I thought of my family, what they would do if I was dead. I cringed at the idea. Laria looked at me with sympathetic eyes, "What about your friends? They would be distraught." She added.
A gathering took place in the school hall, our principal stood up to the podium and instructed everyone to stand. He took a moment to wipe his eyes and adjust his suit. "I'm sure most of you have heard but for those who haven't I have some dreadful news. Jessa turned to the side, where my seat would be and whimpered, grabbing hold of another good friend of mine's hand and pointing at my seat. "Avia Blake has had a hard difficult battle with a horrible condition and has unfortunately passed." Everyone in the year group exchanged glances and a tear could be found in the eye of every student. Jessa fell back into her chair and sobbed uncontrollably. I could see a teacher come to escort her out as the principal finished his speech "We will hold a memorial, to remember one of the most gifted students ever to attend Cloverfield high school."
The image changed and I felt uneasy.
A hooded person stood outside Cloverfield high school, seemingly in the middle of the night. Flowers decorated the gates, it was almost pretty. My face was on more than a dozen cards scattered amongst them. The person looked up, half their face shone on by a streetlight. Jessa.
She placed down a bouquet of flowers, stared for a moment then turned to walk away. Without any consideration for her own safety, she walked out into the road. She froze as a cars headlights beamed on her body. The driver was too late, and Jessa was hit.
My body physically burned, as I watched the scene a few moments longer.
The ambulance arrived, people came to view the commotion from their homes in the street opposite and, the paramedics saying "dead on site" down plastic walkie-talkies.
It was like a knife to my heart. Dead on site, echoed through my brain as I watched a white sheet be pulled over, my best friends face.
Laria sat silently watching me as she had before. A new sense of hope to change had risen within me, a sense that I had to change.
"Without recovery, you can never achieve the great things you are destined to do"
All at once I saw two beautiful children running to an older version of myself laughing, calling "mom" as i opened my arms. I saw myself in a hospital, with uniform on, attending to people who were sick. I saw myself doing everything I wanted to do and sat for a moment and smiled.
Laria brought me out of my dreamland as she stood. "I wish I had recovered, Avia. Make good choices." She smiled and walked to the ledge before closing her eyes and falling completely forward. A scream caught in my throat and I scrambled to the edge, there was no one falling nor fallen. Instead a white shimmer rose and disappeared right in front of me. For the first time in a very long time, i was fueled with hope and faith and vowed to forever thank the Angel that had tried to save me.
YOU ARE READING
The Girl Who Stopped Eating | Wattys 2016
Teen Fiction*Short story about the real affects of Anorexia Nervosa* -triggering- Story follows Avia Blake through a battle with Anorexia Nervosa. She finds herself stuck in the never-loosening grip of an eating disorder and struggles to break free
