Only two customers were there. Lily and Karl sat with Daniel that evening. Snow started to pile on the road. Around seven, it got dark.
“Not that we are trying to kick you out, but you need to go home,” Karl said. “And trust me; I say it all with love.”
Daniel turned his head away from the paper and raised an eyebrow. “No, I’m okay.”
Karl tried again. “Daniel, we love you, but go home.”
“What about those two?” he said pointing to the couple.
“I’m going to ask them to leave soon. They’re from out of town I think. They’re a little strange,” Karl said.582Please respect copyright.ＰＥＮＡＮＡVCRUWGEJ48
“Where do you think they’ll go?” Daniel asked.
“Hotel?” Karl suggested. “I don’t know. Who cares?”
“What about the homeless?” he asked.
Lily and Karl looked at each other and then to Daniel. Lily sighed. “Daniel, why don’t you go home and get some sleep. Be careful and just rest.”
“We love you, Daniel,” Karl said. “We really do.”
He nodded and started to head towards the door. “Yeah, I’ll go home. I’ll watch some movie or something.”
Karl laughed. “You watched them all.”
“Rerun weekend, plus I’m keeping the movie rental alive,” he said. “Love you guys.”
“Love you too Daniel,” Lily said.
Karl said, “Love you too.”
Then, he was done. Daniel saw the road turning to ice. Maybe he could skip the movie this weekend. Maybe grab a book. Build his brain up, not turn it to soup.
But he went on and drove to that tiny movie rental place. He wasn’t sure why. Maybe it was an addiction. Maybe, just maybe, a ghost was pulling him towards there. It only took five minutes to get there, but with the ice, it took about ten. He made it though. He carefully parked his car and walked in. The owner, who knew his face all too well, greeted him.
“Hello, Daniel! I’m sorry to say, we’re closing early tonight.”
“Can I pick out something quickly? I already know what I want.”
The owner laughed. “I wish, but the computers are down . . . . You know what, go ahead. I trust you. Go pick out some movies.”
Daniel blinked. “Are you sure?”
“Yeah, you always bring back my movies on time. Tell me what movie you’ll like, I’ll get it for you. No charge, on the house, eh?” the owner said.
“Wow, thank you so much,” Daniel said with his eye lit. He ended up picking three movies. He picked The Goonies, Breakfast at Tiffany’s, and the newest Pixar movie that came out. As the owner handed Daniel the movies, he thanked him again.
“It’s no problem. Drive home safe, you hear?”
“You too,” he politely said opening the door. As he walked towards his car, he saw the lights go out from the window.
When Daniel put his keys in his car, he heard a small little cough. He looked up to see a girl with blonde hair walking towards the alleyway on the side of the building. She lend up against the building, holding onto her guitar case.
“HEY,” Daniel called her. “You okay?”
The girl turned around. Daniel saw her face, and it was the girl from before. She saw him. He knew she did, but she turned around and went on walking slowly. She disappeared into the ally’s darkness.
Daniel could have hopped in his car, he could have driven home, and drove away. He could have watched all his movies and forget about the rude girl. He could go work, did his duty, go to his brother’s café, slowly forget about her. He could have gone and lived his life normally. He could have done all that.
But he didn’t.
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