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Chapter 4

“Topaz!”
Gem looked up from her sketchpad at the holler but kept shading in with her pencil.
“Topaz!” The door flew open to reveal a red-haired, middle-aged woman wearing a collared shirt and shorts, eyes wide with insistency and aggravation.
“Yes mom?” Gem asked her pencil sliding to a halt on the sketchpad. She stood up from her desk stool and gave an attentive smile, in case kindness would calm her mother down.
“Topaz, how many times do I have to tell you that family comes before art?” Laura Garnett exclaimed exasperatedly, although not angrily, at her youngest daughter.
“About… one hundred?” Gem tried. “And call me Gem, mom!” she added with a grunt of displeasure.
Topaz Garnett wished her parents had named her something else other than minerals. The thing was, they were archaeologists, and studied fossils and minerals. When their first daughter was born, they decided to choose a regular name. Lucky for Topaz’s older sister, Kristina. However, when their second child was to be born, Laura and James Garnett decided to name their baby girl after a mineral, since after all, their last name was Garnett. Not just her first name, but also her middle name was a mineral. Topaz Emerald Garnett. So, it was Topaz’s brilliant idea to just christen herself as “Gem”. Gem’s little brother was named Rex, after, of course, the Tyrannosaurus Rex.
“Honey, we named you Topaz, and that’s what I’m going to call you!” her mom sighed. “And try one million. Have you finished your homework?”
“Yes.”
“Chores?”
“Yup.”
“Fed the dog?”
“Uh-huh.”
“So you’re available for a movie with the rest of us?”
“Umm…” Gem bit her lip. “I guess so.”
“What’s wrong? How is your sketch going?” Gem’s mom walked farther into the room and picked up her daughter’s drawings. “W-o-w!” she enunciated, smiling genuinely at Gem’s sketch: a beautiful sketch that portrayed nature. The left half was full of life and plants, and the right side was the same, only death struck on everything, and the scene’s peace destroyed. “This is really good Topaz.” Then, she set the sketchpad down and walked to the door, leading Gem with her. “Come on honey. We’re watching Spiderman!”
Gem allowed herself to be led down the stairs of her house, which was located outside of town. Then, she sat down on one of the leather couches, next to Kristina, who was twenty-one and on vacation from college.
“Hey,” Kristina smiled.
“Hey Stina,” Gem replied, remaining sitting upright instead of snuggling into the couch.
“Unfinished sketch?” her sister questioned knowingly.
“Yeah, and it was going good ‘till mom dragged me out here,” Gem sighed.
The movie began, and 14 year-old Rex plopped down on the couch next to Gem’s left. Their parents were snuggled up next to each other on another couch, eyes fixated on the TV screen.
“Hey Rex,” she whispered.
“Hey,” was his reply, his eyes also glued on the screen.
Twenty minutes into the movie, Gem’s eyes were on the screen and her mouth was munching on popcorn, but her mind was elsewhere. In her mind she was finishing her sketch. Gem needed to. As much as she enjoyed a good movie, an unfinished sketch was much more important. Then, an idea popping into her head, she turned to her left, at Rex.
Noticing her gaze, Rex tore his eyes away from the screen and raised his eyebrows.
“Need to escape?” he murmured.
Gem nodded earnestly and played along as her crafty brother leaned over and whispered in her ear. “Can you get me some Skittles?”
Pretend nodding, Gem began her escape. She slouched down on the couch and slowly slid down until she was squatting on the wood floor. Then, she crawled on the ground, rounded to the back of the couch, and stood back up to tip-toe back through the kitchen, past the bathroom and guest room, up the wooden stairs, and back to her drawing room.
As she flipped the light on, Gem glanced around the room, which was full of paint canvases, brushes, pencils, and finished sketchpads. Her present sketch was lying there on the desk, anxiously awaiting it’s finishing touches. Gem settled herself down in the wooden stool and picked up her pencil.
Right then, Gem was in control. Her hand moved of it’s own accord, turning and shading and bending across the page. Five, ten minutes passed, and Gem was immersed in her drawing. Tranquility and destruction, merging together. Peace and death.
Just one more part…
Gem thought for a title for her sketch, which was now complete. After a minute, she wrote the date and the title in the bottom right corner of the page.
“Tranquction”.
Content, she sighed and closed her sketchbook. Then, remembering that she was on a time frame and her parents could be looking for her any minute, Gem clicked the light shut, padded down the stairs, and made it to the kitchen. As she passed by and moved towards the couch though, she remembered.
I have to get Rex the Skittles!
Swallowing a little gasp, Gem backed away slowly and walked circles in the kitchen, groping the cupboards for their handles, searching for the candy jar.
Then---
“Where’s Topaz?” her father asked suddenly. “Don’t tell me she bailed on the movie.” Fortunately, he didn’t sound to disappointed.
“Skittles. She went to go get me some Skittles,” Rex threw in.
“Well, how long does it take to-?”
“Shhh!” Kristina motioned towards the TV, covering for me and meaning what she said at the same time. “Trying to watch here!” After that, James kept his mouth quiet, not wanting to disturb the peace.
Fortunately, when Gem began to panic, her hand touched a glass jar. The candy jar within reach, she stood on tiptoe and lifted the lid to snatch a packet of Skittles. Silently, she closed the cupboard and almost leaped back to the couch in her haste to erase suspicion.
“Where were you?” her mother asked her from the other couch.
Gem raised and shook the packet of Skittles in the air for her mom to see before handing it to Rex.
“I was getting Skittles,” she replied innocently.