The ED Diaries

Tears flowed down the ivory face of the young lady, rolling down her cheeks. They didn’t have the time to reach her chin though, as Renee angrily wiped them off.

Once the young girl had met her new therapist, Mr. Evans, and he had told her all the rules while her mother wept beside her, she had been guided to her room. She hadn’t said goodbye to her mom, only Stuart, her brother. Her mother wasn’t worth it; she was the one that put Renee in this place. She was the one that didn’t want her daughter to get pretty.

The nurse that had guided her had sent her a warm smile, before saying that her bags would be returned to her shortly. After that, the girl was left in the room alone.

It was a magnificent place, no doubt. Everything looked almost fit for royalty, Renee was almost afraid to touch anything, in fear to contaminate it. But, even at that moment while she was basking in the beautiful room, she felt like she was in a prison. As if all of her freedom had gone and vanished and she would be trapped forever.

Suddenly, she heard a female voice yelling. It seemed that it was yelling a word, one word, over and over again but Renee couldn’t make it out. Curious, she opened the door and she was able to make out the word that the girl was screaming. ‘Fat’. Over and over again, until it stopped altogether. Moments after, Renee saw a young girl close to her age, being wheeled away in a sort of stretcher. She only caught a glimpse of the girl, but she saw the sarcastic smile etched on her lips and her pale skin. Their eyes met, only for a second, and it seemed as if her smile grew only wider. And then, she disappeared into a room that had the title ‘Nurse’ written in bold on the door.

Renee couldn’t help but wonder what they were going to do with her, but she only shook her head and went to sit on her bed. She didn’t know what to do, she didn’t know what to think. She played with the hem of her loose blue shirt, while looking down at her grey sweatpants. These were the type of clothes that she’d be wearing in Seabrook, apparently fashion wasn’t their strong point, neither were pockets.

They wanted her to eat. Wanted her to digest everything. The patients didn’t even get to have their private bathrooms; they had to go to a public one in the building. Plus, depending on the patient, a nurse had to be in the bathroom so they couldn’t puke the calories away.

She would beat them, Renee thought, she would fool them. They wouldn’t make her ugly. They wouldn’t make her fat. She’d get out of here, away from these doctors that ‘only wanted the best for her’. She’d get pretty and they weren’t going to stop her.