chapter 3

As he waited for the pizza to be done, he lined things up on the table. He really pushed himself on his meals after the gym. The more food he put in front of himself, the more he was able to get down before the chimes ended. He just had to find the balance to make sure he didn't hurt himself.

He placed a few cans of soda on the table and opened them in preparation. Leaving room for his plate, he placed a few full size candy bars loaded with peanut butter, a box of pastries from the store across the street and, just before he got his pizza out of the over, a pint of ice cream. He knew that by the time he'd finished his other food, the ice cream would be soft enough to eat rapidly.

Scott sliced the pizza and sat down in front of his feast. He placed his phone on the table and pressed the start button.

Immediately, the first chime sounded and anything that had held Scott back dissolved. He picked up a slice of pizza in each hand and started eating. He got through the whole thing quickly; it wasn't that thick but he knew he'd never have been able to eat it in its entirety before.

He glanced at the clock as reached for the pastries. He still had 18 minutes left. He took large, quick bites of the pastries and they went down easy. They were flaky and light but he knew they still had a lot of calories in them.

Next he reached for the ice cream, knowing he probably wouldn't get a chance to finish. He didn't want to refreeze the ice cream that was already partially melted.

When he reached across to grab a spoon, Scott's arm knocked one of the cans of soda and he watched in shock as it tipped over and drenched his phone. In a blur, he tried to grab his phone before the water seeped in too far. He was barely focused, still preoccupied on trying to eat his ice cream. As he grappled for his phone, he poured the melted ice cream into his mouth. It dripped down his chin as his right hand made contact with his flooded phone. He managed to pick it up but it was wet and sticky. Scott's heart sank as he heard a smash when it dropped to the floor.

Every part of him was screaming that he needed to pick his phone up and see if it was fixable. But he couldn't.

He had to keep eating. Scott drained the ice cream tub and then chased it down with both candy bars. He was full, but not as full as he had been when he first started. He was still able to haul himself out of his chair.

Still, unable to do anything about his phone, Scott moved as quickly as he was able to the kitchen and reached for anything he could. He opened a box of doughnuts that he'd planned on eating the next day.

As he ate through them, his belly feeling more and more stuffed, he realised with terrifying clarity that the second chime wasn't coming.

His phone was beyond broken. He didn't know what to do. Scott couldn't stop. He reached into the cupboard and pulled out a jar of peanut butter. He ate it out of the jar, even as his stomach panged with fullness. Once the jar was empty he went back to the freezer. He pulled another pint of ice cream out and shovelled it into his mouth as quickly as he could. As it melted on his tongue, the thick, creamy liquid joined everything else he'd already eaten.

Scott looked down at himself as he kept eating. His belly was painfully bloated and his jeans looked ready to burst off of him. He fumbled with the button, trying to give himself some sort of relief but the button was too tight to to budge.

He felt heavy and sluggish, barely able to stay on his feet so he sat down on the kitchen floor and opened the fridge. There was a slice of chocolate cake leftover from the night before. He poured the rest of the ice cream onto the plate and began to eat the cake. At least the ice cream helped it go down easier.

When he got to the end of the slice, he felt like he could barely move. His jeans were cutting into him, pressing into his swollen belly but that didn't stop him. He reached for one of the pints of heavy cream that he'd bought to add to his protein shakes and began drinking it out of the container.

Relief flooded over him when the button on his jeans finally gave out. He knew he should have been embarrassed, he should have stopped but he couldn't. He managed to drain the rest of the cream before feeling like he genuinely was going to explode.

The only hopeful moment came when he couldn't move to grab any more food. Scott sat there, his head resting against his kitchen cabinets as his stomach growled in protest. He rested his hand gently on his bulging abdomen and tried to relieve the pressure.

Sleep overcame him as he started to digest the massive amount of food he'd consumed.

