Ch. 3- Cured
Claire dropped Simon and Theodore home and hurried to check on Alvin. Alvin was lying on his bed looking sad. He heard his brothers come through the front door and rolled to his side, facing away from the bedroom door. He didn't want them to see how depressed he was. Like he thought they would, footsteps ran up the stairs and into their room.
"Alvin?" Simon asked. Alvin sighed. Theodore came around the bed and went to the side Alvin was facing. "Alvin, are you okay?" He asked concerned. "Simon, Theodore?" Dave called up the stairs. "Can you come here? We need to talk to you." Simon left and came downstairs. Theodore hesitated before leaving. "We'll be right back, Alvin." He said and joined Simon.
Dave and J were sitting on the couch, looking down. "What is it?" Simon asked, getting worried at their expressions. "Is he okay?" Theo asked. They didn't want to tell them about Alvin's condition but they had to know. "Boys," Dave said heaving a sigh. "Your brother... is a catatonic." Theodore looked at Dave blankly and Simon looked a little perplexed.
"How could he be catatonic, Dave?" Simon asked, "Catatonic means you're in a paralyzed state and you can't move." Dave nodded and explained, "Yes, but there are different forms of it. It also means that you aren't able to talk. According to the doctor, Alvin is in a catatonic shock. He analyzed him and the analysis said that when you have this form of it, you can't talk because psychologically your function of speech is shut down."
"Why would it shut down?" asked Simon. "For a number of reasons. One of which is when you encounter a really traumatic occurrence, it can mark you and haunt you. If you have this form of it, you linger in the memory that haunts you. If you were unable to talk during the occurrence because of fright, then you won't be able to talk in reality because psychologically you're still living in the traumatic moment." Dave answered.
They all looked at him blankly. "Ok, that sounded so confusing. And I was there!" J said. "Long story short, Alvin can't talk because he's still living in the moment that scared him." Dave looked at her and said, "Yeah okay, if you wanna explain it that way." J rolled her eyes. "I gave him a headband that says what he thinks. And that's how we are gonna communicate with him."
"Anyway, the doctor said that the catatonic shock is unpredictable how long it'll last. It could be hours, days or even years depending how bad the trauma was. He said that if the case is severe enough, and there are cases that are, some people never talk again." Dave finished rather grimly. Simon and Theodore looked at each other, then towards their room, then back at each other again, then at Dave and me. Simon's shoulders slumped in defeat and he sighed. "How bad is Alvin's case?" he asked, not really wanting to hear the answer. "Bad. He must have encountered something horrific." J replied.
"How long until he can talk again?" Theodore questioned. "They don't know. They're still debating if he WILL ever talk again. But so far, we're looking at a few weeks of silence from Alvin." Dave said. "A few weeks? We have a concert in 2 weeks." Simon noted. "I know; we'll have to figure something out. If we're lucky, maybe he'll come out of it by then." said Dave. "I wish we knew what happened and how to snap him out of it." J said. "Us too." They all said.
J stood up and tears formed in her eyes. "I think... I should leave now." She sniffled. "What? No! You promised you'd stay until Alvin's better!" Simon cried and hopped to her arms. "What's going on?" Theodore said, worried. "I-I'm gonna leave and not come back." J told them.
"Why?!" Dave asked. "This is all my fault! We're in a fanfiction with no ending. My boss told me bad things could happened if I interfered with your lives. It's like going back in time and messing up the future." J explained. "No, you have to stay! Don't you love us?" Theodore began crying as well. "Yes. I'm doing this because I love you." J hugged them and Dave. "I'm gonna say goodbye to Alvin and then... I leave."
Meanwhile
Alvin was lying on his pillow, resting. He reached for a book sitting on the nightstand beside him. It was called 'How to Cope with Catatonics,' given to him by the doctor. The doctor figured that it would aid Alvin in dealing with his muteness until he was ready to 'overcome' whatever happened. He flipped through a couple pages before giving a depressed sigh and putting it aside.
