Home: A Journey Through Acme Acres

Chapter One

“You’re not actually going to dig a hole in a public park, are you?”
“Of course I am, Simon! The map says that the ‘treasure we seek is beneath the X by the creek.’ I know just where it’s talking about!”
“Alvin, with all due respect, I wouldn’t trust a crude drawing that was found in a Cracker Jack box.”
Alvin Seville didn’t seem to care about his brother’s resistance. His sense of adventure always won out reasoning and logic in the end. Besides… who could resist a treasure map! Alvin was determined to prove his brother wrong, and get filthy rich in the process. His other brother, Theodore, dressed as green as the park itself, trotted behind both of them, dragging a heavy shovel across the ground.
“A-A-Alvin,” Theodore began, “do you think we could, maybe, switch places for a while… what I mean is… why don’t I take that map off your hands and you could take the shovel off mine?”
Alvin snorted at this. “Like I said before, I’m the navigator and you’re the… uh, caddy.”

With his lucky red cap cocked to the side to show that he meant business, Alvin led the Chipmunks across the more wooded areas of the park towards a familiar destination. Indeed, as young as the Chipmunks are, they could fondly recall skipping rocks across the park’s long creek in earlier times, with Simon and Theodore having fun and Alvin usually making a contest of it. Theodore especially wished he could skip rocks now instead of risking any sort of trouble by digging holes where he wasn’t supposed to. Before long, they stopped short.
“Found it!” Alvin remarked excitedly.
“Found what?” asked Simon.
“It! The ‘X’. Look.”
Simon and Theodore glanced at where he pointed. In the dirt before them lay two intercrossing tree roots, somewhat resembling an ‘X’. Just ahead of them they could hear the trickling waters of the creek, lazy enough to fall asleep on while floating.
Alvin grabbed the shovel and started to dig around the roots right away. “The faster we dig, the faster the bounty.”
Theodore voiced his complaint. “W-what are we supposed to do?”
“Just dig with your hands until I share the shovel.”

The three dug and dug, until they were pretty far along and almost couldn’t take anymore. The hole itself seemed as deep and wide as a grave. Simon and Theodore, not being quite as athletic as Alvin stopped for a breather while Alvin continued.
“I’m happy you’re so dedicated,” said Simon, breathing heavily, “but I think this whole thing is ridiculous. It’s a fake map, you know there’s no treasure. Sorry, but I’m tired.”
“I’m hungry,” said Theodore.
Alvin’s shovel suddenly hit metal. “And I’m rich! Whoohoo! Come to papa!” said Alvin as he uncovered the rest of the dirt off the rather small sized object. When he had finished, he tried picking it up, but to no avail. “Ug, it’s almost like it’s attached to the earth or something.”
“What is it,” asked Theodore, now curious. He looked over at Simon, who had a look on his face of what seemed like shock.
What stood before them was a metal box with a small switch in the middle. The words of above it, in plain black lettering, read ‘Plot Hole: Acme Acres.’
“Acme Acres,” read Alvin, “well I’m not sure what that is, but I say we flick the switch. Maybe we’ll see treasure after all.”
Simon looked up. “I say we go home. It’s getting late, Dave will be worried.”
“You can’t tell me you aren’t the least bit interested. I mean, look at this!”
Simon did look. Adjusting his glasses, Simon examined the metal box. He also tried picking it up, even shoving it, but it wouldn’t budge.
“We could try digging some more,” offered Alvin, “there’s gotta be a bottom to it somewhere.”
“I’m done with digging,” said Simon. Still he inspected the item. “’Acme Acres…Plot Hole…’ Weird. A plot hole is simply a gap in a storyline, usually with some movie or script that doesn’t logically add up with the rest of the story…”
“So it’s a hole… in the plot,” said Alvin, sarcastically. “So what’s with ‘Acme Acres’?”
“I don’t have a clue. But I’m going back up and telling a member of the park staff. I’m sure it’s nothing more than some sort of underground electrical wiring.”
“No!” Theodore ran over to Simon. “We can’t do that… we’ll get in trouble!”
Simon sighed. “Then we’ll have to cover it back up.”

As Simon and Theodore tried to come up with something, Alvin was slowly creeping back toward the metal box. He knew this is what the map was leading him to, though he didn’t know why. All of his attention was now on this tiny switch in front of him. It was just a simple switch… it may not even work. What harm could it do? One thing was for sure as far as Alvin was concerned, though. He wasn’t leaving this spot without flicking it…

As soon as Alvin's two brothers made up their minds to cover the hole back up and return to Dave, they felt a slight rumble at their feet. Bits of dirt started to fall off the walls of the hole. As the trembling grew stronger, Simon turned around and looked at the box. The switch was at the opposite position as before. Simon glared at Alvin, who smiled innocently back at him.
“Guess it’s not electrical wiring,” said Alvin, laughing nervously.
Too scared now to argue, Simon was going to suggest that they’d best climb out of there, when the rumble stopped suddenly. In the silence, the Chipmunks stood motionless, unsure of what just happened. Theodore looked down, only to realize he was no longer standing on dirt. There was nothing below his feet. A gasp emitted from the others as they eventually noticed the same. Defying physics, it seems as though the Munks stood on empty air, a black void below them. When they looked around they then saw the walls were also part of the void. Scared now, they looked up to see the opening of their Munk-made hole enclosing as it drifted further and further away.
“We’re falling?” asked Alvin. “But how?”
Simon had no answer. “I must be dreaming…it doesn’t feel like I’m falling at all!”
Theodore could only whimper as the frightened threesome were covered with a newfound darkness.