Thank you for the stable and consistant reviews Nikki and Dice. It makes my day a little brighter hearing your takes on the story. And Nikki, what you said in the review is inthis chapter. :P
As for review bitching, I'm going to try to tone it down. Yes, I really would love other people's feedback, but screaming "Review peoples!!" might be a little bit of an off putter. So I'm going to chill on the review demanding, however, reviews are still greatly appreciated. :(
Anyways, 'good morning.' I know last chapter I said I would release this 'tomorrow morning' but I slept late. It's still morning though on the Pacific Coast, so it all depends on your time zone. :P
Since this is a short chapter, I may release Chapter 9, but it all depends on how I feel when I get home from work later today. If I get more than the two usual reviews, I may release it as early as eight, but otherwise, I haven't decided whether or not to release it tonight or early tomorrow morning.
Anyways, cheers, enjoy the chapter.
-Narf
-------------------Chapter 8: Theodore's Awakening------------------
Simon literally scrambled over to Theodore's side the second he heard the stir. Alvin nearly leapt off of the stairs. Even Brittany perked up a little bit, and began to walk a little bit into the living room.
Fritzie's eyes widened. She could sense that he was no longer asleep. "I think he's coming out of it now." she said with a gasp. Almost instinctively, she tried to get up, but halfway in, she sat back down and yipped a little bit. "Ow, okay, ow. You win, not moving, damn it." she whined. She didn't want to be where she was, but her choices were sort of limited.
Simon gently held Theodore's hand. He had no idea how much pain his baby brother would be in, but he was confident it wasn't going to be merely like a bee sting.
Theodore slowly started coming to his senses. The last thing he remembered was that he was trying to run back for the sidewalk from something... a car? He remembered the headlights, and how he was shielding his eyes from them. There was a dull pain coming from his head, his stomach, and his left leg. He drifted out of consciousness slightly.
Since Fritzie was mainly incapacitated, she began to think again about who this Eleanor actually was. She then remembered seeing another female chipmunk, one who was pretty pudgy, with light hair and pigtails, and more notably, a large striped tie.
"Erm, Brittany, if you don't mind me asking you something." Fritzie said quietly. Brittany turned and faced Fritzie.
Brittany didn't even pay attention to the obvious fact that she was a talking anthropomorphic dog, but she heard her name called. "Hm?" she hummed quietly.
"What does this Eleanor look like anyways? I assume that she's your sister, but that might be just an assumption. And um, please, I need physical features, I don't understand what colors are. Just because I can see in color now doesn't mean I always could."
Theodore began to come to again. He vaguely heard Eleanor and the wheels started turning a little bit.
"Yes, she is my sister." she said with much effort. She began to notice what she was talking to. A talking dog? She would have to think about this later. "And she, uhm, has very light hair, with pigtails... and she has like a schoolgirl's outfit, with a tie and a poofy skirt. She's also short, shorter than me."
Instant description match. Fritzie's eyes went wide. "I... I think I saw her, on my way here. She was skipping her way into town." Kind of funny how she seen that. She thought of a female chipmunk as a small oddity in itself, and thats why Eleanor caught her eye. Perhaps she could shed light on the situation a bit.
Brittany suddenly went from depressed to total shock. A talking dog just told her that she seen her sister skipping to town. The realization was too overwhelming to her, and she suddenly became totally emotionless.
Fritzie grinned sheepishly. "I guess that must've been Eleanor then."
Theodore heard the second Eleanor loud and clear, and began to wake himself up pretty fast. Perhaps, a little too fast.
"Eleano-" Theodore started saying, a little worriedly, but couldn't finish what he was saying. The pain in his leg and head were blinding, and Theodore lost what little vision he regained back since waking up. He squeaked loudly gripping whatever was in his arms incredibly tightly. He began to roll over slightly on his side but felt the edge of the couch and rolled back. He wrinkled his face in stress.
'Well, I'm not in the hospital, that's for sure.' he thought to himself, noting what felt like the living room couch.
Alvin scrambled over to the couch. He looked up at Simon in a slight panic then down at Theodore again and backed up slightly. He didn't want to do anything stupid, particularly now.
Simon cringed a little bit, then let go of Theodore's hand. He immediately began fumbling around the bottle of aspirin he had stuffed in his pocket. He shakily took two out and put the bottle on the coffee table.
"Theodore?" Simon said quietly, a tinge of relief in his voice. "Can you hear me? It's Simon."
Theodore grunted and lightened up the tension in his face slightly. He managed to get a weak nod in there. Simon sighed.
"It'll be alright, I have some pain killers in my hand and Dave is on his way home now. Can I help you into a little bit of a sitting position, so you can take them?" he said, looking at the aspirin in his hand. He looked at Alvin briefly, at his hand again, then back at Alvin.
It took a second, but Alvin knew what Simon was trying to say and nodded. He didn't want to be the gopher, but now was definitely not a time to complain. He sighed a little bit, then got up and grabbed another glass of water from the kitchen. Before he came back though, he ran upstairs with the glass of water in his hand and searched around for a green baseball cap.
