A/N: Sorry if this chapter seems a little extreme but it needs to be extreme for Esmie to react.
Chapter Seven- Caught In The Act
Esmeralda was on edge for the next few days worried about her sister and the thing was Ethel seemed to be avoiding her, she was not coming over or mirroring her which made Esmeralda worry even more, she was not able to concentrate on anything because her worries were scaring her.
"Esmie will you stop pacing it is really distracting" Cadence told her room-mate as the girl had been pacing for the last ten minutes.
"I can't help it...my baby sister could be getting hit right now" Esmeralda replied in a panic.
"You don't know for sure if she is being hit" Cadence logically replied as no-one had confessed the girl was being hit.
"Oh yes I do, I know when Ethel is lying and how can someone who is the least clumsy person I have ever met get injured on different cheeks in the space of a few days?" Esmeralda asked as she stopped pacing and chewed on her thumb.
"But it doesn't make a lot of sense, your parents have not hit Ethel in the fourteen years of her life why would they start now?" Cadence asked not understanding.
"Actually it does make sense, my parents would never lay a finger on Ethel with me there, they know I would hit them back ten times harder" Esmeralda replied feeling sick with worry.
"Well how about your other sister? Has she got any signs of being hit?" Cadence asked her room-mate curiously.
"No" Esmeralda admitted. "But she is my parents little baby they would never hurt Sybil, mum and dad don't like Ethel and they struggle with her, you know she can be awkward they never know how to deal with it, I was always the one who dealt with it" Esmeralda replied knowing exactly the reasons why her parents would not touch Sybil.
"Well you know your family better than anyone I suppose, do you really believe your parents would go that far though even with Ethel?" Cadence asked her seriously.
Esmeralda fell silent. She had not stopped to think about that. Her parents disliked Ethel it was not a secret but would they really go so far as to hit their own child, even Ethel? Esmeralda knew deep down they would, they can't control Ethel it would be their form of punishment for her.
"I have to go" Esmeralda said as she realised that her parents would definitely go that far, they would if Ethel was being difficult.
The blonde walked out the door before her friend could reply and rushed to grab her broomstick before taking off back to her home.
Ethel was in her bedroom doing her homework that needed to be handed in at the start of the new year and avoiding her parents, her parents were due back from work any second now. Sybil was currently out at a friend's house so Ethel was alone and when she heard her parents voices downstairs she paid no attention until she heard them walking up the stairs sounding like they were in a rush.
Mr and Mrs Hallow pushed open her door wearing a look Ethel had never seen any of them wear before, it was a look of pure hatred and anger and all Ethel could do was wonder what in the world she could have possibly done for them to be looking at her like that.
"What?" Ethel asked looking at them with a look of confusion.
Ethel jumped as her dad slammed the door shut before he started walking closer to her.
"Guess who was visiting our work today?" he asked his daughter unable to keep the anger out of his voice.
"Erm...Mr Robinson?" Ethel said guessing. She had no idea where her father was going with this.
"No...Mr Nightshade" her father replied as if that revealed the reason they were so angry.
"Enid's father?" Ethel questioned not knowing anyone else with that last name.
"That is right, and he told us something very interesting about you" Mrs Hallow replied glaring at her middle daughter.
"What did he tell you?" Ethel asked wondering what he could possibly have told us that made her parents so angry.
"That you are the one who bullied his daughter and her friends" Mrs Hallow replied not able to keep the anger out of her voice.
Ethel did not understand why her parents were so mad, they already knew about the problems between Ethel, Mildred, Maud and Enid but over the last few years Ethel had stopped caring about the other girls so much, especially as she knew she was on her own so Esmie was not there to stick up for her, the girls still did not like each other but she hadn't really done anything to them recently.
"I haven't done anything to Enid in ages" Ethel replied truthfully.
"Do you know how embarrassing it was to have to apologise for your behaviour?" Mr Hallow asked not even listening to Ethel's comment.
"I haven't flaming done anything to Enid" Ethel replied getting wound up.
"I can't believe you are a bully, and you call yourself a Hallow" Mrs Hallow replied coldly. That comment hurt Ethel more than she let on as she always prided herself on her family name.
"I am not bullying Enid flaming Nightshade" Ethel tried to once again explain to her parents.
"We did not raise you to be a bully" Mr Hallow told her once again ignoring her comment.
Ethel took in what she had said and then shook her head only then realising the truth. She was a bully because of the two people stood before her, they messed her up so much with their treatment of her she only felt good about herself when she hurt someone else, if her parents had bothered with her like the other two maybe she would not of had to resort to bullying to be noticed. At this comment Ethel grew very angry.
"I bully people because of you two, you make me so miserable I only feel good about myself when I cause someone else pain!" Ethel shouted to them.
"Don't you dare blame your bad behaviour on us" Mr Hallow shouted back to his daughter not liking how she was blaming them for her actions.
"But it is mostly your fault!" Ethel shouted back.
Her father hit her around the face at that like he had done a few days ago but Ethel was so angry at that moment she hit him back not wanting to put up with not defending herself anymore.
"You little brat!" her mother shouted "You never learn do you?" her mother told her looking at her with such a deep look of hatred.
Ethel looked at her parents and spat at them, she was done with them.
"You disgusting brat" her father shouted pulling her off the bed having had enough of his daughter.
"You need to learn your lesson!" Mrs Hallow replied.
Before Ethel could react she felt a pain on her face and realised one of her parents had just punched her. The girl covered her face as she felt her parents attacking her on the floor clearly she had made them lose it.
Ethel cried out as she felt blood and pain on her body but they were not stopping she closed her eyes tightly willing it to be over, just wanting to get away from them.
Esmeralda jumped of her broomstick a few feet from the ground and ran with her broomstick to the broomshed. After putting her broomstick in the broomshed Esmie rushed to the front door of her house hoping she had made it in time. She knew her parents were working and she was planning on talking to Ethel without them there.
She put her key in the lock and opened the door rushing in and was happy to see all seemed quiet.
"Ethie..Ethie where are you?" Esmeralda asked wanting to talk to her without alerting her parents to her presence if they were in. Suddenly Esmeralda heard someone scream and shot her head in the direction it had come from.
"Ethie!?" the girl said in a panic. The person screamed again and Esmeralda rushed up the stairs two at a time hearing the noise coming from inside her sister's bedroom she rushed in.
Rushing in she saw her mother and father beating up her little sister who was clearly in a bad way.
"WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" she shouted causing them to stop and look at her.
