Alvin turned his camera on and rotated it around, showing that he was back in the basement with Simon. Once the lens focused on the family genius, Simon glanced at the camera while placing a large package on his workbench, a worried look kept on his face. He shuffled it into a stable place and pushed away his paperwork as well as other items he left disorganized then reached into a drawer for a box cutter. Before slicing into the packing tape, he looked again at the camera. The camera slightly moved from Alvin nodding in agreement and his hands moving along with him.
"Moment of truth, huh," Alvin joked, though his nerves betrayed him. Simon swallowed his saliva, then he cut into the cardboard. In only a few incisions along the edges covered by the tape, the package was open and Simon dug into the countless packing peanuts. He reached in further with both hands and at last pulled out a massive book as old as the last. Its size alone caused Simon's arms to strain when trying to separate it from the box it arrived in. The tome slipped out of his hands while on camera and slammed onto the countertop. Alvin scoffed as Simon looked at him in shame from the display.
"Careful there He-Man," Alvin joked, this time a little more relaxed.
"Yes, yes," Simon shrugged off. "You can mock me all you want later. Right now, we need to focus." Alvin brought the camera over to record the book at a better angle as Simon adjusted the edges along the table and opened the hard, leather bound cover.
"Let's take a look shall we?" Simon flipped through a few of the first pages in the tome, then stopped to look into a passage further. The lines were far too dense and small, written in a font that shows its age for Alvin and his camera to completely capture so he remained silent as Simon read on until he spoke up with a question. "Wait, you're not going to blow the dust off like in the cartoons?"
"Not likely," Simon replied with snark in his voice. "People do in fact take care of these things, contrary to popular belief. Or rather, what you see on TV."
"Ugh, lame!" Simon nodded to himself, then while still in view of the camera, flipped half of the tome's withered pages over.
"Ah-ha," Simon said aloud. "Here we are. 'Chapter 85: Regarding Pixies and Other Flying Forest Folk'."
"Bingo!"
"Oh thank goodness, the pages are intact!"
"Well don't leave me hanging on," Alvin pushed closer with the camera. "What's it say?"
"Let's see…" Simon began to murmur. "According to this, pixies are an elusive sort, untrusting at first but otherwise benevolent to people who earn their respect, especially others that are of woodland descent…"
"Go figure," Alvin said sarcastically. Simon rolled his eyes, then flipped over another page. When the page fell down, Simon suddenly gasped and nearly stepped away from the book. Alvin looked directly at the next page and also gasped from the contents. Up until this point, the brown and flakey pages normally contained words written in black ink, but on this page was a large, human sized hand print in a deep and dried red, covering whatever was originally printed and a message below it of the same color. "Woah…" Simon let out under his breath. Simon joined him and read the passage.
"W-Warning to those who encounter these folk," Simon started. "Take heed."
"W-What does that mean? Si?"
"Hold on." Simon continued to read. "The meeting ceremony is of the pixies. However, our studies and observations led to more perverse discovery. An interloper has mimicked these rituals, deviating ever so slightly that the changes had almost gone unnoticed but a mockery nonetheless. The following details are to be observed only from afar and if they are indeed relevant to your own findings, take extreme caution!"
"E-Extreme caution," Alvin interrupted. "S-Simon, what does that mean?" The camera stayed on Simon as he read in silence, getting more rapid in his breathing from what the camera could see. "What does that mean! Simon!"
"I-Its… oh no," Simon answered back before pivoting. "Oh no, oh no! This is bad!" The phone itself began to fidget in Alvin's hands.
"What's bad? I thought pixies were good!"
"That's the problem!"
"Say what now?"
"I knew something felt so wrong about all of this. The effigy, the wings, the scratching. These are all almost a pixie's ritual."
"Almost? What does that even mean? Why are you and that stupid book being so cryptic? What's wrong about it?"
"Because it's not a pixie at all! It's a fairy!"
"A fairy?"
"Yes, a fairy."
"What's the difference?"
"Fairies are bad, Alvin," Simon looked back at the book. "Very bad."
"Wait, aren't fairies the good ones? You know, like in the fairy tales stories from, like, preschool?"
"N-No, apparently there's been a bit of a misconception created over the years," Simon explained, placing one hand on the page, and flipping to the other ones after it. "In the past, the distinction between the two was far more well known. Pixies were the benevolent ones. Fairies, the malevolent ones. The writer suggests that over the years they became synonymous with one another, m-most likely at the influence of the fairies."
"So then…" Alvin stopped to swallow his saliva. "I-If we're dealing with a bonafide fairy…" Alvin paused again as he watched Simon look back at him, still tense and with his hand in the book's pages. "Wh-What's the final part of the ritual?" Simon shot up from that notion and quickly snapped back to the tome.
