Chapter 1 - The Disappearance

"Hey there Chimmy, where are you?", Chippy Chipmunk called out to his twin brother. "You lost again?"
Chippy looked around. Suddenly he felt very cold and his teeth started to chatter. He was scared.
Chimmy was nowhere to be seen.
Of the two little chipmunks, Chippy was the younger of the two and smaller than his brother.
"Well," he said to himself aloud, trying hard to be brave, "It looks like a really fine day, maybe the nicest one that we have had this fall! Maybe I should just go out and relax in the nice warm sun for a while and just enjoy the weather."
"But on second thought, that might not be such a good idea", he concluded, remembering that he was supposed to be up early this morning, gathering food for the winter.
"Winter is coming very quickly and we had better be ready for it," Chimmy had told him repeatedly. The two of them were all alone, as their parents had disappeared when they were young. They both knew that they had to take care of each other, as there was no one else for them to turn to.
"But I am too scared to go out there by myself, so now what do I do?" he asked himself. He remembered that his twin brother had been there the night before, when he had drifted off to sleep.
"Oh Chimmy, where are you?" he cried out, much louder this time.
But no one answered.
A tiny salty tear rolled down his cheek. He tried to ignore the lump that he felt growing larger and larger in his throat.
"Maybe he is already out looking for food for the winter? I had better get out there and help him. That is what I will do too and I won't think about any bad things!" he decided.
Several minutes later, he scurried out the door, prepared to do his part, even if he had to do it all alone. He was secretly hoping that he would not have to do so and that when he went out, Chimmy would be there.
"I'm coming to help!" he hollered. "Chimmy!" Then he picked up a chestnut and started to munch on it as he waited for a reply.
But no one answered.