After being expelled from school Deven was home sitting on his couch, scrolling through Hulu for something to watch. He already tried Amazon Prime and Netflick, so this was his last option. He wanted something to distract him from his real world problems, but he could not find anything to watch.

He heard the lock in the door turn, and his mom walked into the apartment, causing his stomach to drop. He sat up and cleared his throat. His mom jumped letting out a small yelp as she grasped her breast. She squinted at him confused, the bags under her eyes dark and her hair dishevelled. She wore a black long coat over her hospital scrubs.

“Devan? You scared me half to death,” She said, taking off her coat and pocket book, placing them on the table. “Is everything alright, it’s almost 10 A.M., why are you home so early?”

“Mom, I got something to tell you,” He said, feeling nervous, though he was not sure why. “I got expelled today.”

His mom frowned. “What do you mean you were expelled, what happened?”

“I got into a fight with a couple of kids.” Devan replied.

“Was this about your father again?” She sighed.

“They were calling him a crack-head!” Devan exclaimed.

“Devan, you can’t keep doing this,” His mother said, sitting down to remove her shoes. “Your father left over a month ago, he doesn't care about us. You think he’s out there fighting people for you?”

Devan rolled his eyes. “He is not gone, you just act like he is, because you never cared about him. People see him around the neighborhood all the time.”

“Yeah and he is out there stealing shit to get high,” She snapped. “He is a drug addict, Devan. It is what it is. Your father is hopeless.”

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“He is not hopeless,” Devan replied, louder than he expected. “You never gave him a chance or ever tried to help him.”

“I did, Devan, I did give him a chance,” She said glaring at him. “He’s a fucking loser.”

Devan felt the heat rise in his face as he lost control. “He’s not a loser, he’s sick!” His mother looked shocked that he would take that tone of voice with her. She looked at him slack jawed and speechless. After a moment she shook her head; looking at him sideways she reached into her pocket for a small white bottle. Devan knew what it was. It was Oxy and she would spend the rest of the night as a zombie before she had to shower and go on another shift.

“I know your father my whole life, Devan, he is never going to change,” She said as he got a glass of water to wash down her pill. “You not doing yourself any favors thinking about him. He will disappoint you everytime. Now I need a drink and I need to relax, because I have been on my feet all day. You want to watch Shameless with me?”

Devan shook his head and sighed. “No Ma, I’m going to my room.”

“Ok, sweetie,” She said as she yawned. “Make sure you eat something.”

Devan walked into his room and swung the door shut behind him. He did not even know why he was nervous to tell her what happened. She did not care about him or his education, she never did. He sat on his bed and popped open his surface pro to browse his favorite website. Deviant Art. He hoped he would find some inspiration to draw and he quickly did. 

After viewing some interesting looking dragons, he put on his beats, fired up his twitch account, and began working on a Naruto piece he started last week. He had been streaming his art for two years now, and just recently started gaining a following. He would average one hundred viewers, with his record being three hundred after another artist hosted his stream five months ago. He took a screenshot of that night and kept it on his desktop as motivation.

He wondered why he did not go straight to his stream instead of watching television. It was a much better distraction and he had a chance to chat with people who complimented him and found his advise on drawing useful. Many of his viewers were good artist as well and that was his favorite aspect of streaming. He enjoyed seeing the art that he inspired his viewers to create. He cranked up Sunflower by Post Malone and leaned in over his surface pro, working late into the early morning, before he fell asleep at 3am.