Chapter 9: It's Not a Dream

THE NEXT MORNING

The morning light crept into the boys' bedroom and Alvin slowly opened his eyes. The first thing he noticed was his brother, Theodore sleeping peacefully under his covers. Alvin rolled over to see is other brother, Simon doing the same. Quietly, Alvin got up and walked over to have a good look at his long lost brother.

Simon was sleeping on his back; his covers were down across his waist his right arm levitated above his head exposing the inside of his arm. His left hand rested comfortably over his stomach and his head slightly facing Alvin. A soft hum came from him as he breathed soundly as he slept. Alvin watched his brother while he slept and smiled at the sight of the earring still dangling from his left ear. Shaking his head he still couldn't believe that Simon had that done. It also made him wonder what other changes, besides growing out his hair, Simon undergone. Alvin decided to just pull up the covers from Simon's waist up to his shoulders; that was when he noticed a horrifying sight. There were scars on the inside of his wrist.

"Alvin, what are you doing?" Theodore whispered from behind.

Alvin spun his head to see Theodore sitting up in his bed. "I was just tucking Simon in. He really looks like he needs as much rest as he can get." He said trying not to look worried about Simon's scars.

Theodore nodded in agreement and the two of them got dressed and went downstairs to make breakfast.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

HOURS LATER

Simon slowly opens his eyes, and at first he was not sure where he was. His first thoughts were that he was still on the Island and that he dreamt that he was at home again. With a jolt he sat up thinking he had missed the bell for his first 'class' of the day. It wasn't until he smelled the familiar smells then remembered that indeed he was home. He let out a breath of relief and began to stretch the kinks from his back. He almost felt like a new person.

Afterwards he reached for his glasses on the same table he had always placed them as a child. He can hear his family talking downstairs the smell of someone baking in the kitchen hit his nose. This had to be the best feeling he felt in a very long time. Simon got out of bed and knowing that all of his old cloths won't fit him anymore he decided to put his uniform on.

He was about to put on his tie and vest, out of pure habit, when he realized that it wasn't necessary. Simon took them off and with a smirk on his face he threw them in the trash basket sitting beside his old desk.

As Simon walked down the stairs, with hair neatly combed, he can hear Alvin and Dave arguing.

"Alvin, for the last time, you are not an earring!"

"But Dave! If Simon can look cool with an earring, think how much cooler I'll look with one?"

"Alvin, I said no!"

Simon stifled a sneaker behind hand so he could not be heard. He felt honored that Alvin liked his new look and the fact that he's now begging Dave if he could get an earring too, humoured him. 'God, I missed being home.' he thought.

"Good morning!" Simon said with a smile as soon as he walked into the kitchen.

"Morning?" Alvin said nearly laughing at his almost never tardy brother. "It's nearly two o'clock in the afternoon!"

Simon's eyes suddenly became wide and his mouth hung open. "I-I'm sorry!" He said with a guilty look on his face.

Dave began to laugh, "Don't worry about it, Simon! You looked like you really needed the rest."

Simon still couldn't help but to feel bad. It is true that he just had the best sleep he had in years, but he didn't mean to sleep for twenty hours. He let out a sigh and sat down at the table where Dave and Alvin sat.

"Are you hungry, Simon?" Theodore asked, bringing a plate of waffles to the table and placed them in front of Simon. "We saved you some blueberry waffles from breakfast. They are your favorite if I remember correctly."

Simon didn't answer; he just stared at the plate of waffles with a nervous look on his face. His thoughts went back to the time when he received his first meal on the Island.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

THREE HOURS AFTER SIMON'S FIRST CLASS ON THE ISLAND

Tom and Brian led Simon into what looked like a cafeteria. They were handed metal plates and some green slop.

"What is this stuff?" Simon asked, while giving a discussed look at his plate. When he didn't receive an answer he looked up to his new friends who seemed to be looking for someone.

Tom notices a female chipmunk with red hair waving her hand at them. "This way!" He whispered, as he walked towards the table he was followed by Brian. Simon lets out a sigh and follows.

When the boys reach the table, Tom introduces Simon to the two chipmunk girls sitting across from each other. "Simon, this is Renee and Brenda!" He said as he took a seat beside the red head.

"Hi!" Said Brenda, the female with blond hair and square shaped glasses.

"Welcome to Hell, Simon!" Renee, the red haired girl said with a sarcastic grin.

Simon couldn't help but to agree with Renee. He sat down between Brenda and Brian and placed his dish of slop in front of him. "So…what is this stuff?" He asked again nervously.

The four kids looked knowingly at each other then at Simon with concern.

"The Dean gave you a needle shot before coming here, right?" Tom asked.

"Yea!" Simon replied rubbing the spot on his arm where he was pricked.

"Well…what they do while you're under the sedative, is that they also inject you with a chemical that will increases your brain activity. You've must have noticed that during the test this afternoon, haven't you?"

