The Most Common Obsession
The Most Common Obsession By: J. Williams Kiera rushed upstairs to her bathroom and locked the door the second she came home from school. The shy, fifteen year old girl was abnormally obsessed with looking thin. Kiera was a pretty, five foot six and a half inch teenager girl with strawberry blond, shoulder length hair, unusually beautiful blue eyes, a host of friends and a list of talents. She was a four time chess champion and the president of the drama club. Kiera was perfect in every other way but for her obsession with her weight. Kiera weighed exactly one hundred and three pounds, which many would consider to be underweight for a girl of her height and age. But she thought differently. During her lunch break, Kiera would normally eat one slice of turkey with a packet or two of mustard. That's all. In a seven hour day at school, she would eat little to nothing at all while everyone else indulged in their hearty meals. Drinking water was also bad, as she would state often to her friends. "Water is great for a healthy looking skin," she'd say, "but it's also bad for dieters because it has the potential to produce water weight." It was surprising to many that she could find something unhealthy in the healthiest of drinks. Kiera never ate more than twice a day but everyone else, according to her, was eating unhealthy. Kiera’s mother, Robin knew that she had issues with her weight and body, but she never thought it would be as severe as it had become. Her concerned mother wanted to schedule an intervention for the troubled teen, but she didn’t want to give the impression that her own mother thought she daughter was mentally ill. “We need a resolution.” Kiera’s mother Robin said to her husband. “She needs help or she will die. I refuse to lose my daughter to the self image she believed she needs to adhere to.” She continued. Robin pledged help. She scheduled an intervention for her daughter for Saturday night around eight. She had arranged for her mother Joan to be there along with her father Eric. She asked her brother Richard and sister Samantha to be there as well. Robin called on everyone she could think of to help her daughter. On Friday afternoon, she was forced to eat a bite of a turkey sandwich. Kiera didn’t want to eat but she didn’t have much of a choice. She looked noticeably faint in her Economics class so her friend Jake strong-armed her into going to the nurse’s office by picking her up and carrying her over his linebacker-like shoulders. The concerned friend even threatened to turn the emaciated Kiera over to the proper authorities if she didn’t cooperate with the nurses orders. He even waited outside the room missing the rest of class as she was being treated. Nurse Mills was stern and compassionate. Having been in the same situation herself when she was around Kiera’s age, she understood all too well the plight of the teen trying to fit into the stereotypical illusion of what a teenage girl should look like. Nurse Mills was especially sensitive to Kiera since she had a daughter who herself had a severe and debilitating eating disability. She took one look at Kiera and examined her thoroughly. She took her blood pressure, measured her heart rate and tested her reflexes. The nurse even gave her an eye and hearing test just to be on the safe side. Nurse Mills left no stone unturned with Kiera. She gave the teen a protein shake to drink and the aforementioned turkey sandwich that drove Kiera over the edge. “Before you go, Kiera” the nurse said, “I want you to eat this turkey sandwich with a thin slice of cheese and mayonnaise.” Kiera looked at the sandwich as if it was an unidentified flying saucer. “I ate a little something at lunch.” Kiera responded with fear in her eyes and her body trembling—possibly from malnutrition. “I am full, believe me.” She continued. “I am not hungry, honest.” “I know you are dear,” Nurse Mills replied. “But I will not permit you to leave my office, or the school grounds for that matter without eating this sandwich.” She declared with authority. Kiera, in a rush to get out of there, took a bite of the sandwich and swallowed gingerly. Her face looked as if she had been asked to swallow glass laced in battery acid. The bodily expression Kiera exhibited gave the impression that she had just been forced to swallow rat poisoning. “I cannot eat anymore.” Kiera begged. “Please just let me leave now.” She pleaded. “I can’t dear.” Nurse Mills replied as she stroked Kiera’s shoulder length strawberry blond hair. “I need to make sure you are taking care of yourself.” She said. “While you’re here in my office, I need you to eat at least two more adult-sized bites, Kiera.” Kiera looked up at the compassionate nurse with the same puppy eyes that worked on her father for so many years; but that wasn’t enough for Nurse