Devon's Choice

In the morning, Randy slowly wakes up and then looks around in a daze. He appears to be looking for something, but it is nowhere to be found. He gets up and gets ready for school. Devon sits on the bed watching him and smiling. He almost feels like a little brother watching his big brother. Every so often Randy looks around as if searching for something, but shrugs when he can't find whatever he was looking for. Devon giggles. Randy does not hear him of course. Devon follows Randy out to the kitchen. He sees Andrew and his wife dressed for the day, Mary is dressed in scrubs like a doctor, Devon sees that her nametag says Mary Shepherd, RN. Randy sits down with a bowl of cereal. Andrew is drinking some coffee and looking at the paper. Mary goes back to the bedroom with a cup in her hand to finish getting ready.

"Thanks for taking me along yesterday, Dad."

Andrew looks up and puts the paper down.

"I'm glad you came along. I just wish we could have had better luck."

"Me too. I hope you can find him."

"Yeah me too, maybe something will come up or someone will remember seeing something. I think I'm going to have the uniforms canvass the neighborhood from the school to the home and see what they come up with. It will probably take a few days, but maybe someone saw him or something."

Randy finishes his bowl and rinses it out, before putting it in the dishwasher. He grabs his backpack and heads out the door.

"Bye Dad."

"See you tonight Son."

Devon follows Randy outside, but stops as Randy gets on his bike and rides off. He starts to go inside, when Andrew comes out with his laptop and briefcase. Mary gives Andrew a kiss goodbye; Devon follows Andrew to the car and jumps in as he starts it up. Andrew waves to Mary as he backs out and leaves. Devon sits in the passenger seat as Andrew drives to work. Andrew pulls into the station and goes to his department. Devon follows him and watches him work. He makes a copy of a page from his map book. He then sits down with the copy and using a marker traces a line on the map. His boss comes in a little while later.

"Morning Andy. You have that report for me?"

"Got it right here Lieutenant."

Bill walks over and takes the offered paper. He looks it over and shakes his head.

"Nothing to go on, poor kid.'

"I know. I thought maybe we could have some uniforms do a canvass of the route from the school to the home. Maybe someone saw something unusual. I don't know what else to do."

"Sounds like a good idea. Do you know the route?"

"Yeah the boy's friend Kyle and I traced it on this map. It should give them a place to look."

"Okay. Fax that map to them and I'll have the Valencia station send someone out today and see what they find out."

The Lieutenant leaves with the report in his hand. Andrew faxes the map to the Valencia Station. He works through the day with no word from the Valencia station. Devon follows Andrew around watching his efforts, frustrated that he can't help more. At the end of the day they go home, no closer to an answer. When they get home, Randy looks up as his Dad enters the house.

"Hi Dad. Any luck today?"

"Nope, nothing. Maybe the uniforms will have something. They are going to canvass the route from school to the home, but other than that, nothing new."

"I hope they find something."

Devon sits on the couch next to Randy watching TV. Gus comes over to where Devon is sitting and stands in front of him. He looks at Devon, then turns around and sits in front of him. Randy looks over and is puzzled by Gus' actions. He looks at Gus, then at the spot on the couch that Gus is sitting and frowns. He shakes his head and goes back to watching TV. The fur on Gus's head flattens down a little as Devon leans forward and pets him.

That night Devon waits out in back with Gus again until everything is dark, then he goes into Randy's room. Randy is asleep on his back his left arm outstretched. Devon crawls into bed with Randy and carefully lays his head on Randy's chest with one arm around Randy, he gives him a gentle hug. Randy moves his arm and hugs Devon to him. Again Devon gets that sensation of feeling and not feeling that brings a smile to his face. He looks up to Randy's face and sees a small smile on his face. He smiles in return and settles in to rest with Randy.

