Beautiful girl in a beautiful world
But beauty was not what she saw
She stared at her reflection endlessly
She wanted perfection
Instead, she just fell

She didn’t eat breakfast
Nor lunch or a snack
Three bites at dinner
“I don’t feel well,” she lies

Two days without food
Three days
Four

She starts to feel weak
When an ad comes on
Society’s way of whispering impossible expectations
Expectations she thinks she must meet

She feels dizzy and tired
But she feels it’s all worth it
When she’s told by her friends
How much weight she’s lost
She prides herself
On how thin she looks

One month now
She’s living off water and power of will
And compliments and no regrets
She doesn’t see the damage
She doesn’t feel the pain

Two months
She’s skin and bones
She looks more ill than elegant
Her mother told her so
But she can’t eat a bite
She can’t, she won’t

She’s pale and emaciated
Able to count ribs through her skin
Her friends voice their worries
Her parents try to help
But she will listen to no one

Three months
She sees an article about a woman who died
From starving herself
And the picture in the magazine
Of a thin and sickly girl
Reminds her of herself
She breaks down and she cries
And she begs for salvation
She begs for a cure
She pleads for God to hear her

Sorrow
Agony
Remorse
She understands

She’s taken to the hospital
Forced to eat every day
But her body is already failing
It seems it is too late

A/N---

-5-15% of cases of anorexia/bulimia are men in the US
-95-85% of cases of anorexia/bulimia are women in the US
-1% of female adolescents suffer from anorexia. In other words, 1 out of every 100 young women between 10-20 years old is starving herself, sometimes to death.

Even those who overcome anorexia are not free of it. Some revert back to their old ways after going through treatment. 50% of people who have been anorexic develop bulimia nervosa, the act of throwing up food before it has a chance to be digested.

In the US there are 500,000 deaths a year due to eating disorders like anorexia and bulimia.