Fat Suit Malfunction

Chapter 1

The suit felt wrong from the moment Maya stepped into it.

She'd agreed to wear it for the Halloween party at work, a stupid bet she'd lost during the summer picnic. Just one night, they said. Just a few hours of laughs and she'd be done. The thing was massive, a full body silicone fat suit that supposedly weighed close to 400 pounds, designed for some movie production that never happened. Her coworker Derek had bought it off eBay for cheap and now Maya was suppose to be the entertainment.

Getting into it took almost forty minutes. The suit opened at the back with a long vertical seam, and Maya had to be practically poured inside. The silicone was thick and flesh colored, dimpled with cellulite, hanging in rolls and folds that looked disturbingly real. Inside it smelled like rubber and something else, something chemical and sweet that made her head swim.

"Just step in," Derek said, holding it open. "It's got like, a harness system inside to distribute the weight."

Maya was 5'4" and 130 pounds, she'd always been small. The suit swallowed her whole. Her legs slid into the massive thighs, her arms into the huge upper arms. There was so much excess material, so much weight. She could feel it immediately, pressing down on her shoulders, her hips, her spine. The harness Derek mentioned was just some straps that dug into her flesh, doing almost nothing to help.

"How do I look?" she asked, her voice muffled. The suit had a hood that went over her head, giving her a double chin, fat cheeks. There were eye holes and a mouth hole but everything felt compressed, tight.

"Fucking hilarious," Derek laughed. "Come on, party starts in twenty."

Walking was horrible. Each step took effort, the weight of the suit making her thighs rub together, her arms forced out at angles by the bulk. She was sweating within minutes, the inside of the suit getting slick and hot. By the time they got to the office building where the party was, Maya's legs were shaking.

The party was in full swing, people in costumes everywhere. Maya became the center of attention immediately, people laughing, taking pictures, making jokes. She tried to laugh along but the suit was getting hotter, tighter. The chemical smell was stronger now, mixing with her sweat. She felt dizzy.

"I need to take this off," she said to Derek after an hour. "I can't breathe right."

"Come on, just another hour. You're killing it."

But something was wrong. The inside of the suit felt different, softer. Wetter. Maya reached back to find the seam, to pull the zipper, but her fat suit fingers couldn't grip anything. The silicone felt like it was melting, getting tacky, sticking to her skin.

"Derek, seriously, help me get this off."

He was drunk, laughing with some people from accounting. "Later, later."

Maya stumbled to the bathroom, panic rising in her chest. The weight was unbearable now, she felt like she was being crushed. In the mirror she looked monstrous, huge, her real face barely visible through the eye holes. She twisted, trying to reach the back seam, but the suit moved with her, the material clinging. When she finally got her fingers on the zipper, it wouldn't budge. It felt melted, fused.

"No no no," she whispered.

She pulled harder, her real body straining inside the prison of silicone. The material was definitely softer now, warm, almost body temperature. Where it touched her skin it felt like it was sinking in, merging. She could feel it on her stomach, her thighs, her arms, this horrible sensation of something foreign becoming part of her. The boundary between Maya and the suit was dissolving, the silicone seeping into her pores, becoming her flesh. It wasn't just touching her anymore, it was her, and the weight wasn't on top of her, it was inside her, part of her skeleton, her muscles, her blood.

She ran out of the bathroom, as much as she could run. Her massive thighs rubbed together, her belly bounced, her arms were forced out by the bulk that was becoming real. "Help me! Someone help me get this off! Please, please help me!"

People laughed. They thought it was part of the act.

"Derek! It's stuck! It's melting into me! I'm serious, I'm fucking serious, help me!" She was screaming now, her voice cracking with terror.

"You're fine," he said, rolling his eyes. "Don't be so dramatic."

"I'm not being dramatic! Look! Feel it! It's part of me now! Derek, please, I'm begging you, help me get it off!" She grabbed his arm, shaking, tears streaming down her face. "Please! I can't, I can't live like this! Help me!"

He pulled away, annoyed. "Jesus, Maya. It's just hot in here. You're sweating. Calm down."

"I can't calm down! Don't you understand? It's fusing with my skin! I can feel it! Every inch of me, it's becoming real!" She was sobbing, hyperventilating. "Please believe me! Somebody believe me!"

But nobody did. They thought she was drunk, joking, having some kind of breakdown. The more she screamed and begged the more they dismissed her. Someone took another photo. Someone else told her to chill out. Maya felt like she was going insane, the weight crushing her, the flesh that was hers but wasn't hers, the terror of being trapped forever.

She stumbled through the party, grabbing people, pleading with them. "Help me! Please! I'm trapped! The zipper is trapped beneath my skin! I can feel it under there, I can feel the teeth, I can feel where it fused shut! Somebody cut me open, please, please, it is still a suit, I know it is! It's my fucking body and I can't get out!" Her voice was raw, desperate. "I was 130 pounds! I was thin! This isn't me! Please, you have to remember, you have to help me!"