"I-It says that a-a small pouch of dried tea will be offered besides the final wing. If all other suspicions are confirmed, the tea and the following whispers will be from the fairy as pixies do not do such a thing." Simon swallowed his saliva again as his voice became more hesitant and adjusted his glasses. "Only one such event has been observed w-with positive results. The others were only assumed from the evidence left behind when all that remains were scattered articles and…" Simon gasped again, causing the camera to jostle in Alvin's hands.
"And what!"
"Rough and linear tracks seemingly leading deeper into the woods!"
"P-Please tell me that Jeanette isn't on the last part of the ritual?" Simon flipped back and forth between the pages as Alvin waited for an answer. He said nothing and just looked up to the camera and his brother with a worse expression than before.
"Th-Then that means-"
"Jeanette," Simon shouted, bolting away from his workbench and pushing Alvin to the side, his chair crashing onto the ground but out of view of the phone camera.
"Oh nuts," Alvin said when he recorded Simon running up the stairs. "Brittany! A-And the others!" Alvin panicked behind the phone and followed suit up the stairs of the basement in a frenzy, blurring the image with every rushed step and sway of his arms. No longer was it the focus of his hands and attention, but the phone continued to record from his side. The interior of the house quickly transitioned into the concrete and grass from the Seville backyard, only noticeable amongst the blackness of the October night sky by the dim porchlight and soon even that light had faded away once the brothers ran far off towards the Chipette treehouse. Much like the outside, none of the lights were on but the door remained closed. All that could be heard from the microphone were their wheezing and attempts to calm their breathing as they snuck up to the treehouse door.
"What's the plan," Alvin asked but quickly lowered his voice when Simon audibly shushed him out of sight of the camera.
"Get your camera ready," Simon ordered. "Does it have night time mode?"
"Of course it does, this isn't a flip phone from the 90s."
"Good, then have it on and on my cue, use your flashlight." Alvin pulled the camera back up and tapped on the phone a few times, then the sight of the camera became noticeably clearer than before.
"O-Okay, now what," Alvin asked, getting the camera set back on Simon, capturing him placing his hand on the doorknob. He also noticed that the treehouse door still had a faint red stain from before.
"Th-The book mentioned that a fairy caught and interrupted in the act of their kidnapping will flee and never return. S-So I figured we'd-"
"Oh what? You figured we would just charge in and scare them off?"
"W-W-Well, yeah?"
"Yeah okay, sounds good to me. Hit it Rambo!" Simon nodded to the camera with a newfound resolve.
"No matter what, don't stop filming."
"Roger that," Alvin shifted from behind the phone to get ready. Simon slowly turned the knob and counted down with his fingers to his brother from behind. Once he got to zero, the oldest chipmunk flung the door open and ran into the living room. Alvin ran in after him, blinding anyone who would be inside with the sudden explosion of light from his phone.
"Jeanette," Simon cried out as he ran around the room, chasing the shadows that he and Alvin casted. Alvin started to make random sounds and shouts into the treehouse as he flashed his phone everywhere, but still tried to keep it on Simon.
"Don't worry guys! We're comin' to rescue you," Alvin yelled out amongst the chaos. They slowed down their push to catch their breath, and soon it became very clear that they were alone. "Uh, wh-where is everyone?"
"I-If the targeted location wasn't here, then…" Simon thought out loud, but a revelation struck the both of them.
"The girls' house," the two said in near unison and ran back out into the yards. Down below in the Miller yard, they stopped right before the sliding door. Decorative and tasteful drapes covered the glass, keeping anyone including the brothers from being able to see inside. Just like before, Simon gripped the handle and braced himself. With another deep breath and countdown, Simon nearly forced the door off of its track and he charged into the house with Alvin not far behind.
"Jeanette," Simon called out, running into the living room and making more noise. "Jeanette! We-"
"Woah," Alvin let out. They immediately froze up mid-sentence at the sight of what else was in the living room. First they found Eleanor, slouched over the armrest with her hair covering her face and most of her dangling arm. Then they found Brittany fallen onto the floor, face down with a mug beside her hand, spilling over with a bizarre glowing liquid. During his choke up, Alvin managed to record the sight, but once he got a hold of himself, he threw the phone onto the couch, running out of sight of the camera, but not the microphone.
"Britt," Alvin cried out. "Eleanor!" The phone still kept track of them through their shouting but all it saw were shadows lurking around the ceiling in the poorly lit room.
"Girls," Simon shouted.
"Simon do something," Alvin yelled back in a panic.
"Th-They'll be fine!"
