Chapter 27: Trouble

LATER THAT EVENING

Simon waited until nightfall to return home. He snuck up into the tree house and pulled out a piece of paper and a pen he had in the back pocket from his jeans. Simon closed his eyes and remembered the conversation he had with Tom the night during the date he and Jeanette had. Both of them agreed that Renee was getting worse and they themselves weren't doing any better. They needed to get back to the island and fast.

After reopening his eyes, Simon then puts the piece of paper on the table beside him and with the pen in his right hand he began to write:

Dear family,

Please forgive me. I had no idea that I have changed so much. The recent actions I have taken do indeed prove that fact. I have behaved in an irrational and irresponsible manner. Without realizing it, I have become the very person that I once thought I'd never become.

Again, I'm sorry, but I have to leave you. For how long, I don't know. It is mainly the fact I am dying and so are Tom and Renee. We have to go to where we can survive until we can come up a cure for our problem. I apologize that I did not confront you with this news sooner, but I had no way of telling you.

Tom and Renee have been two of my closes friends and have been there for me more times then I can count. Now, I have to be there for them. I hope you would eventually understand someday, and if by fate I do not get see any of you again, I hope that you would remember me as the Simon I once was and not the Simon that I had become.

I love you all.

Simon.

P.S.

Please tell Jeanette that I'm sorry and that I love her!

After Simon looked over the letter, and feeling completely satisfied with what he has written, he crept down from the tree house and walked up to the back door to the kitchen. He was about to touched the doorknob when the kitchen light came on. Staying out of sight, Simon pecked in the door window and saw Dave getting something out of the fridge.

Simon leaned against the side of the house away from the door window. He felt so bad, pretty much every other day since he came home he and Dave fought. 'I disserve to die after the way I've acted to my family.' He thought as he hung his head in shame.

As soon as Dave left to go back upstairs, Simon crept inside and up to the fridge and took one of the magnets and stuck the letter under it. Then he slowly moved towards the basement door and opened it to go downstairs. He walked up to the brick wall to move some of the loose bricks. Simon pulled out some money he had saved from his childhood. He counted up to $345.00 in cash. 'Amazing Alvin never found out about my secret hiding spot. After all of these years it's still here!' Simon pondered proudly. He quickly placed the brick back on its spot and grabbed his jacket from the couch where he tossed last night before sitting down with Jeanette. Then he crawled out the window and ran off to meet Tom and Renee.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

20 MINUTES LATER

Simon met his friends at the train station. They waited until the guard was out of sight a leapt into one of the car trains before it started to move out.

Inside the car the three friends smiled at their success on getting their first ride towards their destination. Renee's smile turned into a frown. The boys could tell that was in pain.

"You better take something to numb that pain!" Tom suggested.

Simon handed a bottle of rum he had in his bag, but Renee refused it and pulled out a joint from her pocket.

"This works a lot better!" Renee smirked. She lights it up and takes a deep inhale. Then She looks up at her love and her friend and exhales the substance. Almost immediately, she began to feel better.

Renee handed the joint to Tom and he accepted knowing all to well he was in great pain and was trying not to show it. After joining Renee in the bliss of the numb feeling the joint provided, he then looked at Simon. Tom knew even though Simon was trying not to show it either, he was in considerable about of pain and tried to numb it with the rum.

Tom showed him the joint and Simon froze. Simon wasn't thrilled with becoming an alcoholic and a smoker; the last thing he wanted was to get into drugs except that one time 'vacation' they had on the island. He was also shocked that Tom would suddenly start taking drugs too.

"I know what you're thinking, and this stuff does work better. Especially when you are in considerable amount of pain. I also know that you're in pain, Simon! You could never fool me!" Tom assured him. "Please, Simon! I'm worried about you!"

After thinking about it, Simon decided that he couldn't take the pain and accepted the joint. What else did he have to lose? He may not even live for much longer anyway. He moved the marijuana up to his lips and inhaled deeply and aloud the substance to take effect, then exhaled slowly.

A few hours later the train had stopped the three teens exited it and found themselves in a nearby field. They lied down and watched the stars. As Simon watched the stars he realized that they seemed to dance. This defiantly was an interesting experience. A shooting star screamed by the sky, and the enhanced beauty that the drug created took him by surprise.

"Whoa!" He let out a dreamy whisper.

"Not bad! My brain almost feels normal." Tom replied as he closed his eyes and welcomed the silence that was coming from his once active mind.

Simon looked over and noticed that Renee was already asleep and then looked over at Tom and could see that he was almost asleep. He then decided to close his eyes and let his conciseness drift off to sleep as well.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

EARLY NEXT MORNING AT THE POLICE STATION

Costar arrives to work before McCormick and helps himself to some freshly made coffee. He then makes his way back to his desk to surf through more files on their case. When he looks up he notices someone strange is just walking away from his desk…feeling a little suspicious with this person he calls out to him. "Hey! Hey, what do you think your doing?"

Apparently the stranger did not hear him; Costar puts down his cup of coffee on the nearest desk and follows him. The stranger quickly turned the corner then simply disappeared in a section of a hallway that apparently had many officers walking up and down the corridor. "Hey," Costar calls out to a female officer that walked in his direction. "You by chance haven't seen a suspicious looking man in a dark suit, have you?"