Scott woke up starving. He knew he was in trouble when he couldn't think of anything but what he was going to eat next. He had enough clarity to turn the oven on as he looked through the fridge. He'd made up a protein shake before his trip to the gym the night before. It was still in the food processor jug. He opened the second pint of heavy cream and poured it into the jug until it filled the jug to the brim. Scott started drinking it straight out of the jug, not bothered about the fact that some of it was pouring down his face. As long as he was eating or drinking, he could think straight. He knew he couldn't stop but he also knew he needed to do something.

Maybe he could get his phone to work? Or maybe he could find Phoebe and get her to help him.

Still, he couldn't slow down enough to do much but slide a few different ready meals into the over. There was a family size tray of lasagne, a container of spaghetti and meatballs and some chilli cheese fries. He knew they were going to be hard to get through; everything he had in the freezer was carb or dairy heavy.

He kept drinking the two litres of protein shake mixed with heavy cream, feeling his stomach bloat outwards with every mouthful. It was too much but he couldn't help himself.

By the time he'd finished the whole thing, he was beyond full. He didn't even know how long it had been since he'd last been awake. He'd still been pretty full when he'd woken up.

Scott began to panic. His belly felt full and heavy, his whole centre of gravity had shifted and all he could think about was the food that was cooking in the over. It was nearly done and it was enough for six people. He thought that there was a real risk of him injuring himself. His stomach could only hold so much.

He pulled the food out of the oven as soon as it looked done. He started to eat it right there at the kitchen counter. He felt his belly press into the counter more and more as he kept eating, until he had to take a small step back to relieve the pressure.

He began to slow down by the time he'd finished the lasagne, feeling nauseous and impossibly full. Still, he couldn't help picking at the food until he knew he couldn't fit another speck of food inside of him.

He felt a wave of tiredness overtake him but he pushed through to stay awake. Scott realised that as long as he was full, he was in control. His body wasn't going to push him to eat any more than he could. Still, he was limited. He knew he wasn't up for leaving the house. He was a mess; he looked insane, waddling around in busted jeans and a food stained shirt. He managed to get his phone off of the floor and tried to turn it on. It was no use. The screen was so smashed that a portion had come away and the soda was a sticky mess all over and inside of it.

Scott sat back on the sofa, away from any food and tried to relax enough to come up with a plan. He was still thinking about eating but it was more of a want than a need. It was at the forefront of his mind but it wasn't an urgency.

He had to exercise every portion of will that he had not to just fall asleep but he needed to come up with a plan. He couldn't just keep eating everything in sight.

Scott knew that the hypnotist office wouldn't be open until Monday. He had no other way of contacting Phoebe without his phone. He had a plan. He was going to borrow some of Ryan's clothes and get over there as early as he could Monday morning and get Phoebe to help him.

For the rest of the day, Scott tried to stay away from the kitchen. Unfortunately, it wasn't something he could control, even if he tried as hard as he could. As soon as he was able to eat more, his stomach growled loudly and forced him to go back to eating. The first time, Scott finished off the food he'd cooked that morning and helped himself to another pint of ice cream. The second, Scott ate some bread from the cupboard, whilst preparing himself ten portions of mac n cheese. He didn't manage to finish off the pasta then and there, but after resting for what seemed like only half an hour, his stomach forced him to.

By the time he saw the sun setting, he looked obscene. Eating almost non-stop, all day, had stuffed his belly until it looked like he'd swallowed a beachball. He stood in front of the mirror in one of his moments of clarity and ran his fingers down his stomach. He shuddered at the sensitivity of it and wondered how much he was going to eat between then and when he got to see Phoebe. Every time he'd gone back for more food, it seemed like he was pushing his stomach's capacity further and further.

It didn't take long until he needed more. Scott tried his hardest to ignore it. He held off as long as he could until he was absolutely ravenous. That was a mistake. It left him with absolutely no self control, no awareness whatsoever.

His first move was to put in an order online for an insane amount of food and pay for it on his credit card. That wasn't enough, though. In the twenty minutes it took for the food to arrive, Scott ate his way through two more pints of ice cream and a whole loaf of bread. By the time the baffled delivery man brought him his food, Scott was almost ready to pass out but that didn't stop him from eating a ten- piece box of chicken strips.