
"Zim isn't here today." Miss Bitters mumbles, before checking him off as "absent" on her sheet. The camera pans to Dib chuckling to himself. Bitters, as well as the other children in the class, turn to look at Dib. He is just chuckling without taking his eyes off the ground.
"Did you do something, freak?" asked one of the Skoolchildren. "You DO have an obsession with him."
As the class laughs at the joke and at Dib, he says nothing. His chuckling stops and he stares at the floor.
The next few minutes of that episode is just Miss Bitters lecturing with Dib staring at the floor. I looked at Dalton.
"Maybe Lindy was right," I said nervously. "We don't know what comes next. And maybe that's for the best."
Dalton clearly looked scared, but he still wasn't convinced that this episode was actually going to cause true insanity. I didn't blame him for thinking that, but then again, he hadn't seen Lindy's face when she warned me about this episode. "I-I still kinda wanna see what's going on," Dalton said quietly. And so, we continued watching.
In the episode, Dib stands up and leaps onto Ms. Bitters's desk.
"Dib, what the f-" Bitters starts to say, but Dib cuts her off.
"All I've ever done is try to protect this Earth from harm. And none of you ever believe me. You're all just a bunch of boneheads. Unintelligent, disgusting, ignorant BONEHEADS. Today is the day, guys. We all die. I knew of it ahead of time. And this time? I'm NOT going to save you."
The Skoolchildren now look genuinely scared. Ms. Bitters even has a shocked expression on her face.
I looked at Dalton, now feeling more sad than scared. It was true. All Dib ever did was protect those idiots from Zim's evil schemes and all they ever did was shit on him. Dalton also had a forlorn expression. "Man, poor kid's finally reached his breaking point," he whispered.
We jumped as a loud explosion was heard from the TV. Like, a real explosion, as a result from a bomb or something. The roof had been blown off, and a large, horrifying UFO lingered above the Skool. The Skoolchildren screamed and cried, pleading for Dib to do something. But all Dib did was smile and laugh at their pleas.
"Ready to take a walk in the mind of Dib Membrane?!" Dib shouted, laughing maniacally. "It's payback time!"
That's when the massacre began.
Zim and several other Irkens leaped from the UFO with all types of weapons in their hands. Several scenes are shown all throughout Dib's classroom with Irken soldiers gruesomely killing the Skoolchildren inside. Screams were heard. With each death, the next death would become even more grotesque. It went from shooting people in the chest with cartoon blood slowly leaking out to intenstines being ripped out with dark, realistic blood gushing out onto the floor. The disgusting sounds of wet internal organs and gurgling throats nauseated me further. Dalton shielded his eyes, then held me close while covering my eyes as well. 
As soon as the sounds were over, Dalton and I looked back up at the TV, thankful that the nightmare was over. But in reality, it had just begun.
A final scene faded from black, and it was Dib and Zim facing off in Dib's classroom. Ms Bitters and the other childrens' corpses were scattered all over the classroom.
"For once, you do not interfere with my plans," Zim said. "Zim ought to thank you."
"I was sick of the mistreatment," Dib replied. "I hope you know that it was all your fault. I can't go on anymore. Everyone in this world is dead. Zim... I ask for you to finally end my life."
"Oh, you aren't getting out of this so easily, Earthstink," Zim said, holding up a gun-like contraption. "You're not off the hook. You have caused many problems for Zim, and you think I can just let you go that easily? I'm not going to end your suffering... I'm going to keep you alive... and make you suffer even more!"
Dib's mouth drops open in fear as Zim fires up his gun-thing. As soon as Dib got shot with it, I closed my eyes and screamed. Dalton continued watching.
I kept my eyes closed for a good 15 seconds as the episode went silent. I didn't open them again until a lullaby tune in reverse started to play. On the screen was Dib, whose color scheme had become even more dreary than it already was. He sat in front of a wall with a blank expression. He had no pupils. The screen stayed that way for a good minute before my DVD player automatically ejected the disc.
I took the disc and broke it in half on my knee. I tossed it in the trash. My phone vibrated, and I went to check it. It was Lindy's mom... explaining that Lindy had just committed suicide.
I looked at Dalton to tell him what just happened to Lindy. But a chill ran down my spine at what I saw.
There was Dalton, staring back at me in the same condition Lindy was in earlier today.
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Despite my efforts to get Dalton admitted to a psych hospital, his mother would not take him and ultimately, Dalton committed suicide later on just like Lindy.
I'd like to say that the cause was him watching the part where Zim had zapped Dib with his device- the same scene that I looked away from. Had I not closed my eyes during that scene, I would have the same fate as my... ex-friend and ex-boyfriend. What happened during that moment that drove those two insane, I do not know. But I have destroyed the disc so the world will no longer have to fear it.
I'm currently grieving the losses of my two favorite people. But nothing- I mean, NOTHING will even haunt me more than that blank, lifeless expression on Dib's face at the end of the episode.
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Category:Invader ZIM
Category:Lost Episodes
Category:Death
Category:Insanity
Category:Computers and Internet
Category:DVD