"Simon." He felt a hand shaking him gently. "Simon, wake up."
"Alvin?" Simon sat up suddenly from where he had been sleeping, his unfocussed eyes trying to look past both the sleepiness and astigmatism in his eyes. "Is that you?"
"Its Dave, Simon." Dave handed him his glasses, and the world came back into sharp focus – little too sharp. Simon suddenly remembered where he was as he scooted the chair back from Theodore's bed. "Alvin's not back yet, and I'm getting a little worried about him.
Absently, Simon snaked his hand back through the bedrails to grasp Theodore's hand again, which he had released when he had moved. "How long was I asleep?"
"Only about an hour." Dave said apologetically. "I wanted to let you sleep, but Alvin's been gone almost two hours now, he's not answering his cell phone, and no one's answering the phone at the house. I'm getting a little worried."
Simon felt an uncomfortable guilt rise. "Um, he might be gone a little while, Dave. We, uh, sort of had a spat in the cafeteria."
"A spat?" Dave looked concerned. "About what?"
"Nothing important." Simon didn't want to tell Dave about Alvin's involvement in Theodore's accident. That was for Alvin to talk to Dave about, and honestly, he didn't think he had the stamina right now for that conversation. "We'll work it out, Dave. This just hasn't been easy on any of us. I...I kind of lost my temper with him."
"Oh, Simon." Dave's voice carried a slight note of disappointment. "I wish you wouldn't have done that. I'm worried about Alvin, too. He seems to be in even worse shape than the rest of us."
"I know."
"I guess we can let him blow off some steam for a while, then. If he's not back by dawn, though, we'll have to go out looking for him."
"I don't want to leave Theodore, Dave, "Simon said with worry as he stole a glance at his comatose brother. His appearance hadn't changed. "What if he, well, wakes up?"
"We'll take turns."
Simon nodded reluctantly. "All right, I guess."
Dave glanced at the clock, noting the early time. "I guess I should have let you sleep, after all."
"That's okay, Dave, I-"
A knocking on the door interrupted him. "Mr. Seville? Simon?" A feminine chipmunk voice said. Brittany pulled aside the hospital drapes, peeking in. "Is that you?"
"Brittany!" Simon exclaimed. "What are you doing here?"
"I came to-"She gasped and froze, seeing Theodore. Her eyes widened, and Simon could see that she was taken aback at the sight of her friend. He wondered if he had had that same disbelieving, horrified stare on his face the night they had first seen him and supposed he had. She seemed transfixed, twisting a red cap in her hands compulsively. "Is that...Theodore?"
"Yes, Brittany," Simon said before taking her firmly by the elbow and trying to lead her to the door. "What are you doing here?"
"Uh..."She started to allow herself to be led, her eyes not able to leave the form of her injured friend, and then seemed to come back to herself a little. "No, Simon! I need to talk to you!"
Simon sighed, releasing her but moving so that he blocked her view. This seemed to help, and Brittany's gaze moved to rest upon his face. Simon could hear Dave coming up behind him. "How did you get in here?"
"I snuck in." She said, not seeming to care that she had done so, waving her hand in the air like it didn't matter, the baseball cap flinging tiny droplets of water at him. "They wouldn't put my call through."
Simon grabbed the cap. Sure enough, it was Alvin's, albeit it a little dirty and very wet. "Brittany? Why do you have Alvin's cap?"
"That's what I'm trying to tell you!" Brittany snatched the cap back and clutched it to her wet gown. "Alvin's run away!"
"He's what?" Dave seemed stunned. "But he wouldn't. Why would he...? And now?"
"I don't know, but he was talking funny before he left. He sounded like he didn't care about anything, and he looked..."Brittany shivered. "He looked like a part of him had died, or something."
Dave glanced at Theodore briefly as he grabbed his coat off the chair and nearly ran to the door. "Simon, stay with Theodore. I've got to go looking for him." And he was gone.
"Why would he run away, Simon? Especially now? I know Alvin. He wouldn't desert Theodore." Now that she had relayed her message, Brittany was inching towards Theodore again. This time Simon let her, because though her eyes were wide and frightened, she seemed to be able to handle it a little better this time. "Oh, Simon, he looks..." she held up her hands in helplessness, unable to find the words. Simon didn't have to hear any.
"Yeah. I know." He said softly, walking with her to Theodore's bedside. "But every minute he lives is one more minute he might wake up."
"Is it true, though, what Jeannette told me?" Brittany whispered aside to him, as if she was afraid that her voice might wake him. Simon wished it would be that easy. "About not being able to walk, or eat, or...you know."
