Chapter 5 - Alone Together

Simon, Jeanette, Theodore, and Eleanor were currently in the basement. The boys stood by the corner as they stared at the girls lying depressingly on the couch. Jeanette tried to make it seem like she was writing in her journal, but really she was just drawing random shapes on the pages. Eleanor was laying on her belly as one arm hung out on the side of the couch. The two chipmunks didn't know what to do. Sure their friends have been upset before, but they never had to face something this tough before.

"Simon, we can't just stand here" Theodore muttered, "We need to do something"

"I know, but what do you do when your best friend's mother is ill?" Simon asked.

"It's truly awful, isn't it?" Theodore whimpered, "I don't know what I would do if this happened to Dave"

"Me neither, but I do know one thing" the bespectacled teen answered, "Jeanette and Eleanor would do everything in their power to comfort us." The brothers took another glance at their counterparts before nodding at each other and approaching them.

"Hey Ellie" Theodore greeted, "I found a new recipe for caramel filled donuts. Do you want to bake it with me?"

"Jeanette, there's a new spider web in the attic and I bet there's a cute spider crawling around in it somewhere" Simon recommended. He then noticed that Jeanette looked like she was writing, "Say, why don't you show us how the story's been going so far?"

This caused the purple chipette to freeze. "The… the story?" Jeanette stammered.

"Yes, the one you've been trying to write for the past week" Simon nodded, "It sounded really good. I know you're not finished but I feel like it will lift our spirits" Jeanette closed the journal and stared at it. "Jeanette?" Simon continued, "Is um… everything alright?"

Suddenly Jeanette lifted the journal in the air and chucked it to the other side of the room. The other teens gasped. Simon ran over to pick it up, wondering why Jeanette would throw away a story she was really passionate for. But when he picked it up, he noticed that a lot of pages had been torn out. He opened it up and saw that the journal only had about 100 pages left, and most of them were just filled with doodles. "I couldn't write it" Jeanette shook, "I couldn't even finish the first act" She then curled up and began to cry quietly.

"Jeanette!" Eleanor came to her sister's aid, "Please don't cry, it's just a story"

"No it's not" Jeanette whimpered, "It was supposed to be my best work yet, and I blanked!"

"Hey" Theodore replied sympathetically, "I'm sure you'll figure it out, you're the best writer I know"

"Then how come I keep starting over" Jeanette cried, "I have all the time in the world to write yet I keep wasting it. Let's face it, I lost my luster"

"Jeanette!" Simon finally spoke up again as he looked at the chipette directly in the eyes, "Do not say that. Yes we have a lot of free time now but it doesn't mean our work will get easier"

"Well what about your science project?" Jeanette rebutted, "The science fair isn't for another few weeks yet you're almost done"

"Jeanette, I've literally worked on it without taking any breaks, and I'm exhausted" the blue chipmunk argued, "I did it because all I had my mind set on is impressing Dr. Crashcup. But now, I don't have the determination anymore. I have barely worked on it since I found out the news"

"Really?" Jeanette replied weakly.

"Yes, plus the fact the virus and Miss Miller I can't focus on anything" Simon answered, "What I'm saying is, I don't blame you at all for not being able to focus. The world's gone crazy right now"

"I guess you're right" Jeanette nodded, but was still a bit down, "But I really want to finish the story"

"Jeanette" Simon responded, "There is no deadline. It'll take as long as it needs to"

"Yeah" Eleanor replied, "We don't care how long we have to wait. I just know whatever you come up with will be great"

"Exactly" Simon interjected, "You still have the chance to finish, even after quarantine is done. It'll just take longer than expected"

Suddenly, Jeanette began to giggle. The other's wondered what caused the tall chipette to change moods so fast. "You mean like how you still have the chance to meet Dr. Crashcup?" Jeanette teased.

Simon then blushed, understanding that his friend was right. Just because he won't meet his hero at the science fair, doesn't mean he'll never meet him. "He he he, yeah" Simon chuckled.

"And Eleanor" Jeanette turned to her sister with a smile, "Just because you can't be with Theodore all the time, doesn't mean you lose him"

"Yeah Ellie" Theodore approached the blonde, "You'll always be my best friend. So stop lying and getting into trouble. I'll never leave you"

The small chipette then became overwhelmed with emotion, and predictably pounced onto Theodore. "Oh Teddy" she cried, "I'm sorry for being such a bad friend. I shouldn't have made you disobey Dave!"

