Chapter 6: Midnight Snack!
Simon sat at the kitchen table with his left arm leaning on the table and his left hand holding up his head. He took a sip of water from the glass and thought about the dream he just had. He doesn't remember much of any dreams or nightmares he had the last couple of years since being home. But according to his brothers, he would wake up almost every night kicking and screaming from a nightmare. Apparently they started sometime during the time when their mom came to visit a week after Tom and Renee's funeral.
When he'd scream their mother and Dave would rush in and it seemed that only Vinny would be able to bring him out of the kicking and screaming fit he would have during his nightmare trance. Simon remembered that he'd sneak outside after everyone was back asleep and started to have a smoke. Then he would go down to the basement to have a couple of drinks from his secret stash of booze.
He still would have a strong urge to have a smoke and a stiff drink, especially now, but felt that he would try and tough it out. After coming this far, he decided not to throw away all his efforts because of a dream.
After going to the councillor, his nightmarish dreams are now much easier to just wake up from. It will be some time for Simon to relax enough is able to go back to sleep, but at least he isn't waking up the whole house with his constant screaming from these nightmares.
He took off his glasses and began to rub the temples on the side of his head. Unaware of two figures entering the kitchen, Simon placed his glasses back on his face and became startled by the presents of his brothers.
"*Gasp* what are you guys doing down here?"
"We thought you might want to talk?" Theodore said in a soft reassuring voice.
"What's there to talk about? I had a nightmare and I'm trying to get my mind off of it, so I could go back to sleep!" Simon replied, while rubbing the corners of his eyes.
"Still, we figured you might want company!" Alvin said as he sat by his troubled brother.
"In other words, you came down to make sure I would not sneak any booze, or sleeping pills, or having a cigarette." Simon scowled.
"No, that's not it at all!" Alvin protested.
"Oh, please." Simon complained rolling his eyes upward.
As Alvin and Simon started to argue, Theodore really began to notice the major changes his smart brother undergone. First he remembered the logic- minded brother that was always there for his siblings. Then his heart sank as he remembered the horrible day when he was taken away from the family, how sad Theodore became when that happened.
Even food, the one thing that always made him feel better, just didn't seem to work. Theodore had lost so much weight and almost became as skinny as Alvin. Eventually Theodore ate again, but it still did not replace his brother that apparently was staying on an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Theodore then remembered how excited he was when he knew that Simon was returning home and how shocked he was to notice the change in appearance he made.
Theodore's thoughts drifted back to the first time when it appeared that Simon was starting to get over depression. Their mother had stayed for a five months and finally went home figuring that her troubled son was doing fine. For a while it seemed that way, Simon smiled more and was being very helpful around the house. He even started to go back to school. Yes, things defiantly appeared to be returning to the way it was, until one day.
********
SIX MONTHS AFTER
TOM AND RENEE'S FUNURAL!
Theodore lied on his bed reading a book. He smiled feeling that his family was starting to return to normal. Simon defiantly started to look like he was letting go of his past and the friends he lost from the Island. His nightmares seemed to be calming down too. He hasn't had one for the last couple of nights now.
The chubby chipmunk sat so calmly, as he continued to read his book, that he nearly jumped out of his skin in shock when Simon entered the room. Simon came in with such force that he accidentally pushed the door a little to hard and it slammed against the wall.
"Oops!" Simon snickered. He then turned towards Theodore, whom know sitting up on his bed with a worried expression on his face. "Oh, hi Theo! Whazzup!" He said before snickering again at his own silliness.
"S-S-Simon?" Theodore started to say as he got off his bed and walked up to his unstable brother.
"That's my name, T-T-Theodore!" Simon again laughed.
"Are you DRUNK?" Theodore asked after smelling his breath.
"Oh, probably!" Simon yawned. "That's the problem when you drink a whole bottle of Whisky! If you drink too much of it, Eventually, you can get drunk! What a concept, huh?" He said with a smirk.
"B-but didn't you promise Dave that you wouldn't drink anymore? You use to never break your promises!"
"Well that was then!!" Simon spat in an angry tone. His expression then softens in a sadden manner as he realized whom he had been yelling at. Simon slowly walks up to his brother to give him a hug. "I'm sorry Theodore! Your such a good brother!"
Simon pulled away from the hug and staggers to his bed. He slowly crawls up and sits on the edge of the bed looking down on the floor. He started looking as depressed as he did during Tom and Renee's funeral. "Why? Why, did they take everything that I once was.? And turned me into." He paused to look at his hands, angrily. "This!!"
