For the Frog Brothers, the days following their parents having an "episode" always felt strange. After they cleaned up the house and got everything in order, they would open up the comic shop, and a few hours later their parents would waltz in just like normal. They paid no mind to the bruises and scrapes on their sons, but instead took their place by the TV behind the counter. The boys would ignore their parents right back. To the passerby they would never know anything had gone on between them, but inside, that night was all the boys could think about.
The boys were both asleep in the room they shared; each had a bed up against the opposite wall. Alan was the first to wake up from the noise downstairs. He knew what was going on, their parents were searching the house for drugs they thought they left somewhere. Alan jumped out of bed yelling for his brother.
"Edgar, get up!" He grabbed the thick piece of board they kept by the door for this purpose, and jammed it underneath their doorknob.
Edgar was up now, realizing what was happening. They stood in the middle of the room for a moment before they heard banging on the bedroom door. The boys jumped and backed away, getting underneath the desk by their window. It did not give them much protection, but the confined space always provided a bit of comfort. They held onto each other as their parents screamed at them from the other side.
"Open this damn door! We know you're in there!" Their Dad's voice was coming through.
"Boys, just give us our stash back!" Their mother pulled back and forth on the handle.
The boys stayed silent, waiting for them to leave. After about five more minutes of them yelling and banging on the door, the boys heard their parents scramble away. They heard the front door shut, and then silence. They stayed under the desk for a while longer. Both boys knew their parents were usually more determined to break the door down, but it seemed like they had really left.
"How trashed do you think it is out there?" Edgar kept his eyes on the door.
"Dunno, heard them down there for a bit." Alan looked at his brother.
He knew his brother cared more about if their parents were really gone than the state of the house. They both knew the smarter thing to do would be to stay in their room for the rest of the night, but curiosity always got the best of them. Alan got up as slow as he could, and headed towards the door, listening for any sign of life on the other side. Edgar too got up, but stayed behind his brother. Alan listened once more before removing the block of wood from underneath the door handle. He turned the knob to peek outside of their room. Nothing. No one was around, so he opened the door and stepped out. He waited a moment before looking at Edgar.
"I think they're really-" Before Alan could finish his sentence, his mother sprang out of the other room and tackled him.
Edgar screamed at her, running for the door, but Alan pulled it shut, hoping his brother would have enough time to place the wood back. Mr. Frog, however, was already running up the stairs and pushing the door back open. He went straight for Edgar, yelling about their lost drugs.
"Where is it?" He grabbed Edgar by his T-shirt.
Alan began to jump towards him, but for the first time since his mother jumped him, he realized she was holding a knife to his throat.
"Shhh, baby, just tell us where it is."
"We didn't take it!" Alan was terrified of the situation they were now in.
Edgar scowled at his father. "You did it all! We wouldn't take your precious shit from you!" That got him a hard punch to the face, and once he was down the kicking started.
Alan grabbed his mother's arm and elbowed her in the stomach. He ducked under the knife and pushed his father away from Edgar.
Their father kicked Alan down. "Just tell us what you did with it!"
Mrs. Frog ran into the room, knife in hand. He grabbed Alan again, this time tighter. "Start looking!"
Tears ran down Alan's face as his mother held the knife close. Edgar sat helpless knowing any sudden moves could make things worse.
The boys watched as their Dad overturned their room.
"What'd you do with it, huh?" He flipped Alan's mattress, and was making his way to Edgar's when Edgar grabbed his leg to stop him.
"Leave our stuff alone!"
His Dad smacked him off his leg, and continued to the bed.
Their Mother grabbed Alan tighter. "Did you flush it again?"
Alan shook his head. "After last time? Never. I swear you did it all. There's just none left, okay."
Mr. Frog found Edgar's backpack under the bed and emptied its contents onto the floor. Stakes, garlic, and holy water fell out, but what interested him the most was the fifteen dollars that fell out too. He snatched it up and walked over to Edgar.
"What's this? You sell it?"
"What? No, that's ours!" Edgar was fed up now.
"You sold our stash?" Alan could hear the disappointment in his Mother's voice.
"We didn't, we swear."
Mr. Frog shook his head and pushed him back a little. "That's it." He punched Alan in the gut, but looked at Edgar. "Watch your cry-baby brother, Edgar." He punched him again. "You gonna let this happen?" Another punch.
Alan hated how often he was used as a pawn. He could not help the tears that fell, or the tremble in his skin.
Edgar was crying a little too, but their parents did not care. They only had one thing on their mind. "I told you, that's ours. We want anything to do with your stupid drugs!"
Their father was still not satisfied with this. He backed away from Alan, but motioned for his wife to hold him again.
"You make us have to hurt you sweetie." She dragged the knife across Alan's collar bone causing him to yell out.