"I forgive you, Ellie" Theodore assured awkwardly, feeling strange to be toppled by the light green teen.

"Thanks guys for cheering us up," Jeanette said warmly.

"It's nothing," Simon grinned.

"We know you would do the same thing for us" Theodore mentioned.

Suddenly, Dave crept in. "Hey kids, have you heard back from Alvin or Brittany? They've been gone for a while now" the man asked.

"No Dave," Simon answered.

"They're probably arguing about something unimportant," Eleanor sarcastically remarked.

"You're probably right but I can't help but feel that I should check in on them" Dave explained.

"Why don't you send Alvin a text?" Jeanette recommended.

"Hmm, I guess I could do that" Dave shrugged, "I'm thinking of ordering from the bakery to cheer us up. What do you guys want?"

"Oo oo!" Theodore raised his hand, "I want…"

While Theodore listed every dessert on the planet, two sneaky chipmunks were shuffling through the bushes near the hospital.

"Alvin, why do we have to hide in these dirty bushes?" Brittany whined.

"Hey, you want to see Miss Miller, don't you?" Alvin snapped.

"I just don't know why we can't be seen" the pink chipette complained. Eventually they reached the left side of the hospital, and the whole building was completely surrounded by guards in hazmat suits with razors and police tape.

"That's why" Alvin pointed, "They ain't letting anyone in or out"

"Alvin, look!" Brittany whispered loudly. Over at the back, a truck pulled up and brought more supplies, including clean hazmat suits. The two of them smirked at each other, assuming the other was thinking the same thing.

When they got down there, the first thing they noticed that these workers delivering the supplies didn't seem like doctors. In fact they didn't seem to work at the hospital at all. The two of them realized that these were completely normal workers.

"Hey, these are just delivery guys," Alvin noted.

"So?" Brittany asked all confused.

"I'm mean these aren't high paying jobs like being a doctor" the red chipmunk explained, "Yet they're still putting themselves at risk"

"Well someone has to deliver these supplies" Brittany responded.

"I know it just, I never realized not all essential work is acknowledged" Alvin concluded, "Like no one knows they're doing this yet they still are." Brittany saw where Alvin was coming from and was starting to feel bad as well. There were some people who had to go outside during the outbreak as well.

Alvin also began to rethink what was important about the situation as well. "Never mind" Alvin shook his head, "Let's get going"

And so the two teens grabbed a human adult sized suit and tried to fit into it. It was decided that Brittany would be the eyes and Alvin the legs as she sat on his shoulders. They managed to sneak it and were now carefully maneuvering through the halls. Admittedly it was hard on the boy, as he both had to carry Brittany and follow her directions. "Left!" Brittany whispered.

Alvin moved left and they ended up bumping into the wall. Some people noticed them, but they didn't stare for long. "Alvin, You turned too far!" Brittany berated.

"I'm sorry, you try walking with your eyes closed" Alvin snapped back, "Jeez, I would suck at being blind"

Brittany was going to keep the argument moving, but then she realized something. "Hey Alvin, do you remember which room Miss Miller was in?"

"Ah… no," Alvin said bluntly, "You don't"

"I mean, I know it's on the first floor," Brittany answered nervously.

"So you're telling me that we've been going around aimlessly" Alvin groaned, "There's like a hundred rooms here! How are we going to find the right one?"

"I don't know" Brittany responded, "But we're not going to find her standing around"

"Alright, you take a peak in every room" Alvin instructed. So Alvin carefully walked down the halls of the hospital as Brittany peaked through each one. In one of the rooms she peeked through, she ended up spooking a little boy, who screamed loudly. This caused a couple of doctors to come rushing in.

"What's wrong James!" one of them asked.

"The man in the rubber suit scared me!" James explained. They then turned to the disguised chipmunks.

"Hey, what are you doing peeking in patient's rooms, you're supposed to stand guard" the doctor complained.

"Oh um…" Brittany then tried to make her voice as deep as a human as possible, "Sorry, I was just um… checking rooms for any intruders" Alvin then slapped himself in the face.

