The Darkness Inside Chapter 14 - Ethel, a worst witch fanfic

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Chapter Fourteen

Ethel

Running back to the ward the nurse ran in with the two youngest blonde sisters where they were met with a horrible sight. Mr and Mrs Hallow had their hands raised casting a spell at the eldest who was frailing around in silence, clearly in pain though. Ethel and Sybil gasped before the nurse took control.

"STOP NOW!" She shouted. The shock made the Hallow parents lose concentration and the spell was broken. Esmerelda fell forward, the flesh on her back still burning but she now there was able to make sound again and Ethel and Sybil rushed over.

"Esmie are you okay?" Ethel asked worried about what their parents had done, Ethel looked at her sister before turning to her parents.

"What on earth have you done to her?" she asked, her eyes growing dark with anger.

"We were punishing her like she deserves" her father replied, sounding like he was not ashamed or sorry for what he did.

Sybil went to hug her sister, not knowing where the injury was but when she yelped in pain when she wrapped her arms around her, Sybil pulled back horrified.

"Sorry Esmie, it is okay, we are here now" Sybil said as they watched the nurse argue with their parents, the couple eventually left and the woman walked over.

"I am going to contact the Great Wizard about this but first I need to know how you are injured" the dark haired nurse asked the blonde.

"They used a curse burning spell on my back" Esmerelda told them as she moaned in pain, the spell might of stopped but her back was still agony. Sybil burst into tears and Ethel just became speechless, to shocked to even cry.

"Okay will you two wait outside please, I need to treat the injury" the nurse said in a professional manner. Ethel and Sybil didn't want to wait but obeyed and left, wanting Esmie to have the help she needed.

Esmerelda wished that she was asleep for this, not only did she find it highly embarrassing to be exposed like this with so much skin showing but as the nurse tried to heal the wound as best as she could she had to refrain from screaming out, even when it was not being touched it was painful, Esmie could not see the burn but she knew it was bad, she could feel it was bad.

Ethel and Sybil waited outside for their sister in silence, They both felt this was their fault for leaving her but they couldn't of done anything to prevent it, they did everything they could, they got help as fast as they could. It would have being worse if they had not gotten help, that was what they had to tell themselves,

After ten minutes of sitting in silence, Ethel suddenly made a choking noise and when Sybil looked at her she saw tears falling down her face as she cried.

"Ethel?" Sybil said biting her lip worried

"This is all my fault!" Ethel said as she cried harder and put her hands over her face. Sybil put her arm around her and shook her head.

"No it isn't you didn't do anything" Sybil said wondering how Ethel could think that.

"It is, I tricked her with Agatha, I made her lose her powers, I made her depressed and that led to her starving herself and self-harming and if she hadn't of done that mum and dad wouldn't of being angry and she wouldn't of done it if she had magic and was at school with us" Ethel replied as she cried more. A couple of people in the waiting room looked at her funny but Sybil looked at them and they turned away.

Sybil didn't know what to say to her sister in that moment. Sybil had not seen Ethel so upset in a long time. When it first came to light what had happened to Esmerelda, Sybil had heard Ethel crying softly in her room at night sometimes and even at school she sometimes heard her but she tried to be much quieter. Sybil suspected it had all come to head now because Ethel was sobbing her heart out loudly, she regretted what she did so much and now she was finally showing how much she did.

"Ethel, it isn't your fault, stop blaming yourself for this, you made a mistake but that does not mean this is all your fault, mum and dad are unreasonable you know that, they would have become mad at her for something else" Sybil told her sister, rubbing her back and trying to comfort her a little but Ethel wouldn't have it, she cried and she cried and Sybil knew she was not going to be able to console her. Ethel was so loud and upset she didn't hear the nurse come out to tell them they could go back in now. Ethel looked up at the nurse and then started crying again when she heard Sybil speaking to her.

