Wake up and smell the imminent divorce

Why were mornings so loud?

Before it was even time to get up, he was awoken by the yelling of his parents, or well, parent.

“IT’S HIS FAULT YOU’RE LIKE THIS. IF I WERE YOU, I’D-“

Then Sammi started to tune his father out. He was too young, too young to hear the horrible things he would say about him with no care to if he was present or not.

He wasn’t going to fall back asleep now. It was time to get up.

Despite his better judgment, his sensitive demon ears pricked at the conversation outside his room.

“…That’s impossible and you know it. Not without-“

It went quiet. Too quiet.

Curiosity was too much for the child. He peeked out the door and looked into the living room where his parents were. Whatever anger his father had had fizzed out as he sat next to his mother, putting his hand on her shoulder in a comforting manner as she trembled.

Finally, something.

“…You wouldn’t-“

“Think about it!” He interjected. “Don’t you see how bad your health has been?”

A pause, an opening for a response. But… nothing.

“…Trying it out wouldn’t be such a problem, would it?”

His mother shook her head, sighing. “I’ve told you, it’s deadly. You’ve seen how much power he has. Something could easily go wrong. He could die, I could die- It would give him medical problems-“

His father patted his mom, making her stop talking. “You’ve said magic transfers work. I looked into it.” His eyes gleamed as he spoke, chest puffing out. “I know how it goes.”

There was a look of tired annoyance on his mothers face, and she sounded strained as she spoke. “But what about Sammi? His demon genetics, we don’t know what removing his magic could do to him- Aren’t you worried about him dy- ” Her voice croaked, and she put her hands over her face, trying to cover up a sob.

Despite still being young, Sammi could catch onto what they were talking about. He trembled and he didn’t dare tear his gaze away from the discussion.

There was a short pause before his father spoke. Each word both sounded meticulously picked and made up on the spot at the same time. “…It would be for the best in the long run. Your health is declining- and that isn’t normal. And when did it start? When Sammi was born. And we’ve both seen, and felt the effects of-“ He paused mid sentence to point out his broken horn, making sure the other saw. “-His magic. So, the best thing to do is do the magic transfer. If something happens to Sammi, then babe, we can try again!”

His mother sat up straight, a mortified look on her face as she stared at her husband.

A falter, a wince, and reeling. “You and I both know that we’d love things to go back to nor-“

A sound rang out that Sammi had never heard before. Skin to skin, his mother holding a lifted hand towards his father as he looked on, stunned, a red mark on his face.

It was silent for a long time. Sammi almost considered looking away, going back into his room, before he heard a small voice.

“…Temmie?”

“Get. Out.”

“I’m just saying, it would be the smartest-“

“GET OUT! DON’T COME BACK UNTIL YOU REALIZE HOW HORRIFIC YOU’RE BEING.”

His father shrunk away towards the door as his mother continued to yell.

“YOU SET A BAD NAME FOR ALL DEMONS. I CAN’T BELIEVE I MARRIED YOU, YOU BASTARD!”

Sammi winced. He knew that was a bad word. His father said it all the time… but never his mom. It scared him to see her in such a state, but his dad was leaving- and that was good.

He heard the front door close and saw his mother slump down onto the couch, then break out into sobs. There was a second where she glanced in his direction, and he moved away from the door- softly closing it and leaning on it.

He hates loud mornings.