Together

Serious

And the sadness continues.... no new warnings on this one, but just please proceed with caution if you're sensitive to the topic of unhealthy methods of weight loss. Let's find out what Patrick has to say now, hm? Comment/vote if you wish x
-ab

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October 26, 2025

Harper

"Love, I'm coming in," I hear.

No, I think to myself. No, no no. Please no.

In spite of my thoughts, the door creaks open and Patrick walks into the room. "Love, we need to have a talk. Don't turn away from me. This is serious, okay?"

I simply sigh in response, then, notice what he's holding in his hand. The tea.

I instantly panic.

"Where did you get this, and have you been drinking it?"

How does he know about the tea? I hid it so well in the back of the cupboard, underneath boxes of tea bags that I've not touched in years.

"What is that?" I fib.

"Don't lie to me, Harper Kennedy. Did you drink this tea?"

"Yes," I admit quietly, with tears brimming my eyes. "I'm sorry."

"Do you know how bad it is for you, love?"

"Yes," I whisper again, biting my lip with guilt. "But I just... I wanted to lose some weight, and that's the fastest way."

"Harper, sweetie..." He stops talking and buries his head in his hands. I know that I've let him down. Knowing that feels like a stab in the gut.

And the fact that the cramps are starting to kick in from the tea isn't helping, either.

"Oh god," I whisper.

"What is it, sweetie?"

"It hurts," I whine.

"You knew that was coming, love."

"Well, yes," I admit, "but that doesn't make it any more pleasant."

"Alright, you're going to start needing the toilet soon, so... do you want to just go in there? We need to have a talk about this, though."

"So, you wish to have a talk while I'm on the toilet?" I raise an eyebrow.

"According to Taylor, you'll be spending a lot of time there tonight. Unless you have any other suggestions, then yes. Also, you need to call off of rehearsal for tomorrow. I'm not going to negotiate with you on this. You clearly won't be sleeping tonight."

"Fine," I concede, too exhausted, not to mention intimidated, to argue. I've not gotten a decent sleep since Thursday night. It's Sunday.

The two of us head to the bathroom, and since I don't need the toilet yet, I just sit on it, closing the lid. Patrick sits on the edge of the bathtub.

"What is it that caused you to use that tea, Harper?" he asks. "I need you to tell me. Please."

I take a deep breath. "It's because I'm fat."

"Oh my god, love, no you're not," he tells me, grabbing my hand. "Whatever has made you think that?"

"I was in my costume fitting the other day, and they said that they're having to make me new costumes because I was 'bigger than any of our other Anyas.'"

"Sweetie, that doesn't mean that you're fat," he tells me. "They're using the word 'big' in terms of height. You're taller than the average female, and the girls who usually play that part are average, at most. They don't want you to have skirts that are too short, love."

"But that's not what they said," I protest. "Do you honestly think I'm fat?"

"No, love. You're so skinny," he tells me, rubbing circles on the back of my hand with his thumb. "Tell me honestly. How long have you had body image issues like this?"

I take a deep breath, trying to force myself to admit what I've been so scared to, for years. "Ever since I was a teenager. I guess that hearing that comment just set it off because I've had these fears in my mind for so long."

He nods. "That makes sense. It also explains why you haven't been eating for the past few days, so I'm going to go make you some proper food, okay? Promise me that you'll eat it?"

"Do I have to?"

"Harper..."

"I guess," I tell him.

"Thank you, love." He leaves, and as I sit there, waiting for him to come back, the cramps just seem to worsen. I grab my stomach and hunch my back, but that doesn't relieve the pain.

Then, I feel the need to use the toilet. I slam the door to the bathroom shut and open the lid.

As I'm sitting there, Patrick knocks on the door. "Is everything okay in there, love?"

"No," I groan.

"Is there anything that I can do for you?"

"These side effects just hit me like a ton of bricks."

"I'm sure there are some that are still on their way, too. Do you think that you should eat, still?"

"Honestly, I feel like I'm going to throw up."

"Alright... let's wait to get some food in you then. I'm going to google what we can expect from this."

I picture him pulling his phone out of his pocket and typing into his search engine. Then, I hear a groan from outside.

"Alright, we've already hit the diarrhea and abdominal cramps, right?"

"Yeah," I groan.

"Great," he says sarcastically. "Okay, moving on... nausea?"

"For sure."

"Alright, that seems like it's going to lead to actually throwing up, so do you have a rubbish bin nearby?"

"Yeah," I reply, resting my elbows on my knees and placing my chin in my hands. I don't know how much longer I can handle this, and I'm barely into it yet.

"Oh dear..." I hear him say, next.

"What?"

"It can lower your blood sugar, and it seems like pretty drastically. Harper, you've not eaten anything for days."

"Oh god," I whisper to myself. "Okay... um, I could try to eat something now."

"That might be for the best. Even if you just throw it up, then we will know at least. I'm going to go find you some toast or something. And water. You've got to drink a lot of water. That might help get the tea out of your system, and you could get dehydrated from the tea, since your losing fluids in your body."

"Alright," I reply, weakly. At that, I let out another groan from another stomach cramp. I realize that I'm feeling weaker than I did a few minutes ago, and know that that is the blood sugar issue starting to kick in.

I'm absolutely terrified.