"Can you give us a minute? I can't leave Ethel like this" Sybil told the woman knowing she couldn't take Ethel in to see Esmerelda in the state she was in, it would break Esmerelda's heart and Ethel would just grow more upset.

When the nurse came back without her sisters, Esmerelda became concerned. Even more so when she was told her sisters would be going in soon but they needed a little time. Esmerelda did not understand that though, normally they would rush in to see her, no matter what. Therefore the blonde waited until the woman had turned away and quickly hopped out the bed, prepared to go to her sisters if they won't come to her.

"Ethie?! Esmerelda said as she walked in the corridor to see her little sister in tears. Sybil turned to look at her, concerned.

"Esmie you should be resting!" Sybil told her, knowing she shouldn't be walking around right now.

"The nurse said you couldn't come see me, I was worried mum and dad somehow got to you" she replied as she went to sit next to Ethel. "What is going on?" Esmerelda asked feeling her heart break at Ethel crying so much.

"She thinks it is her fault because she helped Agatha" Sybil replied with a sigh as Ethel was inconsolable.

"Ethie I already told you it isn't!" Esmerelda said wondering how she still thought that. That was months ago, she didn't know why she was still so upset about it.

"But it is, I am sorry Esmerelda, I am sorry, I don't know why I am such a horrible person" Ethel said as she cried more.

"Oh Ethel" Esmerelda said as she put her arm around Ethel so both her and Sybil were cuddling her. "Agatha tricked you too" Esmerelda replied knowing now exactly what had happened.

"I did it for selfish reasons, I don't deserve my magic or your kindness" Ethel said knowing doing what she did to be head girl was sickening, when she looked back on it. It was all so she could get a purple belt with gold trim, she hadn't of cared about her sisters feelings and now it was coming back to bite her.

"Yes it was" Esmerelda admitted as her reasons were quite sickening "but Agatha is clever, she offered you the chance to have attention you needed and showed she was interested in what you had to say, I know how much you want mum and dad to notice you Ethie, Agatha made you feel special and like you were her number one girl, you didn't think about what you were really doing because you were so blinded by the fact you were getting attention" Esmerelda explained to Ethel. She had had months to think about it and now knew exactly what had happened.

"It doesn't matter I still..." Ethel started through her tears.

"Ethel stop it!" Esmerelda said firmly but still with the same gentleness she had for her sisters "You need to stop blaming yourself for this, Agatha is to blame for this, not you, you were tricked and deceived too" Esmerelda told her truthfully.

"I am still sorry Esmie" Ethel said leaning her head on Esmerelda's shoulder and that was the moment Esmerelda realised something.

Agatha had tricked Ethel into thinking she cared and she would give her the love and attention she so badly craved if she helped her trick her sister into giving up her magic, Ethel was in a way a victim of Agatha's schemes too, she had being used as a pawn and then betrayed when Agatha had what she wanted. Ethel had ran through the castle to save Esmerelda, realising she needed Esmerelda, Agatha not caring if they were both killed or indeed if her own sister was killed.

But where was Agatha now? Locked in a painting with the notorious Miss Gullet and she would be trapped there for all entirety, unless someone decided to release her. The woman was gone in affect, she couldn't hurt anyone but Agatha Cackle was still controlling both sisters. She still had the control over them, she had Esmerelda's powers and the woman haunted them like a ghost, she had broken a part of them both and what had happened was something that hung over both girls like the plague. Ethel was blaming herself for everything and Esmerelda's depression was much worse than it was before.

Agatha Cackle still had what she wanted. She was in charge still, even if she was not physically there but despite that Esmerelda and Ethel were closer to one another than ever and in that moment Esmerelda realised they had to stop letting this woman control them. They had so much more than she ever had and what happened could either make them or break them. They couldn't let the evil woman win. She loved feeling in control, and she still had the hold on them, after all this time.

Esmerelda wouldn't let her win, she was not going to let her control her anymore. Both of them were going to get better. They had to. It was time Agatha's games came to an end, Agatha could not win and Esmerelda would make sure she doesn't.