chapter 1

(Writer’s Note: Once again extremely tired so I wouldn’t be surprised if there’s mistakes in here. Apologies for the lack of a more creative title haha.)

It wasn’t unusual for athletes to gain weight after retirement. While some liked to keep up their strict diets and workout routines, others enjoyed not having to push their bodies to their absolute limits anymore and settled for round beer bellies.

Beth never thought she’d be the latter.

She had been running for as long as she could remember, up to a point where she even got the chance to partake in the Olympics. As typical for most athletes, her face was often plastered on billboards and television advertisements for the next big sports brand to gain sponsorships. Even if it weren’t for her career, Beth still loved to stay healthy. With her parents both being ex-athletes themselves she was forced away from junk food throughout her childhood, having never stepped into a McDonalds in her life.

It wasn’t until a fatal leg break stopped her career with a screeching halt. Beth was forced into retirement almost as soon as her x-ray results came through, ending it when she was only 23 years old.

With years of strict dieting down the drain, she developed a strong fast food addiction. Without the physical strength to keep running or her career to drive her healthy lifestyle, Beth didn’t see the point in maintaining it anymore. Anything that was greasy, fatty and full of calories was good enough for her. It didn’t take long for smoothies to be replaced with milkshakes and apples with burgers.
Her sponsorships kept her on and were her main source of income, at least for a while. It wasn’t until she stopped being able to fit in the products that she was dropped by all the companies that were at one-point clawing to get her face attached to their name. They didn’t want a lard ass advertising their sports gear.

Beth was able to live off of her earnings for a few years, though while the numbers of her savings kept going down and the numbers on the scales kept going up, she realised she needed to earn some quick cash.

Her name must still mean something, surely. She had countless gold medals to her name and her injury was a worldwide tragedy. Some company would love to slap her face on their advertising campaign.

After reaching out to her agent, Beth hoped that he could dig up a gig that would last her for at least a few hundred more takeout orders. Her heart dropped when his email reply popped up in her inbox:

‘R.E R.E: Sponsorships

Beth,

Trust me when I say this is the best I could do. Maybe start laying off the cookie jar, eh?’

Attached was a singular offer from McDonalds that wanted to promote a new combo meal and call it ‘The Beth Parker Deal’. A wash of shame fell over Beth to see her name next to a triple cheeseburger instead of the latest treadmill or trainers.

The money was too good not to take. Reluctantly, she wrote back to her agent:

‘R.E R.E R.E: Sponsorships

Dear John,

I’ll take it. Maybe keep your thoughts to yourself, eh?’

Beth couldn’t help but feel embarrassed during the entire recording process. She could feel the eyes of the camera crew on her at all times, though not because of their jobs. They were staring at how the young 110 lb runner was now 320 lb and washed up at 27 years old. She forced a smile while saying, “The Beth Parker Deal, you’ll be running to get one!” knowing her double chin was wobbling under her jaw as she spoke.

She wanted to leave the set as soon as she could, grabbing her coat and heading for the door until she was stopped by one of the crew members.

“Uh—Hi! Hi, so sorry to bother you…I was hoping I could get your autograph?”

Beth grunted as she took the pen and notepad off of him, scribbling down her signature and handing it back to him.

“Ah…Thank you so much! You know, it’s such a shame about what happened to you. I almost didn’t recognise you when you walked in, you know, because—”
She was already walking away from the conversation, as if she didn’t already feel humiliated as it was.

Her sponsorship with McDonalds branched out into happy meal toys, milkshakes, mcflurries, all of course with a discount for the star herself.

Beth’s fame grew as did her waistline, though not how she would have liked. Dozens of articles had been written about her, all in similar nature:

‘BETH PARKER: THEN AND NOW. WHAT HAPPENED?’

‘STAR ATHLETE TURNED BEACH WHALE! THE IMPORTANCE OF MAINTAINING A HEALTHY LIFESTYLE’

‘NIKE FOR NUGGETS. MCDONALD’S NEW ADVERTISEMENT SHOWCASES BETH PARKER BIGGER THAN EVER BEFORE’
Beth breathed heavily as she waddled onto her bathroom scales, trying to get her stomach to move out of the way so that she could see the numbers.

582 pounds.

She glanced over at herself in the mirror, looking at how far her stomach hung down and jutted out from her body. Her slim, toned figure was nothing more than a blubbery mess covered in stretch marks.

Beth often wondered whether if it weren’t for her injury things would be different, or if this was an inevitable fate.