Shattered Glass

I wake up to the sound of my dad knocking on the door.

"Haley, are you awake?" he calls.

"Yeah Dad, come in," I say, sitting up and rubbing my eyes groggily.

The door swings open and he and walks in. I scoot up to make room at the end of my bed for him to sit down but he shakes his head.

"Don't worry, this will only take a minute. Mike needs me to fly to Sacremnto to meet with some clients and it's not really an offer I can turn down. Will you be alright here on you own for a few days? I can call Aunt Sarah to come and stay with you if you want."

A few days, here, alone? There was no way I was going to pass up on this!

"No, its fine dad. I'll be alright. When do you get back?"

"I won't be in until late Monday night." He checks his watch. "You sure you'll be okay here by yourself?"

I counted in my head; today was Saturday, so I would have 3 days to myself!

"Yeah, of course, Dad! When are you leaving?"

"Erm.. I have to be at the airport in an hour. So I should really get going. You're positive you'll be alright?

"Yes, Dad," I say, climbing out of bed and giving him a hug. "Now go, before you miss your plane!"

He smiles down at me and ruffles my hair. "I'll miss you, sweetheart. Call me if you have any problems."

I agree and, after a few more hurried instructions, he leaves. I watch as the car pulls out of the drive and speeds out of sight.

This is going to be a productive weekend.

I decide to skip breakfast and go for a short run. I loop around the neighborhood and make my way back to my house. The run isn't long, only about 15 minutes, but my head is already spinning as I go upstairs to take a shower. My stomach grumbles angrily at me but I ignore it.

"You don't need food," I tell myself. "Don't poison your body with it. It'll only make you fat and ugly."

After my shower I make my way downstairs to get a bottle of water.

On the fridge is a note from my dad.

Haley,
I left a casserole on the top shelf for you to make and there is some frozen meals in the freezer. Pre heat the oven to 350 and bake for 20 minutes. If you need anything, there is $15 in the cookie jar.

Love, Dad.

I open the fridge and take out the casserole. Green bean. My favorite!

I take off the plastic wrap and grab a fork out of the drawer. It was so much better cold.

"Don't you dare eat that, you bitch!" Ana shouts at me.

I stop, my fork hovering over the casserole.

"Put the fork down. NOW!" she demands.

I follow her orders, laying the fork down and stepping away from the counter. How could I have almost eaten that?! What was I thinking?!

"Good. Now throw it away," Ana orders.

I don't move.

"I said throw the fucking food away, bitch! "

I move slowly towards it and pick it up hesitantly before carrying it over to the trash and dumping it in, then placing the empty dish in the sink. I grab my water out of the fridge and walk back up to my room while Ana congratulates me.

The poison is now in the trash. It's gone.