blurry nights

march 10, 2004

POV: Abby

abby watches alex's best friend ryan give brianna a piggyback ride and runs ahead to the lunch line. crap is this a thing now? is someone going to try to pick me up? oh no... "hey jenny i'll catch up in a minute - gotta go to the bathroom real fast, okay?" jenny glances to abby for a second to nod then runs ahead to catch a ride on mikey's back. abby jogs to the girls bathroom in the gym to sit in the corner of the handicapped stall. abby slides her backpack over her shoulder and into her lap to get her third water bottle for the day out.

"just make it till dinner and you can have your salad for the day abby," she whispers to herself and cracks the bottle open to chug it down. she finishes the bottle and finds her friends at a table again. "hey!" jenny bounces up and pulls abby close to her to whisper about ryan. the girls giggle and whisper as the boys have races with girls on their backs across the quad.

"abbs! come here babe!" alex calls her over. abby smiles and gives him a peck on the cheek, "what?" alex begs her to be his piggyback partner until she feels too many eyes on her, "okay, okay fine!" alex pulls her onto his back and it sends her spinning, "hold on alex, i don't feel so good." alex chuckles, "you're not getting out of this now abbs!" abby grips tighter and alex lines up with ryan with brianna on his back, "3... 2... 1... go!"

-----

beep beep beep beep, abby opens her eyes to find the source of the horribly annoying noise btu looks up to find a woman in white with a stethoscope around her neck. confused, abby tries to sit up but her arms feel like they're about to break. i wasn't that achy yesterday... where am i?

"hey, where am i?" abby asks the woman she thought to be a doctor. the woman smiles, "you're in the hospital. i'm doctor ramsey. your parents are outside and you're safe in here, but before i let you see them, i'm going to explain why you're here and how were trying to help you, okay?" dr. ramsey waits for a reply so abby quickly nods.

"well, you fainted at school today and no one could wake you so you were on the way to the emergency room, but they realized you were unconscious and going into cardiac arrest. you did have a small heart attack but you were a fighter i'll tell you that. now, i believe you are have anorexia nervosa - but don't worry there's a lot we can and are doing to help with this little situation. your parents have made appointments for the hospital's most recommended nutritional counselor and a health based therapist. they will help you get back on a healthy lifestyle and if losing weight is your main goal i'm sure they can help you find different solutions beside starving yourself. we're going to keep you here for a couple days to make sure your heart stays strong, but until then we're going to have you on a heart failure medication and keep you on a steady nutritional diet. any questions?"

abby shakes her head. the nurse nods and jots a few things down on her clipboard. she leaves the room leaving abby with her poisonous thoughts.