“Big sis!” I was visiting my parents, this time for Elizabeth’s 8th birthday. Hopefully it would be just for that, because I really didn’t want Mum forcing me to stay over longer than I needed to. Besides, my weight was fine and was finally stabilizing.
As Elizabeth always did, she ran up to me and attached herself to my leg the second I got through the door. Around her, I couldn’t stop myself from smiling. I knelt down and gave her a big hug.
“Happy birthday!” I smiled. “Look at you growing up!”
“I’m 9!” She beamed, putting up 9 fingers.
“That you are! And do you know what 9 year old’s get on their birthdays?”
“Gifts?”
“Correct!” I let Fluffy take the gift I was holding behind my back and give it to her. Happily, she took it and ripped it open. Her emerald green eyes lit up when she saw the sketchbook and set of fancy coloring pencils and charcoals I got her. She jumped up and down out of excitement before giving me a big hug.
“Thank you!!”
“No problem.” I smiled. “I expect to see some amazing drawings made with those, you hear?”
She nodded before running off to her room to put the supplies away. It made me happy seeing her so happy. With a grunt, I forced myself to stand back up, deeply regretting ever kneeling down in the first place. Fluffy gave me a tired glare. We both knew why I was struggling to do basic things. When I looked over, I saw my siblings and parents give me a look from the kitchen. Everyone was over to celebrate Elizabeth’s birthday just like I was, but none of them looked remotely happy.
“What.” I glared at them.
“Are you feeling alright?” William asked with a concerned look. It then occurred to me that William and Reginald hadn’t seen me since before the incident. Alexander and the twins had seen me the month after, and everyone else had been slowly watching the changes occur with each passing week. So the siblings who hadn’t seen me in a while were a bit… surprised.
“Mum said you looked different, but we weren’t expecting this.” Reginald looked pretty shocked. “Goodness!”
I shot a glare at Mum who only frowned and put her hands on her hips. That look in her eyes told me I would be hearing about this later and would probably be staying there a while.
“I had to say something!” She said, looking a bit hurt I took offense to that. “You’ve lost more weight! Don’t you remember what I said?”
“I’m fine.” I rolled my eyes.
“Beatrice, you’re going to hurt yourself if you keep going like this,” Dad said sternly. “You’re already struggling to get up! I don’t doubt you can barely function most days! When is this nonsense going to stop?”
“I’m. Fine.” I growled, making my way over to them. It was another day I wasn’t feeling too great, so I was pretty desperate to sit down. I blamed the binge I had a few days ago. That one really took it out of me. Quickly, I found a place to sit while I ignored my family’s worried looks.
“Before Elizabeth comes back, I want to make one thing clear,” Dad stated. “You will be eating while you’re here. A decent amount at that.”
“And we will be chatting about this later.” Mum added.
I rolled my eyes. “Yea, yea, whatever.”
Before they could go on about my “bad eating habits”, Elizabeth ran into the kitchen happily. Being her favorite sister, she ran right to me and started going on about what she got for her birthday, and how happy she was with all of it. Then she went on about the amazing dinner and cake Mum made for her and how excited she was to eat it. I could see the looks my family was giving me when she did. Apparently, that was the cue for everyone to start migrating to the table to eat.
As usual, Mum had made a big meal for the whole family. It was a range of meat, bread, and roasted vegetables. Best of the best. And the cake? It was chocolate cake with chocolate icing, decorations, and drizzle. It should’ve just been solid chocolate at that point. I sat next to Elizabeth, looking at the whole assortment of food with fear. My hunger was getting to me. The last thing I wanted was to lose control in front of everyone. That was something that I only let myself do at home, where nobody would see it.
“Put something on your plate, Beatrice.” Reginald nudged me. “Seriously. You need it.”
As much as I wanted to fight back, I bit my tongue and hesitantly put a few vegetables on my plate. With Elizabeth around, I didn’t want to start a fight. She’s seen me get upset before, but I tried not to let it happen if I could help it. The minute I set my plate down, Fluffy sneakily reached out from under the table and grabbed a chunk of sweet potato off my plate. The bugger always did that when I let him rest on my lap at the table.
“Fluffy!” Elizabeth scolded. “That’s for big sis! Don’t steal her food!”
Being the caring snake he was, he got a little upset. The last thing he ever wanted to do was upset or hurt me. Especially now. The solution? Put his head back on the table and hork up what he grabbed right back onto my plate.
“...Thanks.” I gave him an unimpressed look. He looked back at me and smiled as broadly as a snake could. Clearly, he was proud of the slimy sweet potato mess he left on my plate.
“Here, let me get you a clean plate.” Mum sighed, getting up to take my plate away, along with Fluffy’s mess. Quickly, she cleaned it up before grabbing a new plate. I had expected her to just hand it over to me, but instead, she started scooping food onto it. My heart sunk more and more as I watched her scoop more and more onto the plate. Glancing at Fluffy, I could tell he set this up. He knew Mum would clean my plate if he horked on it and then do this. Got to admit, he was smarter than I gave him credit for sometimes.
“Careful, Mum.” Alexander snickered at the pure look of horror on my face. “Give her too much and she might be traumatized. I don’t think she’s seen that much food in months!”
