Alvin and the Chipmunks fanfic "Imperfect Castaway"
Chapter 18: Project: Trust
A/N – I will answer any questions you all may have later, but for right now, enjoy and thank you for your patience!
The sun was at its highest peak during the day, which normally meant that it was noon. For the first time in about two months, there was silence on the island. The only sounds that would be emanating would be the ones of seagulls crying in the air, the waves crashing onto the shore, or the soft summer winds bristling through the palm trees. No activity had taken place yet, not since a few hours ago.
On the shore laid a motionless being lying on its side and having the current splash up against his body. Noon time on the island also meant high-tide time. In an instant, one mighty wave tackled the motionless being's face, and suddenly he started to wake.
The chipmunk would slowly open one eye. After another wave had crashed into him, he slowly opened his other. He gradually started to get up and regain his thoughts. Yet he had no memories of what happened the night before.
After wiping his face, Alvin was now fully conscious.
"Ugh. Man, some dream I had last night…"
He wiped his face one more time and looked around the island only to see and hear that is was dead silent.
"What happened?" Still talking to himself, Alvin tried to remember how on earth he wound up on shore. Suddenly, out of nowhere a huge wave pummels Alvin, throwing him well onto the shore. With the water retrieving into the ocean, Alvin laid there and spotted two shiny things that had washed up on shore with him. The first of the shiny objects was very recognizable to him: the Elvis ring that he found in the ocean about a month ago. The ring had not been too damaged and was still in good condition. Alvin puts the ring on his finger, wondering how on earth it managed to get on shore in the first place.
As he puts the ring on, he notices that his left hand was covered in blood that has already been dried. The blood was coming from a wound, located on the back side of his hand in between his ring and middle fingers.
"Ow!" yelped Alvin in pain as he was nursing the half-open wound. "How the hell did I get this anyway?"
Just then, Alvin placed his attention on the second shiny object that washed up on shore: a bullet.
Alvin reaches down to pick up the bullet with his right hand only to notice the minor blood stains on it and wondering if the wound on his hand came from this bullet. Alvin still could not decipher how his ring made it to the ocean, how his hand was wounded, and if this bullet was a result of all that.
Still pondering, he walks back into the island and heads for Ocker's hut, hoping that maybe he knew how this all happened. As he was walking, he put his attention on the ring and the bullet, not really paying attention to what was in front of him. As a result, he trips on an object that had also been lying there the night before. Alvin looks for the object that he tripped on and, to his horror, finds what it was: Ocker's SIG P226 pistol.
Alvin takes the gun and, with curiosity and terror in his veins, opens up the bullet chamber.
Empty.
Alvin knew that this pistol only had one bullet in it. He was now wondering when that bullet was fired. With even more curiosity, Alvin decides to take the bullet that he found on shore and placed it in the bullet chamber. His hands were also shaking at the same time.
Perfect fit.
Now Alvin's question was
who was the one that fired the bullet? There were only two people on this island that Alvin knew, so his guess was none other than Ocker.
"Oh no! No!" Alvin shakes his head, drops the pistol, and heads for Ocker's hut.
"Ocker! Ocker!?" yells Alvin. He makes it to the hut only to find it empty. Ocker was not there. He opens the drawer where his ring was placed earlier and places it back in there. Alvin then sprints out of the hut and searches valiantly for Ocker.
As he was running, it was all starting to come back to him: the berries, the hallucinations, the sleepwalking. Alvin still had questions as to why Ocker may have fired his pistol at him. Could it be to wake him up from that trance? And even if he did fire his pistol at him, where was he now?
Alvin spent an hour and a half looking for his friend and mentor. He searched his cave, the waterfall, and the south side of the island, only to come up empty-handed. The last place where Alvin would look was the cliff. It was the same cliff he almost jumped off of had it not been for Ocker saving him at the last minute.
