Chapter 2

After working for a year in the bakery (Fred's baked goods, a small but prospering family company), Shannon had a crisis. She was 20, she had a steady job with good benefits, she was living on her own and had made many good friends. The only thing missing was a man.

During baker school and right after her graduation she'd had a few boyfriends, but she had already been dumped a few times because she was "too fat and ugly". After she graduated and started her job at the bakery things got worse quickly as she seemed to have a natural talent for gaining weight.

At first it was nibbling here and there and taking a few pastries home for the evening. But everything was free for the employees of Fred's baked goods and Fred didn't care how much his workers ate or took home - the business was prospering and he wanted his employees to be happy so only after a few weeks Shannon was eating quite liberally at work and taking bigger bags home in the evenings.

There really wasn't much going on in Shannon's personal life at that point. She had a few friends from school and they went out once in a while. This made Shannon concentrate mostly on work. She took extra shifts and was determined to be the best worker at Fred's. Being tired after work she usually just sat on the sofa and watched tv and ate. Eating was an effortless way for her to comfort herself and many nights she went to bed with a full belly.

Naturally she started to gain weight. At first Shannon didn't even really notice. Usually when she got home, she took off her tight clothes and changed into stretch pants or a robe so she didn't have anything to restrict her swelling belly while she emptied the bags of goodies. But soon even that didn't help and one morning Shannon had to give up on her favourite size 14 jeans as they just wouldn't button.

Shannon didn't really care to know how big she was so she just bought stretch pants and loose shirts and avoided using the scales. She was in denial about her growing body, or at least she didn't want to deal with the issue. Instead she brought more and more food home and started to have all-night binges where she just laid on the sofa, stared at the tv and ate. She only stopped if she was in pain from being too full or when the food ran out. And if the latter happened, she made sure to bring even more food home the next day.

Time went by in a haze of long shifts and countless hours of eating. Shannon wasn't really unhappy, but definitely not happy either. Most of the time she felt just numb. She was aware that she was getting fatter, but since she was out of most social circles, she didn't feel that bad about it. She wouldn't have admitted it to anyone, but some nights after eating with abandon for hours, she would take the last bite of the last donut or cake or pastry and lean back feeling the sides of her swollen middle and have this strange sensation of achievement, comfort and naughtyness. At that time she didn't really bother to think about it, she felt good and that was enough.

Almost a year into her job at the bakery Shannon was at a crossroads. She was now so fat that even her biggest stretch pants were ripping at the seams even though she hadn't even pulled them over her belly for weeks. Her boobs overflowed all her bras and her largest shirts were like painted on her and her belly pushed them up making them look like tops. Bright red stretch marks covered her stomach and sides, few even on her upper arms that had also grown so that seams were splitting even on her t-shirt sleeves. Her thighs met halfway to her knees and made her waddle a bit already.

Shannon ate tremendous amounts of fattening food every day and her belly was always bloated. When she got home from work, she immediately stripped off all her constraining clothes and ate almost non-stop all evening.

Then one evening after eating three dozen cream filled donuts, two pizzas, a chocolate cheese cake, 6 eclairs and a pint of ice cream, Shannon knew she had to make a decision. She had just put down the empty ice cream pot. She was breathing heavily and she was sweaty from all the eating. She was stuffed to the max and her belly was simply huge. Even though she was lying on her back, it rose up like a mountain of fat, starting right below her ribcage with a steep arc upwards so high Shannon had no hope of seeing her feet even if she raised her head. The huge load of food gurgled inside making her skin feel like her clothes did: too small. She could literally feel new stretch marks forming on her skin where it couldn't stretch enough and scar tissue had to be called in to enable her rapid swelling.

Shannon was feeling a bit dizzy from all the sugar and thousands of calories, but she was aware that on the table beside her was another pint of ice cream. Almost blindly she reached for it and brought the pot closer. It was totally melted and instead of ice cream it was now just thick cream with lots of Hershey's chocolate syrup. Spoon felt unnecessary and Shannon just wanted to get it inside her fast so she just brought it to her lips started to drink it. Being on her back, it was difficult but a lot easier than anything else since she didn't want to move.

Brownish cream soon flowed on her cheeks and by the time she was done, her face and the sofa were a mess. Now she had serious pain in her stomach. That was her sign that she was done for the evening.

It was then, with a sudden flash, that Shannon realized that she wasn't able to get up from the sofa. She didn't need to, and she would be able to stand up later when some of the food was digested, but it wouldn't be easy. It hadn't been easy for some time and it was getting harder every night. Panic shot through her.

-Oh my god, I'm too fat to get up from my couch! She said out loud.

The thought of being unable to handle herself was really scary. True it was only temporary as she was just too stuffed to move, but at the rate she was growing she could easily imagine herself being too fat to move around.

Later that evening when she was able to get up, she looked at herself from a mirror. Lord she was FAT! She had a double chin, round cheeks, huge tits that rested on her belly. Her spherical belly was the biggest part of her though. It pushed out inches further than her breasts and it formed two distinct parts: the upper belly that was pushing out the most as she was full of food, and the lower belly that covered part of her pubic mound and was quickly approaching her fat thighs even when she stood.

Shannon didn't feel bad about her fat though, although she was aware that she should be. All the jiggly fat felt comfortable and really sensible to touch.

As much as she liked eating and her fat, Shannon decided to change her life. She could easily imaigine herself five years later hugely fat, lonely and miserable. She didn't want to spend her life alone. She would have to lose all the extra weight and start living like normal people. Most of all, she needed a husband so she could start a family.