Animation Vs The Past

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(Third-Person POV)
Hollywood, LA
1:16 AM

~

Pushing open the door to his hotel room, Alan sighed in relief. They finally made it here after a long day of looking and around Hollywood, not to mention the attractions they went to. Taking his phone out, he'd check on Second.

'Yeah, he's knocked out. Probably fell asleep halfway through the walk home.' Alan thought to himself.

Indeed, the small stick was already asleep on the floor of Alan's phone, curled up in a ball and softly snoring. Smiling, Alan would open an app on his phone and draw a small blanket, then cover Second with it, making sure his small friend was comfortable. He wanted him to sleep well, as tomorrow they had quite a long flight home. Though, they might not even make it home. They were flying standby, and from the looks of the last few days, the airport seemed to be super busy.

In any case, he didn't want Second to be super tired and cranky, like the time the other four (and a chicken, apparently) blasted music super late at night. He got super pissed and shut them up quickly. Honestly, Alan was glad he did. Why? Well, that was solely because he could hear their music from his own room, and it woke him up and kept him up for about 10-20 minutes. Thankfully, he was able to go back to bed afterwards.

Putting his phone on his charger, Alan started collecting his things that were scattered around his room and packing them in his suitcase. The only thing he left out was an outfit to change into tomorrow. Tired, he'd lay  down on the large, soft, and comfortable bed, which would only make him more tired. But, somehow, despite his tiredness, he couldn't sleep. He didn't want to use his phone right now with the risk of waking up Second, so instead he just looked around the room.

Glancing over at his smaller bag beside his suitcase, he remembered the VHS, or now, the disc, especially the price. To him, the $46 price still felt like an open would with salt constantly being poured in it.

'That thing better be worth it, Second. That amount of money is something I'm never getting back..'

He couldn't believe he'd let himself get persuaded by a damn stick figure to pick some old dusty tape up off the street. Yet, he was curious about it.

Finally, feeling tired enough to head to bed, he turned over and closed his eyes, almost immediately falling asleep.

~
-Time Skip-
9:08 AM

Blinking a few times, Alan woke up and stretched. Sitting up, Alan unplugged his phone and gently picked it up, turning it on. Of course, Second was still asleep. Everything was ok.. until he looked at the time.

Oh no.

They're supposed to be there at 9:45.

Panic immediately setting in, Alan leaped out of bed and ran to get his laid out clothes, then to the bathroom to change.

Once out of the bathroom, he shoved the other pair in his suitcase and zipped it as fast as he could, not wanting to waste time organizing. Slipping on his shoes, he'd practically yank his  charger out of the wall and throw it in his smaller bag. He'd do the same with his phone, which had a unaware, poor sleeping stick on it, who was currently being thrown around.

Grabbing all his luggage, Alan basically started bolting out of his room and down the stairs. Returning his room card to the front desk, he'd start running out the door and to the bus stop. Thankfully, the bus to the airport was right around the corner, and there were open seats.

Once seated, Alan remembered about Second. Immediately grabbing and pulling out his phone, he turned it on to Second just lying on the ground, only to immediately look up to Alan.

"WHAT... WAS THAT?!?"

Oh boy. Someone's cranky.

"We're running super late to our flight. We have.. what, 30 minutes to get there?"

"Why didn't you set an alarm or something??"

"Because if I woke you up early you'd be complaining the rest of the trip home. Personally, I do not want to deal with that."

Second knew at that point to just deal with it. Complaining was worthless at this point as it wouldn't do anything but make him more tired than he already was.

As the bus arrived at the airport, Alan would leap out of his seat and start bolting to the doors, not even bothering to drag his suitcase, just carrying it like a handbag.

It'd take them at least 20 minutes to get through security. Thankfully, their gate was close by, so he would just rush over and take a seat, exhausted. Looking around some more, it didn't seem like this flight was full at all. Yes, the plane was fairly large due to the long flight, however there were only about 10 people here, assuming no one would rush in last minute.

As the last boarding group was called, Alan stood and checked in on standby, being the only person left. Turns out he had gotten very lucky, as he'd been assigned a first class seat since almost no one else was using them. Once on the plane, Alan arrived at his seat, stored away his luggage, and laid back in the seat with nothing but his phone, charger, and a book. Laying his chair back and buckling his belt, he'd put his phone on his charger, plugging it into the wall, the flight prepared for takeoff.