He makes it to the top of the cliff, hoping the high view would give him a better chance at finding him. He looks around and around until his eyes catch a motionless figure at the bottom. Alvin recognized that figure by the figs of leaves he was wearing around his waist. He found him.
"Ocker!" cries Alvin.
He makes his way off the cliff and heads to where Ocker was lying. He was face down about ten feet in front of the shore. The tide is what woke Alvin up, so being away from the tide would do nothing for Ocker.
Alvin turns him on his back and stares at him for a good thirty seconds. He takes the blindfold off of him, wondering why he was wearing that in the first place. Alvin placed his ear to his heart, hoping to hear a heartbeat. Alvin then pressed down on his chest, thinking that he could revive him from a CPR training class he took a couple of years ago. After that failed, Alvin sat there in disbelief. He started to get teary-eyed as he continued to stare at him. He rubs his eyes, praying that a miracle would happen.
"Oh, Ocker." Alvin finally let out a tear for his fallen friend.
The summer breeze was starting to pick up swiftness. The high winds would push Alvin a little, but he still kept his footing. Just then, a coconut rolled towards Alvin. He stared at the coconut for a few seconds and got an idea. He picked it up over Ocker's forehead and slowly released it. It would do no justice as it rolled away from Ocker. Alvin tried one more time to see if it could work, but again nothing happened.
Alvin shook his head as a flow of tears shed from his eyes. He covered his face with one hand and held the coconut he picked up again in the other. He was crying in his hand, thinking that his new and only friend on this island was gone forever. He gets up and holds the coconut with both hands. Without thinking, he launches a fastball right at Ocker's forehead. After the initial contact, Ocker slowly started to regain his senses. Alvin could not believe that it actually worked.
Ocker was alive.
He slowly started to gain consciousness, and Alvin quickly held him by his side.
"Ocker! Ocker, it's me. Alvin!"
Ocker's eyes were half-opened, yet he recognized the young bearded chipmunk.
"Aulvin? You're alive. Or we're both dead?"
"No Ocker, I'm alive, and so are you. This isn't a dream. This is very real!"
Ocker couldn't help but smile. It was all starting to come back to him too: the berries, the sleepwalking, saving Alvin's life from jumping off the cliff and shooting him down just to save him from wandering too far off into the ocean.
"Aulvin, I'm sorry. I am so sorry", replied Ocker with tears forming in his eyes.
"What? You mean for this?" Alvin shows Ocker his wound on his left hand. The blood was completely dried and the wound was starting to heal.
Ocker looks at the wound with somewhat disbelief. "You mean I missed?"
"Missed me by that much!" replied a happy Alvin.
Ocker chuckles a bit and starts to get up on his feet.
"You were sleepwalking again, and I could naut reach you in tyme, so I haud no otha choice."
"So that explains why I wound up on the shore unconscious. But if you missed me, how did I black out then?"
Ocker pauses for an explanation. He did have extensive knowledge on the berries that grew on the island, but has not encountered a lot of experiences with chipmunks consuming them.
"My guess is thaut the hallucinations are only but for a while. Aufter the toxin passes through the intestines, it completely shuts your body down, including all of your senses. You may have just paussed out aufter the berries were fully digested. But this still doesn't make any sense. You should have defecated the berries out laust nyte instead of suffering anotha hallucination."
A guilty Alvin then remembers prior to him defecating the berries that he consumed another ten berries, which might have been the result of his second encounter with death.
"I may have eaten another batch before I pooped them out. Hehe" said a nervous Alvin, rubbing the back of his neck in the process.
Ocker gave him a very stern look.
"Aulvin, this is serious! I caun't believe you would foolishly do thaut aufter the first hallucination almost killed you if it wasn't for me!"
Alvin couldn't help but to accept the criticism and backlash. He knew Ocker was right. Saving him the first time should've been enough, but to foolishly eat another batch? They would not be in this predicament, Alvin's hand would not have been bleeding, and Ocker would not have wasted the lone bullet on Alvin had it not been for his disobedience.
