Late Night Rental
Max has been aware of the Frog brothers for quite some time. He has seen the self proclaimed vampire hunters of Santa Carla patrolling the boardwalk, spying on people with watchful eyes as they try to protect the city that has forsaken them. Max has seen their comic book store too, the one owned by their parents, though the couple never seem to be the ones on duty. He has passed it on occasions, pausing a moment to watch the two youngsters work as their parents sit slumped up against a black and white television that never seems to cease playing. He never gave them much thought, only pity for the brothers for being the caretakers of a family at such young ages.
His boys have more of an opinion of them, though. They would sometimes come into Max's video store with a new story, complaining about an encounter they had with the strange brothers. David is bothered by the two boys, more than Max thinks he should be. He finds their stare downs and tough guy personas highly annoying. Arrogant little brats, he would grumble, someone needs to put them in their place.
Max does not mind them, though, even when they glare at him with their narrowed, untrusting eyes. They are just children; they pose no threat. If anything Max admires their dedication to looking after both the parents and city that does not care for them. At least they have some sort of purpose and are not running around like a pack of wild animals, which they very well could be doing considering the lack of parental guidance in their lives. His boys have little to no sense of responsibility or conviction; only partying and hunting. God forbid if Max ever cuts off their money supplies! The boys would surely resolve to mugging or killing to get what they need.
It is a quiet night in the video store, which is not unusual considering a week night during the fall. Now that the tourists are gone and most people are not up quite as late, business has slowed down and Max often alone at night, busying himself with like tidying up, waiting to see if that rare late night customer does show up. This night he has David to help keep him company. Max usually encourages his boys to avoid hanging out at his rental store, but there are times he can make an exception for David. Paul and Marko were often too rowdy, knocking things over, starting fights, hitting on customers or trying to eat them, and Dwayne is not the best for when it comes to conversations. David is alright by Max, though.
David has separated himself from Max, refusing to play maid. Instead he preoccupies himself by reading the summaries on the backs of various video box covers while Max does the cleaning on his own, whipping the fingerprints off of the glass counter top. A shrill ring of a bell goes off as someone opens the door to the store. Max looks up from his work and sees one of the Frog brothers dragging along his stumbling mother. He frowns at the sight of the two. It is late, nearly half past eleven; that child should not still be up. He looks barely twelve.
Alan glances over at David and winces at the angry glare he receives. David smirks at this; the little punk isn't so brave without his brother around. He sets the movie case down, smiling to himself at his minor victory. He saunters over to the counter, stopping to the left of Max and leans over, resting his elbows on the surface. "I hate that kid."
"Don't tell me that you are threatened by a child," Max says, smiling. "I doubt he is even half your size." David looks back at the Frogs. The mother, clearly not in a stable state of mind, wobbles down an aisle, picking up different movies that she passes over to her son so that he may read the text on the back. The boy takes it and sleepily rubs at an eye as he mumbles one of the descriptions. David finds this sight to be curious; he has never seen one Frog brother without the other a few feet away. He wonders where the other one has gone to. Alan appears to be frustrated as he tries to explain something to his mother. The wild haired woman shakes her head and stumbles further down the aisle. With a sigh, the boy quickly returns all of the cases to their rightful settings and follows after her.
"It is a shame that some people are allowed to have children," Max says, shaking his head.
David grunts apathetically. Who cares; it happens all of the time. "Since when are we supposed to care about humans?"
Max shrugs. "It was only a thought. You know, maybe I should add him to our little family. He would make a nice addition, don't you agree?"
"No."
"Why? Wouldn't you like a little brother?"
"Nope; our family is already good. We don't need anyone else, especially not that weird little freak."
Alan yawns as his mother continues to pick through more movies. "What about this one, Edgar?" she asks, holding up the cover for her son to see. "I don't think we've seen this one yet."
"I'm Alan," he replies in a tired voice.
"Oh, of course. That is what I meant. What do you think about this one?"
"I don't care."
"Don't take that tone with me, Alan! In case you have forgotten, I am your mother and you are supposed to appreciate me; it says so in the Bible, Jesus or someone like that said so. You should be grateful that I am even renting movies because we don't have to. I could do better things with my money."
"Like buy pot," Alan mumbles under his breath as they walk to a new aisle. He does not even want to be here, it was his mother's idea to go out and rent a movie in the middle of the night right before they went home from their comic book store. He is not even a fan of the horror movies she is always picking out. Alan yawns and looks up at a cube shaped clock on the wall. It is nearly midnight, and he still has homework left to finish. Mrs. Frog is not close to picking out a movie yet; she is always careful when deciding which film she wants to select. Alan sighs through his nose, looking down at the floor as he trudges along behind his mother. The diamond checkered floor looks like the most comfortable place in the world at the moment; he could just lie down and fall asleep right then and there.
Max checks the clock. It is about time to close up, and by the looks of it he will be getting rid of his customers anytime soon. Also, he wants to get them on their way so that child can finally get to bed. It is late, and being out at night in Santa Carla is not the best of ideas. There are many types of monsters that inhabit this city, both human and supernatural, and a young boy and pot head traveling alone will be nearly defenseless against those creatures. Humans may be their main source of prey, but Max does not enjoy seeing children suffer. It comes from the fathering side of him.
"Do you want me to scare them out?" David asks.
"No. We don't treat our customers like that."
