Let's Raise Awareness
1
He sat seemingly calm in the room full of people. Everyone was joking around, laughing and eating. He sat with a group of people. Each one was shoving their faces with food and then were trying to speak around it.
“Won’t you eat Jake?” One of the people attempted to ask him.
“Not hungry. I’ll eat when I get home.” His face was a perfect façade of honesty. This was enough of an answer for his companions. They shrugged, smiling to each other and continued to eat.
His focus was brought out of his day dream and back to his studies as the bell rang. He stood up, grateful to be leaving such a wretched place.
-
Upon entering his house, Jake was immediately bombarded by the smell of fresh goodies baking in the oven. He pulled a face against the smell. It was revolting to his senses.
“Afternoon. How was your day Jake?” His mother asked him cheerfully. She stood by the oven waiting to pull out the treat inside. “Do you want a cookie?”
“Mom, you know I’m on a diet. I can’t have a cookie,” Jake said roughly. He was sick of people trying to shove foot at him. Couldn’t they tell he was grotesquely obese? He didn’t deserve food.
“Honey, you’re super skinny; you don’t need to worry about food.” His mother put her hands on her hips. She was worried about his recent obsession with food.
“Mom, I just want to be healthy. Cookies obviously aren’t healthy. How much sugar is in just one of those?” He forced a laugh. It seemed real enough, years of practice at work.
It was a good enough excuse. He flew up to his room, dumping all his things onto the floor. This day was extremely long for him. Each day was getting longer and more draining for him. He sat down on his bed, just hoping to rest for a little bit. This resulted in him falling asleep.
-
Jake was awakened by an uneasy feeling in his stomach. It rumbled around anxiously. Each roll pitched and heaved inside him, sending pain spiraling throughout his body. Sighing, he acknowledged that his body might actually need some food.
Gaining some strength, he pulled himself upwards. Pushing off from his bed, Jake managed to make his way down to their kitchen. Opening up the fridge, he quickly grabbed some strawberry yogurt. He pulled out a spoon from the drawer. Starting to eat it, his stomach instantly calmed down. He was disgusted with himself though. He was doing so well on his “diet.” He hadn’t eaten in about four days. If his stomach hadn’t started acting up he would’ve been doing fantastic.
After just eating half of the container, Jake tossed it out. It wasn’t worth eating all of it. Who knew what kind of effect that food would have on him? He could’ve gained so much mass because of it.
He rushed into their bathroom, desperately needing to check his weight. He waited anxiously for the numbers to stop spinning. He sighed hopelessly as the reading was finally shown. Still over 100, he thought to himself. He stepped off the scale watching as the numbers were reeling from his largeness.
“Jake, do you want some dinner, hun?” His mother called loudly to him. He sighed again. He’d have to start his diet back up full force if he was going to work off all this extra flab.
“No Mom. I’m just really tired. I think I’m going to go do homework and go to bed early.” His excuse held little clarity. Hardly any of it was true. He just needed to get out of eating. It wouldn’t result well.
Moments after Jake had managed to escape to his room, there was a soft knock at his door. He called to the person, alerting them to the fact that the door was open. His mother then entered the room, looking worried.
“Jake, can I talk to you? This is actually really important.”
Although he didn’t want to be bothered, he agreed. He knew if he didn’t let his mom speak it could be disastrous. He’d be hunted down day after day until he agreed to listen.
“I’m worried about you son. I know this may be uncomfortable for you, but you really need to tell me the truth. You have all the signs of an eating disorder. Have you been eating?” She looked incredibly anxious; worried about either answer she would receive. If he said yes, well the results were obvious. However, if he said no, she completely misjudged her little boy.
Jake simply laughed. “No Mom. I’m completely fine. I eat all the time, you just never notice. There’s no need to worry about me.” He flat out lied to his mother. In his mind though, it wasn’t a lie. To him, he was fine. He didn’t consider not eating to be a problem. It was just one of the side effects to being skinny. To look beautiful you had to make some sacrifices.
