I looked at the girl examining herself in the mirror. Oh how lovely she is, dressed in shades of pink and red, too young to be a woman, yet close to pass the doors of maidenhood. Her beauty like that of a budding flower, on the brink waiting to bloom.
I giggled admiring myself, until a cough brought me back to my attention. Now I remembered I was not alone, I knew the embarrassment can be seen by the blush from the heat coming to my face and immediately returned my attention to the young gentleman opposite to me.
“Well Sharon, I’m sorry to interrupt, but you were taking a bit long just now,” the Gentleman, Mr. Kathreftis was it? Such an odd name---brought my attention back.
“Pardon me,” I giggled of my clumsiness.
“Would you like some biscuits and tea?” He offered me refreshments, gesturing to the low table between us.
“Oh, thank you for the offer but I would have to decline,” I politely refused. “Us ladies need to watch ourselves otherwise we would gain too much.”
Mr. Kathreftis, merely raised an eyebrow and wrote something on a piece of paper.
Slightly worried if I was rude in rejecting I was about to ask when he spoke first.
“So miss Sharon, I’ve heard from your family how your dream was to become a beauty queen when your older,” He asked, though it seemed more like a statement.
I blushed, but nodded at his direct question.
“Can I ask what inspired you to have such a dream?”
“Well, It was my mother,” I answered honestly, I knew my eyes were twinkling now, just like how people and my family tell me whenever I talked enthusiastically. “She participated in many beauty pageants before and won! Even after getting married to father and having me and brothers, it still didn’t stop her from joining and winning more. I’ve seen all the trophies and photos and heard the stories, I was amazed and wanted to be the same, of course I knew I had to work to reach her at the same level, even more if I want to surpass her.”
“You want to win against her?” He inquired, taking a note down.
“Yes! I mean, not, not necessarily,” I fumbled, trying to find the right words. “I know how much many people complimented her beauty, I also wanted to have that admiration, hear the same praises and be in the spotlight.”
“You like the popularity?”
“No, not that either,” I denied.
“Then other than your admiration to your mother, what else inspired you into pursuing that dream?”
“That’s it really, I just want to be as beautiful as my mother.”
Mr. Kathreftis wrote another thing down his notebook, I was curious but he closed it then looked back at me.
“Sharon, if what you said is true, then did you not end up with a quarrel with your mother and family earlier sometime ago, it also ended up escalating to your grandparents.” He stared probingly.
At this I frowned and averted my eyes, a gloomy mood slowly settling in.
“Sharon, I’m sorry if it’s too direct, but I just want to help you and your family,” Mr. Kathreftis said gently. “But in order to do that, I would need you to tell me so I could help your family back to before you fought.”
I hesitated, I did have a fight with them, but it was just a petty and ridiculous fight, the reason even made frustrated.
“Please Sharon, don’t you want to mend things with your family,” He encouraged her gently.
Finally I relented, I do really love my family, especially my mother, as frustrating as it was, if only she could understand my struggles and why I did what I could do. I nodded.
“What started the fight.”
“It all started when my family started interfering with my diet,” I began. “I followed a certain diet to help me achieve a body figure, but it wasn’t enough, so I exercised, but it still wasn’t enough. Then I cut off more of my food and ate less, that’s when it started to work. My parents and brothers kept asking more than often if something was wrong with me, which there wasn’t, I didn’t understand why they would ask that, everything was fine, in fact I’ve gained less weight. Then things somehow turned worse when I got hospitalized after feinting at school. My parents, especially my mother confronted me about it, I’m not sure anymore how the conversation started but it went with me and her arguing, I accused her that she was sabotaging me for going against the diet I’m doing, saying that she just didn’t want me to be above her and be more beautiful than her. That, I didn’t really mean, but that seemed to make her upset and frustrated and we fought more eventually my grandparents got involved.” To the end I only mumble, tears were starting to gather in my eyes.
Mr. Kathreftis offered me a handkerchief, which I graciously accepted to wipe my tears, while he opened his notebook and wrote another thing down.
“I’m sorry it must be hard, but rest assured, I’m here to help you and your family mend your problem,” He gave me a warm and secure smile, making me feel safe.
“Would you like some again,” He gestured to the biscuits and tea.
“No, beauty needs less to eat.”
“Alright,” He looked at his watch, then thought for a moment. “Can you look at the mirror again and tell me what you see?”
I was confused, but still did it nonetheless.
I turned to look at the mirror, and saw a young girl wearing a dress in shades of pink and red. Her cheeks were sunken into her face, her skin was sickly pale white, her limbs were limp and thin.
“I see a lovely and adorable girl.”
Sorry if I'm late to post, I got sick a day before and had to recover, didn't have time to finish my work until now, hope I'm not late.
If I am, well, at least enjoy the story, I'm open to feed back!
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Hi @vincric. No, you're not too late. In fact, you can write for any of our prompts anytime. But we have included your story in the collection of stories from last week, which you will see in the new prompt post.
However, please note that to be curated and receive rewards from The Ink Well for your stories, you need to publish them in our community, as we mentioned in a comment on your story last week.
To publish in The Ink Well community:
This is a really interesting story, and very poignant. Eating disorders like anorexia are very challenging. You captured the self-image issues of your character really well.
We look forward to curating and rewarding future stories that you post in The Ink Well community.
Oh, thank you for informing me, I'm still kind of new to Blogging as whole so there are still many things I wasn't aware of, I'll take note of that.
Thanks again.