The Boys

i swear this time i mean it

I text Amber the next day I wasn't going to be in school and then turned my phone off for the day. Helena did not need to be told that I was having the day off. I spent the day in bed, lying lifelessly under my duvet. She didn't come into my room until 1PM and that was to give me a sandwich to eat. I'm getting weighed in at the doctors tomorrow and I'm still 2 pounds under. This is my second chance and I've blown it up. They have to understand that I've just lost my mother and not eating is a natural response. I will throw a fit if they try to section me.

Zack comes to hug me again when he gets home from school. He gives me the work I missed and then hugs me for half an hour. I skip dinner. I don't even leave my bedroom. I'm too sad to move. 

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I have to get up the next day for the doctors. I don't argue or put up a fuss. I shower quietly and change into some heavy clothing. A few coins in my pockets so I'd be heavier. I eat an apple and drink some water before Robert takes me. I didn't feel real. With all those people talking to me. I couldn't focus on anything. I kept my mind blank. 

I complied with what the doctor wanted me to do. Shoes off, jacket off. Step onto the scale. Wait for the numbers to show up.

091.00 lbs

"You're still underweight, Eve. 2 pounds off of your goal. You're BMI is only 14, honey. Severely underweight, still. I thought you said you had this." The doctor spoke. I shrugged. 

"She has gone through some stressful things these past few days." Robert defended me. 

"That is still no excuse to not eat." The nurse told me off. 

"Her mum died the other day! I'm pretty sure it is normal to miss a few meals to mourn instead." Robert snarled at her. Of course, she didn't know this. No one would expect her to. She was very baffled when she heard this. I tried my best to not cry again. I need to grow up a little. 

"My condolences, Eve. I'm very sorry to hear that. But if you can't gain 10 pounds in two weeks, there is a problem. It should have been easy if you were eating normally. You've gained 11 pounds in 4 weeks. Some people would gain 25 by this time. It isn't good." She was making me angry. 

"Look, miss. I am mentally a little unstable right now. As Robert just said, I have lost my mother. Apart from that and the abuse I went through the past year, I am okay. I don't want to go slicing my wrists open or jumping off bridges. I don't hear voices and I sleep. I am doing well in school and have made friends. I can function adequately. I have always been a pretty skinny person. I've got a fast metabolism. I can't help that. Robert and everyone at home can vouch for me when I say that I have been eating. I have been eating a lot. I just can't gain weight that well. I'm sorry. But I am eating. I'm eating as much as I can like a normal person. I don't even do PE at school because of the whole weight thing. But I promise you, I'll gain the weight. It just takes time for some people. I apologise for the inconvenience of my parent's death." I lectured the doctor, sick to the stomach of her thinking she knows what is best for me. She doesn't know anything and she needs to know it. Robert sits next to me, impressed.

"I..." She couldn't come up with any words. Clearly I have got her. She will be thinking twice now before she says anything. "You have another week, Eve. You may not think you are a danger to yourself but in a doctor's point of view, you are. Gain 3 pounds in a week. I know you can do this. Or else I will have to section you, fast metabolism or not. You could pass out while doing DT or something and get very hurt. This is serious. I don't know how your body is still functioning." The doctor knew I was right and she couldn't admit it.