"Medical advances happen every day, Brittany." Simon reminded her. This was the hope he clung to. "Who's to say they won't be able to regenerate nerves in the near future? Look what stem cell research has been able to do. It's possible-"
"Simon," Brittany interrupted him a little guiltily. "Not be offensive, or anything, but I'm not Jeannette. I don't understand a word of what you said."
"Oh. Sorry." He looked at her, and blinked. "It looks like you're not Brittany Miller, either. What on earth are you wearing?"
She glanced down at her wet, dirty clothing and oversized shoes "Oh, yeah." She blushed, pulling her raincoat shut.
"Does Jeannette know you borrowed her sandals?" Simon asked, crooking one eyebrow.
"Oh, she wouldn't care," Brittany said, a little of her signature cockiness showing through. "I just ran out of the house when I saw Alvin out the window, Simon. Believe it or not, I didn't even think about what I was wearing." She smiled a little guiltily. "Well, barely thought about it, at least." Her eyes traveled downward, and the smile faded. She reached for Theodore's hand hesitantly.
"It okay, Brittany. You can hold his hand if you want."
She did, and a little sigh escaped her as she looked up at Simon with worried eyes. "I'm so scared for Alvin, Simon."
"I know, Brittany." Simon said softly, wishing that he had somehow been able to control his temper earlier. He didn't really blame himself, he supposed, because that would be as illogical as blaming Alvin for Theodore's accident. Right. "Me too."
OoooOoooO
Alvin decided to go to the bus station instead of back for his new car. He didn't want it anymore, and he supposed the license number of the Miata would allow the authorities to locate him when Dave called him in missing – which he would, and probably sooner rather than later due to Brittany. He was sure the Chippette would have called Dave immediately. Alvin only hoped that they would assume he had taken the car and wouldn't check the bus stations.
"Where to?"
Alvin hadn't really thought too much about where he was going. He scanned the posted listings above is head quickly. "Uh, Chicago." He finally said. That should be far enough, and besides, the bus left in ten minutes.
"Seventy dollars and twelve cents." The woman behind the counter took his money, and pushed a ticket towards him. "Enjoy your trip."
The rain had stopped on his trip over and though he was still damp, he was no longer soaking wet. He decided to duck into the men's room, anyways. He still needed to clean himself up a little, and besides, he was famous. Best to keep a low profile.
He hoisted his suitcase up onto the sink and pulled a never-used black turtleneck from it. Brittany had bought it for him some time ago, when she started going through her bad-boy phase, but Alvin had felt it didn't suit him had continued to wear his signature red. Now, it seemed appropriate. After a quick wash of his face and combing of his hair, he eyed his reflection critically in the mirror.
He actually didn't look much like himself at all. The black color of the shirt helped a lot, being that red was pretty much the only color he had ever worn, but more than that...his face seemed different. It was almost as if some vital part of him was gone, and what was left in its stead was a completely different person. His features remained the same, and his eyes the same blue, but suddenly he felt sure he wasn't going to have to try very hard to avoid be recognized. A small part of him mourned that but he squashed it down, thinking that it had been that selfish part of him that had caused all of this in the first place. He was not going to allow it to rekindle.
It was a different chipmunk that boarded the bus to Chicago moments later, and if anyone had any clue as to who he was, they didn't let him know. Alvin took a seat to the far back, putting his small suitcase into the rack above and sitting down. He stared out the window, watching the terminal, wondering if Dave was going to suddenly appear to keep him from leaving. The bus jerked as it pulled away, the sigh Alvin released was both relieved and surprised. Dave hadn't come in the nick of time, as he so often had. He was on his own.
"Can I sit here?" A soft voice asked, and he looked up to see a girl about his age standing shyly by him.
"Sure." He said, scooting over a little.
"Thanks." Alvin held his breath, but she didn't seem to recognize him, and he slowly let himself relax.
"No problem." She sat and held out her hand. "I'm Jenny."
"I'm..."He hadn't thought about that. He racked his brain, and then smiled a little. Maybe he couldn't help Theodore, but he could honor him. "I'm Theo. Nice to meet you."
"Nice to meet you." She gave him a strange look. "Do I know you from somewhere? You look a little familiar."
Alvin shrugged. "No, I don't think so."
"No? Oh well. I guess that I must be imagining things." She pulled a book from her purse and began reading.
Alvin watched out the window as the bus sped away from Hollywood, the lights flashing by as he left Alvin Seville farther and farther behind him.
He only wished he knew where he was going to.
End of Chapter 5
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