“If you say so. I’m sorry to judge you like that. I was just being a mom. It’s my job to worry about you,” she apologized. She had faith in her son, and she trusted that he wouldn’t lie to her.
-
It’d been about a week without any problems for Jake. His diet had been going perfectly. No one had bugged him about eating or if he was eating. People were actually commenting about how skinny he looked. He loved it.
Returning home from school one day, Jake noticed how overwhelmingly tired he was. He hadn’t done much, but he was exhausted. Sleeping only just exhausted him more. Even just barely moving wore him out.
His mother arrived home, immediately noticing her son lazily lying on their couch. This was odd. He usually wasn’t outside of his room like this often. He was just laying there.
“Sweetheart, are you okay?” She called over. He didn’t respond to her. Figuring he was just asleep, she walked over to wake him up. “Honey. Jake are you alright?”
“Oh-oh. Yeah Mom, I’m fine,” he responded, quickly snapping out of his stupor. “Just a little tired.”
“Are you sure? You don’t look very good,” his mother stressed. She was becoming increasingly worried as time passed. He wasn’t responding as quickly as he should’ve.
“Yes Mom. I’m just dizzy. No big deal, honest,” he said, getting ready to get up and do something productive. Basically he really just wanted to get away from his mom. Her nagging got on his nerves. Standing up, his legs quickly gave out, unable to hold him. He fell to the floor, landing hard.
“Jake?”
“I just stood up too fast. I’m fine.” He waved off her help, claiming he could get up on his own. Attempting to stand again, he only fell back down, slamming his head against the floor. The rough fall knocked him out, helplessly lying on the floor.
-
“Yes ma’am. He’ll be fine. Just a small concussion. However, something does bother me. Has your son been eating? Some of the key nutrition his body needs is clearly missing.”
“I’ll speak to him.”
Jake opened his eyes, sensing this was the best opportunity he was going to get. He looked up at his mom and quickly understood. This was serious.
“Son. Do you have an eating disorder?”
“I need help.”
Talk to somebody. They can help.
“Won’t you eat Jake?” One of the people attempted to ask him.
“Not hungry. I’ll eat when I get home.” His face was a perfect façade of honesty. This was enough of an answer for his companions. They shrugged, smiling to each other and continued to eat.
His focus was brought out of his day dream and back to his studies as the bell rang. He stood up, grateful to be leaving such a wretched place.
-
Upon entering his house, Jake was immediately bombarded by the smell of fresh goodies baking in the oven. He pulled a face against the smell. It was revolting to his senses.
“Afternoon. How was your day Jake?” His mother asked him cheerfully. She stood by the oven waiting to pull out the treat inside. “Do you want a cookie?”
“Mom, you know I’m on a diet. I can’t have a cookie,” Jake said roughly. He was sick of people trying to shove foot at him. Couldn’t they tell he was grotesquely obese? He didn’t deserve food.
“Honey, you’re super skinny; you don’t need to worry about food.” His mother put her hands on her hips. She was worried about his recent obsession with food.
“Mom, I just want to be healthy. Cookies obviously aren’t healthy. How much sugar is in just one of those?” He forced a laugh. It seemed real enough, years of practice at work.
It was a good enough excuse. He flew up to his room, dumping all his things onto the floor. This day was extremely long for him. Each day was getting longer and more draining for him. He sat down on his bed, just hoping to rest for a little bit. This resulted in him falling asleep.
-
Jake was awakened by an uneasy feeling in his stomach. It rumbled around anxiously. Each roll pitched and heaved inside him, sending pain spiraling throughout his body. Sighing, he acknowledged that his body might actually need some food.
Gaining some strength, he pulled himself upwards. Pushing off from his bed, Jake managed to make his way down to their kitchen. Opening up the fridge, he quickly grabbed some strawberry yogurt. He pulled out a spoon from the drawer. Starting to eat it, his stomach instantly calmed down. He was disgusted with himself though. He was doing so well on his “diet.” He hadn’t eaten in about four days. If his stomach hadn’t started acting up he would’ve been doing fantastic.