Theodore nodded lightly, then opened his eyes again. His vision was totally fogged up, so he couldn't see a thing. Simon helped him up enough so that he could help him take the pain medicine, but noticing that Alvin wasn't coming back from the water. He gritted his teeth. He didn't want to have Theodore wait any longer than he absolutely had to.
After a few seconds, Alvin couldn't find it right then and there and realized he was supposed to give Theodore water, not look for a hat. He ran down the stairs and quickly handed Simon the water.
"Sorry, was looking for something, should have given you this first." he said quickly and abruptly before running back towards the stairs..
Simon just shook his head, but smiled and took the drink. 'He's being awfully polite now. I wonder what could be so important upstairs, though.' he thought to himself, then gently started helping Theodore take the medicine.
Alvin ran back up the stairs and began trying to think where he could have hidden the hat. Theodore was an expert at finding most things, but Alvin must have hidden the hat in a clever spot. A flashback came back to him.
"I'm the only one in this house that deserves to wear a cap in this house!" Alvin grumbled, snatching Theodore's brand new cap. It was on backwards, trying not to look like Alvin. Theodore sighed and looked sadly at Alvin. Simon clenched his fists.
"Alvin, no you aren't!" Simon growled furiously. Alvin poked his lip with one of his fingers. He thought to himself and nodded, but didn't give Theodore the hat back.
"Oh, right, sorry," he said sarcastically, "Dave can wear one too. He's our dad after all."
Simon let out a world class growl, and began to step forward to hit Alvin, but Theodore gently pushed Simon back. He shook his head no.
"It's okay Simon. As much as I would like the hat, I don't need it. If he feels so strongly against it, let him. I'll just, think of something else. That's all." Theodore sighed. He wanted the hat badly and he knew it, but with Alvin, now grinning at the fact that he won, he knew that it probably wouldn't happen. He sat on the edge of his bed. Perhaps he would go try to find where Alvin will end up hiding it in a couple of days.
Alvin began to feel incredibly guilty. It took something serious to happen to his baby brother to finally show some well deserved compassion. He made a silent vow to himself to make it up to Theodore.
He looked under his bed. Inside a cleverly cut hole in his box-spring mattress, he pulled out a green hat. A little dusty and covered with link, but still looked almost new. He brushed the fuzz off of it.
He then figured while he was up here, he might as well change out of his nightwear. He was beginning to feel hot with it on, so he took off his huge red turtle-neck off, and changed into his normal school clothes. He didn't quite want to put the sweater back on, but he stuck the hat in the pocket of it, and folded it up crudely, then went back down the stairs.
After Theodore finished downing the aspirin, Simon eased him back to laying down. "I-I h-h-h-home?" Theodore stammered uneasily. He wasn't aware of anything after seeing the headlights. If he was hit by a car, why was he inside the house, and in less pain than the already extreme pain he was getting in his head and left leg. It still wasn't any kind of pain that he felt before, and he still instinctively wanted to clutch his leg, but he was too weak to move. The ice packs were helping the situation out slightly, but not much. "Wh-wh-wha h-hoppent?"
"Simon, I don't mean to interrupt or anything, but can you please help me move over next to the couch? I can't take it anymore! I know I can't do much to help, but I still want to comfort him. I really feel bad." Fritzie said quietly. She never got to talk to Theodore at all yet.
"Unh, nh, wh-who-who's dat?" Theodore mumbled weakly.
"Just a second Theodore, I'll explain it as understandable as I can after I move Fritzie over to you. She's a very important friend of ours." Simon said reassuringly to Theodore, hurrying over to Fritzie for a moment and helping her move over to the couch. Fritzie felt extremely dizzy moving, but with Simon's help, she sat down in front of the couch and leaned on another part of the coffee table.
"W-wh-what's a F-Fritzie?" Theodore stammered.
Simon brushed Theodore's hair fringe out of his eyes a bit. His hair was wet, and he looked absolutely miserable. Simon tried real hard not to look away, it was awful. "When you fell out onto the road, Fritzie here saw you and got you out of the way just barely before the car hit you. If it wasn't for her... I- couldn't imagine what would have happened, and truthfully, I don't want to either." he explained to him quietly. Theodore turned his head and tried to get a good look at Fritzie who was now sitting in front of him. He could only make out colorful blobs now.
"Hi." Fritzie said shyly. She warmly grabbed Theodore's hand.
Theodore squeezed the hand gently. It didn't feel like a chipmunk's or a human's hand, but rather a soft and furry one. He didn't quite understand it, but it felt warm and gentle, and it made him feel a little bit better. Obviously this thing was very friendly. He rubbed the tears out of his eyes to see if it would clear his vision up a little bit better. It worked out quite well. He took a good look at Fritzie.
He blinked dumbly at the sight of the terrier in front of him. Fritzie's ears dropped.
'Oh, no, is he going to pull the 'but you're a dog routine' with me?' she thought to herself, with a glint of fear in her eyes. Theodore noticed that she began to be a little bit startled. He eased up a little, and instead, made a painful smile.
