AN: A special little oneshot I wanted to do. I'll put a more detailed author's note at the end as not to spoil the story. Pardon any errors, I didn't proof-read this.
Disclaimer: The Chipmunks, Chipettes, and the twins belong to Ross Bagdasarian and Janice Karman.
Dedicated to my Nana.
Simon Seville sat alone, with only memories to accompany him. The lights were dimmed, and the atmosphere was filled with nothing but sorrow. It had been four years. Four terrible, lonely years.
They hadn't even seen it coming. All the signs were there, they just couldn't see them. They hadn't even seen much of each other anymore, really. Sometimes when one is so caught up in their busy daily life they take for granted what they have around them.
Simon regretted every moment he spent away from her. If he was there, he would have known. He just knew he would. There would have been some sign that he would have seen.
The chipmunk sighed as he fingered the stem of the single pink rose that sat in the purple vase on the counter-top. This month was always the hardest. It was a constant reminder of what had taken the love of his life away from him...that terrible disease that claimed the lives of so many innocent victims.
Sometimes he could take his mind off of it all. Sometimes he could busy himself with his work enough to try and pretend to forget, but not in October.
He couldn't take his eyes off of the framed photograph that sat next to that little purple vase. She stared back at him, just as alive as he remembered her. She was so beautiful, so charming. Death always seemed to steal away the most wonderful of people.
Simon finally pried his eyes away from the photograph long enough to see a small figure standing at his side.
"Daddy, can we please go now?" The six year old pestered. Simon just stared at her, a sad look in his eyes. "Ugh, you always get so weird! I wanna go now!" She stomped her foot, a small pout forming on her lips. Looks wise, she was the spitting image of her mother, personality wise...not so much.
Simon always had an overwhelming feeling of depression come over him when he realized that his little girl barely had any memories of her mother, and, if she did, they were probably fuzzy. She was quite young at the time, after all.
He looked down at his daughter, Stormy, who wore an over-sized pink T-Shirt that matched the one he was wearing. The entire family wore pink at least once a week in October, it had become tradition.
Jeanette never really was one for pink, though. In fact, the only pink thing Simon ever remembered her owning was her glasses. She had always preferred purple, or blue. Their entire house had been themed in those colors.
Simon found himself staring into space again. This time it was at the kitchen walls. It was hard to believe that something as small and insignificant as a painted wall could hold such a fond and important memory, but those walls did just that.
Simon and Jeanette were in their late twenties when they had finally raised enough money to build the house of their dreams. Simon had already set aside the money to have professionals paint the house for them, but Jeanette had other ideas.
She thought painting the walls themselves would be a pleasant bonding experience for the two of them. Simon knew it wasn't a good idea from the very start, but he decided to go with it to make her happy. It turned out to be more stressful for the both of them than anything.
The kitchen would be a light shade of lavender. It was a beautiful color, but Simon had to admit that the wall looked better covered in it than Jeanette did.
Simon found himself chuckling at the memory. When he finally resurfaced in reality he found his young daughter looking at him with a bewildered look on her face.
"You're so weird, Daddy...but seriously...can we go now?" She gestured towards the door. "I bet the twins I'd beat them at whatever video game they threw at me!"
Simon frowned. "What did I tell you about making bets?"
Stormy smiled sweetly, pushing her glasses up on her face. "That it'll make me turn out like Uncle Alvin and Aunt Brittany. But for real...can we go, please?"
Simon shot a plastic smile down at her. "The walk doesn't start for another hour."
"That's even better! You guys can stay a while before you abandon me with those boys."
The chipmunk sighed. "Alright..."
Without another word from either of them, the two chipmunks climbed into the family car and drove to Alvin and Brittany's. Even upon their arrival, the two sat wordlessly in the vehicle. It wasn't until a small fist could be heard banging on the side of the car that their attention was drawn to the world outside of their own minds.
Simon rolled down the window and peeked over it to see his young nephews, Al and Alvin Jr., standing expectantly outside of the car door. He smiled down at them and they returned the favor, grinning broadly and running over to the other side of the car. One of the two boys opened the door for their little cousin and let her out.
"Hey Storm! Ready to be beaten?"
"Yeah..." Simon glanced over to where his young daughter stood. She seemed a bit...off. She was extremely excited before they arrived, why was she suddenly solemn?
Simon continued to sit in the car alone, even after the children disappeared into the house. He sat there for what seemed like hours, lost in his own mind.
He remembered when Alvin and Brittany bought that house. Simon had always thought it was a huge waste of money, but Jeanette had felt negatively about it for a much different reason. She said that, with such a big house, they would most likely rarely see one another and it would be extremely lonely.
The thought struck a chord with Simon. He realized how lonely she must have been those last few months of her life. They were together, but it was almost as if they weren't...he wasn't even around her enough to notice she was dying. What if he broke her heart, and that caused her to leave him faster?