After just eating half of the container, Jake tossed it out. It wasn’t worth eating all of it. Who knew what kind of effect that food would have on him? He could’ve gained so much mass because of it.
He rushed into their bathroom, desperately needing to check his weight. He waited anxiously for the numbers to stop spinning. He sighed hopelessly as the reading was finally shown. Still over 100, he thought to himself. He stepped off the scale watching as the numbers were reeling from his largeness.
“Jake, do you want some dinner, hun?” His mother called loudly to him. He sighed again. He’d have to start his diet back up full force if he was going to work off all this extra flab.
“No Mom. I’m just really tired. I think I’m going to go do homework and go to bed early.” His excuse held little clarity. Hardly any of it was true. He just needed to get out of eating. It wouldn’t result well.
Moments after Jake had managed to escape to his room, there was a soft knock at his door. He called to the person, alerting them to the fact that the door was open. His mother then entered the room, looking worried.
“Jake, can I talk to you? This is actually really important.”
Although he didn’t want to be bothered, he agreed. He knew if he didn’t let his mom speak it could be disastrous. He’d be hunted down day after day until he agreed to listen.
“I’m worried about you son. I know this may be uncomfortable for you, but you really need to tell me the truth. You have all the signs of an eating disorder. Have you been eating?” She looked incredibly anxious; worried about either answer she would receive. If he said yes, well the results were obvious. However, if he said no, she completely misjudged her little boy.
Jake simply laughed. “No Mom. I’m completely fine. I eat all the time, you just never notice. There’s no need to worry about me.” He flat out lied to his mother. In his mind though, it wasn’t a lie. To him, he was fine. He didn’t consider not eating to be a problem. It was just one of the side effects to being skinny. To look beautiful you had to make some sacrifices.
“If you say so. I’m sorry to judge you like that. I was just being a mom. It’s my job to worry about you,” she apologized. She had faith in her son, and she trusted that he wouldn’t lie to her.
-
It’d been about a week without any problems for Jake. His diet had been going perfectly. No one had bugged him about eating or if he was eating. People were actually commenting about how skinny he looked. He loved it.
Returning home from school one day, Jake noticed how overwhelmingly tired he was. He hadn’t done much, but he was exhausted. Sleeping only just exhausted him more. Even just barely moving wore him out.
His mother arrived home, immediately noticing her son lazily lying on their couch. This was odd. He usually wasn’t outside of his room like this often. He was just laying there.
“Sweetheart, are you okay?” She called over. He didn’t respond to her. Figuring he was just asleep, she walked over to wake him up. “Honey. Jake are you alright?”
“Oh-oh. Yeah Mom, I’m fine,” he responded, quickly snapping out of his stupor. “Just a little tired.”
“Are you sure? You don’t look very good,” his mother stressed. She was becoming increasingly worried as time passed. He wasn’t responding as quickly as he should’ve.
“Yes Mom. I’m just dizzy. No big deal, honest,” he said, getting ready to get up and do something productive. Basically he really just wanted to get away from his mom. Her nagging got on his nerves. Standing up, his legs quickly gave out, unable to hold him. He fell to the floor, landing hard.
“Jake?”
“I just stood up too fast. I’m fine.” He waved off her help, claiming he could get up on his own. Attempting to stand again, he only fell back down, slamming his head against the floor. The rough fall knocked him out, helplessly lying on the floor.
-
“Yes ma’am. He’ll be fine. Just a small concussion. However, something does bother me. Has your son been eating? Some of the key nutrition his body needs is clearly missing.”
“I’ll speak to him.”
Jake opened his eyes, sensing this was the best opportunity he was going to get. He looked up at his mom and quickly understood. This was serious.
“Son. Do you have an eating disorder?”
“I need help.”
Talk to somebody. They can help.