He laid down and thought about everything that's happened. Alvin had an especially hard time accepting his condition. Alvin, the once lively chipmunk, now laid in emotional shambles and broken-hearted. What was he good for now? He couldn't sing. Alvin felt the emotional dismay about to spill out once more. He wasn't a crier. He had always been strong... until last night. All the strength seemed to flow out of him, leaving him easily vulnerable in having his feelings hurt. He couldn't handle the emotional storm and had to let it out. He buried his face in his pillow and began to cry.
They headed upstairs. J wanted to say goodbye to Alvin before she left, never to return. "But you just can't leave us forever!" Theodore was crying in my arms as well as Simon. "Yeah, who's gonna keep this place clean?" Dave agreed. "We're gonna miss you, J." Dave's eyes filled with tears. "Please, not you too, David." J said and stopped walking up the stairs. "I'm sorry, but I'll never forget all the good times I shared with you." Dave said, "How you always believed in me when no one else did." I continued up the stairs with the sobbing chipmunks in my arms.
"I'm gonna miss all of you guys too, but I have to. Even if Alvin does get better, what if it happens again and someone dies! I'd never forgive myself!" J said "Alvin might even hate me if he knew this was all my fault." Simon, Theo, and Dave looked at each other for a moment. "Hate you? J, he loves you. Sometimes even more than us!" Simon told me. "Yeah, right." J replied. "It's true. You were the one who calmed him down last night." Theodore noted. "And Alvin whimpered when you left him to talk to Simon and didn't stop fussing until you came back." Dave added. "If he was upset because you left him for ten minutes, he would die if he never saw you again." Simon pointed out. They reached the top of the stairs and heard sobs coming from their room.
J entered the room and ran to the weeping Alvin. She tried to hug him but he jerked away and hid under the covers. "And that's my proof. I knew he'd hate me. I'm leaving... and never coming back!" J got up, crying, and went for the portal. Alvin heard her and shot up and screamed, "Wait what?! No, you can't... I don't ha- J, come back!" His headband gave him a migraine and he fell back onto the pillow, sobbing with pain and sadness and confusion.
J turned back and ran to him; so did the others. She sat on his bed and took off the headband, relieving the pain. J snuggled him. "You can talk again." He said, "Don't leave. I-I love you" She put him down. "What happened to you is my fault. I'm screwing up your lives by coming through that portal every day. If I leave, there's less of a risk of anyone getting hurt." J told him. "Please stay. We love you." He begged. "If I do I'll ruin your lives." I said. "If you leave, it'll ruin our lives." Simon said.
"I already told you I'd leave when Alvin got better, Simon. He's better now, isn't he? I always thought that seeing you guys would be awesome. And it was. I love you all but I'm doing this so no more fanfictions become fan non-fictions..." I kept talking about why I need to leave. The chipmunks looked at each other and nodded. They jumped onto me. Alvin and Simon kissed my cheeks and Theodore kisses my forehead. I stopped talking and they hopped back to Alvin's bed. "You know, that's a really nice way of telling me to shut up." J giggled.
"I'd rather be sick the rest of my life than lose you. I remember thinking you hated me once or twice and I absolutely lost it." Alvin said. "I remember that. I'd never hate you, though. I was just mad. I didn't like the things you did." J says. "Yeah, sorry about that. But that's not the point. The point is that I could never imagine my life without you." said Alvin. "None of us can." Theodore told her. "Will you please, please, please with a me on top, stay with us?" Alvin asked. "How can I say no?" J replied and everyone cheered. "But I have some questions that probably everyone else would like to know as well."
"Shoot." He said "What made you talk again?" J questioned. "I guess when something scared me more than what caused me to go into shock, it pulled me out of it." He answered. "What could have possibly scared you more than whatever caused you to go into shock?" J asked. "Losing you." He said and smiled, hugging her tightly. "And why would you ever think I hated you? I love you, J. You're my best friend." Happy tears filled J's eyes.