"Fine? You call this fine? Look at them!"
"I see them Alvin! The books said its only meant to make them fall asleep. They're still alive."
"Britt, Brittany, wake up." Though the phone couldn't see, it did hear a faint groan.
"She's alive!"
"Like I said, help me find-" Simon stopped and shifted his thoughts instantly. "Jeanette! Where's Jeanette!"
"Oh crap." Thumps of footsteps grew louder as Alvin ran over and grabbed the phone back up, shining the flashlight all around them. Simon went towards the hallway, then gasped. Alvin caught up to him and shined the light into the darkness. An unconscious Jeanette lay in the middle of the hallway on the ground slowly being pulled by her feet into an open doorway. Her hands had no life in them and she only grimaced as if she were having a bad dream.
"No," Simon shouted and ran into the hall to catch her. The sudden shout at first stalled Jeanette's movement, but then it sped up, pulling her faster and more frantically through the door. By the time Simon arrived, the lower half of her body was already out of sight of the camera.
"Simon, the garage," Alvin snapped. Simon grabbed both of the sleeping Chipette's wrists and pulled her back to him. It became a struggle at first, pulling her two different ways, causing an involuntary strain across her face but eventually Simon came out victorious and she was let go. The release threw Simon back to the other wall behind him. He slid down but he quickly collected himself and brought Jeanette closer to him far from the doorway.
"Alvin," Simon commanded. "Quick! Flash the garage! Use the light!"
"R-Right on it," Alvin did without resistance. He ran between the two on the floor and the doorway, catching a quick glimpse of Simon cradling Jeanette in his arms and blasted the garage with light.
"S-Simon," Jeanette weakly asked.
"Oh thank goodness you're okay," Simon answered back. Terrified of the garage, Alvin shifted the flashlight back and forth looking for anything. At first there was nothing out of the ordinary but when he aimed the light at the corner by some old shelves, Alvin screamed at the sight. An open vent but ahead of it lurked a gray, fleshy but small statured creature. Its glimmering wings stuck into its hunched back and what little hair it had across its body stood right up as it looked back at Alvin's camera with pitch black eyes and sharp teeth. It screeched and raised its nailed fingers at the Chipmunk who screamed back before crawling back into the vent as fast as Alvin could blink. The camera flew out of Alvin's hand and crashed onto the floor. Hairline fractures splintered across the sight of the phone. Alvin picked the phone back up and tried to follow the creaking of the vents above them but it soon went silent, save for Alvin's heavy breathing. He snapped back to Simon and Jeanette who held onto each other tightly but the three nearly jumped out their skin when the silence was shattered by maniacal laughter all around them. Amongst the laughing from behind the walls, one high pitched voice stuck out and began to talk.
"What's the matter Jeanette," it taunted. Alvin had no idea where to aim his phone so he kept it on the open vent. "We thought you wanted us to be real?" Then the voice became three. "Don't you want to join us? Don't you want to see your fantasy?" The three quickly became uncountable as they continued to mock them. The cackling went on and on but after a moment it faded away, turning into pure silence. The phone shook uncontrollably in Alvin's hands. He gathered enough control to turn the camera back onto himself, showing his ghostly white and horrified look. He noticed the cracked lenses of the camera as well as the battery icon red and empty. He stared at the camera for a moment, then turned it off.
Alvin stepped back into the study as the fireplace stayed strong, facing the audience.
"Welcome back. Still with us, are you," Alvin greeted with a charismatic yet suspicious air to him. "I hope you enjoyed this evening of high decibel terror that only we chipmunks can provide." He lifted his hand again as if he had a cigarette between his fingers and placed it on the heavy book he read from. "You know, this book contained far more than we ever had the chance to tell. But for now it's best that we stop here. Don't want to cause too many heart attacks." Alvin smirked. "Come back again some time to hear another story that will make you never want to sleep again. You name it, we've got sleep demons, masked killers, extraterrestrial beings from beyond our moon and even the undead. And I guarantee you that each one is much more petrifying than the last. We even-" Alvin was interrupted by another voice out of sight, dropping his act. "Wh-Huh? Not that one?" He turned his head and listened. "OR the other one? But you guys said the network cleared-" His face turned into a scowl. "Are you serious? Ugh, unbelievable. Can't have any fun these days." He lowered his head with a growl and rubbed his eyes. Then he raised his head back to the audience as if it never happened and clapped his hands together. "Well, never mind that last part. Apparently half of those were ALSO deemed 'too inappropriate for the audience'. Any way, next time we'll be sure to offer SOME other look into the world of horror. Another scary story to make you SQUEAK and SCREAM!" Alvin chuckled, then waved. "Good night everybody."