The next morning, Dave woke up his sons. "Come on, Fellas! It's time for school!" He called, opening the window. As he looked at their beds to see if they were getting up, he purposely avoided looking at Simon's bed; otherwise he knew he would feel miserable the rest of the day.
Alvin groaned. "I don't wanna go to school!" And pulled the covers tighter on himself.
Theo didn't say anything, nor did he move.
Dave walked to Alvin and sat on the edge of the bed. 'Should I say this?' He thought. After a second of contemplating, he decided on saying it. "Alvin, would Simon want you to do this?"
Alvin stopped moving and became tense at the mention of Simon's name. It was the first time anyone had said his name since the incident. Dave pulled the covers halfway off. Alvin seemed to be staring at nothing. Dave stroked his oldest son's hair.
"Simon would want you to get up and go to school, wouldn't he? I mean, that was his favorite thing to do; go to school and get good grades. Do you think, if he were just on a vacation or something, he would ask you to be on your best behavior at school and at home?"
Alvin felt wet streaks go down his cheeks and a lump form in his throat, but still didn't move.
"He would want you to continue so that it's almost like he's still living..." Dave put his hand against Alvin's small chest and felt his racing heart. "... In here."
Alvin broke down sobbing right there. He sat up and hugged Dave, trying to feel better. Dave hugged back. Alvin quickly got up and threw on his clothes for the day.
Theodore heard Dave's words as well. Holding back a sob, he crawled out of bed and got ready for school. Within minutes, Alvin and Theodore were on their way to school, but said nothing as they walked there nor spoke while at school.
When they got home, the two chipmunks did their homework side by side, yet spoke no words. When they finished, they went to bed without dinner.
Dave began to worry. 'Theo never misses dinner. Something drastic must be wrong,' he figured.
As he walked up to his children's room, he heard soft voices come from within. "... we all miss you. If there's any way you could show us that you're okay now, that would be great," Dave heard Theo say quietly, sniffling. "We don't want you to be in pain anymore."
"Yeah. We would give anything for one last day to say goodbye," Alvin added shakily.
The words his children spoke pulled at Dave's heartstrings. Cracking the door a tiny bit, he peeked in and saw Alvin and Theodore standing over Simon's bed, but were resting on their elbows, their hands clasped tightly with each other. Between them was Simon's pillow.
"Good night... B-big brother," Theo said, staring at the pillow through blurred eyes. He wanted to call Simon by his name, but couldn't just yet.
"'Night," Alvin mumbled to the pillow as well.
Then the chipmunks went to their respective beds, crawled under the covers, and didn't move. It was almost like a ritual, and Dave felt somewhat honored to have witnessed it. He just wondered how long they had been doing that. Since the incident?
Since the funeral?
Dave shrugged it off and walked in the room and gave Alvin then Theodore a gentle kiss before heading to bed himself.