Simon then frowned and placed his head into his hands as the tears formed in his eyes. "You know, one morning you wake up, (sniff) and everything seems fine." He lifts his head to look at his concerned brother. "But the next day, you're back in the nightmare. The voices in my head. they tell me that. I am worthless. that I deserve to die. and th-that my time is almost up. I keep hearing them tell me that 'the project is over'.! I shouldn't even be here!" Simon's eyes began to widen as he said that. "They chase me in my dreams and sometimes I-I can feel them around me when I'm awake." Simon quickly turned as if he heard something in the corner of the room. He slowly turned back around and scowled, and then his eyes suddenly began to droop as if it was hard to stay awake. With a groan, he then began to lie down, and rested his head on the pillow. Slowly he closed his eyes and started to breath calmly.
"Simon. You're scaring me! What are you talking about?" Theodore said as the tears formed in his eyes.
Slowly Simon opened his eyes once more and looked up at his worried brother. "Oh, Theodore. Sweet, innocent, Theodore. Do me a favour? Don't let them take you away too!" He sighed as he again closed his eyes and immediately fell asleep.
"Simon?" Theodore asked. He soon realized that his brother past-out and was now asleep. After taking his blanket and covering him up, Theodore then removed Simon's glasses from his face. He then stood there for a bit and watched Simon sleep then he went back to his own bed and picked up his book. Eventually, Theodore went back to reading it, even though his thoughts were still on Simon whom was sleeping soundly in his bed.
---------
The next day, Theodore was in the kitchen looking for something to eat. Alvin comes storming in and looks at his chubby brother.
"Where is he?"
"You mean Simon?" Theodore asked innocently.
"Yes, I mean Simon! Dave is upset because he can't find his sleeping pills. They've disappeared a few nights ago, and he was wandering if Simon has seen them!"
"What makes you think Simon would know where Dave's pills would be?"
"Well, Dave was saying that Simon was with him when he put the pills in the medicine cabinet." Alvin explained.
"Still, I don't see why that would explain why Simon would know where the pills would be." Theo shook his head. There would be no reason why his brother would take anything of Dave's.
"Oh, don't tell me that you haven't noticed Simon's behaviour lately! If you ask me, I think he's been drinking again!"
Theodore swallowed a lump in his throat. He started remembering what happened last night when Simon came in the bedroom drunk. He then pointed towards the basement door. "I t-t-think he went downstairs."
Alvin didn't waist another minute he opened the door and started to go downstairs. "Simon.?" He said as he walked down the stairs. Half way down he spotted Simon on the couch. "There you are!" The first thing Alvin noticed was the bottle of Rum that was almost empty by the couch that Simon was past out on. "Sigh!" Alvin rolled his eyes skyward. "Oh, Simon! Dave is going to be so mad with you!"
That's when he also noticed a small bottle with a prescription label on it. It is lying opened by Simon's hand that is drooping over the side of the couch. Alvin picked up the small bottle and saw Dave's name on the label. It defiantly was the prescription pills that Dave has been looking for.
Alvin remembered the first year when Simon was kidnapped and how Dave had problems sleeping at night. His doctor prescribed the sleeping pills to him and that helped him to get the rest he needed to go back to work. Even though, Simon is back home, Dave still sometimes has problems sleeping. No doubt due to the nightmares Simon kept having.
Dave mentioned that he had bought a refill a few days ago, just before they disappeared. There was enough to last at least two months. When Alvin looked inside the bottle he noticed that it had only a few pills left. It didn't take a genus to figure out where the rest went. Alvin panicked as he dropped the small bottle and ran up to his brother.
"SIMON!!" Alvin screamed while trying to shake his brother violently in order to wake up. When he realized that wouldn't help he looked up at the door that lead to the kitchen. "Theodore!! Call 911, we need an ambulance and fast!!"
Theodore peered in to see what his brother was getting all excited for and realized the importance of the situation, he then ran to the phone. After that everything was a blur, but the ambulance came and got Simon to the hospital in time so the doctors were able to revive him before he was too far-gone.
********
Theodore looked at his brother and was glad that he decided to see a counsellor instead in going to a rehab clinic. That really helped him come back and be apart of the family again. He then started to think of a way that might help with his mood right now and found a solution. "You know what cheers me up when I'm upset?" Theodore began to chirp.
Both Alvin and Simon instantly stops arguing with each other and look up at their chubby sibling. With one eyebrow raised, Simon Replies. "Food?"