"Oh God, I swear we didn't take it!" Edgar knew he needed to think fast. "W-wasn't Freddie here the other day? I bet he did it. He's always mooching off you guys. Please I swear we don't' have it. Keep looking if you want, it's not here, and we didn't sell it. Please."
The silence in the air almost hurt as the boys waited to know if their parents would accept the bait or not. After what felt like an eternity, Mr. Frog pocketed the money and nodded at his wife to get up.
"We can get more now, then we'll go see about Freddie."
Mrs. Frog shoved Alan away and ran out of the room with her husband. Edgar followed behind them shutting the door, and replacing the wood. He then dug out the first aid kit hidden behind his bed. He sat down on the floor across from Alan, who was holding his bleeding shoulder.
"Let's see." Edgar signaled for Alan to remove his hand, which was now covered in the oozing red liquid.
"I think it looks worse than it is." Alan winced as Edgar began to wipe the blood away with an old bandana he got off the floor.
"Probably needs stitches." Edgar grunted.
"I'm not letting you sew into my skin, bro. It'll be fine."
"Fine, but if you bleed to death, don't blame me."
Alan only grunted in return. "That decoy money was a good idea."
"Yeah, got them out of our hair for awhile."
"Yeah…" Alan paused as Edgar finished bandaging him up. "This sucks."
Edgar stopped. "Just two more years and we can get out of here."
"How many times are they gonna almost kill us before then?"
Edgar said nothing, but wiped the blood away from his busted lip.
After the boys finished patching themselves up, they began to clean up their room. As soon as the sun came up they would go check on the rest of the house. Any time before that would be too risky. They cleaned in silence, putting things back in order. Both boys tried to deny what their lives were, what their parents were, but they both knew that this time would not be the last. They both knew that the next time could be the worst of them all.
"Did ya hear me?"
Alan snapped out of his thoughts to see Sam standing in front of the counter. "What'd you say?"
"I asked if you an Edgar wanted to come over for dinner tonight. Mom said you could stay over if you want."
"Oh, yeah sure. Thanks." Alan was still trying to figure out where he was.
"You okay?"
Alan realized he was lost in the events of the other night. "Yeah, fine."
Sam nodded, not wanting to push it anymore. He knew the boys were not okay. He could tell they had been zoning out and distant since they told him what had happened. When Sam came into the comic shop he noticed Edgar mindlessly stocking comics, and Alan staring off into space behind the counter. He was sure their parents being passed out next to the television did not help with that. The dinner invitation was Sam's attempt at getting their mind off of what had happened, he just hoped it would help.
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The boys were always quiet, so Lucy did not think anything of their behavior when they came over for dinner. She did however notice the bruising on the boys.
"Oh my, what happened to you two?"
Edgar smiled a little at the concern in her voice. "Vampires."
"Boys, you shouldn't be going after things like that, especially after what happened in this house. It's dangerous."
"We're professionals ma'am, we know what we're doing." Edgar nodded at her in confidence, and Lucy was forced to accept it. She was not their mother after all.
Sam panicked for a moment when his mother asked about them, but then he realized how quick Edgar was to the punch. He wondered how often they had to lie to people about what was really going on.
The Frog Brothers were quiet through most of dinner, but like before that was not unusual. After they were done they thanked Lucy for the food and headed upstairs with Sam. While Sam broke out his comic books, he noticed the brothers pull a map and a notebook out of Edgar's backpack. Sam shut his comic and scooted to where the boys were sprawled out on the floor.
"What's all that?"
Edgar looked up from the map. "We think we found a vamp nest, followed one to a cave on the beach a few nights ago."
"We're gonna torch the bloodsuckers." Alan nodded in triumph.
Sam looked at the plans. "Can I help?"
The boys looked at each other, but Edgar spoke. "I think you should sit this one out."
"What? No fair! I helped take out the last ones, why can't I help you with this?"
Alan sighed. "It'll be dangerous."
"Might get killed." Edgar glared.
"I can handle myself just fine. Besides you guys were screaming just as much when we staked that guy." Sam wanted to help.
"We were young and naïve then." Edgar put his hand out in defense.
"That was a few months ago." Sam smiled.
"Your mom won't approve." Alan gave him a look.
Sam shrugged. "She doesn't have to know."
"She'll know when you become vampire food." Edgar glared.
"Come on guys. It'll be better with my help."
Alan rolled his eyes. "Fine, you can come."
"Yes!" Sam was excited to help with their plan.
For the next half hour Edgar and Alan discussed the details of the mission to Sam. They had to make sure every detail was right so they did not end up with a blood fest like they had before. If they could take out the whole nest, then they would not have to worry about the creatures wanting revenge.
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AN: Thanks for reading!