Two Weeks Later

After the little incident that night, the intensity that my family was breathing down my neck was astounding. On weekends, Sophie or Mom usually sat down with me while I ate every meal, and were always keeping an eye on me soon after. If I didn’t want to eat when Sophie was around, she would get Mom, and I can’t refuse Mom. I know better than to. If I start refusing her attempts, she’d get stressed out and spiral down her own problems that could hurt her. So if she asked me to, I just sucked it up and ate as little as I could.

School was a different story though. Yeah, Sophie and Dad made me eat breakfast at home under heavy surveillance, but they couldn’t stop me from going to the bathroom and immediately purging it when we got to school. I even used the single-use bathrooms to not get looks from kids. Well, weirder than the ones I usually got. Sophie would make sure I sat at the same table as her for lunch, and forced me to eat, and if I didn’t she’d threaten to call mom. I usually just ate, went to class, went to the bathroom, and got it all out of my system.

The only problem I hate is that we don’t have a scale or anything at home. I think if we do have one, it’s well hidden because of Mom. I’m pretty sure even when she went to the doctor’s they wouldn’t tell her what she weighed. Anyway, because I couldn't tell what I weighed exactly, I just went off of what I saw in the mirror. And even with my family’s setbacks, I could see a bit of progress. My shirts fit slightly looser, but I was good at covering it up.

As for things that have been bugging me, I’ve been having massive headaches lately. And I’ve almost constantly felt like there’s a surge of acid trying to crawl up my throat. My gums also had a new habit of stinging and aching sometimes too. But a glass of milk would usually give some temporary relief. I wondered if these were some of the effects that Mom and Dad were talking about.

Even though I was changing and getting smaller everyday, the kids at school didn’t seem to care at all. At least not yet. Today, like most other days, class ended early and I started gathering my school supplies.

“Hey, hey, Benjie!” smirked David, my biggest bully. I tried to get out of the room, but as soon as I stood up, I started getting dizzy and my vision cut out at the edges, and fell back in my seat. “Where’re you going so fast?”

“Benny’s got a hot date, don’t you know?” mocked Cassidy. She was one of those mean popular girls who just liked to get a reaction, so I stayed as emotionless as I could.

“Pffft, with who?” David laughed. “Would you date him?”

“Me?” she howled wildly. “Not in a thousand years! He’s wayyy too fat and ugly for me to ever have any interest!”

While the two of them laughed and laughed, I just finished packing my things up. As I went to walk out, I felt myself stumble as Cassidy’s stray leg tripped me, and I tumbled to the ground. The two laughed wildly again.

“Goodness, you fall hard, Benny!” she cracked up.

“He doesn’t fall,” said David. “When he hits the ground, he just bounces and rolls!”

I ran out of the room this time, not bothering to look back. I was tired of them just always making fun of me! Maybe if I could just change myself more significantly, they would leave me alone. I just had to go further than I had been bothered to go so far…

*   *   *   *   *

“Hey, Ben,” Sophie said, putting her hand on my shoulder. “You know the rules. Wait at least an hour before you go to bed.”

“I just don’t feel like it today,” I sighed. “I want to just go to sleep.”

“Hey, sleep later, alright? Go play a video game or read a comic or something.”

She walked past me and opened her door, letting out a big yawn. I stopped her before she could close her door.

“Hey, what’re you doing?” I asked.

“Hm? Oh, I’m going to bed.”

“What?!” I asked, outraged. “Why do you get to go?”

“Because I’m one of the two people in this house who keeps her meals down,” she said, upset. “Now just go to the living room already. Mom’s waiting for you.”

She closed the door and I clenched my fists. I knew she was just going to bed early probably so she could get enough sleep before she snuck out with her friends again. I turned and glanced at the hallway, with the living room at the end. The bathroom was midway down the hall, and nobody was watching…

I carefully went over to the bathroom and closed the door gently. Nobody to keep track of me now! Not wasting time, I kneeled down and went to work, purging up what I had of dinner that day. Sophie and Mom probably wouldn’t hear; I’d practiced not gagging or anything, so it’s really silent now. I felt so much better knowing it wasn’t down there anymore. 

“Are you sure that’s all of it?” asked the voice in my head.

Was that all of it? I’m pretty sure I had eaten quite a lot… I probably hadn’t gotten rid of half of it!

“Better keep going just to make sure.”

But that sounds like it would be more painful than usual…

“A little pain now to stop the kids later. It’s not even that bad.”

I guess yeah, it’s not as bad anymore as I made it out to be before. I think I've gotten used to it. I kept going, and it felt kind of good to be even emptier. I did it again. I felt lighter already. One more time…”

“BENJAMIN HUTCHERSON!” shouted a voice from outside. Oh no, I’d taken way too long. Mom threw open the door and looked absolutely furious. “Stop that, right now!”

To be fair, I couldn’t stop when I puked in the toilet again. That one wasn’t my fault, but it still made Mom angrier. 

“You. Living room. NOW!”

Yeah, she was in her complete demon form now. No getting out of whatever was coming next. I stood up to shamefully walk past her, when something weird happened. I started feeling even lighter. I couldn’t help but just smile a bit at the feeling. That was before my vision blacked out and I fell to the tile floor harshly though. Did I hit my head on something on the way down? I think I did. I’m not quite sure, in all honesty.

“BEN! BEN!” I vaguely heard Mom shout. Was she shaking me? I don’t really know. Everything was muffled and fading. I just wanted to sleep…”