"No sir. I haven't!" The officer announced before she headed down the hallway again. Costar stood dumbfounded to what just accrued then decides to make his way back to his desk, but not before reclaiming his cup of coffee he placed on one of the other officer's desk. There he noticed an envelope sitting neatly on his desk and Costar raised an eyebrow. Curiosity being the better of him he opens the envelope and pulls out the paper inside.

To his surprise it read: We've convinced the doctors to use the cure. Find the kids, time is running out!

Costar looks up and saw McCormick walking in. "Just in time!" He calls out to her.

"Huh?" She looked up at him with eyes that looked half awake. McCormick started to take off her jacket with Costar stopped her from doing so. "Leave your coat on, partner, we are heading out!"

"Heading out?"

"Yea, we need to get the kids… They need to get to the hospital as soon as possible, so they can receive the cure!"

"What?" All of a sudden things were happening too fast and not much that Costar was saying made much sense to her. Then it dawn on here what he might be saying. "The kids?" She said as she ran to keep up to her partner.

OoOoOoOoOoOo

Detective McCormick and Detective Costar run out of their car and up to the Seville's front door and knocked several times on it. Dave opened the door and almost looked surprised to see the detectives, considering the fact that he was about to called them.

"Mr. Seville? Is your son, Simon, home?" McCormick asked in a frantic tone.

"No…h-he left!" Dave replied solemnly, while still holding Simon's letter.

Both detectives looked at each other then at Dave.

"Mr. Seville, we need to talk!" Costar announced.

Ten minutes later there was another knock on the door of the Seville home. This time Alvin answered the door. Brittany came storming in with Jeanette and Eleanor not far behind.

"Where is he? Where is that lousy brother of yours?" Brittany demanded.

"Brittany, I'm not in the mood for this!" Alvin sighed, and then headed back into the kitchen where Dave and Theodore were talking with the detectives.

"So, you're saying the real reason why Simon believes he's dying is because of the brainwashing the kidnappers did on him. The cure will help him understand what is happening and come back to being the normal son?" Dave asked as he digested all of what the detectives said.

"I'm afraid so!" Costar answered solemnly.

"According to the resources that prefer to be nameless at this, say that what these children belief what is happening to them is actually killing them and it is. That is what happened to the other two chipmunk teens. They couldn't handle the pressures and voices planted in their brains." McCormack finished.

"Why didn't you mentioned any of this before, and if he did need a cure why wasn't anything done for it?" Dave asked angrily.

"Well, Mr. Seville," McCormick began to answer hesitantly. "A few days before we raided the island where your son was kept, one of the original kids that was kidnapped years ago, got arrested in Seattle. When Costar and I went to investigate and questioned her, she handed me two envelopes one had the directions to where the Island was and also had instructions on how to create a cure for the kids' condition. The other envelope is meant for the survivor's eyes only, after they had received the cure…so I kept that one out of sight and safe until I could give it to the children. Unfortunately, when we brought the news of this cure to the doctors they insisted in testing it before even telling anyone. We honestly didn't expect them to take this long before allowing the cure to be announced."

She stopped for a moment to regret telling them anything, especially know realizing that the only survivors and also the only ones that can truly tell what was going on the island are dying off.

"I feel so bad on what's happening, we were hoping that we aren't too late!" She finally finished. "So many people died on this case already, including the girl that risked everything to give us the information.

"I don't believe it," Brittany was shocked.

"It's ok, Brittany." Jeanette said.

"Well, where is he? Where is Simon?" Brittany asked to Alvin and his family.

"We don't know. He left sometime last night with Tom and Renee." Alvin answered in a sad tone.

"Yes, we just came from their homes…" Costar admitted. "I just wish I knew where they went?"

"They are heading back to the island!" Jeanette whispered just loud enough for everyone to hear.

Everyone's attention turned to Jeanette. "How do you know this?" McCormick asked.

"I talked to them the other night. Renee was the one that told me that they were dying from a chemical imbalance in their brain. She said that they could survive on the island until they can create a cure!"

"This could pose as a problem." McCormick stated. "We do have a cure for their condition. And according to the notes that we've received, we don't have much time to find Simon and his friends."

"Is there anything we can do to help?" Brittany looked up at the detectives with pleading eyes.

"There is one thing you girls can do for us." McCormick said, sitting up. "Wait at home. If for some reason Simon happens to call I want you to call us immediately! We will trace the call and find him and his friends and bring them home." She then turned to Dave and the boys. "The same goes for you too, Mr. Seville." The chipmunk detective handed both Dave and Brittany a card with her name and phone number on it.

"Of course!" Dave responded while accepting on of the detective's card.

"We'll head back to the station and send out an APB to all the police stations across America and even Canada." Costar announces. "If by chance, anyone spots them they could catch them. We can then bring them back here, hopefully in time, for the cure."

As the detectives leave, Alvin follows them to the door. "Detective?"

"Alvin?" McCormick suddenly remembered the same little chipmunk boy she reassured over five years ago. "I know I've said this to you before, but I promise, I'll bring your brother home safely!"

Alvin looked into the detectives' eyes and saw that they were determined to succeed. This boosted Alvin's confidence and gave her a brave smile. "Thanks!"

He watched the detectives enter their car and drive off then he closed the door and rejoined his shaken up family in the kitchen.