This Is War

Warning

Rachel was heartbroken. Rebekah was her baby sister, and the most important person in her life. The thought of Rebekah damaging herself, and the possibility that she could have died, just ripped her heart a little more every time she thought about it. After sitting at home for a few hours wondering how she should approach Rebekah, she got an idea.

She was honestly surprised at how much material the library had about anorexia. She expected a few books, but the stacks on the table in front of her both excited her and scared her. With all this, there had to be a way to help Rebekah. But there was no way it was all good news.

****

"Nate." Rachel said as he opened his front door.

"Rachel." He smiled. "What's up?"

"I need to talk to you. I've already talked to Jack. Come on." She walked past him and laid her overfilled backpack on his coffee table.

"What's going on?"

"I want to talk to you about Rebekah."

"I'm fucking pissed. How could she do that?" He sat on the floor beside her, curious of what was in the bag.

"Don't be. It's not something she can control."

"What do you mean she can't control it? It's not that hard to just fucking eat."

"Nate. I don't think you understand. It's much more than that. Look-" she pulled the books out of the bag as she continued talking. "I went to the library. All the books say the same thing. It's a mental disorder. It's all in her mind."

He seemed less angry and more concerned. "What do you mean?"

"No matter how skinny she gets, she will always look in the mirror and see fat. She sees failure. And when she sees food, it doesn't register in her brain the same way it does ours. Food means failure."

"So how do we help make her better?"

"It's not that easy. There's no cure, Nate. It's not like the flu or something. Chances are, it's something she will struggle with for most of, if not all of her life."

Nate picked up a book and started flipping through it.

"And even if she does start eating normally for a while, she's gonna relapse after some time. Anything can trigger her. Reading calories, looking in the mirror, seeing a skinny person even. It's scary."

"So what do we do?"

"We support her. Help her eat right, and most of all just be there for her."