The Quiet One

13. Painting in the summer..

The summer holidays finally come around, and Mum has gotten me a massive canvas, as big as the wall behind the dining table.

"Oh, thank you Mum! It's perfect."

"Aw, anything for you, April."

I hear Frankie cough awkwardly in the lounge.

"Oh, I got you something too! I wanted it to be something you could do all holidays, so I got you this video game you keep going on about!"

She chucks him a wrapped present, about the size of Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets.

His eyes widen. "No way! It's the Assassin's Creed game I've been wanting!"

"Mmhmm! I knew he'd like it," she murmurs to me.

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I get out my dark purple, navy, black and white paints for the picture of New York.

"You know what you're doing? The canvas is pretty big," says Mum.

"It's called experimenting. How am I supposed to get good if I don't experiment?"

"True," she replies.

I sketch it with a pencil first, then outline it all with thin black.

Then I take the dark purple and colour the sky. I make sure to make it lighter on the left, to show sunset.

Then I put a bit of navy in the sky and in the buildings. I make some of the windows white for a lighting effect.

Mum comes out of her bedroom in her work clothes, and comes over to me.

"Hey, uh, I have go into work, but uh, its looking amazing! You've got a gift," she says.

"Thanks. See ya," I say, and she kisses me on the cheek.

She walks out to the front door and Apparates to work.

I sigh and continue painting.

I make all the edges and every detail perfect before leaving it to dry.

I go back up to my room in the time being and look around.

I like the look of it. I've got a big room, I have to say.

There's a desk on the east wall, with a pinboard for art, there's a big window and a big bookshelf on the north wall, my bed running along the west wall, with a window above it, and another bookshelf for trinkets and other things on the south wall.

Then there's a hallway which has a few murals and the doorways to my ensuite, and my walk-in-robe.

Yeah. I have a walk-in-wardrobe. I'm fancy. Deal with it.

My mum actually blocked off the stairway to my room until I was about 10. I was sleeping in the same room as Frankie until I got my Hogwarts letter and Mum finally revealed what was upstairs.

Frankie was furious that he didn't have a cool upstairs room, but I know my mum favours me out of the two of us. She hardly spends any time with Frankie.

But Dad makes up for it. He always spends time with Frankie playing games.

He enjoys that. And I'm glad he does. He deserves it.

He's a good brother.

People are always so surprised when we've got a good sibling relationship. I don't get it though. We were always just taught to be nice to each other.

I hear gun shots and decide to investigate.

I go downstairs and into the gameroom.

Phew. Never mind. It was just Frankie playing his newfangled game.

I never bother with that kind of stuff. I just don't enjoy it, really.

I go back up to my room and take out a few paints.

I want to do another mural, so this time I sketch a few ideas at my desk, and decide on a specific one.

I'll make it a tree that goes up the northeast corner of my room and behind my pinboard. It might have leaves floating down too.

I think it'll be absolutely stunning.

I take out my thickest paintbrush and get started on the brown trunk. I put some black into a separate brown to make a dark brown texture.

Then I make two greens, one lighter and one darker.

As the hours pass, I've created a masterpiece, and intend to show my mother when she returns.

I check the time. Mum should be home soon.

I add a few more details and go back downstairs to see if the New York picture has dried. It is almost, so I move the table back in front of it and set the table for dinner, like a good child.

I look through the windows of the game room (because all the walls on the living room side are massive windows) and see Frankie sitting there still playing his lousy game.

I go in the room, and I'm deafened by the sound of the gunshots and blood splattering.

I turn up my nose, walk out of the room, and at the same time, hear a loud crack!

Mum must be home.

"Hey, April."

"Hey Mum. How was work?"

"Oh, same old. Just a few tricky clients and lots of coffee."

"That's good. Should I do anything about dinner?"

"Oh, don't worry about that dear. We'll just grab some fish and chips from down the road, eh?"

"Yeah, ok. Hey, did you see the painting? I finished it," I gesture.

"Oh, wow! That's absolutely amazing! It goes really nicely with the space too. You've done really wonderfully."

"Thanks Mum."

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Boom!

Oh my jesus, it's been a long time since I updated this. Again, I'm supposed to be writing an essay but I hate formal writing with a passion.

So, just another filler chapter. But the next one will definitely be something worthy!!

Comment, vote, go crazy GOODBYE
~ Sydney