This continues for the next few days. Devon laying with Randy at night, and going into work with Andrew. Devon tries various ways to get Andrew's attention, with no more luck. Every night with Randy though he gets that weird feeling of being held, that he likes. He grows to love the nights with Randy.

Thursday morning Randy gets up and again gets a strange feeling, looking around the room as he gets ready. Devon watches with amusement. Devon gets up while Randy gets ready for school. He goes outside to visit with Gus for a little while. He goes back in when he sees Randy. He decides to go with Randy to school instead of with Andrew. When Randy leaves the house, Devon follows him and just as Randy gets on his bike and starts to leave, as Randy is getting his backpack settled on his back, Devon gets on the handlebars. Randy suddenly feels a little unbalanced at the front of the bike. He quickly adapts, gets his balance and pushes off heading for school. Devon can almost feel the wind in his hair as he rides to school with Randy. He smiles the whole way there laughing from time to time with the sensation of riding on the handlebars. Randy feels the need to work a little more to keep balanced, but he again adapts and unconsciously balances the bike. They get to the school and Devon jumps off. Randy again has to regain the balance again has he loses the slight weight of Devon. He looks around curiously, and then shrugs. Devon waits as he locks up his bike, and then follows him to his locker and then to his first class. Walking through the halls at Randy's side he sees that the school seems to be a pretty nice school. The first class of the day is a computer class. Watching Randy at his schoolwork he sees that he quickly gets his work done and then helps other students with theirs. They come to him if they need help and without hesitation Randy helps them. He seems to be well liked, which makes Devon smile as he watches him. Devon follows him around to his classes. While they are in the computer lab, Devon tries something on the computer. He tries to press the D key on the computer that Randy is working at while he is gone helping someone else. He pushes hard on the key for about a minute and seems to have to work hard to make it happen. Finally he sees a "d" appear in the program that Randy is working on. He does it again and a "c" appears next to the "d" in the program. Randy soon comes back and saves the program onto his jump drive. He takes it out and gathers everything up. Devon follows him the rest of the day to each of his classes.

At the end of the school day. Devon waits until Randy has his bike unlocked, then he gets on the handlebars again. Randy again feels the balance off and adjusts for it. He leans forward and looks down at his tire and front forks. As he leans forward, he feels a little chill. It goes away as he leans back. He leans forward again and feels the chill again. He doesn't see anything wrong so he shrugs and gets going for home. Just as he slows down turning into his driveway, Devon jumps off. The sudden change in weight and balance throws Randy off and he falls scraping his knee.

"Oww Damnit! Shit that hurts!"

He looks at the torn jeans. He can see a little blood through the rip. Devon runs over with a stricken look.

[I'm sorry, Randy. I didn't mean it.]

There are tears on Devon's cheeks. He puts his hands on Randy's knee. Randy feels a coolness that seems to ease the pain a bit. He puts his hand there and can't feel anything, but his knee feels a little better. He gets up and picks his bike up, checks to see if it is damaged then he limps over to the garage and takes a remote out of his backpack and opens the garage. He puts the bike away, closes the door and goes inside the house through the connecting door. He limps to his room and puts his backpack down. Devon has followed him looking sorry. Randy takes his jeans off to look at the scrape. It doesn't look too bad. He goes into the bathroom and gets a band aid and some antiseptic. He goes back into his room and cleans the wound, then bandages it. While he does that Devon gets behind him and hugs him.

[I'm sorry Randy. I didn't realize that would happen.]

Randy stops and looks behind him with a startled look. He looks around the room. He still feels it, the feeling of something going around his waist, but the feeling is fading. He stands up and gets another pair of jeans and puts them on. He limps out of the room grabbing his backpack on the way. He goes to the dining room table and gets his books out. He gets a drink and some chips out of the kitchen and gets to work on his homework. Devon sits at the kitchen bar and watches Randy work. After a couple of hours his mom comes home. Randy looks up as she comes in.

"Hi Mom."

"Hi honey. How was school."

"Same as always, fine."