"Intruders? I didn't hear about any intruders" the doctor questioned.

"Well ah…" Brittany gulped, "You know, you can never be too safe"

"Well be more careful then" the doctor snapped, "We got seniors here for god's sake"

"Oh okay" Brittany bit her lip, "Say uh, where are all the seniors? You know, so I can avoid scaring them"

"They're all in the east hallway" the doctor answered, "Now let's stop screwing around, we still got a lot of work to do"

"Yes sir" Brittany nodded. The doctors then left finally.

"Excuse me" James spoke up, "Can I have some privacy please?"

"Oops, sorry" Brittany answered as she nudged Alvin to leave, but not before knocking into another wall.

So the two of them made their way to the east hallway, and Brittany noticed a clipboard on the wall. "Alvin!" she cried, "I think there's a piece of paper on that wall that'll tell which room Miss Miller's in, just walk forward"

"Roger that" Alvin complied. They then went up to the clipboard. Brittany scanned the names of which patient was in which room, and found "Beatrice Miller" under room 126.

"Ah ha!" Brittany laid her finger on her mom's name, "Come on, Alvin! We're almost there!"

But when they opened the door, it was completely empty. Brittany gasped, and she quickly came out of the suit. She found a clipboard under the bed mostly covered in shadow. But the only word she saw was "corona". "What's going on?!"Alvin asked, getting smothered. Once he got the hazmat off him he frowned,"Oh…"

Brittany walked up to the bed and put her hands down on it. "We're too late…" she whimpered, "Miss Miller, I'm sorry" She then began to weep onto the bed. Alvin walked over and comforted the chipette. He too was feeling her sadness.

"I'm sorry" Alvin hugged the pink teen. Brittany cried on his shoulder.

"I just wanted to see her one last time" Brittany sniffed, "Hear her soothing voice"

"Brittany?" she heard Miss Miller voice say.

"Jeez Alvin, that was a scary good impression" the pink chipette held back her tears.

"Uh Britt, that wasn't me" Alvin corrected. The two chipmunks then turned and saw Miss Miller alive, standing by the door while pulling her IV tube.

"MISS MILLER!" Brittany cried happily as she ran into the old woman's arms.

"Darlings, what in the world are you doing here?" Miss Miller asked, she then noticed Brittany was crying into her chest. "What's wrong?" she asked worriedly.

"I thought you were dead" Brittany whaled.

Miss Miller then picked her daughter up and they sat down on the bed. "Now why would you go imagining things like that?" she asked.

"Ah, don't you know where you are?" Alvin asked, "This is the hospital"

"Yeah, Miss Miller" Brittany sobbed, "I was the one who gave you the coronavirus!"

"What?" Miss Miller asked, all confused.

"Alvin and I held a big party in the park and I must've carried it and gave to you" Brittany confessed, "I'm so sorry"

"And long story short, I helped her break her into here to say goodbye to you" Alvin explained awkwardly, "Sorry I couldn't see all three of your daughters before you go"

Then suddenly, Miss Miller started to laugh really hard. Alvin and Brittany looked at each other strangely, wondering if the woman had finally completely lost her mind. "Kids kids, I don't have the coronavirus" she managed to calm herself down.

"What?!" the two teens cried.

"Correct, she actually has coronary artery disease" a voice behind them corrected. The teens turned to see the same doctor they saw yesterday.

"Wait a minute" Brittany interrupted. She reached down for the clipboard she found and saw it actually said the abformention illness, and not coronavirus.

"Oh, that's where my clipboard went" the doctor said as he took it from the chipette, "Now let me enlighten you as to you what's really going on. You know how your heart circulates the blood in your body? Well Miss Miller's arteries, which are tubes leading directly to the heart, got clogged up by plaque which causes heart attacks"

"Wait, you're telling me all Miss Miller had was a heart attack?" Alvin asked.

"Young man, heart attacks can be quite serious" the doctor explained, "Luckily, Miss Miller's condition is treatable. All she needs is to eat healthier and take medication"

"You mean you don't have the coronavirus, Miss Miller?" Brittany asked her mother.

"No dear" Miss Miller shook her head, "Though I was tested for it. It was awful, they shove an entire cotton swab up your nose"

"Ew!" Alvin spewed, "Do they really have to do that?!"

