Author's Note:
Hi! Welcome to my first story on FanFiction! I hope you all enjoy it and I'll try to update it as often as I can, I promise!
Also in this story the chipmunks/chipettes are in any style you choose though I'll be imaging them in anthro-like style, so around human size and everything.
I hope you like!
Ever since that night she hasn't felt the same, she knows she isn't right, not anymore.
No one knew how the fire had started, it had rained plenty of times that month, so how could the entire forest suddenly be engulfed in flames? How did no one notice the billowing clouds of black crawling towards the town till it was too late?
And why had she been drawn into those flames?
These questions torment her now, they're all she has these days, her memories are worse than her nagging thoughts so she keeps them buried deep inside where not even the flames can reach.
The questions are all she has.
The town is empty, the houses are black eggshells of their former selves and as she walks through the charred living room of one of her neighbors she avoids touching the ash speckled faces peering at her from the glass frames of their photographs.
She knows that the husband made it, as did the son, but the mother and baby…heat prickles along her arms, inching it's way up to her shoulders and along the column of her throat to trickle down her cheeks in molten tears.
Emotions always bring the flames back.
Raising her stinging arms she swipes at the glowing embers flecking her face, anger fueling her actions she claws at her cheeks, fear and sorrow burn through her like lava and the flames continue their trail down her face.
She's a monster.
"Alvin I don't think we should be back here, you know this place is dangerous," Simon adjusts the backpack slung across his back, the chocolate furred munk stares intently at his older brother's back as the three of them hike along the old path.
Alvin suggested they go hiking today…..but he didn't say to where.
"I don't want to go back to that place…..it's sad," The youngest of the three brings up the rear, dragging his feet along the worn pathway he keeps his green gaze downward.
"Guys, we grew up there, don't you want to just…go back for a minute? No one has been back to the village since the fire, it's stupid," Alvin casts his annoyed glare back at the two complaining munks behind him, ears twitching, "It's our home, sure there was a fire but it's not like the fire is still there, we'll be fine,"
Simon rolls his eyes skyward, the dark blue hue flashing behind the lenses of his glasses, "If we inhale a lot of ash it'll be dangerous, plus all the homes are probably delicate and unstable, we could be crushed by a beam if we walk through town,"
"W-we're going to get crushed?!" Theodore's head snaps up and he latches onto Simon's arm, squeezing his elder brother's appendage to the point of pain, Simon struggles for a moment.
"Simon is just being a party pooper, besides we're well old enough to know how to avoid falling beams," Alvin adjusts his own bag as he flashes a grin at the trembling munk, making his already frightened doe green eyes widen further.
"A-Alvin don't!" Theodore stalls, hugging Simon's arm tight as he shakes lightly with fear.
"Great look what you did…it's ok Theo, Alvin is just being a jerk, and I was just trying to get him to turn around. There won't be any falling beams or any danger I promise," Simon rests his hand on top of the blonde munk's head, ruffling his short hair between his ears till he finally releases his arm.
They look up to follow Alvin only to find empty trail before them.
Simon grits his teeth and rubs at his nose, "ALVIN!"
He races along the overgrown path, a wide grin stretched across his face as the cool evening air whips at his cheeks, chasing away the heat of the day that had been clinging to him along their hike.
He had forgotten how far out the old town was, but next time he'll be prepared for the long trek.
His bare feet pound against the fresh earth and he inhales deeply, nothing like being out in the middle of a forest in the middle of summer, everything is so fresh and vibrant and…..dead.
Alvin slows as the soft thriving earth suddenly turns to ash beneath his toes, the air turns stale and he coughs as ash fills his mouth and nose.
It's been ten years…and the forest hasn't grown back?!
He stares out across the expanse of gray earth, broken black skeletons of once strong trees burst out of the ruined dirt like frantic fingers searching for something.
The fear trickles in slowly as he sees a single standing wall of one of the old houses, most of it's four walls have caved in, the roof slopes downward and inward, shingles are sprinkled across the ash and the faint trace of fence posts reminds him that there had once been a bright blue fence surrounding a little vegetable garden.
Alvin crosses the barren land carefully, his footfalls crunching faintly around him as he passes the gray home, he can feel concrete and asphalt beneath the carpeting of ash, he follows the old sidewalk along rows of decaying homes.
He was eight when the fire reached them.
No one even knew it was coming, he had been outside making mud pies with a girl…a friend he had grown up with, he didn't know it at the time but he was crushing on her, hard. And it took only a year after learning that her body hadn't been found that he had liked her, might've grown to love her too, if she hadn't walked into the flames.
"Alvin?!" He jerks his gaze away from the vacant lot of ash, annoyance replacing the sorrow creasing between his eyes.
"I'm right here, jeez you don't have to yell," He kicks up some ash, it was all in the past, he shouldn't feel so strongly about it all, it's been ten years.
"It's hard huh? A lot of our neighbors and friends didn't make it….." Simon walks towards him slowly, Theodore at his side, gazes at the half standing structures around them.
"Yeah I know, I was there," Alvin turns away from them to focus back on the black forest, his brothers had been lucky, their parents had to take them to the doctors to get their shots that day and they had left Alvin behind with their close friends and neighbors while they went into the city.
Alvin was glad his brothers didn't have to hear it, to see it all…..but in a way he was also envious, he wished they had witnessed it with him, so he didn't have to suffer alone with the images, the nightmares, the terror.
"Hey," He flinches at the paw that clamps down on his shoulder, "What? Get off!" Alvin tries to jerk his arm away but Simon clings to him, fingers trembling.
"W-what's that?"
Alvin frowns and looks away from the forest, towards one of the only fully standing homes left, where a girl stands staring at them from the second story window.
It's probably a bit confusing right now but as the story progresses it'll begin to make more sense. This is kind of the introduction and it is the first chapter so there's still a lot more to come!
If you liked or want more let me know with a review, follow, favorite, mostly a review cause I'd love to see your reactions and thoughts :D
Thanks again for coming to read my first story