I feel as if everything I had just disappeared. All of our guardians are either missing or dead due to prior circumstances. The only people I have to hold onto are my brothers and the Chipettes, and even that's not enough.

Within us, though, we're starting to fall apart at the seams. Alvin and I have been getting into the worst fights more often than ever. Jeanette and I have been extremely distant lately, but that's only because of Alvin and Brittany. Even Theodore and I are distant now, but it's not like we can help it.

I'm wanted... Dead or alive...

Now, I know what you're thinking. How can I be wanted when I don't do anything wrong? I'm not saying I didn't do anything. It's just that I wasn't the cause for this problem. I wasn't in control of what happened.

It's probably better if I told you the details.

Two days ago, Jake, my brothers and I came home from school an hour before Dave left for his business trip. I was ready as ever to take command as soon as he left and get to have my say... for once. The girls were walking home with us, and they decided that sleeping over gave them a free night away from Miss Miller and some relaxation from Claire leaving with Dave.

All was quiet for the few hours after Dave left before we all had to finally get to bed. Theodore, Eleanor and Melody were the first to go when they fell asleep after eating a feast for dinner. Alvin and Brittany got bored to sleep, I guess, and Jeanette, Wendy and Kelly willingly went to sleep.

I was still awake at around 11:00 that night when I suddenly heard something roll across the floor in my room. I slowly got out of the computer chair and walked towards the dresser, where I heard the sound come from.

I bent down to pick up a pen off the floor. There wasn't really a generic brand on it. It was just a plain black color with a silver base. I decided to click the pen to see if it had ink left.

It was the biggest mistake of my life.

This white smoke came out of the pen, filling up the room so fast I was overwhelmed. It was this overwhelming feeling that made me feel a bit dizzy.

Everything went blurry after a few seconds. The confusion forced me to collapse on the floor and black out until the next morning, when I would find out a gruesome discovery.

The next day, at about 9:30 AM, the six of us were sitting in Mrs. Shriver's history class, everything the same as it was before Dave left. Alvin tossed spitballs to the rest of the room, myself included. It's a good thing I sit next to Jake in history; he seldom ever gets hit with those trash heaps.

Nathan, the first-class bully at Edison Elementary, tossed paper airplanes at my head so hard they felt like glass shards. I was about irritated at this point, enduring about thirty minutes of Nathan's "target practice", as he called it. I had a test to finish, you know.

Just when I was about to explode from irritation, Principal Talbot sternly walked into the room, a concerned look dominating his face. He was wearing a deep black suit with a gray dress shirt and black tie to match.

I could hear Mr. Talbot get closer to me as I finished my test. I felt one of his cold hands touch my shoulder, so I stopped writing.

"I need the ten of you in my office," he told me. "Right now."

I gently pushed my paper aside and walked right behind Mr. Talbot, as did my brothers, Jake and the girls.

It was a long walk to the office. We had to walk the length of the building, walk up two flights of stairs, and walk half the length of the entire school again. The inside of his office was warmer than usual when we finally arrived, making the visit to his office just a bit more uncomfortable. Principal Talbot urged us to sit down, and even Alvin obeyed his orders. This never happened before, the ten of us being stuck together in his office like this, but we knew Principal Talbot meant business.

"Did you kids notice anyone missing this morning?" Talbot finally asked, looking at all of us for an instant answer.

"No, sir," Eleanor answered, breaking the silence after the question was asked. "I haven't noticed anything unusual at all."

"I did," Jeanette admitted. I could see the shyness in her eyes, but I figured she was just as nervous as I was. "Miss Miller was still sleeping in her bed when we left. She never sleeps in."

"She wasn't sleeping in, Jeanette," Talbot corrected. He reached into his desk and pulled out a newspaper that had Miss Miller's picture on the front page.

Jeanette and Eleanor instantly started crying the second they saw the headline. Brittany was just in a state of shock, too confused to cry. I took the paper from out of Brittany's hand and read the headline for myself:

"Local Elderly Woman Murdered In Her Sleep"

There was no way this could have been about Miss Miller. There was no way she was gone. I saw her last night and she was perfectly healthy. I had to continue reading the story to make sure:

"LOS ANGELES - To everyone in the neighborhood, Miss Beatrice Miller was a giver in more ways than one. She cared for three children in her Los Angeles home. She was everything a child could ask for, but she ended her life long before she could see them grow up.

"Miller was murdered in her bedroom at about 12:30 this morning. The autopsy proves the murder concept: her throat was slit and she was strangled before being left to die.

"A suspect is still on the run. If you have any information, please contact California State Police."

It was true. The proof was there in black and white. There was no denying it: Miss Miller was gone, and there was nothing I could do about it.