Simon sighed and rested his head on the steering wheel. He just wished, more than anything, that he had been there for her. It must have been so difficult...to be dying and not even have anyone to hold you and get you through the pain. She had to have known it was coming...there was no way she didn't get some sort of feeling inside of her, telling her her time on this Earth was coming to an end.
Simon wiped away a stray tear and fished around in his pocket. He pulled out a long, purple ribbon. He stared at the object for a moment before moving it around in his fingers, its smooth texture flooding his mind with fond memories.
Jeanette had that ribbon for as long as he remembered. She would wear it in her hair every day, he never really questioned why she did it, but he knew there had to be a reason. During her last few moments, as she lied helplessly and impossibly frail in her hospital bed, she pulled that ribbon from her hair and placed it in Simon's hands. She smiled up at him with that beautiful smile of hers, rendering Simon speechless.
He hadn't let that ribbon out of his sight since. It was always with him. On the hardest days he would tie it around his wrist, up under his sleeves, so it always felt like Jeanette was with him. More often than not, though, it would reside in his pocket. There were little pieces of Jeanette left all over, but he felt like this was the most significant because of the fact it had been with her always.
The chipmunk was pulled from his thoughts when the car door opened from the outside. He glanced up to see his older brother, Alvin, standing by his side, looking rather off in his pink T-Shirt. Alvin smiled a half-hearted smile at him.
"No need to be a stranger. You've still got like fifteen minutes before you have to leave. And, knowing Brittany, it'll be even longer before you can get out of here." Simon plastered yet another plastic onto his face as he attempted a chuckle. Alvin knew the smile was fake, but said nothing. "You might as well come in."
Simon forced himself out of the car and followed Alvin into the extravagant home. When he got in he noticed Theodore and Eleanor, both clad in pink, sitting on the couch, watching the three young children play a video game.
Simon often found himself wondering why Theodore and Eleanor had yet to have any children, and if they ever would. They would make great parents. Honestly, Eleanor was the closest thing Stormy had to a mother nowadays. The Chipette always had an extremely maternal air about her.
Eleanor looked up and waved Simon over to the couch. He wandered over and took a seat next to his sister in law. "Sorry you're having to wait so long, I told Brittany there was no point in putting on five layers of make-up, she's just going to end up sweating it all off."
Simon chuckled. Brittany overdressed for the occasion every year. She'd end up a mess by the end of the day, and she knew that, but she still put on layers of make-up and tried to look her best.
"I'll go see what's taking her so long." Eleanor stood up and left the room. Simon glanced over to his younger brother, who seemed so entranced on what was going on in the kids' video game he didn't even notice Simon's presence.
"Theodore?" Said chipmunk's eyes shot over to his brother.
"Oh! Hi Simon!" Theodore smiled, but his smile quickly transformed into a frown. "How are you?"
"I'm fine, Theodore." Simon sighed and rested his head in his palm, making a rare attempt at forcing all thought out of his head and distracting himself with whatever the kids were doing. It didn't really work out all that well. He felt Theodore put a comforting hand on his shoulder.
"Y-you know...I don't think she would want you to be so sad all the time." Simon didn't reply, but he knew his brother was right. Jeanette wouldn't want him to constantly drown in sorrow for years after her death, but he couldn't help it. At least he wasn't always this bad. Every month wasn't October.
It seemed like hours before the girls finally emerged from the bedroom upstairs. Brittany was, of course, dressed in her best. It was rather pointless since she would spend the next few hours walking.
Every year, towards mid-October, Simon and the two remaining Chipettes would go to the Breast Cancer Awareness Walk. Alvin and Theodore would stay home and watch the kids. They had been doing so every year since Jeanette's death.
It always felt good to be around other people who knew his pain, people that had felt the pain of loosing the ones they loved for the same reason he had. It also felt good to know that there were people who had survived, despite the fact that he felt slight resentment towards them. They had their lives and Jeanette didn't. Still, the event had always been an eye-opener.
Simon bid his goodbyes to his brothers and the children, barely even noticing when a small hand grabbed onto the back of his shirt. He looked behind him to see his young daughter standing there, a somewhat frightened frown planted on her face.
"Daddy, can...can I walk for Mommy this year?"
Experiencing the walk with his daughter gave Simon a tiny glimmer of hope. Seeing Jeanette's name scrawled on the white paper sack with the candle inside in the little child's handwriting made that hope grow stronger. Holding onto his daughters hand as they stood back and watched it glow made Simon realize that, despite it all, he did have something to live for.
I'm not very proud of this story...but I wanted to finish it. It's not my best, but I don't hate it. For those of you that don't know, October is Breast Cancer Awareness month. Four years ago my grandmother passed away due to this horrible disease, and I wanted to write this story to spread awareness and as a dedication to her. Thank you for reading!