“Knock it off,” Dad told him off. “That’s not funny. This is a serious issue.”
“Here.” Mum handed my plate over to me. I couldn’t help but glare at her as she handed it over. She paid no attention to it and sat back down to eat her meal. Had it not been for Elizabeth giving me a worried look, I would’ve gotten up and left. The stares she was giving me forced me to eat. Doing my best to not lose control, I allowed myself to have a small portion of what Mum gave me. The minute I felt myself start to lose control, I pushed the plate away and refused to eat any more of it. Not even when Elizabeth gave me those worried looks.
Although disappointed I didn’t finish my meal, my parents were happy to see me eat something. It was better than nothing. As with every birthday, the cake came right after dinner. I struggled to hold Fluffy back from cutting his own slice of the delicious-looking cake, that’s how good it looked. Mind you, Fluffy would eat anything.
“Here you go, big sis!” Elizabeth cut the first piece and handed it over to me eagerly. It was one massive chunk of cake too. Of all the people she could’ve given it to! Why me?!
“Why don’t you give it to someone else?” I suggested. The glares of everyone around me were making me nervous, and Fluffy was already trying his darndest to get to that cake. Unfortunately, not my slice of it.
“You’re my favorite sister! So you get the first slice!”
“I- but- …Fine…” I mumbled, taking it from her. “Thank you.”
Elizabeth cut everyone else a slice that I couldn’t help but feel was smaller than mine. When everyone else started eating, I forced myself to do the same before Elizabeth noticed. Let me tell you, that cake was delicious. Mum really outdid herself with it. Chocolatey goodness just melted in my mouth, leaving me wanting more. That was where I lost control. One bite of cake, and I couldn’t stop. Before I knew it, that whole chunk of cake on my plate was gone and I was fighting to not get another. If I dared move an inch, I knew I would go right for it, so I stayed glued to the place I was at while hyper-focusing on the cake in front of me with a look of shame on my face.
“If you want another slice, you’re allowed to get it,” Mum said gently, sitting down next to me. While everyone else was talking in either the living room or kitchen, I was still staring at that damn cake. “I can get it for you if you want.”
It took all my willpower to shake my head. “No.”
Mum sighed. “What has gotten into you? This… This is really worrying me. Not only me but your father and all your siblings. Even Elizabeth.”
“...It is?”
“Well yes! She’s got eyes too, you know!” Mum gave me a look. “Almost every day she asks if you’re going to be alright! You’re wasting away in front of all of us! For what? To be thin??”
“You wouldn’t understand.”
“Maybe not, but that doesn’t mean I can’t try to help. The last thing I want to be doing is burying my daughter in the ground because she couldn’t feed herself properly.”
I stayed silent.
“Please, Beatrice. Work with me here.” She said softly, puting a hand on mine. “You must be starving…”
I looked down, then back at the cake. I couldn’t do it anymore, and slowly nodded while mumbling, “Can… Can you get me another slice…?”
“Of course, I can.” She nodded, quickly getting up to get it before I changed my mind. Seconds later, there was another chunk of cake in front of me. With no self-control left, I was pretty quick to start eating. As sad as it was, I was already planning how I would sneak my way to the washroom to puke it all up.
“I hope you know that you’ll be staying here.” Mum refused to leave me alone while eating. “I’m not letting you waste away any more than you already have.”
Too tired to argue, I just nodded to every sentence of nonsense she said. Most of it was going in one ear and out the other.
When I finished, I was seconds away from making my trip to the washroom when Elizabeth ran up to me. “Big sis! Do you want to race??”
“I suppose.” I smiled weakly. Preparing myself for what I had planned was making me weak just thinking about it. “Just let me-”
“Let’s go!!” She cheered, grabbing me by the arm and dragging me to one of the bigger hallways in the house. Her excitement caught everyone’s interest and they crowded at the start of the hallway to watch this go down. If I was in their shoes, I suppose I would’ve done the same too. Running wasn’t exactly my forte, and I would’ve found it hilarious to see myself try. I wasn’t exactly happy about being dragged there, but I put on a smile for her. Especially after hearing what Mum said. Surely, a few extra minutes of waiting wouldn’t be an issue and I could purge right after.
“Just because it’s your birthday, doesn’t mean I’m going to go easy on you,” I smirked. “Neither is Fluffy.”
Fluffy nodded in agreement.
“Go Elizabeth!” William and the twins cheered.
“Yeah, well, I have my fans!” Elizabeth smiled, giving them a goofy little bow to show her appreciation for their support.
“Right. Ready?”
My little sister nodded before counting down. When the countdown ended, we both took off. To my surprise, she was a lot faster than I was. Either she had gotten faster, or I had gotten slower. Most likely the latter. Every step I took felt heavy and painful, making it hard not to drag my feet. My chest felt tight and strained from the heavy breathing despite having only made it a few feet. What was wrong with me?! Frustrated, I pushed myself to go faster. I had just barely caught up when I felt my vision go blurry. The room began to spin as I felt myself go lightheaded. One second I was running, and the next, I was flat out on the floor struggling to breathe.
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