Another Night in Paradise
A cold breeze blew against Max as he quietly walked up a dirt trail. It was the middle of the night, and the young imp was returning home from a late-night shift. While most would be wary of walking alone in the dark, especially those living in or visiting the Wrath Ring, locals like Max were used to the sounds of ravenous animals that stalked the wilderness. The imp shrugged up his bag of belongings as he drew closer to his family's farmhouse, and a tightness began to grow in his throat as he saw that a couple of lights were on. He hoped that his parents would be asleep at this hour, but it was a naïve hope at best.
Crossing the dirt driveway, Max quietly stepped across the back patio and silently opened the back door. Though he managed to slip inside undetected, he was met with the all too familiar sound of his mother and father arguing loudly in the kitchen. It was nothing he wasn't already used to hearing, but this time, he froze and stood in the darkness of the laundry room, listening closely to his parents.
"We were shorthanded at Lloyd's today, Annie!" His father snapped, "I told you to quit encouraging that damned fool! You show the slightest hint of support, and he goes and runs off. It's no way to raise a child."
"Desmond, he's twenty-three," Annie said, trying to keep her composure, "He's old enough to make his own decisions without us now. Sure, his hobbies are… Peculiar, but he's grown."
"Well, if he's gonna keep livin' under this roof, he's gonna have to pull his weight how I tell him." Desmond scoffed, turning away from his wife as he snatched a bottle of whiskey off the counter and pouring himself a drink as he continued. "History ain't gonna do him any good here. I told him he's gonna stay at the scrapyards with Lloyd and me. Or run the farm. Whichever comes first." He turned back to his wife and took a drink.
"He's still your son. You should be trying to support him too," Annie said with a scowl, stepping up to her husband, "I don't like it either, I don't think he should be meddlin' in affairs he has no business reading about, but he'll lose interest once he gets a job away from that school."
While the two continued speaking in hushed voices, Max listened on from the dark laundry room. Their words pierced his chest like icy daggers, and yet, he felt that he wasn't surprised by what they said. He took a moment more to steel his nerves, then he stepped out into the kitchen. His sudden appearance took both Desmond and Annie by surprise.
"Maxy!" Annie exclaims with wide eyes, "I didn't hear you come in."
"I just got here." Max replied stiffly as he walked past his parents. After what he heard, he didn't want to look at either of them.
"Good." Desmond said, a sternness in his tone as he watched his son with crossed arms, "Because your mother and I want to discuss a few things with you."
Max let out a quiet sigh, busying himself with looking through the refrigerator for a drink. "Can it wait 'til tomorrow? I'm tired."
"No." Desmond said firmly, glaring at his son now. The slight pushback Max gave him was more than enough to get under his skin. But he kept his composure. "We need you here tomorrow. All day."
"Why?" The young imp asked, closing the refrigerator and turning back to his parents, twisting the cap off of a bottle of water.
"Why? What do you mean why?" His father scoffed, shaking his head in disbelief. "You have duties here, Max. You can't be spending all day and all night at Blood-Hearth."
"I work there." Max said with a slight shrug, taking a drink of his water.
"We know that, Maxy," His mother started, her tone holding that same sternness as Desmond's, "But you can't stay there forever. You need to be out here with us. We need you."
Max listened silently, deliberating their words as he stared at the floor. While he managed to act indifferent initially, that façade was beginning to crack slightly. "What's so wrong with Blood-Hearth?" He asked quietly, looking between the two with a frown.
Desmond took a deep breath, then he took a drink of his whiskey before setting the glass down. "It doesn't pay you enough, for one. Skulking around a storage room all day isn't what I want for you."
"So, what, you'd rather me break my back out on the farm all day? We have farmhands for a reason." Max retorts, his grip on his drink tightening slightly with his growing frustration, "I don't want to spend every day out there."
"You're gonna have to. Since Jade's gone off to Pride, someone needs to stay and take over the farm once your mother and I get too old to manage it. You either stay and work, or we rip up those damn books you keep bringing home and you stay regardless."
Max opened his mouth, wanting to push against this threat. But he closed his mouth and leaned back, his shoulders slumping as he gave a dejected nod. "Right."
"Damn right I'm right." Desmond smiles, seeing this disagreement as settled. "Go on and get upstairs, then. I want you up before sunrise, we're gonna be going to Lloyd's to pick up more equipment."
Without a word, the young imp stood up straight and walked out of the kitchen, that aching tightness in his chest starting to become much more obvious. He didn't hate working out on the farm, he hated how his father forced it on him. All he could think about was how lucky his sister was that she moved away as soon as she did. His mind raced, the walk to his room becoming a blur. At least there, he could find some kind of solace and peace. Stepping inside, he closed and locked the door behind him before turning on his light. The vinyl paneled walls were decorated with motivational posters and movie posters. Clothes were strewn on the carpeted floor here and there, as were crumpled up pieces of paper, a result of an overflowed waste paper basket. His desk was loaded up with stacks of history books and notebooks, with a mug full of pens and pencils. The bookshelf was the only part of his bedroom that was truly organized. Books on Hell's history and Mortal history were organized across several rows, with only a few collectables breaking the monotony. He took a moment to haphazardly clean off his desk before turning off his light and falling onto his messy bed. After taking a deep, shaky breath, he buried his face into his pillow as he pulled it into a tight hug. The words of his parents spun around in his mind, despite all of his efforts to push them out. Just another night in paradise… he told himself, rolling onto his side to face his bedroom wall, his thoughts numbing his mind enough to eventually lull him to sleep.