She comes up behind him and gives him a quick kiss on the top of his head and she goes off to change into something more comfortable. His dad gets home a little while later. That evening after dinner Randy puts his jump drive into the computer and opens his program. He runs it and it seems to be working but suddenly stops and errors out.

"Damn. Why doesn't it work?"

He opens the program and starts to go through the code. He checks it for about an hour and finds the "dc" that Devon had put in. He gets a puzzled look on his face, and then deletes it.

<Where the heck did that come from? I must have accidentally done it. Maybe I dragged my fingers across the keys and hit them like that, just being fumble fingered. Well it's fixed now.>

He checks the program again and runs it. It seems to work fine up to the point that he has finished. He closes everything up and goes out to the den to watch some TV before going to bed. Devon has watched the whole process. He watches as Randy finds the "dc".

[Dang. I've got do something different next time, if I get the chance.]

He follows Randy out to the room and sits nearby and watches the TV, thinking about his next move. 

The next day Devon again goes with Randy to school. This time he times it better and doesn't throw off Randy's balance as they head to school. He also waits until Randy has the bike stopped so that he doesn't cause another fall. He follows Randy again to his classes, and in the computer class, he waits for a chance and once again Randy opens the program and gets called away. Devon tries it again and this time he can't seem to make any progress. He continues to try, until tears of frustration run down his face. Randy comes back and Devon gets out of the way. Randy saves his work and puts his jump drive away. He goes onto his classes, Devon following along. Devon still is trying to figure out why it worked before but he couldn't this time. He stays with Randy all day, trying to figure out why it didn't work this time. They go home and Devon is still trying to figure it out. When he gets back to Randy's house he decides to walk down to the park. When he gets there he looks for a deserted area and starts calling out again.

"Justin, can you hear me!? Justin, are you here!? Justin, answer me, please!?"

He falls down crying in frustration. 

"Justin, please answer me, please."

He sinks to the ground crying. After a time, he feels a warmth around him. He looks sees Justin holding him. Devon clings to Justin and sobs. Justin holds him and strokes his hair and back to comfort him. Eventually Devon calms down, and sits back looking at Justin.

"Why can't I do it? I've tried, but I can't do anything now. It worked once, but it doesn't work now."

"Devon, don't worry. Remember Michael and I told you that it would be hard on you, that there would be tough consequences for your choice. Yet you made the choice knowing that we said it would be hard. You showed great bravery in making that choice, knowing what you were giving up, still you made it of your own free will. He has seen your heart and he knows what you can do. Trust in yourself, Devon. And remember this, you are loved.

Justin looses Devon and steps away, looking at Devon with caring and compassion in his eyes, smiling at him.

"Devon, trust in yourself, and remember you are loved."

"I will try Justin, I promise."

"I know you will, see you later. Good luck."

Devon waves goodbye as Justin fades away. He sits for a while before heading back to the Shephard's home. He gets back just as dinner is finishing up. He stands at the door and watches them as they eat and talk. He has a sad smile, remembering times like this with his family before they were killed in the accident. He wipes some tears from his eyes and smiles. They finish dinner and Randy goes to work on some homework, Andrew and Mary sit down and watch some TV. Devon goes out back, he wanders around the back, and he sees a basketball on the ground. He kicks at it and his foot goes through it, unbalancing himself and falling to the ground. He gets up and tries again, with the same result. He starts to get frustrated and with a grimace he kicks the ball and it sails toward the sliding back door, hitting the glass and bouncing off. He looks in astonishment at what he had just done. In the living room, Andrew and Mary get up from their chairs and go to the back door and look outside. They see the basketball bouncing away from the door, and look at each other. Andrew opens the door.

"Who did that?"

Andrew goes outside and looks around while Mary turns on the outside light. Randy comes from his room and looks at his mom.

"What's going on Mom? What was that noise?"

"It was the basketball. Someone threw it against the door, lucky it didn't break."

