I woke up drenched in sweat, my heart pounding faster than ever, the emotions of my father's memory still lingering in my mind.
Day by day, I realized, the demon capable of eating memories was force-feeding me those that belonged to my parents, and the further we went back, the more haunting they were becoming.
At first, I could barely recognize them, but as I kept reliving all those moments, the intensity of them began growing as well; the emotions sometimes were so overpowering they warped my senses.
My father's rage would be so strong it would ignite the environment around him, burning me as well; my mother's resentment felt like a cold blade, slowly digging through my chest.
I need to learn how to tame this demon before I lose myself.
I thought as I stared at my disfigured arm.
As usual, Elena and Robert were waiting for me at the breakfast table; no matter how early I woke up, they were always one step ahead of me, as if they didn't sleep at all, but their faces couldn't look more relaxed.
"Can you teach me how to use demonic powers?" I asked them without skipping a beat.
"I'm having trouble controlling the powers I inherited from my father; the demons are acting on their own, and because of them, I never had a restful dream. "I confessed.
All this time I refrained from asking for help in fear they might think the worst of me, but since the situation was only getting worse, I had to lower my head and beg, hoping that they wouldn't refuse my request.
The two of them didn't seem at all surprised by my words; Robert simply kept eating his meal while Elena remained silent, patiently waiting for me to finish speaking, her eyes staring directly into mine.
"I would also like to change my name. " I added at the end breaking eye contact.
"And why is that?" Robert asked; this time he seemed surprised. His eyebrows were raised, his body had stopped moving, and he was staring directly at me.
His gaze was intense, so intense it made me a little uncomfortable.
"Many people at school find it uncomfortable that we share the same name." I answered.
I found it more uncomfortable than all of them combined, because it was a name my late mother gave me, hoping I could grow to be half as powerful as the scarlet demon, yet both she and Father ended up hating me with every inch of their being.
Being forced to relive both their worst moments made me loathe that name.
"Do you find it uncomfortable?" Elena asked.
Her voice echoed throughout the room and sent ripples all over my body; it was a feeling of powerlessness that was slowly making me go insane.
"No," I could barely reply, my voice so faint it was barely audible to my own ears.
My voice was about to break; I felt my eyes growing watery with every passing second.
No, please, keep it together; those memories, they're all fake.
"Then why bother listening to their opinion?" She asked me.
She crossed hands and further lay back in her chair, giving me her full attention.
Huh? How come she doesn't get it?
"Because… It's uncomfortable to be stared at by everyone. To be treated differently because of it." I tried to explain.
I wanted to spare myself the humiliation and omitted anything regarding the memories inherited from both my mother and father.
"They'll do that regardless of whether or not we have the same name. No, they're probably going to get worse if you change the name." She confidently stated as she chugged an entire bottle of wine.
But—
"Give them an inch, and they're going to try to gain a mile out of it…" She said before throwing the bottle away.
"But…"
"Grow a fucking spine! Will ya?" She said as she slammed her foot on the ground, making the whole house tremble beneath her feet.
This sudden revelation took the winds out of my pipes.
What did she just…
"What did they say to you?" She asked me, now more angry than ever.
Her emotions once again began to leak out, I realized when I heard the sound of the metal cups slowly digging into the wooden table.
"They didn't say it directly; I just overheard their conversations." I replied.
"Then you should've caved their fucking skull in!" She yelled; she was already starting to sound drunk, but when she hazily made a punching motion, it confirmed it in my head.
The emotions were getting more electric, giving me small and harmless shocks just to avoid allowing me to remain stale.
"Honey, let's not teach—" Robert immediately rushed to her side, trying to calm her down, but his efforts were wasted.
"To hell with that. Why do we have to act all subservient to them? I'm sure they're doing their best in trying to find the fastest way to get rid of us." She yelled back at him the moment he tried to drag her away.
"Can you blame them?" He also raised his voice in return.
"Are you siding with those fuckers?" Her tone suddenly shifted. Before she sounded angry, chaotic, and slightly confused; now she had turned incredibly sharp. She wasn't yelling, yet her voice felt louder than ever with a strange emotion that felt like it could cut our heads at any time.
That phrase reminded me of Lucifer; in that aspect, right now his mother was behaving in the same way as her son, drawing unreasonable lines, refusing to even acknowledge the other side, and only hell-bent on validating her own feelings.
"I simply think that we were a bit too hasty to come here." Her husband was quick to deescalate the mood.
"They were the ones who waged war on us; a little humiliation will do them good; it will teach them not to bare their fangs against us." After having calmed down, she returned to her yelling and her drunken ramblings.
"Or it would push them to use more cunning methods." Robert explained.
"It's useless; so long as we get a hold of their weakness, they will never bother us directly." She said with an oddly terrifying smile on her face; she was clutching her right fist in front of her hand as she said so.
Suddenly her eyes widened.
"How many friends do you have at school?" She then asked me.
All the emotions that were rapidly accumulating around me vanished, as if they had never existed in the first place.
I found myself on the spot; I didn't expect to be talked to when those two were discussing so fiercely.
"I… Maybe a couple… probably?" I replied, The only people that came to my mind were the twins that visited us not too long ago.
The two of them didn't look all too pleased with my answer. Elena looked disappointed; she made a long sigh of disappointment, while Robert had a weird expression that was difficult to read.
"How is school?" She then asked.
Mhhh
"Boring?"
I didn't know what to answer; there wasn't much to it. Everyone just kept ignoring me. Sometimes they badmouth me, but never in front of me. I needed to go out of my way to hide to hear some of their conversation.
The lessons were brutal; I could barely keep up with the others, and I was already extremely behind when I first got here; it was humiliating beyond imagination.
"Even better, from tomorrow onward you will stop going there."
"Huh?" Robert and I were both left shocked by that statement.
"There's no need for her to go there any further; if she's not going to make any friends, might as well take her out. We'll teach her the necessary stuff she needs." She quickly explained, not giving us time to say anything back.
"Not even a month has passed since she started frequenting her school. Aren't you taking things a bit too fast?" He argued back.
"I'm tired of playing these games with these people; we tried your way, and it's not working. It's time we go my way." She announced with a proud look on her face.
"Since when have we done things MY way?" Robert protested.
I felt extremely small in between those two; every time the argument seemed to end, something new popped up that re-ignited their argument.
The discussion kept going back and forth, getting more and more heated over time, until Elena burst off, saying something in a different language, only to stop herself halfway.
"I need to cool off, Elena. Follow me." She ordered ease as she stormed out of the room.
"Yes, ma'am!" I quickly bowed down and followed her outside, leaving Mr. Robert behind.