"Well, yea!" Theo blushed.
Simon thought for a moment. "Come to think of it, I am a bit hungry!"
"Me too!" Alvin added absent-mindedly. He had realized that he hadn't had much of anything to eat all day while recuperating from a hangover.
"Let me see if I could find something we could eat!"
Theodore proudly went into the fridge and cupboards and came back to the table with left over chicken legs, bread and a jar of peanut butter, an unfinished chocolate cake, and plates for them. After he grabbed some utensils to eat with. He then got three glasses and filled them up with milk. The three boys looked at their choices and grinned when they decided to go for the cake first. Each of them cut a piece of cake and placed it on their plates and ate it happily. It was rare that the three of them would do sneaky things, like having a midnight snack without Dave knowing, together. Of course they also knew that they would be dead tired in the morning for school, but that was not important. What was important was that they were enjoying themselves.
"Wow, we haven't done something like this in a long time." Theodore chirped.
"What? Having chocolate cake as a midnight snack?" Alvin asked.
"Well, that and in a sneaky manner. This cake *was* suppose to be for tomorrow night's dinner, you know."
"Ha, ha, ha. This will never compare to any of the crazy stunts Alvin would put us through!" Simon smirked.
"Hee, hee, oh yea!" Theo giggled.
"Hey, I take offence to that!" Alvin defended.
"Come on, Alvin.Don't play innocent with us. You were a terror as a child." Simon teased. Theodore started giggling harder.
Humph, you all would have had a boring childhood without me, so get over it!" Alvin said in a half joking, half snobby expression as he took another forkful of cake and placed it in his mouth.
"Sure, Alvin, sure!" Both Simon and Theodore chimed at once. Then they both started laughing harder. Alvin shook his head and smirked over this silliness.
Their fun was interrupted when they heard Dave entering into the kitchen. "Boys, what are you doing?"
"A communal connection with food! Also communally referred to as a midnight snack!" Simon said calmly.
Dave attempted to digest what Simon said, but quickly gave up. His thought patterns were currently still asleep. So he just shook his head and sighed. "Just make sure you clean up this mess before going back to bed!"
"Yes Dave!" All three boys chimed together. As soon as Dave left, all three boys looked at each other and laughed.
Simon sat at the kitchen table with his left arm leaning on the table and his left hand holding up his head. He took a sip of water from the glass and thought about the dream he just had. He doesn't remember much of any dreams or nightmares he had the last couple of years since being home. But according to his brothers, he would wake up almost every night kicking and screaming from a nightmare. Apparently they started sometime during the time when their mom came to visit a week after Tom and Renee's funeral.
When he'd scream their mother and Dave would rush in and it seemed that only Vinny would be able to bring him out of the kicking and screaming fit he would have during his nightmare trance. Simon remembered that he'd sneak outside after everyone was back asleep and started to have a smoke. Then he would go down to the basement to have a couple of drinks from his secret stash of booze.
He still would have a strong urge to have a smoke and a stiff drink, especially now, but felt that he would try and tough it out. After coming this far, he decided not to throw away all his efforts because of a dream.
After going to the councillor, his nightmarish dreams are now much easier to just wake up from. It will be some time for Simon to relax enough is able to go back to sleep, but at least he isn't waking up the whole house with his constant screaming from these nightmares.
He took off his glasses and began to rub the temples on the side of his head. Unaware of two figures entering the kitchen, Simon placed his glasses back on his face and became startled by the presents of his brothers.
"*Gasp* what are you guys doing down here?"
"We thought you might want to talk?" Theodore said in a soft reassuring voice.
"What's there to talk about? I had a nightmare and I'm trying to get my mind off of it, so I could go back to sleep!" Simon replied, while rubbing the corners of his eyes.
"Still, we figured you might want company!" Alvin said as he sat by his troubled brother.
"In other words, you came down to make sure I would not sneak any booze, or sleeping pills, or having a cigarette." Simon scowled.
"No, that's not it at all!" Alvin protested.
"Oh, please." Simon complained rolling his eyes upward.
As Alvin and Simon started to argue, Theodore really began to notice the major changes his smart brother undergone. First he remembered the logic- minded brother that was always there for his siblings. Then his heart sank as he remembered the horrible day when he was taken away from the family, how sad Theodore became when that happened.
