Hi, My Name Is

Max

"Hi, my name is Max and I have an eating disorder." Max looked around the room at the other teens his age.

"Hello, Max." They said back to him. Max didn't want to be here but he knew that he need help.

"I have been going here for a few months now and I think it's time that I share my story." Max stopped for a second. He feared that the other kids in the room would make fun of him. After all, it was a thing that affected girls, not boys.

"It's okay, go on, Max." The head of the group, Robin, told Max in a hushed voice.

"Okay, so I think it started when I in seventh grade. I don't really remember why I started to do it, it just happened. I was doing some reading online one night when I came across this story about these girls who wouldn't eat anything and if they did, they would throw it all up. I don't know why but it got me thinking about my life and what I eat and what I looked like.

"Anyway, I decided that I had to change something about my life. So, I started to watch what I eat. It just started with me eating less but turned into skipping lunch, at first. But that didn't seem to change anything about me. I wanted to look different, I wanted a change in my life. I need a change but not everyone was for it. You know, skipping meals and all that. So, I knew that I had to make it look like I was eating, so I started to purge." Max closed his eyes, remembering the first night he had done it.

"Max, honey, you have to eat something." He looked up from his to his mom. Max had started to refuse to eat food or if he did, he would limit himself to some amounts. His parents were becoming a bit scared about his behavior.

"I'm just not hungry, mom. It's nothing." He shrugged, playing with his food that was on his plate which he planned on not eating.

"You don't have an opinion, son. I had noticed that you're skipping breakfast and barely eating anything at dinner." His dad said, eyes full of concern.

"Yes, sweetly. Please, would you try and eat something." Max shook his head and continues looking down at his food.

"You're not going to leave until you eat your dinner. Understand?" Max looked up to his dad. He didn't want to eat but he knew there was no way out of it.

"Fine, whatever." Max looked down at the meat and potato on his plate.

It's not much, Max thought to himself. It's going to be fine.

But right after dinner, Max had this bad feeling in his chest. For some reason, he knew that it was because of the food. He wanted it out of him and he only thought of one way. He went out of his room and into the bathroom. He was sure about what he was doing and figured it wouldn't be that hard. It took a few tries but, in the end, he had successfully done it.

"Max?" Robin asked, bring Max out of his memory.

"Uh, yeah, sorry." Max rubbed his hands on his jeans. "Well, I didn't realize that I had a problem for a long time. I was keeping it a secret and didn't tell anyone. I keep thinking it wasn't a problem and stuff. If I was telling the truth, I would say it was because this is mostly thought of to be a girl thing." Max looked up at each of the girls in the circle.

"Anyway, my parents found out about a year or two later. I think they were surprised that I was doing it and all that. But they wanted to help me. They told me that they did a while bunch of research about this and they thought that it would be better for me to go to support groups, like this. I want to this one for a few weeks and I did better about eating but as soon as I stop going I relapse. I binged and then purged again. I did this for about another week before they found out again but this time they made me get real help. I was in a hospital for a few days and I had to take some classes. I got better again.

"But that only lasted the summer. When school started, I started again. But I only did it at school. I felt like I would get away with it. But as you all know, my best friend found out and brought me here about a year ago. And I'm proud to say that it has been over six months since the last time I purged. I haven't skipped meals in weeks. I think I'm starting to get better but somehow I feel like I'm just going to fall back into it again.

"But with all you here I think that I will be able to make it through this and I may never relapse again. That what I hope, though." Max smile at the end. He felt good that he told them he whole the story and that things were going to be easier for him.

"Thank you so much for sharing your story, Max. Everyone say thank you to Max." Everyone said something to Max. He felt in powered by everyone. He knew that he was going to get through this and that someone was always going to be there for him.

A\N Hey everyone good you liked the story. But wanted to say that your not alone that there is always someone there for to help.