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Chapter Fifty-Three
Verdict
Sybil nervously stood on the stand, hating how many people were looking at her. Myrtle smirked, thrilled the girl was so nervous as she would be much easier to break than her sisters.
"You had no choice to leave home did you Sybil? You had to because Esmerelda put in order a section four" Myrtle started by saying trying to make it sound like Sybil was a victim without a choice.
"I will go live wherever my sisters are, I don't want to be alone" Sybil replied in a quiet voice.
"Esmerelda and you can go home and live with your parents, you will still have your big sister you love so much, that will be good won't it?" Myrtle said trying to break the girl down.
"What about Ethel and Prudence?" Sybil asked biting her lip as she wanted to know what will happen to them.
"As far as I am aware Ethel is not very nice to you, always bossing you around and treating you like a slave, just think Sybil you can be free from that abuse" Myrtle told the girl who stood looking around fearfully, she didn't know how to respond and didn't want to say the wrong thing.
"That is enough, stop trying to put ideas in her head!" Gladys cut in seeing the look on the younger girl's face, like she was about to burst into tears as she was overwhelmed. She cut of Myrtle and spoke to Sybil gently.
"Sybil, try not to panic, all we need to know is where you want to live, don't listen to anyone else, you have to make your own decision, no answer is wrong" Gladys told her and Sybil looked up as the door opened and Esmie walked in with a now calm Prue. She watched her sister take a seat next to Ethel and she suddenly felt braver. She knew the answer to the question. She didn't have to be afraid.
"Julie and Mildred have always being so nice to me and my sisters and have helped us all with Prue, I was always afraid of messing up at home..." Sybil started saying and Gladys spoke gently to her.
"And why was that Sybil?" she asked her but gently knowing she was scared and needed reassurance.
"My parents had a lot of rules and I was scared of breaking them and getting into trouble, I hate being shouted at, it scares me" Sybil told Gladys as she shook remembering when she would be shouted at by her dear parents for something.
"Does Julie not shout at you?" Gladys asked hoping Sybil would not mess that answer up.
"Only if we are doing something dangerous that could get us hurt or we are really misbehaving, but not for silly things" Sybil replied as she remembered how Julie had shouted at her once because she had nearly blew the flat up when she left some kitchen roll near the toaster which was on. Sybil had cried for hours as she was shouted at but Julie had said she was sorry, she was just worried about her and everyone else's safety if there was a fire. Mr and Mrs Hallow had never said they were sorry for scaring her.
"Well that is normal parenting, sometimes parents have to shout to let their children know something is dangerous" Gladys explained and people around the court nodded in agreement.
"How about your parents? They shouted a lot?" Gladys asked trying to paint Mr and Mrs Hallow in a bad light.
"All the time" Sybil replied. "If I messed up my work or made to much noise and when I cried as I didn't like being shouted at they would shout at me more, I didn't like it" the timid young girl replied still fearfully. "I like Julie because she is so nice and looks after us all and she doesn't get angry when I am upset" Sybil told the court smiling.
"And Mildred is really nice, I share a room with her and my other two sisters share and Mildred is nice to me, I get scared by the thunder and she comforts me and is like another sister, I don't want to leave Julie's" Sybil said as she happened to glance at her parents.
The young girl shook badly by the evil look they were giving her as if telling her she dared to go against them and she had much worse to come to her than shouting. Sybil honestly thought about lying them and saying she had changed her mind and wanted to go back to her parents but she looked at her family again who looked at her trying to encourage. Gladys smiled sweetly at her and she knew she was brave enough to go on.
"I am happy with Julie, I don't feel as scared at messing up with Julie and I really want the adoption to go through as soon as possible" Sybil finished by speaking. The judge cut in as he saw Sybil was being intimated by the look her mum and dad were giving her.
"Thank you for that Sybil, that will be all, you may go" he told the young girl who rushed down from the stand as quickly as she could. She rushed to her family and Julie took the little girl into her arms and hugged her as her sisters were looking after Prue. Gladys was so mad she scratched her face in anger, causing a gash which started to bleed. She had blown it with all three sisters! Even the one who could not look at a shoe without being scared.
"You were so brave and brilliant, I am proud of you" Julie told her as she squeezed her.
"You barely stumbled, you were brill Sybs" Mildred told her foster sister also hugging her.
"Do you think I did enough?" Sybil asked biting her lip in fear.
Julie was about to reply until the Judge dismissed them saying he was ready to think about his verdict. Julie rushed the girl's out and everyone was quiet as they were anxious.
"Remember no matter what happens you all did as much as you could" Julie told her girls knowing they all had done what they had to do.
"I don't want to go back to them" Sybil said cuddling into Esmerelda worried.
"Hopefully you won't have to" Julie told the girls. Prue started crying then which distracted them all but even after Ethel had gone to change her and tried to feed her she wouldn't stop.
"Baby are you ill?" Ethel asked worried sick over her daughter. Julie was worried to. This was not like Prue at all. She took the baby of Ethel and tried to settle her. Ethel began crying in worry.
"Don't worry Ethel, she doesn't have a fever" Julie told her as Esmie cuddled her sister who was trying to reassure her Prue was okay.
"What if she is really sick?" Ethel asked as she cried more along with Prue.
"She might be agitated by being in court so long, she missed her nap, she is not happy" Julie told Ethel wondering what to do.
"Just a little while longer baby I promise" Ethel told her baby stroking her cheek and trying to calm her but in the back of her mind worried about her health.
It wasn't long until they were back in the courtroom. All of the family sat down nervously as they knew this was the moment they would hear the result.
"I have looked over all the evidence and taken all testimonies into account" the judge said. There was no jury in this case so it was all his decision.
"I have decided to leave the girls where they are and let the adoption go through" the judge said. Esmerelda, Ethel, Sybil, Mildred and Julie burst into tears and hugged each other in happiness.
"Wait!" Myrtle shouted boiling with anger. "I didn't get to present my whole case" she told the man with eyes blazing with anger.
The judge looked at the woman as if he was losing patience with her, he had made his decision and he was not happy people were questioning it.
"You have not convinced me it would be wise to separate the sisters and sent them back to their parents, they are doing very well in their foster home and they were not doing so well at home" he told the woman simply, giving his reasons.
"Julie has brainwashed them! The girls were happy at home!" Myrtle told him trying one last time to get her way.
Everyone in the court shook their head clearly not buying it. She had lost her chance and she was not going to be able to win anymore.
"Overruled, the evidence I have speaks volumes, the girls had to endure abuse at home and were not in a loving safe environment, I am not sending them back their and I am not separating them" he told everyone hitting his barrel to confirm it. The Hallow and Hubble family cried gently together, so happy and relived everything had worked out.
"There will be another date set for the adoption hearing, court dismissed" the judge said as he left. The family cried for ages and best of all Prue fell asleep, she seemed to be okay now and was just stressed out.
"Sweet dreams baby girl" Ethel said gently placing her in her car seat so not to stir her but she was out like a light so she didn't even blink.
"We will still keep an eye on her but I think she was just stressed" Julie told Ethel smiling at Prue who looked so sweet. Her smile dropped though as she looked over at the Hallow parents and Myrtle.
The looks on their faces told her they were not happy with there result and they were not going to let this slide, they were not finished yet. Julie glared at them then looked back at her family not going to let her spoil their special moment and by the time the family left the courtroom, all thoughts of the threat were out of her mind.