Alan glances over at the counter. He recognizes the younger man with light blonde hair; he and the rest of his crew would stop by the comic shop on occasion and would tease Alan and his brother. Edgar, being the hot head that he is, would growl and threaten them until they left. Alan does not mind them as much. There are annoying, but at least they never tried to steal like the other older kids. They were often gentle with their teasing and would leave laughing once Edgar managed to kick them out. Though they were kinder than most, Alan knows that blonde and his friends does not like him or his brother, which does not bother him as most people do not particularly view the Frog brothers in good favor. There is something odd about that group of four, and for awhile now both and he and Edgar has suspected them for being vampires. There was something off about the, something very intimidating and it was not only because they were much bigger than them. Alan does not like having them around, especially when Edgar is not with him.
The Frog brothers are also wary of the owner of this store. They first became suspicious once they noticed how the man worked during the night. It has been said that he is out of town during the day, working to set up another video rental store elsewhere, but they were only rumors, ones that did not ease suspicion. Though they have their theories, the brothers still have a lot of investigating left to do before they can come to a more accurate conclusion. Alan looks at the man now. He does see any signs of vampirism from where he is standing; only a middle aged man in a bright, plaid suit. Max catches the dark haired boy staring at him and grins. Alan flushes a bit, feeling slightly embarrassed for being caught. He quickly looks away and fallows after his mother.
"He's trying to figure out if you're a vampire," David quietly tells Max. "He and his brother think they are vampire hunters."
Max chuckles. "Children have such wonderful imaginations. They need to get away from all of those comic. They could not possibly stand up to a vampire; they would be destroyed within a minute."
"Should we try it? I bet I can make him cry right away."
"No. I told you before; we do not eat children."
"We won't kill him, just scare him. It will teach that little brat to not mess with us."
"No," Max repeats. "I am sure he has already been traumatized enough in his life."
Mrs. Frog picks up another video case and examines it. "This one looks nice." She holds it out to her son. Alan looks at the picture of man dressed in a clown suit, wearing a homicidal grin and tightly grasping a blood covered knife in his hand. Sure, nice. He nods, giving her his approval. "We should watch it tonight!" Mrs. Frog says excitedly as they walk towards the register.
"Can't we watch it tomorrow?"
"Why? Don't tell me you are tired already." Alan nods. "It's not even late!"
"I have school-."
"Please, Edg- Alan?" she begs. "You know that your father won't watch it with me. He's probably already in bed. You boys are always leaving me on my own; all three of you! That is some way to treat your mother." Mrs. Frog sets the case onto the glass counter for the owner to take. "Kids these days have no respect," she says to him. Max smiles politely but says nothing. He takes the video to ring it up. Alan looks around, noticing the blond glaring at him again. He flinches under its intensity and looks to the floor. David smirks, once again feeling accomplished.
"That will be $3.43," Max says.
"Oh. Alan, did you bring any money? I left my purse back at the store."
With a sigh, Alan quickly checks his pockets for any sort of money. He has taken up the habit of carrying around an extra supply of money when he is out with his parents. Situation such as these are not uncommon, especially with his mother. He pulls out a crumpled dollar bill and a handful of change. He sets them on the counter, rubbing at his eye again as he tries to count out the correct amount. Alan quickly runs out and finds that even with what he brought for an emergency he does not have enough to cover the expense. "I," Alan begins to say, but then falters. He can feel the blonde's eyes still on him, watching him closely. His cheeks warm as blush stains his cheeks. This is embarrassing and his mother will be no help. It is difficult to convince her of anything, and she won't likely want to put back the movie after she finally selected it; she will most likely throw a fit.
Max looks from the sleepy child to his absent minded mother. "Don't worry about it," he says. He slides the change to the edge of the counter and dumps it into his palm. "This is close enough."
"But-."
"Here." He hands the movie over to the boy. With a moment of hesitation, Alan accepts it.
"I can pay you back tomorrow," he mumbles.
"Don't worry about it." Max smiles at him. His mouth turns into a more strained grin as he looks at the hippie woman. Alan shifts uncomfortably. He knows the look the man is giving his mother. He has seen it before at schools from teachers and other parents, from people that would stop by their comic book store and shake their heads at his sleeping parents. He knew what the look means and though he does not like the way his parents act, Alan cannot stand when people look at them this way.
"Uh, thanks."
Max turns his attention back to the boy, now fully smiling. "Would you like a sucker?" he asks, pointing to a bowl filled with colourful candies.
Alan shakes his head. He will not take any more handouts; the movie is already embarrassing enough. He quietly says something to his mother and takes her sleeve, dragging her towards the door. Max and David watch as the pair exit from the store, disappearing into the dark Santa Carla night. "That is one thing that I have never been able to stand about humans," Max says. "They are too easily distracted from their responsibilities." David remains silent, leaning on the counter as he still looks in the direction of the door. "What are you thinking about?"
David moves to an upright position. "Nothing."
This was pretty much a random and rather pointless idea that I came up while I was supposed to be taking Biology notes today. I am not sure what to say about it since I am not a big fan of it at all. Hehe. I don't like the title either, but I could not come up with anything better. But I have wanted to write another story with Max in it since he is one of my favorite characters, and I decided to use Alan because he's my most favorite! Max needs more stories! I am planning on writing a multiple chapter story on him once I finish up with The Hunter. Hopefully it will turn out better then these one-shots!