Unhealthy Desires (standard:drama, 1985 words)
Author: Hulsey	Added: Oct 27 2006	Views/Reads: 4214/2724	Story vote: 0.00 (0 votes)
A young girls' ignorance of anorexia.

Click here to read the first 75 lines of the story

mistake of notifying Anita when they were due. She would hide the 
alcohol when such a visit was planned, and ensured that she was sober. 

The regular visitor was a young girl by the name of Tracy. Anita would
charm the social worker about her plans for her daughter to become a 
model. The reason for her weight loss was Mandy's wish, and she was 
happy with it. Mandy would concur, with a smile on her face, trying to 
avoid her mothers threatening gaze. 

Occasionally, Mandy would sample a doughnut or a chocolate biscuit at
school, but then would retire to the toilet to force her fingers down 
her throat. She knew what was waiting for her when she returned home. 
She would watch the other children, envious, as they dipped into their 
lunchboxes and tucked into their culinary delights. Mandy had even 
resorted to sneaking a peep through the canteen window, viewing the 
delicious, forbidden food. 

There were so many treats that Mandy had not sampled. She had taken to
stealing money from her mother's purse, whenever she was in a drunken 
stupor. The money would be spent in the local sweet shop or bakers, 
sampling the offerings of liquorice, chocolate or a cream cake. Of 
course, she would then dash upstairs to the bathroom and throw it up, 
before weighing herself with her fingers crossed. 

As she entered her teen years, Mandy was conscious of the attention that
she was getting from her schoolmates, who scoffed at her figure. 
Mantis, they would call her, after the stick insect. Mandy's fragile 
mind, due to lack of nutrition was in turmoil. She believed that she 
was fat, and pledged to cut down on her over-indulgence. 

At the age of sixteen, she had auditioned several times to be a model,
each time being turned down, not because of her figure, but because of 
her looks. Mandy had not inherited her mother's looks. She was plain, 
something her mother was ignorant to. Mandy, after each refusal was 
brutally beaten by her obsessive mother. 

Mandy's belief was that she was turned down because she was fat, and
this caused her health to deteriorate even more. Her periods had ceased 
and she was constantly constipated. She had a skin condition, and due 
to mineral deficiency, she had recently noticed a fine, downy growth of 
hair all over her body. Mandy, in her desperation to lose weight, 
resorted to taking laxatives. Miss Darcy's pleas to the Social Services 
went unheeded, but Tracy claimed that she was indeed thin, but it was 
necessary, to pursue her ambition of modelling. 

It was the last week at school for Mandy before she ventured into the
obscurity of the outside world. Miss Darcy watched her in the mess 
room, retreating into a corner to eat her lunch alone. Mandy wore baggy 
clothes to hide her emaciated figure, and with her hollow cheeks, she 
resembled a victim of the Holocaust. The worried teacher approached 
her. 

“Hi, Mandy, soon be out of here, eh?” 

Mandy forced a smile and nodded, as she nibbled on a stick of celery. 

“Is everything okay at home, Mandy?” 

Again, she nodded, brushing away her long, lank, brown hair from her
face. 

Miss Darcy peeked into Mandy's lunchbox, to see a couple of lettuce
leaves and a tomato.  “That doesn't look very filling, Mandy. Come on, 
I'll take you out for lunch. It's my treat.” 

“I'm fine, Miss Darcy.” 

“You don't look fine, Mandy; you're awfully thin. You should eat
something more substantial. You'll make yourself ill.” 

“I'm going to be a model, Miss Darcy. I have to watch my figure.” 

“Is modelling what you really want to do, Mandy, or is it what your
mother wants?” 

“It's what we both want.” 

“But Mandy, you've been turned down so many times... Perhaps you should
consider a different career. An accountant perhaps... You're so good at 
Maths.” 

Mandy replaced the lid on her lunchbox. 

“Why won't you talk to me, child?” 

“Because, I'm not allowed to.” 

The caring teacher watched as her pupil's eyes dilated, and caught hold
of her before she hit the ground. 

Mandy woke up in unfamiliar surroundings. She focused on three people
who were examining her, Miss Darcy, her mother and a nurse. The nurse 
took her pulse and inserted a thermometer into Mandy's dry mouth. They 
were joined by a grey-haired doctor, who summoned Anita into his 
office. 

“Mrs Greaves, your daughter is suffering from Anorexia Nervosa. She's in
a very bad way. She has an irregular heartbeat, incurred by her 
condition. The change in her heart muscle, due to her lack of nutrition 
is the cause of this. She is susceptible to heart failure... How did 
she get in this condition, Mrs Greaves?” 

“Condition, what condition?” 

“Mrs Greaves, your daughter could die at any given time. She is
dehydrated, which could lead to kidney failure, and her muscles are 
wasting away. You leave me no option but to contact the police... This 
is one of the most severe cases of anorexia that I have ever 
witnessed.” 

“But she wants to be a model. It's her own decision.” 

“If she doesn't start eating soon, you won't have a daughter.” 

Mandy refused to eat anything for the next week, and the health
authority made the decision to force-feed her. Their attempts proved 
futile, as Mandy removed the drip each time it was attached. There was 
nothing more for them to do except watch her die. The doctors applied 
for a court permit, in order to forcefully administer a drug, which 
could save her life. 

Miss Darcy, in a desperate attempt to talk her into eating, sat at her
bedside. “Mandy, why do you want to do this to yourself? You have all 
of your life ahead of you... Tomorrow morning, a decision will be made 
to give you drugs that will save your life. Why don't you make it 
easier and eat something?” 

“Because I'm ugly and fat. Everybody knows it. They laugh at me all of
the time.” 

“You're not ugly and fat; you only think you are... You're sick, Mandy.
Please eat something.” 

“Goodbye, Miss Darcy. You're the only friend I've ever had.” 

The concerned teacher hugged the girl. “I'll call back tomorrow. You'll
get well, you'll see?” 

“Will I then be a model?” 

“Perhaps, Mandy. Perhaps.” 

Mandy approached the window, oblivious to the darkness outside. She
gazed at her reflection and tears rolled down her hollow cheeks. “Why 
oh why am I so fat?” 

She struggled to open the window and climbed out into the warm night
air. She ran as fast as she could, heading for the serenity and 
solitude of Dartmoor. She was ignorant of the stones that were cutting 
her bare feet, and ran faster, towards her secret hideaway, her shelter 
from the adult world. Her heart pounded faster and faster, as she 
exerted herself.  She removed the branches that concealed her tomb and 
lay shivering in her nightdress, awaiting death. 

The radiant white light was now all around her, and a figure appeared to
her. The tall, handsome man was her father. He embraced her, and she 
wept tears of joy. She walked with him through a large gate, the 
kingdom to heaven. Mandy looked down at her body. She giggled, lightly 
at first, and then more robustly. The flab had disappeared completely. 
She had a figure a model would have been proud of. She was about to 
frequent the catwalks of heaven. 


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