"I'm sorry, Ocker. You're right. All of this crap happened because of me. I should have listened to you…"
"Save it, Aulvin." Ocker was not just mad, he was infuriated. "This isn't the first tyme you disobeyed me you know."
All Alvin could do was silently nod his head in agreement.
"Unfortunately my trust for you haus slowly diminished. From now on you are neva to leave my sight and you are to do as you are told. One more slip up from you, and you are to survive on this island without my help and consent. Do you undastaund!?" Raising his index finger to the sky, Ocker made his point very clear. With one nod, Alvin silently agrees. Ocker puts his hand down and turns his back on Alvin.
"Follow me, please."
Without question, Alvin follows Ocker back to the hut. The two were silent on the way back until Ocker decided to speak.
"It is going to take a good while for me to start trusting you again, but I believe that road to redemption should start somewhere."
The two stopped right in front of Ocker's project. "Aund this is where it will start."
"Oh, the callibito!" says Alvin.
Ocker turns to Alvin with a disoriented look. "Cabillito, Mista Aulvin."
"So, you're going to regain my trust by me watching you finish this thing?"
Ocker chuckles and turns back to Alvin. "My boy, I'm naut going to finish it." He walks over to Alvin, pats him twice on the shoulder and says, "You are" and beings to walk away.
"Me!? I don't know the first thing about building a hut!"
Ocker stops in his tracks and turns his head toward Alvin. "It's naut a hut." He continues and makes his way back to his hut, leaving Alvin there with the unfinished product.
It was late in the afternoon and Alvin had absolutely no idea what he was doing. He tried tying a few twigs to this so-called thing that was apparently not a hut. If it wasn't a hut, then just what the heck was it then? Every time he tied a few twigs they always fell out. After a dozen times of trying and failing, Alvin couldn't take it anymore. He kicked some sand and let out a huge scream. Panting and gasping for air, he slowly remembers a few of the things that Ocker taught him. A few of them were air support and controlling your anger.
After a brief moment of remembrance, Alvin lifts up his hand to his face and begins to inhale. He counts to four in his head and exhales while still counting to four in his head. He would be breathing in through his nose while breathing out through his mouth and into his palm. He would do this three more times before going back to his work. As patient as he was, and as confused as he was, he tries tying a few more twigs, this time in different knots, and to his enjoyment they stayed. Alvin didn't know if he did this right or wrong, but he was still happy with his result.
From a distance, Ocker was supervising Alvin. He saw him do the breathing technique that he taught him just two months ago. Though he was still furious at Alvin for disobeying him a second time, a part of him was actually happy to see him demonstrate a technique of his.
With his arms crossed he let out a comfortable smile. In the short period that they have known each other, Ocker considered Alvin like another son. It was twelve years ago since he was separated from his biological son Jacob, and knowing that if he were still alive today, he and Alvin would be the same age. After four months on this island, Alvin still had his hothead moments and would get on Ocker's nerves, yet it's his humbleness that can never be taken for granted. Alvin definitely has a heart of gold and persona to help others more than himself.
Just then, Alvin lets out a victory screech as he successfully tied every single twig onto the cabillito. Ocker, still standing there arms crossed and all, lets out a huge grin while praising Alvin's accomplishment. He is actually at fault, though, because the first time Alvin asked him about the project, he mentioned that it was a hut, which he reiterated by saying it wasn't.
His smile disappears and he heads back to the hut. Walking back and overhearing Alvin's continued screeches of victory, he speaks to himself.
"Soon Alvin. Soon."
Ocker told him that it wasn't a hut he would be working on, but he wasn't going to say exactly what it was either. That mystery still belonged to him, but when the cabillito was done, he knew that they would both be overjoyed.
A/N – And there you have it! Comment on what you think the cabillito actually is! Also, shoot me a personal email if you want to hear how I'm doing, college graduate and all