Skinny Love: A Johnlock Fanfiction

Chapter Eight

"Lost and insecure. You found me, you found me lying on the floor. Where were you, where were you? Just a little late." ~'You Found Me' by The Fray

Sherlock

"And... and then I saw myself in the mirror," Alexis whimpered, her face splotchy and tear-streaked.

"And then what happened?" Dan gently prodded while he scribbled on his clipboard.

"I saw my legs. My thighs were touching!" Alexis erupted into pitiful sobs. The girl beside her began rubbing her back understandably.

Sherlock was considering jumping out the window. A few broken limbs would be preferable to enduring another minute of this. He had never been more uncomfortable in his entire life.

"I don't belong here," He mumbled under his breath as people continued to coo over the weeping girl.

"Neither do I," a soft voice whispered. He turned with surprise at the shy girl beside him. Her name was Edith, if he remembered correctly. She had hardly spoken a word since introductions.

"Why not?" Sherlock asked.

She shrugged. "I don't care how I look. Numbers on a scale don't bother me."

Sherlock would have just snorted and brushed her off, but she seemed to be honest. She wasn't hiding underneath long jeans and baggy clothes like the others. She wore a soft pink sundress that revealed her bony shoulders. Her brown hair was cropped in a boyish cut, the choppy bangs swept above dark eyes. She looked uncomfortable mentally, but not physically.

"Then why are you here?"

"Anorexia," she responded immediately, as if she'd answered the question countless times before.

"I know the diagnosis," Sherlock said. "I would like to know why you believe you should be here."

"I have no idea," Edith said, a sad smile tugging at her lips. "But none of us really know, huh?" She gestured to the small group conversing around the table. They were now discussing the varying hip sizes of women.

"But that's mad!" Sherlock protested, "How can you not know the reason you're like this?"

Edith looked at him with curious hazel eyes. "Do you know why you're anorexic?"

"Of course I do!" Sherlock attested, "It's..." For one of the first times in his life, he was at a loss for words. Why was he like this? It's not like he chose to be an underweight basketcase. Nothing could be further from the truth. Was this a cruel genetic disformity passed down from his parents? Was John and Dan conspiring against him? Was this even real?

"Sherlock, is there something you'd like to say to the whole group?" Dan asked, snapping Sherlock back into awful reality. The room had fallen silent, and every eye was fixed upon him.

He gave Edith a sideways glance before standing up defiantly. The chair squeaked on the linoleum floor as he towered over the group. "Yes, in fact, there is," He said, his pulse quickening as words spilled from his mouth. "Why do you care so much about your stupid appearance? None of it matters! To be honest, all of your shallow anxieties make you look like stick figures!"

All the air was seemingly sucked from the room. Every eye was wide open, looking up at Sherlock in dismay. Then Alexis began to cry again, and all hell broke loose.

"WHY DON'T YOU SHOVE IT UP YOUR ASS, PRETTY BOY!" Mia yelled, her black fingernails clawing in his direction. The other girls joined in, wailing like banshees about sexism and prejudice. Sherlock narrowly avoided a shoe thrown at his head.