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Chapter Twenty-Eight
It was hard work staying hidden in the hospital, everytime the girls took a step there seemed to be someone there, luckily they didn't have to stay hidden very long as they were allowed to visit until eight, until a nurse came to send them out.
"Come on, sorry visiting times are over" she said ushering the eldest and youngest blonde out of the room, the girls left without any fuss, knowing they would soon be with Ethel again anyway, they had planned everything.
They left the ward and made sure people saw them leave before hiding in one of the nurses medical rooms, it was a room where all sorts of medicine was stored and they had trolleys they took around the ward, witches were still learning about magical healing so a lot was still done the non-magical way.
"Come on quickly before someone returns" Esmerelda told her younger sister who looked at her fearfully.
"Will it be fast?" the girl asked scared and Esmerelda sighed. She knew she was scared and she was going to be alone.
"Probably a little but, but it is not for long, we will be with Ethel soon don't worry" Esmerelda told her giving her a squeeze of reassurance.
Sybil gulped but took a breathe, knowing they had to stay hidden, she walked to one of the trolleys and hid underneath it, covering herself with the cloth as Esmerelda did the same with another one just as they heard whistling coming from the door, at least they would not have a long wait, Esmerelda told herself.
A nurse came in and took the trolley Sybil was hiding under. Esmerelda peeped from behind the cloth, sensing her sisters fears, but the nurse would be going to all the wards, they would both end up with Ethel soon enough.
Esmerelda had a few more minutes to wait until a woman came to collect the trolley she was hiding under, she was just hoping Sybil was okay, she knew the girl would be terrified and might accidentally give herself away. Esmerelda kept quiet, peeping quickly everytime the woman stopped to see if they were at Ethel's ward yet, she had to be careful not to be seen though, if their cover was blown they would be sent home.
"Hello there, I am just here to deliver your medicine" Esmerelda heard the nurse say to the patient.
"Oh thank you" Esmerelda heard the familiar voice of her sister and cheered to herself. Now the hard part was distracting the nurse long enough so she could leave, she ruffled the cloth on the trolley hoping Ethel saw.
"OWWWWWWWWWW" Ethel said grabbing hold of her knee as she screamed out.
"What is wrong?" the nurse asked Ethel worried, wondering why she was screaming in pain.
"My knee hurts and my throat, owww help it is throbbing!" Ethel said holding her limb for dramatic affect, the nurse leaned forward to check on the blonde as Esmerelda crawled from the trolley to under the bed. Ethel made sure to keep an eye on her, not wanting her to be seen, once she was safely under, Ethel stopped acting and lowered her hand, going back to a normal stance.
"Oh...it feels better now, it must have just being a cramp, them things can be painful you know" Ethel told the nurse who glared at her for wasting her time before she carried on her way with the trolley.
Esmerelda was relieved when she found Sybil under the bed, glad she had gotten there safely, now all they had to do was hide until everyone was asleep and Esmerelda hugged her sister, feeling her shaking from fear as to what they were doing.
Eventually, everything went into darkness as lights were switched of and the girls crawled out from under the bed, they still had to be careful as nurses would be checking the ward throughout the night but mostly they would be alone. Ethel smiled as she saw her sisters emerge and Esmie touched her back which was hurting from lying on a hard floor all that time.
"I am glad everything went smoothly" Ethel said, glad she was not alone so smiling at them.
"I was scared but I was being brave, I thought I was going to give us away" Sybil replied and Esmie hugged her smiling.
"You were very brave, you were brill, Sybs" Esmerelda told her before she perched on the end of Ethel's bed as Sybil did the same.
"Do you think they suspect anything?" Esmerelda asked Ethel who shook her head.
"No, I think they just deem me as a nuisance" Ethel said before she coughed, her throat still painful.
"How is your throat?" Sybil asked concerned for her sister.
"It is painful but not as bad as it was" Ethel asked before she voiced something which had been worrying her.
"What if mum and dad get mad that you stayed out all night?" Ethel asked, not wanting her sisters to get in trouble on her behalf.
"If they care so much they can come and find us, they know where we are" Esmerelda pointed out and Ethel nodded, having to admit she was right, they knew where they all were, if they wanted them back home they would have to come and get them.
The only problem was because they had to be on guard, one girl would always have to be awake as the other two slept, the times when the nurses came in, the two girls who were not patients would hide under the bed until they were gone and Ethel would pretend to be asleep. Right now Sybie was asleep on Ethel's bed, perched on the edge as Esmerelda kept watch. Allowing the girl to be alone with her thoughts.
She always knew her parents could be a little nicer but she didn't really realise something was wrong until she started at school. Esmerelda saw the things the other girls were sent, heartfelt letters and sweets and chocolates, the girls at parents evening would cling to their mothers and fathers happily as their parents spoke to them with love in their eyes, their mother and father didn't even hug them but Esmerelda had not thought it was a problem before because she had enough love to go around for all three of them, however, recent events had made her realise their parents were not the normal type of parents. They gave them toys and expensive gifts, trying to keep them quiet and contented but wouldn't give them any physical love, only material love. Her mother had not cared about Esmerelda's period problem earlier in the yea, or that her daughter was traumatised from the experience and still to this day insisted she had done nothing wrong and now Ethel was in hospital, having nearly choked to death from an allergic reaction they had caused from their lack of listening and common sense and they were no-where to be seen.
Then there was the other stuff, the girls were told what to eat, how to dress, how to act. They weren't allowed to cry as it was weakness, they had to be mature and not mess around, mess wasn't allowed and it was droned into them studies and grades were the most important thing, not love or family.
Ethel cared so much about what they thought, so much so she was deluding herself into thinking these were perfect parents and in all honesty Esmie used to be the same way, but Esmerelda was starting to see the other side of them, and she didn't not like the people they were.
She knew there was nothing much she could do, she was just a child she couldn't exactly go live on the streets but she felt sad, sad because she realised why Ethel was so desperate for a loving mother, why she drew pictures of her loving her, she wanted it to be true, have a mother whose eyes sparkled because she is with her children, but the reality was they don't have that, they have a cold, heartless, woman as their mother who probably only had children out of family duty.
"Esmie it is your turn to sleep" Esmerelda heard Sybil say sending the girl out of her thoughts, she shook her head coming back to reality and smiled slightly at her sister.
"You can have longer if you want Sybie, I am not really tired" Esmerelda told her sister, all ideas of sleeping going out the window.
As she settled Sybil back on the bed after a lot of fussing because Sybil was trying to get her to sleep, she realised something she had never realised before and the thought shocked her, she wasn't upset, just shocked.
She made sure her sisters ate, she tucked them in at night and held them when they had a nightmare, she was mothering her sisters, she had lost her childhood a long time ago because she was doing the job their real mother had never bothered to do. She realised in that moment she was not just a sister anymore, but a mother, and she had two people that depended on her to survive, that was a scary thought and in that moment Esmerelda knew with that realisation she was never going to have a childhood again.