Duke Crocker was not known for being the kind of person who would look after anyone but himself. He enjoyed being alone. It's not like he didn't have friends, he had a few, most of which he sold things to. He also had a few enemies, that mostly consisted of people who he ripped off or bullied in highschool. In the end though he didn't really enjoy people, at least that was until he met Maxine Grener.
The year was 2004, it was a rough night, sheets of rain pelted down upon the roof of the Cape Rouge. Duke had had a perticularly good day, he hadn't gotten in a fight with anyone, in fact he had been sailing his smaller boat around the Haven harbor all day. His hair clung to his face, wet from the rain. He finished tying off the small dingy to the dock when he heard it, the crunching. It was coming from the inside of his boat, slowly he picked up a piece of wood and followed it to the door that opened into the galley. The door's lock had been picked and hung open a little, he swung it open to reveal a young girl who couldn't have been older than eleven was standing barefoot across the room in a pair of soaking wet jeans and a drenched brown t-shirt four sizes too big for her, devouring a bag of Doritos as if her life depended on it. She was tan, with long light brown hair that hung almost to her hips and seemed to weigh less than eighty pounds soaking wet, her face dawned a black eye the size of Texas and her arms were riddled with old and new burns and cuts, and by the looks of it, absolutely horrified. At first he wasn't going to do anything, she wasn't his problem, just get her off his boat and not call the cops, but the way the girl looked so miserable reminded him of when he was a kid.
"How did you pick the lock on the door?" Duke questioned, the girl didn't answer she kept her eyes to the floor abruptly avoiding eye contact. "Look kid I'm not mad." He said taking a step forward, she jerked back in fear, tripping on a bag of potatoes and falling backwards to the ground. "Hey, hey, hey, calm down kid, I'm not gunna hurt you. I just want to know why you're on my ship." The girl didn't answer with words, she just held up the bag of chips as if they were the answer to all.
Duke held out his hand, she flinched a bit, thinking he was gunna hit her, but after realizing he was telling the truth and not going to hurt her, gingerly took it. "I'm Duke by the way. What's your name kid?" No answer, "That's alright you don't have to talk, come on, I'll make you somethin' to eat other than a month old bag of chips."
The girl sat cross legged on a chair at the kitchen table, Duke put a bowl of microwave popcorn and a plate of oven baked chicken nuggets in front of her, which she then proceeded to inhale. She finished with in seven minutes, and finally said her first words to Duke, "Thank you s-sir." She whispered
"Ah, so she speaks, can I ask you a few things?" Duke smiled. The girl stared at the table and decided to trust the man, she nodded slowly. "Ok, let's start with your name."
"Maxine." She whispered as if she were ashamed of the word.
"Alright, is it ok if I call you Max?" Duke asked gently, she nodded yes. Max, she liked that name.
"Ok Max, when was the last time you ate something?"
"Two days ago." This turned Duke red with rage, who in their right minds would forget to feed such a sweet kid like this, he tried not to show it he didn't want Max to get scared.
"O-ok. Can you tell me why you ran away?" Max's eyes welled up with tears, when she tried to wipe them away she flinched at the feeling of her black eye.
"He h-hit me again, and put out his cigarette on my arm again, s-so I ran away. Can I stay here mister Duke just until he forgets the fight, it won't be too long. Please, I have nowhere else to go." The sailor froze.
"I'll be right back kid I need to use the bathroom." Duke dashed to the restroom, shutting the door and locking it. Placing his forehead on the mirror and sighed. He couldn't let Max go back to that house, where her father obviously beats her, but then again he was in no place to have a kid wandering around the Rouge. She seemed pretty quiet though, and when he ran away it was very hard to find a place to crash. That being said he was fourteen, not ten. Why is it always me...he thought.
Max waited in the dining area. Still cross legged, I shouldn't have asked him that, I'm so stupid and worthless why would he want me around. The thought echoed throughout her head as she stared at her empty plate smeared with mustard. She heard the bathroom door unlock and slowly open, Duke walked out, "alright kid you can stay, and feel free to come over when you need a place to crash." Joy filled Max's chest as she sped walked over to Duke and gave him a hug around the waist.
That night Duke walked into the guest room and handed Max a pair of track pants that were too small for him and a shirt, "they aren't too much in the way of pajamas but at least they're dry." She smiled up at him.
"Thank you mister Duke." She said in reply.
"And enough with the mister, we're friends now you can call me Duke, just Duke."
"Ok, good night, m- Duke."
"Good night Maxie."