***
What do you fear the most?
Before, I would have written ‘fear itself’, if I wanted to sound smart, you know, quoting someone important. Or, if I was feeling average, I would write – spiders, horror movies – something clichéd and nestled well into the realm of acceptability. But not now. Now, before I decide to lie, I write one word in script so tiny your eyes want it to disappear.
Flesh.
* * *
The day it started really wasn’t unlike any other day that week, that month, even that year. Nothing unspeakably horrible happened, no one called me fat. I didn’t eat too much – actually, I had hardly eaten anything that day, and was feeling rather proud of myself despite the hunger coalescing in my insides.
“Ohmigod though, Beth and Alex are just so cute together.” We – the rest of the eight graders and I - were walking towards the park, successfully managing to piss off everyone on the street who was unfortunate enough to be outside at that time. An elderly woman shot my best friend, Lena, a dirty look as she crawled by, hands clamped into claws around the bags she was carrying. Lena ignored her or just didn’t notice – it’s always hard to tell which – and continued her observation of the two students walking slightly ahead of the group, hand in hand.
“They really are though,” I said, feeling, as usual, the stirrings of jealousy at the sight of them, so perfect together; everything they did was so seamless, so coordinated. Not jealous of Beth for having Alex – sure, he was nice, and a good friend, but just … not my type. Speaking of that, where is your type, anyway?
Nowhere to be seen. Trying not to feel disappointment was – still is – like trying to push waves back out to sea. So I turned away from the ocean and looked instead at Lena, who, like me, had eyes full of envy. “I can see you and Chase being like that,” I only half-teased. So what if he didn’t like her? Yet. They would look great together. Oh, and if you’re thinking that Chase is some kind of pretty-boy, Disney-looking type like his name might suggest, you’re very wrong. I used to like him, actually, and I can still remember the disgusting longing with which my eyes took in his wheat-blonde hair, bittersweet chocolate eyes – you know, the expensive kind that’s like seventy-percent cocoa – and long, lounging body.
Lena looked half-pleased, half-irritated. “You know he likes Tanya. And her giant boobs.” Her eyes, which I have always envied because they are as clear and pure as raindrops, were cast down as she took in her A36 chest with a mixture of disgust and sadness.
“He doesn’t like her,” I said with exaggerated reasonableness. “What he feels for Tanya and her, well, assets is nothing more than the shallow and, sadly typical lust that many beings with a Y chromosome experience for those without one.”
She rolled her eyes as she always did when I started trying to talk like a smart person, and finger-combed her glossy dyed-black hair. “Whatever. All I know is he isn’t feeling that typical lust for me.”
I had nothing to say to that – after all, it was the same for me. My own abysmal chest, a size A38 to date, certainly wasn’t the subject of anyone’s lust. Not that things like that are all that matters, but still.
After that, our conversation continued normally – Mrs. Te is such a bitch, I wish Dylan were taller ‘cause he would be so hot if he wasn’t so short, what are you doing this weekend. At least, it was normal until we saw Chase walking up from the park. Lena froze, her gaze shattering into a million directions at once. “Chill,” I said. “There’s nothing wrong with you.”
“Nono, my hair – my legs … " Her voice was beginning to rise in what I knew would be a near-hysterical wail. I glared at her, twirling my own honey-coloured strands between my fingers.
“Your hair,” I said firmly, “is fine.” And I wasn’t lying, either; she had straightened it into a smooth, glossy sheet. I wasn’t even going to get started on her legs. They were what I envied most about her: as long as a model’s, and as skinny, too. I looked down at my own legs, which were long, I suppose, but too muscular to be skinny.
Lena made an unconvinced noise and continued her observation of the pavement. I rolled my eyes at her and started a conversation with Rowan, a friend from class, thinking that if I had legs like Lena’s I would be brave enough to talk to any guy I liked.
* * *
(one month later.)
Anyone wondering what was taking me so long in the bathroom will have only one clue: the sound of rushing water. As usual, I have the sink turned on all the way. It is quite a nice sound, actually. Consistent, you know? But then again, anything would sound nice compared to the sound of someone puking their guts up.
I’ve been here so long my knees hurt from kneeling. A tiny, distant part of my mind tells me that this is ridiculous and excessive, that a small salad and one dumpling will not make me gain weight. But that part has been shrinking over the weeks, getting smaller and smaller like the view of an island from an airplane soaring into the clouds. I don’t listen to it anymore, barely acknowledge it amongst the grotesque and seething tunnels of self-hatred and criticism that my mind has become.
Another heave, this time bringing up only a clear yellowish fluid that, judging by the burning in my throat, is acid. I spit it out and notice dimly that it is flecked with globules of crimson. Blood? Or some other gross bodily secretion? The tiny part of my mind screams at me that this is bad, but as I’ve said, I don’t listen to it. I only listen to Her.
When I flush it away and get up, the world contracts to a shimmering screen of black dots and, for a moment, I sway, the world bending at the edges like a rubber toy. This too should worry me but She brushes it off, her razorblades voice low and persuasive. Don’t you feel better now? Now that it’s all gone – all that stuff you don’t need.
In the mirror, I look pale and dishevelled, my face streaked with tears from the pressure of throwing up multiple times in a row. I don’t feel better until I see my stomach, which has caved in again; until I rest my fingers on my protruding hipbones. I wash my mouth out, and my hands, avoiding my reflection’s eyes in the mirror because as long as She talks to me, they are not mine.
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