Simon went pale as he remembered how he whiz through the multi difficult questions that would originally take him hours or maybe even days to solve. "Yea!" He slowly answered Tom.

"The only problem with this drug is that it has our brain going on over-drive eventually you will start hearing thoughts of everyone here on the Island, believe me some of the people here you *don't* want to know what goes on in their minds." Tom cringes before continuing. "It also causes problems with our digestive system, we can't eat regular food and the only thing that keeps our brains stable and nutrition in our bodies is this stuff." He finished as he pointed at his food.

"In other words, if you don't want to die of a slow and painful death, you'd better get use to this stuff!" Brian said with grim look.

Simon swallowed hard; he did not like the sound of any of this. "But, why are they doing this? How do we get home?" He asked.

"We're not sure, exactly!" Brenda said, in an English accent. "All we know is that these blokes kidnap the brightest young minds around the world and has brought them here." She then looked over her shoulder then back to Simon. "But I did hear through the thoughts from of some of the students that the only way off this Island and back home is…death!" She finishes in a whisper.

All five chipmunks looked at each other in shear terror. The thought of this made it very uncomfortable to be here. All of them wished to be home right now.

Just then a man came into the cafeteria and announced that everyone is to be quiet and eat his or her meal. The only sound after that was the sound of forks scraping against the metal plates. Simon finally gave in and stuck his fork in the green slop. As he swallowed the stuff a discussed look became noticeable on his face.

"Don't worry, Simon, you'll get use to the taste." Tom whispered.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Simon…Oh, Simon!" Alvin said, while snapping his fingers at his brothers' face.

"Huh?" Simon shook the cobwebs out from his head and turned to his brother.

"Are you alright, Simon?" Dave asked with concern.

"Yea, you've haven't touched your waffles yet!" Theodore added.

"What's the matter, Simon you forgotten how to eat?" Alvin asked sarcastically.

Simon didn't mean to glair at his brothers comment, it was just a natural reflex of his that he had towards Alvin.

"Al-viin!" Dave said in a semi angry tone.

Simon took a deep breath. Even though he knew he wasn't suppose to, Simon decided to try and eat the waffles. He took the fork that was lying beside his plate and cut the corner of a waffle and carefully placed it in his mouth. Simon chewed and allowed his taste buds to savour the sensation of the flavour of real food. After chewing for a bit, he finally swallows and waits for a bit. 'Nothing,' he thought. Simon figured it wouldn't hurt to try for another bit.

"Ah, Simon?" Dave said, breaking the tension from the room. "We were just talking and perhaps when you've finished your waffles we could take you to the mall and get you new cloths! What do you say?"

Simon swallows his second mouthful, looks up at Dave and replies. "Sure, sounds great!" Then he looks down back at his food and carefully tears another corner and places it in his mouth. As soon as he swallowed the third bit he had an unsettling feeling creeps up in his stomach. 'This defiantly does not feel right!' Simon thought as he puts the fork down on the plate and wipes his face with a napkin. "I'm done!" He announced.

Alvin, Theodore and Dave all looked at him with total shock. They thought he would be starving and polishes that plate clean then ask for seconds at least.

"But you've barely touched it!" Dave said, in a worried tone.

Simon was starting to really feel his stomach turn, he knew he had to get to the bathroom and fast. He started to get up. "I-I-I'm sorry! I'll be right back!"

He left the kitchen and hurried upstairs, ran through the bedroom he shares with his brothers and made it to their bathroom in time. After his meal was fully rejected, Simon flushed the toilet and took off his glass to rinse his face. He reached for a towel and dried his fur and placed his glasses back on his face. He looked at himself in the mirror and for an instant he saw himself as a 10 year old, when he shook the image from his mind he then saw him self as he is now, a 15 year old. It wasn't till then that he had really noticed the major change he went threw in the past five years.

He didn't know what to think about himself and the change of his appearance…he hated the fact that his life had turned upside-down in such a dramatic way. How has this really affected him and his family? Simon glared at his image. For some reason this person in the reflection just wasn't really 'him'. He wondered where the 'real' Simon had gone to, and if he were to ever come back. But then he remembered that the 'real' Simon was already dead. Simon knew he had to get tough in order to withstand the torture he went through.

As Simon came out of the bathroom he saw Alvin standing at the door of the bedroom with a worried look on his face. "Are you alright, Simon?"

Simon tried to avoid looking into Alvin's eyes and reached for his jacket. "Yea, I'm fine; I just came up to get my jacket!"

Alvin knew he was covering up on what just happened, but decided not to pressure his brother, so he would allow it to slide. "Alright then, you're ok to go shopping, aren't you?"

"Of course! I'm looking forward in getting some new cloths!" Simon said trying not to look like he'd just threw up and puts a smile on his face to prove that everything was ok. "Come on, let's go!" He cheers as he heads for the door.

Alvin shook his head and followed his brother down the stairs.