Eat Me

Chapter 20: Deadly Sweet

Deadly Sweet

"It's all my fault," Elena said, her voice hollow, delicate, and breakable. She was wearing Damon's sweatshirt that he had in his car, but she was still cold. After Katherine had fainted and as a result fallen down the stairs, they had rushed her towards Mystic Falls hospital and now the only thing that they could do was wait.

Amara was outside talking to Silas, Jenna and Alaric were whispering with each other near the coffee station (Elena was glad that he hadn't brought his lady friend) and Elijah, Stefan, and Rebekah were sitting in a opposite couch across from them. Elijah kept rummaging his hands through his hair.

Damon wrapped an arm over her shoulder and forced her to look at him. "Elena, listen to me, it's not your fault. You didn't tell Katherine to starve herself, it's not your fault, you shouldn't blame yourself everyone chooses what to do with their life you're not responsible for everything."

Elena bit her lip as she trembled, the tears were threatening to spill. "But I knew Damon, not officially, but I saw that she was eating less and less . . . that she was wasting away. I tried to talk to her, but she just pushed me away, I should have tried harder - "

"Elena, it wasn't your fault," Damon said as he rubbed away the tear with his thumb. "It wasn't anyone's fault, please don't blame yourself."

Elena buried her face in his chest. "Oh, Damon when did life get so complicated?"

Damon kissed the top of her head as he rubbed her back. "It's going to be ok, Elena I promise."

"But what if it doesn't?"

"It will."

"Parents and relatives of Miss Katherine Pierce?"

Everyone bounced out of the chairs as they went to meet the elderly female doctor that was waiting for them. She was tall with light blue eyes and her white hair cut into a bob. "Good evening, I'm Dr. Williams."

"What is wrong with my daughter, doctor?" Jenna demanded as she cleared her throat. "Did she break anything?"

Dr. William shook her head. "She got lucky, only a sprain wrist." Her face darkened. "But it's not the sprain I'm worried about." She looked around the group of teenagers. "Perhaps we can talk in private?"

Alaric was just about to agree, when Amara spoke up. "No," she said sharply as she gave Alaric a pointed gaze, apparently she had also seen Alaric's date. "Katherine is our sister, Elijah is her boyfriend, and everyone else is her friend, so I think we have a right to know."

Alaric sighed. "Go ahead."

"We ran some tests for your daughter and it wasn't pretty, I'm afraid. It seems your daughter is suffering from anorexia and perhaps even traces of bulimia. From what I can tell she's severely malnourish and suffering from malnutrition, if she gets any worse her organs will eventually begin to shut down. I'm surprise she lasted this long without incident. Did you know about any of this?"

"No," Jenna looked startled. "Of course not, we would never-"

"I did." Elena spoke up.

"So did I." Amara said.

"And me." Rebekah flushed.

"And me." Elijah repeated as he put his hands in his pockets. "I thought she was just losing weight, but apparently that was pretty stupid of me, I should have seen it sooner."

"You should have told someone."

"We thought we could help her," Amara squeaked. "On our own."

Dr. Williams shook her head. "This requires professional help, girls." She sighed. "If she doesn't stop it could get a lot worse."

Katherine woke up feeling both numb and confused, her brown eyes fluttered opened, but it took her a while to get used to the light. She was in a room, in a very bright room. She let out a deep breath, as if it were hard to breath.

"Kat? Katherine, sweetie."

She let out a small gasp as she looked around the room, her vision finally becoming clear. Her family was staring back at her both her parents looked tired, Amara's hair was frizzy and unkempt and Elena was wearing Damon's sweatshirt.

Jenna squeezed her hand. "Do you remember what happened?"

"It was the day of the pageant," Katherine croaked. "Elijah and I were about to go down the stairs and I fell down." She narrowed her eyes at her father. "And I also saw you with that little tramp, is that the reason you divorced mom?"

"Katherine!" Alaric snapped, his face growing red. "Lisa and I are grown adults and we have every right to keep each other company."

"How?" Katherine replied growing furious, she tried to cross her arms over her chest, but her IV was preventing her from crossing her arms over her chest. "By groping each other in front of the entire town."

"That's enough," Jenna said quietly. "Katherine, we're are not dealing with your father right now we are dealing with you, you do realize that we're at the hospital."

Katherine's smile faltered. Crap. "I probably ate something bad-"

Amara cleared her throat. "Katherine, they know." Elena lowered her eyes guiltily.

Jenna rubbed her temple. "Katherine, why would your starve yourself?"

Katherine didn't answer and was instead staring at her fingernails.

"Damn it, young lady your mother ask you a question!" Alaric snapped.

"Dad," Elena snapped. "Cut it out."

Amara frowned and for some strange reason the pieces all seemed to click together. She remembered that before she had left for boarding school, Katherine had told her that she was going to try out and hopefully get a place at Sylvia's Modeling Agency. "This is about you dream . . . the career that you want...you want to be a model. That's why you stopped eating."

Katherine sighed as she laid back down the hospital gown that they had forced her to wear was making her itchy. "Yes, ok, I didn't tell anyone, but I got an appointment. They liked my face, but they said that I needed to work on my body. I don't expect you guys to understand, but it's my life. Modeling is my dream is what I always wanted to do, so yes I'm willing to make a few sacrifices-"

"Katherine, you're killing yourself!" Elena emphasize. "Is that all worth it, just to prove to a small group of people that you are beautiful by their standards?"

"Yes, it's worth it, Elena. "Katherine said, her voice growing thick. "I'm not like you and Amara, I'm not good at school, and I'm not good at anything. For me, modeling has been my dream, my thing, the only way that I can express my love for fashion. The only way that I can stand out. The only way that I can be special."

Amara gulped. "We think you're special, Kat."

"Yeah, who cares what everyone else thinks." Elena piped in.

"Look, Kat dream or not we're not going to let you continue starving yourself." Alaric said firmly. "I don't care if I have to tie you up and force fed you myself."

"I would like to see you try," Katherine snapped back. "The minute that my back is turned you'll go back to Miss America."

Alaric's jaw tightened, but Jenna put a hand on his arm. "You're tired, we should let you rest. We'll talk about this in the morning."

"Wait," Katherine spoke up. "Can Amara and Elena stay . . . that is if they want too?"

Amara and Elena nodded. "Sure," Elena said. "We would love too."

"It will be like one big sleepover," Amara forced a laugh. "In the hospital."

Katherine felt herself laughing as she bit her lip. "Thanks, guys."