The Clock Strucks Danger

The price of beauty

"Mom doesn't know I ordered this off the telly!" Jenna ushered her friend, Celia into her room and swiftly closed the door.

"Don't tell me you bought yourself another one of those stupid air pumped couches because you know they are lousy!" sniffed Celia. Jenna shushed her and retrieved the orange box from the vortex of her messy closet.

"What's this?" Celia snatched the box away from her grasp and gasped as she read. "No, no, no! You can't be serious. What on earth is this madness, Jen?"

"Those doughnuts and jam rolls haven't made me size zero, you know." Jenna flopped on the bed and pulled her top up. She pointed towards it. "You see that, bud?"

Celia shook her head unbelievably and sat down beside her friend. "You are just curvy, sweetie" she kept a comforting hand on her shoulders.

They both fell silent for few seconds. Finally, Celia broke the silence.

"What are the ingredients?" she turned the box in her hands and peered at the small letters printed on it. "Alright, sounds pretty safe herbal stuff to me. What is bitter orange, though? Never heard of Aconite either."

"I don't know" Jenna shrugged, "should it even matter if it gets the job done."

"So, its guaranteed to make you slim?" Celia was skeptical but Jenna had the glow of assurance in her face so she didn't question any further
.

The two girls stayed lying on bed for a couple more hours watching their go-to comedy sitcom sipping chilled water to burn calories. Soon, it was dinner time and Celia had to leave. She warily got up from the bouncy bed, not wanting to leave the warmth of Jenna's plush covers.

"Gotta leave,bud" she high five-d her friend, "see you later! Text me how it works."

"Will do" Jenna said.

Soon after Celia left, Jenna prepared her own dinner as her mother was out for her nurse night shift and her old pig of a father was good for nothing. She heated a cup of ready-made bland noodles and poured a generous amount of sauce for taste. Not the healthiest choice of meal but she had to make do with this for tonight. She wolfed down the noodles realizing how hungry sipping chilled water made her. She threw away the plastic cup and sauntered back into her bedroom and swiftly locked it behind her. She retrieved that orange box, happiness gleaming in her eyes. She took out the small bottle of pills and without caring to read the instructions,she popped two into her mouth and swallowed them with gulps of water.

She walked up to her mirror and puller her top up while massaging the stubborn muffin top. She looked at her reflection with glassy eyes.

"Soon" she whispered and turned back to bed.

The next morning, she woke up groggily. Not exactly feeling upbeat, she trudged into her bathroom and washed her face. She noticed that she had beads of sweat pouring down her face into little salty streams. This was unusual for her as she wasn't a profuse sweater. Nevertheless, she got dressed up and walked downstairs.

The sound of melodious humming wafted in from the kitchen and she knew her mother was home.

"Hi mom. How was work?" she asked as she slipped into the dining booth. Her mother was slathering a generous amount of  butter on toasts.

"A relatively peaceful night at the ICU ward,dear" her mother chimed in reply and placed two fresh toasts in front of her in an orange plate. Jenna picked up one and nibbled on it. Her mother settled down in front of her with a cup of steaming coffee and the two made idle chit chat about work, college and the neighbours.

Jenna noticed she didn't have much of a appetite which was more than a little surprising to her as she hardly ate anything for dinner. She munched the bread and although, it was hot and buttery she felt as if it were a piece of cardboard.