Theodore remembered very briefly seeing a dog down the road when he was in a frenzy looking around of Eleanor. He didn't pay any attention to it all about it, but seeing her here, he began to try to connect with what happened. He apparently wasn't hit by the car, so that only meant that Fritzie tackled him as hard as she could to get him out of the way. He looked at his leg, then at Fritzie again. It all made sense now. 'That must have been one hell of a tackle.' he thought to himself. Considering that him and his brothers were talking chipmunks, he didn't even think twice about her species from that point on. She was a friend. He cleared his throat.
"Thank you." he said shyly with as least a painful of a smile as possible.
Fritzie nodded and grinned. She was a bit relieved that he didn't pull the 'you're a dog' routine, which meant that he was as nice and polite as they really said that he was.
"And the more ironic thing of them all, remember that contest that Dave offered to us?" Simon said with a grin. Theodore looked dumbly at Simon.
"I see you do now." Theodore said dryly. Simon looked at Theodore puzzlingly.
"You mean, you remembered it this whole time?" Simon asked him dumbly. He felt so ashamed for being so ignorant.
"Why do you think I was so cheerful this morning?" Theodore said bluntly. Simon hung his head a little bit, but then perked up again.
"Well, I kind of learned the hard way." Simon said shyly. Theodore shook his head.
"Why? Is the winner here!?" Theodore said rushedly, lifting his head up and looking around the room. He noticed Brittany standing rather motionless in the corner. He figured that Fritzie was one of the neighbor's dogs.
"Why do you think I'm here?" Fritzie said glumly. Theodore gazed at Fritzie and thought for a second. Then his eyes lit up.
"Wow." he said in total amazement. He didn't quite believe what he was hearing. He was waiting for his hero? He saddened up again. "Heh, um, s-sorry to make you go through this. Are y-you okay?"
Fritzie warmly put her hand on his arm. "It's you I'm more concerned about. I got a few nasty knockouts, but I gone and came back from them before you even woke up. I'll be fine, just give me a day or two."
Alvin came back down the stairs. He changed his clothes and was coming down with his sweater folded up a bit. He beckoned for Simon to come over.
"I'll be right back, I think Alvin wants to talk to me in private." Simon grumbled, rolling his eyes. Fritzie closed her eyes and began channeling her excellent hearing into good use.
After both Alvin and Simon were on the other side of the house, Alvin began digging around in his sweater.
"Now what do you want?" Simon groaned. He didn't have time for one of Alvin's mind games.
"How bad does his head hurt?" Alvin replied. Simon gave him a confused look.
"Pretty bad, why, what does that have to do with anything?" Simon said, rolling his eyes. Alvin pulled the green cap out of his sweater's pocket.
"I'm trying to decide on a decent time to just stick this back on his head."
Simon went wide-eyed. These random acts of kindness were almost astounding. Did he really feel bad about the stuff that he's done recently? "Are you being serious about this?" Simon whispered happily.
"If I wasn't, then I wouldn't have asked you to talk to me in privacy." Alvin whispered. He obviously wanted this to be a secret for now. Simon jumped up and hugged Alvin.
"I'll help you do the vacation's history project and all of your math homework next week." he said excitedly. In the last twenty minutes, Alvin made Simon go from totally pissed to extremely grateful. Alvin raised an eyebrow, but it didn't change the solemn expression on his face. Alvin would probably bother him about the remark later, but for now, he was more worried about other things. "And I won't tell Theodore about you're little surprise gift. How about that?"
"The secret is all I care about this second, but I'm not going to forget about the homework offer. It might help out tonight, actually." Alvin said, rolling his eyes up in thought.
"You're planning a revenge already?" Simon said, a little surprised.
"Sort of... but not in depth just yet. Can't blame me, can you?"
Simon looked up towards the ceiling. Revenge sounded awesome this time, somehow. "Not one bit." Simon said with a grin. "Let's go back into the living room, we have two injured comrades in the house, and Brittany doesn't look so good either.
"Right." Alvin said with a little enthusiasm. He had a feeling him and Simon were going to cooperate quite nicely for a while. It felt, righteous.
Simon ran back hurriedly to where Theodore and Fritzie were. Fritzie looked up and smiled at Simon. She heard the whole thing, she just didn't know what this said 'surprise gift' was. It had to be something significant though. She didn't say a word, but she looked at Simon and winked. Simon looked at Fritzie in confusion. She rubbed one of her ears, then rolled her eyes towards her ear, and nodded. Simon darted a look at his feet, then at Alvin, then at Fritzie again, then looked at her like she heard them. Fritzie nodded, but bit her lip.
Theodore sighed. He knew that Simon and Alvin were planning something, and they weren't going to tell him because they didn't want him to worry. He began to wonder how long would it take for Dave to get home.
Fritzie looked over her shoulder and out the window. She could hear a car coming. A car pulled into the driveway, and abruptly stopped, and a man ran straight for the house. "Boys! Fellas!" a voice yelled out from by the doorway.
"Dave!" Alvin, Simon and Theodore called in unison. Then Theodore broke down and started crying.
And that's a wrap for Chapter 8! Stay tuned for... whenever I release Chapter 9. I eagerly await your reviews, if any aside from the usuals...
(Love you guys, not trying to downplay you. :P)
