Just... Thank You

Part 5

(A/N: I'm losing a bit of motivation to write and I'm not sure where I want the story to go, so whoever is reading this, if you have ideas, please help me.)

Levi's POV

--------------------

It's been five minutes and I'm starting to get worried. I was worried when I had to keep telling him to eat. As well as that weird jump he did earlier before dinner. Something must be going on. I better go check on him. I get up and walk over to the bathroom. As I approach the bathroom I hear a gagging noise, then the sound of Eren vomiting. He is forcing himself to throw up. I was right! He does have an eating disorder! "Eren please come out as soon as you are done. I want to talk to you."

I walk back to the table, waiting. Another three minutes later Eren comes out. "I know you were forcing yourself to vomit in there. Why?"

Eren takes a moment to write in his journal.

'I wasn't vomiting.'

If only he would stop lying. It would make my life so much easier. "I heard you. I know you were. Please don't lie to me." His eyes went wide.

He obviously didn't want me to know, but I need to press him if I'm going to help at all. I look down and see Eren has stopped writing. He is shaking and crying. "Eren. I didn't mean to make you cry, but if I'm going to help you, I need to know this." Eren starts to write with a shaking hand and I feel more hopeful now that he is writing.

'I don't need help.'

That simple sentence crushed me. How am I going to help him when he doesn't want to help himself? "Eren. You do need help. I know that you are selectively mute, have depression, have self-harming tendencies, and you must have an eating disorder along with body dysmorphia." I say, "You need help. I'm going to have a counseling session like this every night like I said earlier, and during these you need to promise me that you will tell the truth."

Eren just nods. "Write it in your journal please."

He hesitates, then writes:

'I promise.'

Eren's POV

--------------------

I can't promise that Mr. Ackerman. I don't want to. Mr. Ackerman puts his hands around me, telling me that we will work through this together. I'm ashamed that he caught me. Ana keeps talking over Mr. Ackerman so I can't hear him. "Why are you still alive fatty? You should have come up with a better excuse for being in the bathroom. I just stare at Ana, silently telling her to shut up.

"Eren. EREN," Mr. Ackerman jolts my gaze from Ana, "Are you listening? Write down what you just were thinking about."

No, no, no, no, no. I don't want to do it, but I just promised that I would be honest. I can't lie. He has me stuck.

'I have an imaginary friend named Ana. She was talking over you.'

Mr. Ackerman raises one eyebrow, "What was she saying?" He says.

My eyes glanced over to where Ana was standing. "Don't tell him. You need to punish yourself for what you just told him later anyway."

'I can't tell you.'

"Can't or won't? They are different, you know." Shit. He got me.

'Both.'

"And why can't you tell me?"

'Ana won't let me.'

"What happens if you disobey her?" This conversation is not going where I want it to.

'She punishes me.'

Levi's POV

--------------------

Sweet Jesus. This kid is anorexic! Ana is a nickname for anorexia. Eren explained her like an imaginary friend. This explains why he was vomiting in the bathroom earlier and his reluctance to eat. This Ana is a part of his imagination that can talk louder than the world around him. It shows me that he would rather hear the negative than the positive. "Do you enjoy her company?"

He takes a moment to think, then writes his response.

'Sometimes.'

This will make my life harder if he enjoys Ana's company. He's essentially friends with his own eating disorder! "Eren. She is not your friend. She is from your mind to give you reason for your eating disorder. Could you please ignore her from now on?" I feel like I'm tearing him away from his only friend.