Mills who put nothing before the health of her patient. “Just take two more bites and I’ll send you home for the rest of the day.” She said. Kiera opened her mouth and took the second and third bites of the sandwich. Though she was reluctant to eat just a little of the sandwich, she admitted that she felt full and much better to the nurse, though she turned down a forth bite. “I know you’ll think I’m lying,” she said “but I honestly do feel a whole lot better now. Can I still have the rest of the day off?” She asked with an innocent smile. “You most certainly can, but I must warn you,” Nurse Mills said sternly. “I will not sit idly by and allow you to slowly but surely kill yourself. Eating disorders are no joke. I will be watching you closely and if I have any indication that you are not doing right by your body and minding your health properly, I will take the next appropriate step.” She concluded. “Thank you for caring so much about me.” Kiera said as she slowly made her way to her feet. “I’ll see you on Monday.” With just hours remaining before the scheduled intervention with her parents and friends, Kiera rushed home. She ran so fast that she didn’t even say goodbye to her concerned friend who carried her to the nurse. As everyone would come to expect, she had a mental breakdown. Kiera had been forced to eat, which within itself made her feel not only physically ill, but violated in some way. The comfort she claimed to have felt was just a ploy to get out of the nurses office. Kiera tore through her front door, past her grandmother who was visiting for the weekend and the intervention on Saturday. She didn’t even say hello. Grandma was asleep on the sofa anyway, nodding off to one of those insipid talk shows about infidelity or racist rednecks. Kiera pushed open the door to the bathroom in her bedroom and immediately threw her face into the toilet bowl. But nothing came out. She was panicked that she had eaten so much foot that the fat would attach itself to her stomach and never break down and pass out of her. She was truly on the brink of destruction. Kiera grew more panicked by the minute. She dropped to her knees in front of the toilet bowl for nearly twenty minutes before she decided that she wasn’t going to wait anymore. When she got to her feet, she noticed that the new bathroom scale was behind the door. She kicked off her shoes, hurried over to the scale and stepped on. “Your weight is 122 pounds.” The scale read. Kiera panicked and started to scream. She screamed so loudly that her grandmother woke up and hurried up the stairs as fast as she could. “Kiera, honey, are you alright?” Her weary grandmother asked as she hurried up the stairs and banged on the bedroom door before rushing inside. With no answer on the other side, grandma rushed into the room and saw that her granddaughter was on the scale sobbing and downing mouthfuls of two different sets of diet pills and chocolate laxatives. “What the Hell are you doing, girl!” Grandma screamed. But Kiera didn’t stop. “I gained 19 pounds, God-Damnit!” That bitch made me eat a sandwich and I gained weight!” The disturbed girl shouted at her grandmother as she sobbed on the floor cradled in her grandmother’s arms. “Honey you are killing yourself. This is why I am here. I want to help you. You have not gained weight.” Grandma repeated as she cried along with her granddaughter and dialed 911 from Kiera’s cell phone. “You’re beautiful dear.” “911, what’s your emergency?” The operator asked. “My granddaughter just swallowed dozens of diet pills and laxatives.” She said frantic but calm. “Please send someone over quick. She’s going to die.” “Ok, is she awake, alert?” the operated asked. “Yes, she’s crying that she got fat because she ate a sandwich at school.” The grandmother responded. In the background, the operator could hear Kiera screaming. “I’m fat now! I am really fat! I might as well be dead!” She yelled. “Ok. The paramedics are on their way,” The operator said “but don’t hang up.” She continued. “This girl is so sick, operator. She is so sick and I am so scared.” The frantic but calm grandmother explained to the operator as she began to lose control of her composure. “She has an eating disorder, ma’am. She thinks she is fat all the time when she is in perfect shape. A healthy young girl” She continued. “I see this all the time, ma’am.” The operator said compassionately and understandingly. “It’s sad. I’m so scared for her. She rushed home frantically because she thought she gained weight due to eating a damn turkey sandwich at school. She claimed that she put on more than nineteen pounds.” Grandma said caressing her grandaughter. “That’s not possible, you know ma’am.” The operator said. “I know, operator,” grandma said with certainty. “She still has her backpack on.” End
Copyright © 2007 Jeffrey Lee Williams |