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Chapter Eighteen
Sick
Esmerelda clutched at her leg and moaned in pain, pretending she was injured as the nurse checked her over, she had to be injured long enough so she could stay at Cackles but the young girl was not sure how long she could pretend for.
"I can't see anything and the bone feels fine" the nurse said, not sure whether to believe her or not.
"IT HURTS" Esmerelda shouted dramtically. "I can't walk, it hurts to put pressure on it" Esmerelda went on and she saw Ethel smirk at her, glad she was learning to lie, Esmerelda threw a glare at her then looked back at the nurse.
"Please do something it really hurts" Esmerelda said, wondering if she should try make herself cry to make the act seem more real, but the thing was she never cried so she didn't even know if she had tears left she could use to cry with. The nurse sighed but nodded.
"Why don't you rest for a while and see if it feels better?" the woman said, settling the teenager in one of the beds before walking over to see to someone else. Esmerelda made sure she the nurse wasn't looking and turned to her sisters.
"This is never going to work" Esmerelda said, knowing she could fool the nurse but fooling the teachers was another story.
"She is right...we need something more" Sybil said knowing they had being brought some time but it won't be much time. Sybil looked at Ethel, knowing she was the one who was good at thinking of ideas.
The thing is though, Ethel didn't want to do something to purposely hurt her sister, so she was at a lost as to what to do. Esmerelda though suddenly thought of something and smiled.
"The cold potion, you know gives you flu like symptoms" Esmerelda said, knowing if she had a temperature they wouldn't send her home.
"No….we don't want you to be actually sick" Sybil said, unable to believe Esmerelda even suggested it.
"It wears of after a few hours" Ethel told her sister but she bit her lip, like Sybil not wanting to do this.
"Look we need something to cause a distraction for a few hours, please" Esmerelda said. Ethel sighed, knowing she didn't have much choice.
"Alright, just keep the act up as I go and make it" Ethel said leaving the room to go and make the potion, her stomach hurting at what she was about to do.
Ethel went to her bedroom and started on the sickness potion. She concentrated, knowing if she made it wrong, it could make Esmerelda actually really really sick, or it would last too long. She followed the instructions perfectly, making sure everything was measured perfectly and that it would be safe to consume.
The book said the potion was meant to be green, because green is normally associated with sickness, and Ethel smiled seeing hers was the exact shade of green that was shown in the book. She used a ladle to pour some of the potion into a test tube and then waved her hand to clear the rest of the potion she didn't need. She put it safe in her pocket and rushed to the hospital wing.
"Did you do it?" Sybil asked as she saw her sister walk in, looking sad as if she had failed. Ethel nodded and sighed, for once wishing she had made it wrong.
"Alright give it to me, she isn't looking" Esmerelda told Ethel, making sure the nurse was distracted. Ethel took the test tube out of her pocket and removed the stopper. Esmerelda made a face at the colour but put her hand out to take it, Ethel was going to give it to her but decided in that moment not to. Instead, before Esmerelda or Sybil had time to react, she drank the potion herself and hid the test tube behind the side of the bed.
"Ethel no...what are you?" Sybil said wondering why Ethel had done that. Ethel being sick would not help them, they needed Esmerelda to be allowed to stay, she needed to be the one sick.
Ethel went to reply but then sneezed as the potion took affect. She could feel her temperature rise, and she suddenly felt very cold. She coughed a few times and Esmerelda jumped out of the bed like someone had poked her with a needle.
"ETHIE" Esmerelda shouted, wondering what had possessed Ethel to drink the potion herself. Esmerelda knew she wasn't really sick but she still felt herself go into panic mode. Esmerelda yelling made the nurse look up and she rushed over concerned.
"What is going on?" the nurse asked the girls, wondering if Esmerelda was crying out in pain.
"Ethie isn't well" Sybil said as Ethel sneezed. The nurse didn't comment on Esmerelda's miraculous recovery of the use of her leg in that moment but instead helped Ethel lie back so she could check her over.
"How do you feel?" she asked the young girl. Ethel sneezed before she replied.
"Awful" Ethel admitted truthfully. Her throat hurt, her eyes were streaming, her nose was running, she had all the classic symptoms of a bad cold and felt unwell. The nurse touched her forehead and felt the girl was warm.
"You have a temperature, you are not going anywhere until it goes down" the nurse told her. Helping Ethel under the covers, the girl shivered, feeling super cold even though it was warm outside.
"You two might want to leave for a while, you might catch this if it is contagious" the nurse told the other sisters. The sisters though bend down by Ethel's bed, not listening.
"We don't care, we are not leaving Ethel when she is sick" Esmerelda said. The nurse knew she would not be able to give Ethel any medicine until she had checked her records for any allergies, so she left the girls and Esmerelda spoke as soon as she was out of earshot.
"What did you do that for?" Esmerelda asked wondering why Ethel had changed the plan and drank the potion herself.
"I didn't want you to suffer...you have suffered enough, I deserve this more than you do" Ethel replied in a croaky, broken voice. She sneezed, feeling her chest hurt.
"But Ethel, the whole point was to give Esmerelda a reason to stay" Sybil replied, thinking Ethel obviously had not thought this through.
Ethel mentally slapped herself, she had being trying to do the right thing and had not thought it through, her being sick helped no-one because they needed Esmerelda to be sick so she wouldn't be send home. Miss Cackle walked in that moment, clear having heard what happened when the perfomance was over.
"Esmerelda, it is time for you to be making tour way home now" Miss Cackle said. Esmerelda turned to look at her and glare.
"I can't go home! Ethel is sick! She needs me" Esmerelda replied, unable to believe they were trying to send her home still.
"It is just a cold, she will live" HB said coldly and uncaring. Esmerelda though was in panic mode.
"NOOO, I am not going home, I need to stay, Ethie needs me" Esmerelda said hugging Ethel who looked at her wondering why she had thought this was a good idea, she felt so unwell.
"For goodness sake, don't make me transfer you" Miss Hardbroom replied, Esmerelda glared harder at her.
"Try it, I will just come back every time until Ethel is better" Esmerelda said, giving the teachers a look to say she was serious. The two woman sighed, knowing there was no point and that they would be called heartless if people found out they forced her to go home when her sister wasn't well. They therefore left and Sybil smiled, Ethel's change of plan had worked, Esmie was so worried she was unreasonable and refused to move an inch, it couldn't of gone any better.
"Oh Ethie" Esmerelda said nearly in tears. Ethel hoped Josephine was here soon, she didn't like her sisters being hurt because she was sick, and she didn't like the fact they were close to tears. Jo should be on the plane by now, they just had to wait a little longer.