Sméagol's Redeption

Chapter 29

That Saturday, Sméagol and Lea went to the JamFam group together. They sat next to each other, across from Bri and Damian.

"Hey, guys," said Bri, "and welcome back to JamFam. I'm Bri, and I'm recovered from an eating disorder."

"Hi, Bri," everyone greeted.

"Hi," Bri replied back. "So, who has a song to share with the group?"

Nobody raised their hand.

"Nobody?" Bri looked around, and saw a lot of gloomy faces. "No one's in the mood to sing or play today?"

A few people shook their heads.

"Would you rather just talk instead?"

"Yeah," a few people agreed.

"Okay, we'll just talk then. So, how is everybody?" She looked out at the group, and saw one girl fighting tears. "Rachel? What's wrong, Honey?"

"I... I told my mom about my eating disorder," Rachel said sadly.

"What happened?"

"She said, 'Good, I'm glad you're finally doing something to lose weight.'"

"What?!" another girl shriekd, shocked.

"Did you tell her you were starving yourself? Asked Damian.

"Yeah. She said I ate like a pig anyway."

Bri's heart sank. "Are you serious?"

Rachel nodded.

"Oh, Honey." Bri rushed over to Rachel, and gave her a big hug. "I'm so sorry."

"I already know I'm fat," Rachel sobbed. "Why does she have to keep reminding me? And, now, she doesn't even care that I could die, and she's the one that did this to me. She's always comparing me to other girls, and saying how she wishes I could be as pretty and skinny as them. So, I starve myself to make her happy."

"Its own mother says that?" Sméagol inquired.

"Yes."

"I know how you feel," said Lea, "kinda. I mean... I don't have an eating disorder, but... I know how it feels to constantly be reminded of my weight, especially right now."

"What do you mean?" asked Rachel.

"My boyfriend always told me how fat I was, said I needed to lose weight, and stop eating so much... until he left me for someone who I thought was my friend. Then, he sent me the meanest text I've ever gotten, and then, she posted on her Facebook, saying that I stole him from her. Now, I'm getting one message after another from her friends, calling me fat and ugly and a slut, telling me to kill myself."

"What is wrong with people?" asked the other girl, Alyssa.

"People suck," Rachel mumbled.

"Tell me about it," Alyssa scoffed. "Today, I found out my girlfriend wasn't actually gay. She was just pretending."

"How did you find that out?" asked Damian.

"She wanted to make a sex tape. I said no, but she kept pushing. Then, I overheard her talking on the phone with her boyfriend. Turns out she wanted to make the sex tape to give her boyfriend a good lesbian fantasy."

"What the hell?!"

"Are you fucking kidding me?!" Lea shrieked.

"I wish," Alyssa sighed.

"That is beyond sick!"

"Man, what a bitch," Rachel said.

"Filthy little humanses," Gollum grumbled.

Everyone agreed.

"So, I came out to my best friend, the other day," said a young man, Austin, "told him I was gay. He said we couldn't be friends anymore, because he didn't feel safe around me anymore."

"What did it mean by that?" asked Sméagol.

"He was implying that I would try to rape him... just because I happen to be attracted to the same gender."

"That doesn't mean you're attracted to every guy you see," said Bri.

"Yeah," Alyssa agreed, "and even if you were, you wouldn't just go around, shoving your dick in every guy's asshole without their consent."

"No," said Austin, "because I have self-control. I'm not a fucking man whore, but apparently, my best friend who's known me since we were babies suddenly thinks I'm a dangerous rapist. I've never felt so disgusting and worthless."

Gollum's eyes filled with tears. Listening to everyone's stories and struggles broke his heart. "It's not worthless," he said sweetly. "It's precious. Everyone here is precious... and beautiful... and worth it. If someone can't accept you, they are not your friends, and they don't deserves you. You deserves much better. You all deserves friends, true friends that loves you and accepts you for you. You all deserves love, and we loves all of you very, very much."

Everyone looked at Gollum, and could see so much love radiating from within him. They all smiled warmly at him. He went around the room, and gave everyone a big, long, warm hug. His heart filled with pure joy when he saw the smiles on people's faces, knowing his love and kindness was the reason.

Aini was standing outside the door, watching and listening. Her eyes filled with tears of joy. "You did it, Gollum," she whispered. "You did it." Yes, Gollum had finally opened his heart, and learned to love. Aini couldn't be prouder of him.