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Chapter Fifty-Six
Bad Reaction
Before long Josephine was back in the country. The girls could not keep still as they sat in the car, full of excitement about seeing their grandmother. They were going to visit her new flat which was only ten minutes away from them. They arrived and knocked and the woman took Prue as she hugged her grandchildren, and Mildred and Julie, happily.
"This place is awesome" Sybil said as she looked around at the new environment. The place was all decked out in purple, from the sofas, to the curtains. It was not hard to tell that a Hallow was living there.
"I like the colour" Mildred commented as she had gotten used to purple in their flat and liked the colour a lot now.
"Thank you Mildred" Josephine said with a smile but her smile dropped as she moved her eyes and caught sight of Esmerelda.
The woman had known something was wrong as soon as she saw her eldest granddaughter. She was pale and didn't look very well.
"Are you alright dear?" Josephine asked worried but not panicking. Common illnesses happened all the time, she was sure Esmerelda was just on the brink of a cold.
"I am fine grandma" Esmerelda said even if she didn't look or sound it. Julie cut in and spoke to her in response.
"Esmie wasn't feeling well today but she didn't want to miss visiting you" Julie told the woman with a sigh, wishing she was not so stubborn.
"Oh darling, we could have rearranged you visiting" the woman said worried about the girls health
"I have waited months already, I am fine Gran, I think I just have a cold" Esmerelda replied with a smile.
"Are you sure dear?" the woman asked her
"Yes, don't worry about me, I will be just fine" she told her grandma who didn't know whether to believe her or not but she nodded and the girls sat down.
The younger girls sat in the front room playing some board games and eating some snacks as the adults spoke next to them, watching them play their game. Esmerelda really didn't appear well, she seemed zoned out and unresponsive. After a while she stood up and told everyone she was just going to use the bathroom. Sybil looked at the rest of the family clearly concerned and Josephine smiled at her trying to reassure her.
"I am sure Esmerelda is just fine, we all have off days" she told Sybil even if she was really planning on calling a doctor as she knew Esmerelda and something was off.
The main reason everyone was so worried was it was out of character. Esmerelda could have a broken leg and walk on it because she didn't want to show she was in pain or worry people and the only way you could tell there was something wrong was if you happened to catch her in her bedroom in pain, it was out of character for Esmerelda to show she was ill, so she must be really ill.
"Maybe I should go check on her" Ethel said worried about her elder sister.
"Good idea" Julie said knowing it would be better if Ethel did it. Esmerelda was more likely to reveal more to Ethel than she was Julie or Josephine even if she was close to them now. She still would not entirely open up to anyone but her sisters. Ethel checked on Prue who was sleeping in a cot next to Sybil before she left to find Esmerelda.
Ethel rushed down the corridor to the bathroom, she was running so fast she almost didn't spot Esmerelda sitting on the floor a bit before the bathroom. She had her knees to her chest and her head was drooping. Ethel rushed over.
"Esmie!?" Ethel said "Where does it hurt?" Ethel said thinking her sister was in pain of some sort.
Esmerelda shook her head then and Ethel didn't understand what she was trying to say to her. Trust their telepathy to not work at a moment like this.
"Esmerelda, come on tell me where the pain is" Ethel said to her kneeling in front of her and seeing her eyes looked funny.
"I can't see….I feel odd..." Esmerelda replied seeming lethargic and letting her head drop so it was leaning against the wall.
"JULIE, GRAN" Ethel shouted knowing something was most definitely wrong with her sister now. Both woman, and Mildred and Sybil, with Julie holding baby Prue, came running to see what was going on.
"What is wrong?" Josephine asked clutching her chest out of breathe.
"I don't know, she says she feels funny" Ethel said. Julie handed Prue to Mildred before she gently touched Ethel on the shoulder to move her and kneeled down in front of her young foster daughter.
"Esmie? Are you okay?" Julie asked her concerned. Julie touched her forehead and felt she was sweating. She gently grabbed Esmerelda's head to move it to look at her and looked at her properly for the first time.
"Esmerelda, look at me" Julie said as the blonde was darting her eyes all over the place and that was when Julie saw her eyes properly, they looked funny and from her experience as a nurse she knew what was wrong with Esmie.
"What is wrong with her?" Sybil asked on the verge of tears. Julie stood up and moved Josephine aside, not wanting the kids to overhear yet. When they were out of earshot she whispered.
"Esmerelda is drugged" Julie said as bluntly as she could, mentally slapping herself for not seeing the signs of drug use beforehand.
"What? Esmerelda wouldn't use drugs" Josephine said unable to believe she would do that, especially if she knew she would eventually be caught out and she loved her sisters and niece more than anything, not to mention she was in a better place than she had ever being it made more sense.
"I don't know how them drugs entered her system, whether it was by her hand or someone else's but all I know is you have to get us medical care now, I think she is having a bad reaction to the drug" Julie said knowing she should be angry but she knew someone could have done this to Esmerelda and she really believed they had. Esmerelda was not stupid, she just didn't believe she would do that to herself.
"JULIE" Sybil suddenly shouted and she saw Esmerelda was shaking badly which must be another affect.
"Go get help now!" Julie told Josephine who rushed to mirror the hospital.
"What is wrong with her mum? We know that you know!" Mildred said looking at her mum seriously.
"I am convinced Esmerelda is drugged, I can't tell you whether she did this by accident or someone drugged her but all I know is she is showing classic signs of this" Julie told the girls who gasped.
Josephine was back in minutes with two paramedics. Julie loved magic so much in that moment. In the non-magical world you would have to wait ages for an ambulance as they didn't have the ability of transferring.
"Please help her" Sybil told them as they walked over to the girl to check her out. They took her pulse and immediately were on alert.
"We better take her in, her pulse is high" one of them said and before anyone knew it they were standing in a hospital with to bright a light as Esmie was taken away and everyone was made to wait. Prudence started crying.
"I know I am upset to baby" Ethel told her daughter kissing her cheeks as she took her from Mildred.
"Someone did this to her, there is no way Esmie would do this to herself" Mildred said to her family not believing she would experiment in such a stupid way, maybe when she was at her parents to numb the pain she was in but the girl had never even touched alcohol, let alone drugs.
Sybil cried into her lap and Julie put her arm around her as she sobbed before she spoke "Who would do that?" she asked her family not understanding.
"Some sick person clearly" Josephine said, worried and hoping the girl would be okay. What Sybil said got Ethel thinking though.
That morning Esmerelda had gone outside as a package had being left for them on the front porch. Esmie was already dressed so went to get it and then came back in complaining that a man had walked into her without so much as a sorry and he had bashed into her so hard her arm hurt and afterwards she felt like she had been stung.
Ethel knew then what had happened. She wasn't stung at all. That was clearly the time someone had drugged her, properly by poking her with a needle when she was distracted, Esmerelda had said she didn't recognise the man and did not remember placing an order for the potions ingredients that were in the package she had gone to collect.
Ethel gasped out knowing what had happened. Someone had targeted Esmerelda, but the question was why and who? Two names came to Ethel's mind and she didn't have to ask herself whether they were capable of it or not.