SHOW ME HOW

Chapter 1

Devin's POV

Birds chirping as the cool morning breeze lightly brushes over the exposed skin of arms and legs. I sat watching the sun rise, enjoying the inexplicably peaceful calmness this spectacle evoked in my chaotic mind and soul.

I was granted another day on this unpredictable earth, though many were not afforded the privilege of this spectacular sight, ever again.

I was completely and totally lost in the hypnotizing array of colors that was boastfully showcased by nature in front of me. I could sit like this for hours, being submerged in the content feeling it gave.

My summer school holiday was creeping near its end, and I had one week left to spend at home, before the chaos of schoolkids, homework and dodging teenage boys disturbed my peace again. I will go back to complete the last few months of high school, before I'm headed to university, if all turns in my family's favor.

I would have to leave the only sense of security and normalcy I've created for myself in my mind. I don't want to communicate with people, but most of all, I'm not ready to leave my peace.

My mother works like a slave, taking on extra shifts to earn enough money to keep me alive and pay off the heap's bills and debt. How I wish I could be less of a burden to her financially, but most of all mentally because I knew just how much she was silently suffering.

I see the paranoia in which she functions daily at the possibility of losing me. Her face always seemed calm, but her eyes are never the calm her face faked. She's under the impression, I'm not aware of what's going on around me, but more observant, I notice a lot. Sometimes more than my mind would like to process.

Sienna Moore, my mother, a forty-seven-year-old nurse at the local hospital. She also has an online clothing business to make extra money, but business has been poor the last few months. Elijah, my twenty-one-year-old brother, who is three years older than me, is currently at home on a break from his studies in Italy and is about back to Italy in a few days. He is studying architecture on a partial scholarship, which is of great help to my mother financially.

I'm seventeen and will be turning eighteen in four months. I hate any human interaction besides my mother and brother's. I find their interactions bearable, but I find the most peace in solitude. What's the use of making an impact on people's lives if you don't have the guarantee of sticking around for long enough to witness the fruits of said impact.

"Morning honey" Mom greeted, making her presence known on the back porch with her favorite big ugly brown coffee mug that resembled a character from the movie 'Wrong Turn' in her hand. She was sporting a pair of white jeans with a navy-blue strappy top and a longer length navy blue cardigan. She has shoulder length black curly hair with not a grey hair in sight. I've inherited her beautiful green-eyes, and it made me look so much more like her. She sure doesn't look her age. She looked like someone in her late thirties.

"Morning mom" I croaked, briefly glancing in her direction, before continuing to focus my stare on the sunrise.

She came and sat next to me as we watched the sun rise in a comfortable silence.

Mom wrapped her arm around my shoulder, pulling me towards her, so that I could rest my head on her shoulder. It's moments like these I cherished the most. Saying nothing to each other yet saying so much. I loved not having to explain my silence to my brother and mother. They just understood me.

"You're so cold" she said, picking up the throw blanket behind me. I didn't even notice it falling off my shoulders earlier. She wrapped it around me again, before softly rubbing up and down my arm as she held me tight against her side.