"Yes" the doctor answered blankly, "And she tested negative, so there's nothing to worry about. Miss Miller is free to leave"

Brittany was overjoyed by the news and hugged the old woman tightly, "Oh Miss Miller, I'm so glad you're okay!"

"Aw, you were really worried about me?" Miss Miller smiled as she hugged back.

"Well yeah, I thought I gave it to you when you kissed me on the cheek" her daughter replied.

"Oh" Miss Miller responded, "Wait a minute, when I thought you were playing with Eleanor like I asked, you actually snuck out of the house to a party?!"

"I brought Eleanor with me!" Brittany defended herself. But after thinking for a moment, she felt bad again, "Oh who am I kidding? I'm a terrible daughter!"

Miss Miller was quick to hug the chipette and sooth her. "Shh shh" she muttered, "Of course you're not. You're a great daughter"

"I am?" Brittany looked up.

"Yes Brittany" Miss Miller smiled warmly, "You and your sister are the best daughters I could've asked for. You know before I met you, I thought it was too late for me to have kids. I was too old to get pregnant and I was never married. But then I was blessed with three beautiful girls. I am truly lucky"

"No, I'm lucky to have you" Brittany nuzzled the woman, "I love you, Miss Miller"

"Damn doc" Alvin began to say, "You got any dentists here? Cause I might get a cavity from all this sweetness here" Everyone in the room then rolled their eyes at him. "Oh come on, that was a good joke" the boy responded.

"Well Miss Miller" the doctor then spoke, "We're going to let you go a day early, I hope you stay safe. And I'm no parent but you should probably do something about these kids with their broke into here you know"

"Don't worry doctor, I'll keep a much closer eye on them for now on" the old woman chuckled.

"Great, we can finally go back home" Brittany cheered.

"Just a sec" the doctor stopped them, "You two came into a contaminated area unprotected, which means I'm going to have to test you. Luckily, I got a couple of cotton swabs with me" He then took the swabs out and made his way towards Alvin and Brittany.

"NOOOO!" they both screamed.

An hour later….

Dave kept pacing around the room. "Alvin, where are you?" he said to himself. It had been hours since he last saw his son and Brittany. He tried texting him but he wouldn't respond. It took 20 phone calls to realize that Alvin had left his phone in his room. Dave decided to finally check next door, but the house was completely empty. Now the man was worried sick, wondering what happened to the two.

"Jeez, Alvin and Brittany have been gone for a while" Theodore mentioned, as he and other chipmunks were sitting on the couch.

"Maybe he's scared that Dave had changed his mind about punishing him," Simon suggested.

"That still doesn't explain Brittany" Jeanette noted,"Unless, you don't think they went to another party"

"Come on, they're may be idiots but they're not stupid" Eleanor objected, "Maybe they finally confessed their love to one another"

Then they all began laughing. "Like that would happen in a million years" Simon joked.

And at the moment, Alvin and Brittany returned with Miss Miller. "Ding dong, guess who's back?" Alvin announced.

Everyone gasped once they saw Miss Miller. "Miss Miller!" Jeanette and Eleanor cheered. They then rushed over to hug her.

"Oh my darlings" Miss Miller cooed as she petted them.

"Wow Miss Miller" Dave greeted in disbelief, "I didn't think you would be back so soon"

"I only had heart problems" Miss Miller answered, "The doctor wanted me out soon as possible so they could fit in more patients. The kids told me you looked after them while I was gone, thank you"

"Hey, I'm just glad to have you back" Dave smiled.

Simon scanned Miss Miller out of nowhere. "Seems to add up" Simon looked at the results, "There's not a sign of any virus in you"

"This is great news!" Jeanette chimed.

"Miss Miller, we really missed you" Eleanor mentioned, "Sorry that we disobeyed you"

"Oh I think you've gone through enough," Miss Miller assured.

Then the group explained everything that had happened for the last two days, and everyone was caught back up to speed.

"So guys" Alvin began to say to his brothers, "Who's the bad friend now? I brought the girls' mom back"

"Alvin, it wasn't a competition" Simon rolled his eyes.

"You're just jealous how good of a pal I am, right girls?" Alvin quipped.

