Nicknames (SkepHalo)

Chapter three

Time passed slowly, Zak smiling as he clicked off of discord his eyes heavy wanting to sleep but knew it was far too early. Forcing himself up, his eyes catching the mirror as he walked towards his bedroom door seeing the slender outline of his body. His lips curved into a smile, trying to look real but portrayed nothing but a broken record as he looked at himself. A once snug-fitting hoodie now hung loosely, timidly the teen reaching for the hem of the fabric gently pulling it up to his skin as if it was burning.

There was nothing, his excuses leading him to where he was. I'm fine, but inside he pleaded for help, for someone to take notice. I've eaten enough, petty excuses that lead to this. Pound by pound it faded away. Looking at himself he felt ugly, there was still too much, far too much. This had been lasting for far too long, days that soon fell into months. It all started with only one pound that soon pushed to two, and with two it fell to three and it continued ever so painfully still not pleased as the number now decreased by four, it had become addicting watching the numbers on the scale get smaller and smaller.

Using his spare hand Zak gently traced over his stomach feeling a now small dip as his fingers ran along his ribs, the smile he wore was bitter but pleased knowing when he sat, there would never be a roll of skin that overlap, there not being one to even begin with. Gently pinching at the small of his stomach only a small bit of skin between his fingers that was mistaken for fat. He told himself he didn't have a problem, it didn't matter.

--

"Fuck" Darryl cursed, feeling defeated with the footage of his latest video. There was something off-putting as he edited the footage, the sound of Zak's voice irritating him as it sounded so off? The tone, there was something missing it was killing the man as he listened to the footage. Maybe he was going insane.

The way he talked, no screaming nor fighting with him even when he called him bald for a little revenge, he was greeted with nothing but a soft laugh. Paranoia filled the man as he ran a hand through his hair feeling like something was just not right, his gut instinct screaming at him like something deep inside just knew.

"Maybe I'll go visit him" it wasn't a long travel, the teen living only a forty-minute car ride away and with traffic, at this hour it would be easy gliding the highways usually clear around this time of day, the afternoon rush hour had already passed. Pulling up his discord, clicking on Zak's icon as the conversation header pulled up clicking the hot bar as he began typing.

"Hey Skeppy, I was wondering if I could drop by, I still haven't given you your house warming gift!" <sent by badboyhalo

Suddenly the little red notice turned green as Zak came online, Darryl waiting for the teen's response seeing the "user is typing" constantly go on and off, Zak not knowing what to type just adding to the pit in the man's stomach.

"UHHH sure? When are you thinking of dropping by?" <sent by Skeppy

There wasn't even a second before he typed up his response, "In 45mins" <Sent by badboyhalo

And with that he clicked away, pushing himself up before grabbing his jacket off the hook leaving the door to his recording room keys in hand.

--

Zak starred at the message, 'in forty five minutes?' he thought, wondering why suddenly Darryl wanted to come over, 'a house warming gift?' it had been three months since he'd seen the man face to face, three months since he'd moved in, three months since his thoughts took over.

Zak felt powerless, his hands shaking as he realized Darryl would be coming inside, he would see him. See this. Chuckling, he'd fucked up bad this time, but it feels so good. Maybe the man wouldn't notice, be oblivious to the pain, besides no one ever notices when it's a boy losing weight. You never notice what people see when they're looking at you, you aren't them. Can you hear their thoughts? Zak had become focused on every aspect of his body down to the way he walked when he looked in the mirror and he saw someone else. Someone so far from perfection.

Walking into the kitchen, rubbing his eyes feeling a wave of tiredness wash over him as he reached for the fridge handle pulling open the door to be greeted with the empty coldness. Nothing in more than a few ingredients in the icebox, knowing he could probably mistake for a poor college kid with the way it looked.

Looking at the bottle of orange juice, lifting up the carton to read the calorie content frowning as he read the sugar content before placing the bottle back in the fridge, maybe for dinner he thought before settling for a glass of water with a few slices of cucumber and lemon.

Zak shivered as the glass touched his lips, feeling the coldness sink into him. The teen felt the hairs on his body stand as a coldness filled him, wondering how long it would last this time, his heating bill having steadily been getting more costly as he couldn't handle the cold anymore wishing to be warm but never being able to find the right temperature the closest he got was the burn from the cold.

Snapping away from his thoughts as a steady knock sounded from the main entrance, Zak placing his glass down looking at himself only praying his hoodie would be baggy enough for Darryl not to realize, or maybe he would confirm the thoughts that screamed in his face.

Walking towards the door, his hand trembling as it reached for the handle taking a breath before opening the door to be greeted by a smiling fool.