Even food, the one thing that always made him feel better, just didn't seem to work. Theodore had lost so much weight and almost became as skinny as Alvin. Eventually Theodore ate again, but it still did not replace his brother that apparently was staying on an island in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean. Theodore then remembered how excited he was when he knew that Simon was returning home and how shocked he was to notice the change in appearance he made.
Theodore's thoughts drifted back to the first time when it appeared that Simon was starting to get over depression. Their mother had stayed for a five months and finally went home figuring that her troubled son was doing fine. For a while it seemed that way, Simon smiled more and was being very helpful around the house. He even started to go back to school. Yes, things defiantly appeared to be returning to the way it was, until one day.
********
SIX MONTHS AFTER
TOM AND RENEE'S FUNURAL!
Theodore lied on his bed reading a book. He smiled feeling that his family was starting to return to normal. Simon defiantly started to look like he was letting go of his past and the friends he lost from the Island. His nightmares seemed to be calming down too. He hasn't had one for the last couple of nights now.
The chubby chipmunk sat so calmly, as he continued to read his book, that he nearly jumped out of his skin in shock when Simon entered the room. Simon came in with such force that he accidentally pushed the door a little to hard and it slammed against the wall.
"Oops!" Simon snickered. He then turned towards Theodore, whom know sitting up on his bed with a worried expression on his face. "Oh, hi Theo! Whazzup!" He said before snickering again at his own silliness.
"S-S-Simon?" Theodore started to say as he got off his bed and walked up to his unstable brother.
"That's my name, T-T-Theodore!" Simon again laughed.
"Are you DRUNK?" Theodore asked after smelling his breath.
"Oh, probably!" Simon yawned. "That's the problem when you drink a whole bottle of Whisky! If you drink too much of it, Eventually, you can get drunk! What a concept, huh?" He said with a smirk.
"B-but didn't you promise Dave that you wouldn't drink anymore? You use to never break your promises!"
"Well that was then!!" Simon spat in an angry tone. His expression then softens in a sadden manner as he realized whom he had been yelling at. Simon slowly walks up to his brother to give him a hug. "I'm sorry Theodore! Your such a good brother!"
Simon pulled away from the hug and staggers to his bed. He slowly crawls up and sits on the edge of the bed looking down on the floor. He started looking as depressed as he did during Tom and Renee's funeral. "Why? Why, did they take everything that I once was.? And turned me into." He paused to look at his hands, angrily. "This!!"
Simon then frowned and placed his head into his hands as the tears formed in his eyes. "You know, one morning you wake up, (sniff) and everything seems fine." He lifts his head to look at his concerned brother. "But the next day, you're back in the nightmare. The voices in my head. they tell me that. I am worthless. that I deserve to die. and th-that my time is almost up. I keep hearing them tell me that 'the project is over'.! I shouldn't even be here!" Simon's eyes began to widen as he said that. "They chase me in my dreams and sometimes I-I can feel them around me when I'm awake." Simon quickly turned as if he heard something in the corner of the room. He slowly turned back around and scowled, and then his eyes suddenly began to droop as if it was hard to stay awake. With a groan, he then began to lie down, and rested his head on the pillow. Slowly he closed his eyes and started to breath calmly.
"Simon. You're scaring me! What are you talking about?" Theodore said as the tears formed in his eyes.
Slowly Simon opened his eyes once more and looked up at his worried brother. "Oh, Theodore. Sweet, innocent, Theodore. Do me a favour? Don't let them take you away too!" He sighed as he again closed his eyes and immediately fell asleep.
"Simon?" Theodore asked. He soon realized that his brother past-out and was now asleep. After taking his blanket and covering him up, Theodore then removed Simon's glasses from his face. He then stood there for a bit and watched Simon sleep then he went back to his own bed and picked up his book. Eventually, Theodore went back to reading it, even though his thoughts were still on Simon whom was sleeping soundly in his bed.
---------
The next day, Theodore was in the kitchen looking for something to eat. Alvin comes storming in and looks at his chubby brother.
"Where is he?"
"You mean Simon?" Theodore asked innocently.
"Yes, I mean Simon! Dave is upset because he can't find his sleeping pills. They've disappeared a few nights ago, and he was wandering if Simon has seen them!"
"What makes you think Simon would know where Dave's pills would be?"
"Well, Dave was saying that Simon was with him when he put the pills in the medicine cabinet." Alvin explained.
"Still, I don't see why that would explain why Simon would know where the pills would be." Theo shook his head. There would be no reason why his brother would take anything of Dave's.
"Oh, don't tell me that you haven't noticed Simon's behaviour lately! If you ask me, I think he's been drinking again!"