"Alvin, because of you I got a stick put up my nose" Brittany sneered.

"Tsk, good deeds are never appreciated" Alvin shook his head.

"Hey Alvin" Dave began to say, "I've decided to take a look through your blog and seemed like you promised the fans that we would do a live stream concert, including a new song"

"Nnn… Did I do that?" Alvin spoke like a '90s sitcom star.

Dave face palmed, "Empty promises aside, we don't want to disappoint them. So instead of doing the blog, I'm going to ask you kids to perform a song every week"

The six chipmunks then started to cheer and high fived each other, as that sounded fun to them. "Oo, I certainly could go with a littler concert" Miss Miller sang.

So after some setting up, the Chipmunks and Chipettes had set up a makeshift stage in the living room, wielding their instruments, while Dave held the camera. He then counted down, "3...2...1"

Yesterday, everything was familiar

With no warning of change

Today, the world is now a stranger

Will things ever be the same?

Now Up is down

And left is right

I feel lost in my own home

But not everything's

So black and white

So don't tell me that I'm alone

Because we're alone together

No wall should get in our way

We're alone together

And Here is where we will stay

It doesn't take much

To make the world better

Just know, oh oh oh

We're alone together

The doorbell rang and Dave went over to open. "Delivery from the bakery" the delivery man greeted.

"Guys, the food is here" Dave called.

And so they had their yummy dessert, and had a good laugh. It was decided that the two families would visit each other more often during quarantine (Though not too often).

They turned on one TV and found out that Dr. Crashcup had just invented a vaccine… for measles. Regardless, everyone one knew that this situation wasn't going to end anytime soon.

What's the ending to all of this? Well dear reader I don't know, as I'm writing this while it is still happening. Whatever does happen, I know we'll all be fine in the end, no matter how long it takes. Just know that we all live on the same planet, and we'll always face it together.

The End

Author's Note:

Hey, I don't usually do this but I feel like I should explain some of my choices in the story. Right now, we're stuck in quarantine. This year I was supposed to graduate but now I have to do it from home. I had to celebrate my 18th birthday at home too. To say the least I always anticipated 2020 as a big year but I never expected this.

Luckily though, I personally never cared about ceremony so I'm not upset about it. What I am upset with is how I am going to spend my first year being a legal adult. Honestly I have no idea how this will affect my life in the long run and it's pretty scary.

The biggest upside I found during this whole thing was now I had the time to do my favorite hobby, which is writing. My dream is to become a screenwriter and I got a great idea I wanted to write down. But the thing was that even though I could physically write it now, my head was too occupied with what was going on in the world. I found this struggle both infuriating and fascinating so I thought the best thing to do was write about it. I felt bad keeping some of you guys in the dark for three months so I decided to make it about the Chipmunks.

What I'm saying is Jeanette's arc was pretty much a more dramatic retelling of mine. I know I'll finish that screenplay some day, and I shouldn't stress over it. I have to mention the fact that not everything in my story is 100% accurate to what is really happening and I'm not just talking about the Chipmunks not being real. Sorry if I got some facts wrong, I'm no medical expert. If you want real facts, research it yourself.

Overall I think this story came out better than I was expecting, and I hoped you enjoyed it. Next time I'll be writing two fanfics at the same time. One for Chipmunks, which I'm sure you'll love, and the other is get this… Warioware. If you don't know what that is, it's a videogame series based around the Nintendo character Wario where you have to beat a plethora of games that only last a few seconds, and over time it gets faster and harder. I love the characters in the game and I think I got a good idea for a story about them. Don't worry, I still will write Chipmunk stuff. So with that, I hope to see you next time!

7/27/20 Edit: So it's been almost 2 months and I've pretty much given up on the Warioware fic. That being said, I'm still planning on doing more Chipmunk fanfic, but unfortunately you're going to have to wait longer for that. If you want to know why, it's because I've been reviewing every episode of the 80's Chipmunks cartoon for the past month. I'm planning on reviewing everything up to Meet The Wolfman, and afterwards I'll return to writing stories. IF you are interested in reading my reviews, I'm posting them on my Twitter. My account is TCoolmunk. As of typing this, I'm already up to Season 5. Hope to see you there.