The Fire in My Heart

“Devon,” the seven-year-old whines as he shakes his older brother away, “I can’t get to sleep.”
A sigh falls from the lips of the twenty-year-old as he slowly sits up a little and grabs his black framed glasses off of the table. Standing at the side of his bed is his much younger brother. The little boy’s brown hair is sticking up in different directions and his bright green eyes are wide with what appears to be terror. His hands are clutching his rather worn and beat up teddy bear, and he’s wearing his PJs with puppies on them.
“Do you want to sleep in my bed tonight?” Devon asks. The younger boy, Daren, nods before getting on the bed and getting under the covers. “Was it another nightmare about...”
“Yeah.”
This happens about once a week. Although, Devon knows that his brother sometimes gets them multiple times in a week as well. Daren doesn’t go to his brother all the time because his brother is in college, and he wants his brother to get the sleep that he needs. The older brother may not have any trouble with his classes right now, but Daren doesn’t want to be the one that makes his grades go down any.
~
When Devon wakes up the next morning, he finds that he is alone. He picks his phone off of the table and brings it close to his face to check the time. Just as he thought. His brother has already left for school. The brunet rubs his eyes before putting his glasses on and getting up. His legs carry him over to his dresser, where he pulls out socks and boxer briefs. Devon then makes his way over to his closet where he grabs a pair of blue jeans and a blank baseball shirt with black sleeves. He’s not really trying to impress anyone, so he doesn’t even bother his hair, and he showered last night, so he doesn’t have to do that now. He just has to brush his teeth.
The short young man makes his way into the bathroom and starts to get dressed. His eyes stay away from the mirror until he’s fully clothed. His green eyes finally take in his appearance. His hair is messy from just getting up, so he runs his fingers through it a bit. His eyes are bright green just like his brothers and his face is slim just like the rest of his 5’7” body. He picks up his toothbrush, puts toothpaste and water on it, and then uses it to brush his pearly whites.
Seeing that he looks fine enough go outside and his mouth tastes of mint, he goes out to the kitchen to see if his grandma is home. She did mention that she might go to the library today. It doesn’t take too many glances for Devon to know that she isn’t home. It’s not like it really matters. It’s just that he likes to say bye to her when he leaves. Daren and her are the other people that he has left, and he cares deeply about them. He’ll do whatever it takes to brighten up their day.
Green eyes look at the time on his phone. He should get going. It will be the end of the world when he’s late to his class. He always gets there early when no one is there. Devon feels awkward when he has to pick a seat out and some of them are already taken. When he’s there first, he can pick whatever spot he wants to. Devon picks up his bag and heads out to his car. The short brunet gets inside and starts it up. The CD in the car starts up. It’s not music though. It’s actually playing lesson one of a learn to speak Irish program. Devon had decided a week before that he’d try to learn some because his mother’s parents were from Ireland. He tried to learn German because of his dad’s side of the family, but he didn’t really like it that much. Of course, his favorite language is English though. His life-time dream is to become a journalist.
“Cad é mar atá tú?” Devon repeats when they tell him to.
~
When he finally gets to class, he sees that it is empty just like always. He goes to a seat in the front and sits down. Yes, it is rather nice to choose any seat that you want even if Devon always sits in the front anyway. He pulls his laptop out of his bag along with his book. The silence fills the air. The short brunet absolutely loves it. It’s not like his life at home is quiet, and he doesn’t like driving without something on which is why he had the CD in.
Then he hears something. It sounds like the door opening. That’s weird. No one comes this early. He turns his head in the direction of the sound. The door is being opening slowly. A guy around his age enters the room and just the door behind him just like he had found it in the first place. He looks at Devon for a second before turning his head away from him and sitting down at a seat that is four away from the short brunet.
He’s a lot taller than Devon. This guy looks like he could be about 6’1 1/2”. He’s very lanky. In fact, it looks like if someone took him and stretched his whole body out. Even his face is rather long, and his facial features are big. His nose is big with an interesting shape, and his dark brown eyes are quite big as well. Although it looks fine on him since his whole body is long. His hair is a very dark brown. In fact, it’s so dark that it almost looks black, and there are are a couple of blond bits in it. His clothing consists of black skinny jeans that look like they’re girl jeans, a blink-182 shirt, and a black jacket. The thing that Devon almost swears he sees is the guy blushing some, but that can’t be right, so Devon just shrugs it off.
The two don’t say a word to each other. Silence takes his place back where it belongs. It only goes away when the rest of his classmates come in and class begins.
~
When Devon gets home, he puts his bag down and walks over to his little brother. They talk about how their days all went. It’s rather nice. They almost seem like a normal family. Of course, they aren’t. Yes, they are all related, but their family is no longer whole. It’s broken just like Devon is. He tries to keep people away because he’s afraid of what could happen.
“Devon,” his grandmother says, “I want you to go to one of those college parties.”
“Wait. What?”
“You never get out of the house unless it’s to go to the library or to go get something for me. I want you to go out, get drunk, and make out with some girl or guy.”
“But-”
“No buts. I know that it’s wrong and illegal, but I don’t care. Even I had fun back in the days when I could swing my hips to the music.”
“Oh my God! Not in front of Daren!”
“I want to go to a party!” the little boy exclaims.
“Maybe when you’re older,” Devon tells him. “This kind of party is for older people. Fine, I’ll ask someone tomorrow. They’re probably going to be a party tomorrow night since it’s Friday.”
“Good. Now, will you help your grandma make some cookies for Daren’s friends tomorrow.”
“Some boy said that his mom makes better cookies, but I told him that was wrong, so we’re both bringing some in.”
“Well, I’m sure that you are right. Nothing is better than Grandma’s cookies.”

Notes

I'm finally rewriting it. I'm not a fan of this chapter. It's mostly just to see how Devon's life is just like how chapter one of the old one did. I hope that you'll like this rewrite!