J was shocked that she was the one that cured him in a fanfiction that didn't even have an ending. "Oh, wow. I'm gonna be honest with you right now. When I came to the movie, I didn't think you'd get so attached to me as I've gotten to you. And I never expected to become your sister. But I loved you guys from day one and it's like an honor to be the one that cures you and creates an ending to this unfinished fanfiction." J said. "We loved you from day one too." Simon joined the hug as well as Theodore and Dave.
They pulled out of the hug. "Why did you to pull away from me when you were crying? I was only trying to help you." J asked. "Oh, uh..." Alvin didn't want to answer that one. Simon had an Idea why. Alvin was always strong. To break down in front of his brothers and sister was probably unbelievably humiliating and unthinkable.
"I think he was embarrassed." Simon said. "Why?" I asked. "Well, it's not very often we see him cry." Simon pointed out. "Yeah, but we never seen him cry the way he did last night." I said "We don't know what happened, but it's completely understandable he'd be shaken, humiliated and ashamed from it." Simon explained.
Alvin chuckled nervously and nodded pitifully. "Yeah." he said softly. "Awe, you don't hafta be. We're here for you. Remember what I told you earlier today?" J said. He nodded and replied, "Yeah, I never have to be embarrassed in front of you." Dave was curious. "And what made him embarrassed earlier?" He asked. Alvin opened his mouth to say something but J stopped him. "Up, up, up. We agreed we'd never speak of it again." she reminded him. "You think I'd actually tell? I was gonna lie" Alvin said "That's between me and her, Dave." Dave was still curious, but he decided to let it go.
"Last question. What the heck started all of this?" I questioned. "Oh, please no, no!" Alvin squealed. He began breathing heavily. "Calm down, baby. We need to know." I told him and stroked him. "Okay, okay. I just finished my paper route and it was dark. I walked home on the back road. And then, and then, and then..." Alvin's eyes widened and he began to cry again. "I'm sorry... J. I- I just can't." He hugged my waist.
dried his tears and patted his back. "I have another way to find out, but you have to keep still and think about what happened as best you can." I told him. "I have a flashback spell that I just developed." Alvin had his doubts but he nodded and thought about that night. I shrunk and touched Alvin's head as I jumped into his memory.
~Flashback~
Alvin was walking home on the back road when he came across something horrific. A man drinking beer was beating kids. They were screaming and crying. Some kids were injured, dying or dead! It was bloody and gruesome. Alvin was very frightened and started backing away from the scene.
The man spotted him "Hmm, Alvin Seville, major rock star. This ought a be fun." The man smirked and chased Alvin The man threw his beer bottle at him. Alvin got cut by the shattered glass and fell. The man picked him up by his tail and dropped him to the ground. He stepped on Alvin and beat him as he screamed bloody murder.
Alvin tried to escape several times but the abusive man was too strong. Alvin bit the man's blood- covered hands and took the chance to run away. The man hunted him down. Alvin had to go through the woods to get home.
Scraping himself on twigs and loose branches, Alvin ran as fast as he could. He had lost the man but still kept running. He ran out of energy and sat down for a while. Alvin heard someone coming and ran again. By the time he got home, he was scared, tired, and injured.
~End of Flashback~
J removed her hand and came back to reality. Alvin was crying and so was she. "Oh, Alvin." J hugged him, still shedding tears. "What happened?" Dave asked. J looked at everyone's worried faces. "It was horrid. Blood, death, suffering. He was drunk. I could see it in his eyes." she said, still weeping and held Alvin closer. "What?" Dave was really concerned. "He was beaten by a man, a drunk man killing kids with his bare hands. But Alvin managed to escape." J explained. She grew to normal size and wiped away her tears. "I thought I was gonna die." Alvin said, sobbing harder. They all hugged Alvin until he stopped crying. "But I'm okay now."
Alvin still had nightmares about the incident sometimes, but he was better. He even began being mischievous again, breaking things and pulling pranks. Everything was normal in the Seville household once again.
