Chapter 4 - c4: attack of the stretch marks

A short while later, Trinity noticed something odd on her body that wasn't there before. Of course, in her food-crazed, delusional mind, she was in denial about her gain until she discovered the angry red streaks mottling her previously unblemished, perfect skin. Trinity gasped aloud, one hand fluttering dramatically at her throat like a panicked butterfly.

"Oh God...No...No! Stretch marks???" Her vocal cords unleashed a scream of bloody hell, and this chilling wail brought her mother stumbling up the stairs and into the bathroom. She now stood before her nude daughter, expecting, rather than her being alive and well, a crumpled body dying on the floor. Mom was furious.

"What was all that racket about!? You don't need to go around screaming like you're being murdered, for God's sake!" She scolded.
Trinity scowled. "Shut up, Mom."
Mom folded her arms under her tiny bust and narrowed her eyes. "You need to learn some respect, kid. If you don't, you're in for a world of hurt. You're going to pay. Also, since when have you gained so much weight? I thought you were little miss 'Food Is the Enemy.' Clearly not anymore."

Trinity snapped. "Go to Hell, Mom! You're such a bitch!" And with that she shoved her mother out of her bedroom and slammed the door. Then she returned her frightened gaze to the mirror, a long-time enemy of hers. How cruel it was, taunting her and her hideous, bloated figure, laughing at her misfortune.

"You're getting very nice and fat, Miss Trinity," It seemed to hiss. "Very fat indeed..."

Trinity tried hard to get back on a diet, but every attempt failed, and starving herself consequently resulted in enormous, belt-busting binges that only helped the gaining girl pile on the pounds all the faster. No pants of any kind fit her well anymore. Her thickening thighs and swelling bottom could scarcely wedge themselves into sweat pants, and when she managed to squeeze into them, a soft lip of flab oozed over the waistband most unattractively. Now when she walked, a jiggle impeded her step, making it uncomfortable to even move. Of course, exercise was Trinity's go-to solution, but each time she planned to do it, she was suddenly overcome with a powerful laziness that caused her to instead sit around the house and graze like an insatiable little piglet.

Since the beginning of the end for skinny Trinity, she'd increased by three sizes, and was well on her way to going up a fourth. The food was too good. She COULD NOT stop eating. It was impossible. Unthinkable. She hated herself for it. Soon enough she was going to end up like that gross fat heifer at Starbucks, she thought with a grimace.

While spooning heaping bites of ice cream into her mouth sitting on the floor in front of the freezer, Trinity heard a noise. Her chubby, bulging cheeks instantly froze in mid-movement. The sound of a door opening. Footsteps climbing up the stairs. Each footfall was like a thunderclap of doom. Trinity scrambled to hide the Moose Tracks, about as graceful as a moose as her jelly gut wobbled and she tripped over her feet. She ended up sprawled out across the floor, spoon clutched in one hand, with the tub of ice cream by her face, and that's when her father walked in.

Dad was speechless. There lie his daughter, whom had once been so sickly and bony, like an overfed cow on the kitchen floor. He hadn't been around much to notice the obvious changes that had recently taken place, but now, gazing upon her newfound 20 pounds, he was left without words. When he did find his voice, he said, "Trinity, what are you doing on the floor with the ice cream? Have you been eating it all?"
Trinity, who preferred her Dad over her Mom, confided with him that she simply couldn't stop eating.

"It's like an addiction, Daddy. I'm addicted. And everything tastes so wonderful and good, I can't help myself. Please forgive me, Daddy," she cried.
Dad shook his head, a bit bewildered. "Umm...You do know you're gaining a lot of weight, right, Trin? Whereas before you were a skeleton and needed to gain, now I think it's time you went back in that other direction. Umm...Clean up your mess, please. And don't let me catch you doing something like that again."

He sighed and walked away. Frankly, he was disgusted. She looked just like an animal, pork belly hanging out, folds and rolls going every which-where. Entirely unattractive.

When he left the room, Trinity began to cry. No matter what she did or how she looked, she could never please her family, or anyone, for that matter. Would she ever just be accepted for who she was?