Theodore swallowed a lump in his throat. He started remembering what happened last night when Simon came in the bedroom drunk. He then pointed towards the basement door. "I t-t-think he went downstairs."
Alvin didn't waist another minute he opened the door and started to go downstairs. "Simon.?" He said as he walked down the stairs. Half way down he spotted Simon on the couch. "There you are!" The first thing Alvin noticed was the bottle of Rum that was almost empty by the couch that Simon was past out on. "Sigh!" Alvin rolled his eyes skyward. "Oh, Simon! Dave is going to be so mad with you!"
That's when he also noticed a small bottle with a prescription label on it. It is lying opened by Simon's hand that is drooping over the side of the couch. Alvin picked up the small bottle and saw Dave's name on the label. It defiantly was the prescription pills that Dave has been looking for.
Alvin remembered the first year when Simon was kidnapped and how Dave had problems sleeping at night. His doctor prescribed the sleeping pills to him and that helped him to get the rest he needed to go back to work. Even though, Simon is back home, Dave still sometimes has problems sleeping. No doubt due to the nightmares Simon kept having.
Dave mentioned that he had bought a refill a few days ago, just before they disappeared. There was enough to last at least two months. When Alvin looked inside the bottle he noticed that it had only a few pills left. It didn't take a genus to figure out where the rest went. Alvin panicked as he dropped the small bottle and ran up to his brother.
"SIMON!!" Alvin screamed while trying to shake his brother violently in order to wake up. When he realized that wouldn't help he looked up at the door that lead to the kitchen. "Theodore!! Call 911, we need an ambulance and fast!!"
Theodore peered in to see what his brother was getting all excited for and realized the importance of the situation, he then ran to the phone. After that everything was a blur, but the ambulance came and got Simon to the hospital in time so the doctors were able to revive him before he was too far-gone.
********
Theodore looked at his brother and was glad that he decided to see a counsellor instead in going to a rehab clinic. That really helped him come back and be apart of the family again. He then started to think of a way that might help with his mood right now and found a solution. "You know what cheers me up when I'm upset?" Theodore began to chirp.
Both Alvin and Simon instantly stops arguing with each other and look up at their chubby sibling. With one eyebrow raised, Simon Replies. "Food?"
"Well, yea!" Theo blushed.
Simon thought for a moment. "Come to think of it, I am a bit hungry!"
"Me too!" Alvin added absent-mindedly. He had realized that he hadn't had much of anything to eat all day while recuperating from a hangover.
"Let me see if I could find something we could eat!"
Theodore proudly went into the fridge and cupboards and came back to the table with left over chicken legs, bread and a jar of peanut butter, an unfinished chocolate cake, and plates for them. After he grabbed some utensils to eat with. He then got three glasses and filled them up with milk. The three boys looked at their choices and grinned when they decided to go for the cake first. Each of them cut a piece of cake and placed it on their plates and ate it happily. It was rare that the three of them would do sneaky things, like having a midnight snack without Dave knowing, together. Of course they also knew that they would be dead tired in the morning for school, but that was not important. What was important was that they were enjoying themselves.
"Wow, we haven't done something like this in a long time." Theodore chirped.
"What? Having chocolate cake as a midnight snack?" Alvin asked.
"Well, that and in a sneaky manner. This cake *was* suppose to be for tomorrow night's dinner, you know."
"Ha, ha, ha. This will never compare to any of the crazy stunts Alvin would put us through!" Simon smirked.
"Hee, hee, oh yea!" Theo giggled.
"Hey, I take offence to that!" Alvin defended.
"Come on, Alvin.Don't play innocent with us. You were a terror as a child." Simon teased. Theodore started giggling harder.
Humph, you all would have had a boring childhood without me, so get over it!" Alvin said in a half joking, half snobby expression as he took another forkful of cake and placed it in his mouth.
"Sure, Alvin, sure!" Both Simon and Theodore chimed at once. Then they both started laughing harder. Alvin shook his head and smirked over this silliness.
Their fun was interrupted when they heard Dave entering into the kitchen. "Boys, what are you doing?"
"A communal connection with food! Also communally referred to as a midnight snack!" Simon said calmly.
Dave attempted to digest what Simon said, but quickly gave up. His thought patterns were currently still asleep. So he just shook his head and sighed. "Just make sure you clean up this mess before going back to bed!"
"Yes Dave!" All three boys chimed together. As soon as Dave left, all three boys looked at each other and laughed.