3 Chapter 3

"Manuel!" Lucy called shaking him by the shoulders. He pushed her hands away and knelt down before the canvass.

It was as if he had no more control of his body or his mind and so his mother became scared.

She watched as his hands started moving on the anvass the Brush held between his fingers. His room was a small room that could only contain a bed, his canvass and a snarl wardrobe. His mother watched with awe as he drew transfixed.

She held his shaking shoulder but he growled immediately she touched him. She was so shocked she left him immediately gasping. Her hands flying instinctively to her chest. She stood watching as Manuel painted and after about thirty minutes he stopped. He coiled on the floor scared of his own paintings. 

Looking at the painting Lucy felt like she had come face to face with hell.

Manuel's hands still kept on shaking and although Lucy was scared her motherly instinct took over and she knelt down and hugged her son. His lanky body pressed against her thick one as he started to feel better. She brushed his hair away from his face and kissed his forehead. "It's alright baby boy. Its alright Nuel." She Kept whispering to him, assuring him.  He didn't say anything.

Manuel started shivering more and coughing suddenly. Lucy got scared and wanted to leave him to get help but then he held her down. "Don't leave me MUM." He cried. And that was enough for Lucy.

She stayed with her son till he fell asleep, stroking his hair as she listened to his laboured breathing. She carried him from where he had curled and laid him on the bed. He was so thin it wasn't difficult to carry him.

After she was sure he was deeply asleep, she ran to the kitchen to make pasta and sauce since it was the fastest food she could make after almost an hour with her son. An hour she didn't regret.

Everyone was seated at the dining as usual. Manuel's younger sister and brother. His sister who was just five and his twelve

years old brother. His sister looked like Lucy and Arthur looked so much like his father. They both had piercing blue eyes and were both bulky. The combination of their tall thick frame and mean face went a long way in intimidating rivals. Manuel was the complete opposite. He was very sweet.

Lucy exhaled immediately she sat down on her chair. She was tired after having to do marathon cooking ignoring the angry glances her husband threw at her. She proceeded to dish out the food.

"Care to tell me why your son is not here?"  Isaac scowled just when Lucy was about to eat. "Don't tell me he was painting."