Brilliant Darkness

Chapter 2

Somehow, the pendulum of the clock at the corner of the room seemed like the most interesting thing in the room at the moment. Leonard could feel his sister's palm sweating furiously and his hand felt warm holding hers. "Do both of you need to explain yourselves for your actions, or shall I do it for you instead?" Their mother turned around suddenly, her light brown curls slapping into her face. Her face showed clear disappointment.

Without waiting for an answer, she continued, striding calmly to us.

"I understand that Leonard hates painting and Prism the opposite. So, both of you struck a deal. Prism does Leonard's painting and Leonard helps Prism to do her English Literature paperwork." Leonard smiled sheepishly. He had forged Prism's handwriting perfectly, yet still his mother had found out. Well, his mother wasn't called smart, for nothing. Or was it because of the accuracy of the answers? He sighed under his breath. Perhaps he should have purposely made more mistakes. The English Literature instructor would have certainly smelt something fishy with Prism improving so much suddenly. 

"Well, I should double your punishment later, Leonard, for giving me that smile." He winced. If the punishment was picking up leaves in the entire compound again...

His back was still sore from the last time he was punished, which was not very long ago, all because he tried to climb up an apple tree to pluck a beautiful, ripe apple at the garden of his house. 

 He put on a serious face and murmured. "Sorry, mother." He could feel his sister stiffling a laugh beside him. "I accept your apology." His mother turned to Prism. "I do not expect any apology from you because I know that this whole ridiculous plan was suggested by Leonard." Leonard shrugged. It was him who did it, alright, but he did not think it was ridiculous. It had saved him hours of misery. He wondered if he has to endure it again after his mother had found out.

Well, he would think of other plans, hopefully.

His mother crossed her arms. "Prism, your punishment for helping your brother with that plan is that you have to write an essay every week. Leonard will have to-" Leonard sighed in irritation. This must be his 101th punishment. Somehow, he thought that punishments are still better than painting. To him, it was actually quite worth it. He hid a smug grin. His grin faded when he understood what his mother wanted him to do.

He interrupted his mother with a flat voice. "Mother, I know what you want me to do. You want me to give you a painting every week. But mother, you know that I just can't find that passion for painting." Just great, he had resorted to whining.  Prism was giggling a little beside him, so he knew that he must had sounded ridiculous.

His mother turned to him and gave him a warm smile. Leonard froze, and uncertainly returned her smile with a hesitant smile.

He could see, from the corner of his eye,  his sister beside him looking to and forth him and his mother before bursting out another series of giggles. Prism must seriously learn how to control her emotions. And she had stated that Leonard couldn't control his emotions! His mother, without breaking her stare and her warm and starting-to-get-scary smile spoke softly to him. So soft that he had to strain his ears to hear her.

"Leonard, no, you don't have to do a painting each week. I had also fired the tutor" Apparantly, she was sleeping every lesson when she was supposed to be teaching." Upon hearing this, Leonard burst into a grin. His heart thudded. So his mother did know. He could feel Prism feeling agitated beside him and asking their mother if she could continue painting. He felt a little guilty for being so selfish. Just a little.

"Really?" He asked. His mother nodded. Leonard couldn't control himself. He didn't need to paint as a punishment, no he didn't have to paint anymore! He rushed up to his mother and hugged her tightly. "Thanks, mother." He could hear his sister, also rushing up to their mother, pulling her arms and begging her to let her continue painting lessons.

His mother suddenly stepped back, causing him to almost fall down, but steadying himself just in time. He looked up at his mother, surprised. On her face was an expression of sterness. "I haven't finish speaking yet! Don't get overexcited." Leonard and his sister murmured their apologies and returned to their original position.

His mother stood there and continued, " Instead of one painting, Leonard will be doing two paintings a week, and I will be tutoring you for your painting classes instead of your tutor. Painting is far too important for our family business, so you have to continue painting." Leonard groaned. Just because his father earned a lot of money from painting because he was an excellent painter, it didn't mean that he must be a painter. Leonard knew that painting was inevitable anyway because his father wanted both him and his sister to paint. He sighed. 

He looked up and saw that his mother was observing him closely. His mother gave him a small smile, and he knew that his mother understood. He relaxed.

His mother walked to a brown oak bookself at the corner of her room, slotted her books in and sat down at the end of her green four-poster bed. She turned to us. "Prism, you may go now." Leonard was surprised.

What about him? Having to paint two pictures a week was bad enough. Had his mother discovered anything else? Prism, sensing his anxiousness, squeezed his hand to reassure him. Then, she hurriedly curtsied and ran out of the room. 

"Now, I have something very important to tell you, Leonard." She turned to him calmly, but he could see that she was twidling her thumbs. What could be so important that it even made her feel anxious? He gulped and said, his voice as course as sand paper, "What is it?"

His mother smiled sadly and said, "Your birthday is soon, Leonard."