"Who threw it?"

"I don't know, we just heard the noise. When we looked out back, there was no one there."

Randy slowly goes outside watching his father's back as he searches the back yard.

"Whoever is out here, come out of hiding. You can't go throwing balls against my house. You could have broken the glass."

He continues to search around the back, he then shrugs and heads back to the door, seeing Randy behind him. He goes up to him and hands him the basketball.

"I'm guessing this is yours."

"Yeah it is. What happened?"

"I don't know. We were just sitting in the living room, when I heard the ball hit against the door. By the time we got up, there was no one there. You haven't made any enemies have you Randy."

"No, not that I know of. No problems."

"Must be some neighbor kids just messing around."

"Maybe Dad."

Andrew hands him the ball and Randy carries it as they go inside. All this time, Devon is standing watching them with a look of surprise, which turns to a smile. He starts jumping around the back yard as they go in.

[I did it, I did it! I kicked it.]

Devon starts going around trying to move things, mostly failing but every so often he moves some item or plant in the backyard. Eventually he is startled by Gus's bark. He turns and sees Randy going back inside. Gus runs over to Devon and Devon kneels down and puts his arms around Gus hugging him tightly. Devon pets him for a few minutes and then says good night and goes inside the house. Devon makes his way to Randy's room. Randy is sitting in bed reading a book. Devon sits on the edge of the bed watching Randy. After a few minutes Randy closes the book and turns off the light. Devon sits a while longer watching until Randy goes falls asleep. Once he does, Devon cuddles up to him, and like before Randy puts his arm unconsciously around Devon. Devon smiles and closes his eyes.

All the next week, Devon continues to go with Randy to school and keeps trying to move things. Sometimes when the classes are in sessions he wanders around the school trying to move things. As the week goes on, he seems to be getting better at it. When Friday comes around he has a plan. He goes with Randy into his computer class. He watches as Randy works on his program assignment. There is a call from across the room.

"Hey Randy, could you give me a hand with this?"

"Sure Matt, be right there."

Devon goes to the computer as Randy leaves. Devon concentrates real hard and pushes on the keys, it is a little easier this time and he types 'DEVON'. In the middle of a line of code, then Devon scrolls it down to hide what he did. He is surprised at how hard that was to type into the computer, he feels a little tired. Randy eventually comes back to his seat and takes a quick look at the program, then closes it and saves it to his jump drive again. Devon has a smile on his face the rest of the day. He can't wait until the day is over and Randy checks the program.

That afternoon an 11 year old boy named Jonathan is walking back to his foster home from school. He is listening to music on an iPod as he walks along. He takes scant notice of the dark van parked just inside an alley. As he walks just past the back of it, he senses sudden movement behind and to his left. Before he can turn a hand is clamped around his mouth and he is lifted up and pulled back. He is shocked for a few seconds as he realizes he has been grabbed and doesn't struggle right away. One of the ear buds from his iPod is pulled out of his ear in the struggle. The outside light is suddenly cut off and hears a door slam behind him. He feels the weight of a big man on top of him, holding him down. He starts to struggle, but the man's weight immobilizes him. He feels the hot breath of the man near his right ear.

"Hey sport. If you want to live, quit struggling, otherwise…"

The boy stops moving. The man's hand withdraws and the boy takes a deep breath to yell, suddenly a rag with a cloying scent is put over his face and he continues to take the deep breath pulling the scent into his lungs. The boy starts to feel dizzy and starts to struggle again. He starts to whimper and then his eyes roll up and he is out. The man waits a little longer then removes the chloroform soaked rag and grabs some plastic ties to restrain the boy. He turns him over once he is tied up, then he moves forward and gets into the drivers seat and heads off down the alley.

That evening after dinner Randy's family sits down to watch a movie. Randy does not get to the program that evening. Devon is disappointed, but follows Randy to his room that night and lies down with him again.