But they just stared at her like she was crazy.

Maya fled the party, waddling through the parking lot, her breath coming in gasps. The night air was cold but she was burning up inside, the transformation complete now, every inch of the suit absorbed into her. This was her body. 400 pounds of flesh that moved when she moved, that she could feel from the inside. Her real body was gone, buried, erased.

Getting into her car was almost impossible. She barely fit behind the wheel. The seatbelt wouldn't close around her. She drove home crying, her vision blurred, her massive body pressed against the steering wheel. "Please god, please let Tyler help me. Please let him believe me. Please."

Her boyfriend Tyler was home, playing video games in the living room. He looked up when she came in.

"Hey babe. How was the party?"

Maya collapsed on the floor, the weight too much. "Tyler, oh god, Tyler help me. I'm stuck, I'm trapped, the suit melted into me, I can't get it off. You have to help me, please, please help me!"

He paused his game, looking confused. "What suit?"

"The fat suit! For the party! The bet I lost! Derek brought it and I put it on and it, it did something to me, it melted and now it's part of me and I can't, I can't," She was sobbing, gasping. "Tyler, please, we need to go to the hospital, we need to fix this, I can't live like this, I can't!"

Tyler stood up, came closer. "Maya, what are you talking about? What suit?"

"The Halloween costume! The 400 pound suit! I was wearing it and it fused with my skin! Tyler, you have to remember, I was thin this morning! I was 130 pounds! I was me!" She grabbed his hands, squeezing. "Please tell me you remember! Please!"

He pulled his hands away slowly, staring at her. "Babe, you're scaring me. You've always been, I mean, you've always looked like this."

The world tilted.

"What?"

"You've always been big. Since I met you. Since, since forever." He said it so matter of factly, so calmly.

"No. No no no no no." Maya's voice was rising, panic flooding her. "Tyler, that's not true! We met at the gym three years ago! I was thin! I was always thin! You have to remember!"

But even as she said it, something felt wrong. The air felt different. The room looked the same but wrong, like a photograph that had been altered. Tyler's face was confused but not surprised, not shocked by her size. He looked at her like he'd always looked at her like this.

"Maya, I think you need to sit down. You're not making sense."

"I'm making perfect sense! I was wearing a suit! A costume! It melted into me at the party! Derek was there, everyone was there, they saw me put it on!" She was screaming now, her whole body shaking. "Call Derek! Call him right now! He'll tell you!"

Tyler pulled out his phone, humoring her. He called. Maya heard Derek's voice on the other end.

"Hey man, weird question, but did Maya wear some kind of fat suit to the party tonight?"

A pause. Then Derek's laugh. "What? No dude. Maya just came as herself. Why?"

The phone slipped from Tyler's hand.

Maya felt something break inside her. "No. No, that's not right. Derek, you put me in it! You zipped me up! You said it was from a movie! Derek, please!" She was crawling toward the phone, screaming at it. "Please remember! Please! I'm begging you! I was thin! I was me!"

But Derek had hung up.

Tyler picked up the phone, looking at Maya with concern and something else. Something like pity. "Babe, I think you're having some kind of episode. Maybe we should,"

"I'm not having an episode! This is real! This happened to me!" Maya was hysterical now, her voice breaking. "Tyler, please, you have to believe me. I can't be like this. I can't live like this. My whole life is gone. Everything I was is gone. Please help me. Please."

She reached for him but he stepped back.

"I think you need to calm down."

"I can't calm down! Don't you understand? I'm trapped! I'm trapped in this body and nobody remembers! Nobody believes me!" She was sobbing so hard she could barely breathe. "I had a life! I had a future! I was going to, I was going to do things and now I'm just, I'm just this and nobody even knows it's not me!"

Tyler was looking at her differently now. Not with concern. With something else.

"You look upset," he said quietly. "You should eat something. You always feel better when you eat."

Maya's blood went cold. "What?"

"You're always happier when you eat. Come on, I'll make you something."

"Tyler, no. No. I don't want to eat. I want to go to the hospital. I want help. Please." She tried to stand but couldn't, the weight pinning her down. "Please, I'm begging you, help me."

But Tyler was already walking to the kitchen. Maya heard him opening cabinets, the fridge. She tried to crawl after him but her body was too heavy, too foreign. She couldn't move right. Couldn't think right. The world had changed and she was the only one who remembered how it used to be.

Tyler came back with food. Bags of it. Fast food, snacks, everything.

"No," Maya whispered. "Tyler, please don't."

"You need to eat," he said, and there was something hungry in his voice. Something that had always been there but she'd never noticed. "You're perfect like this. You've always been perfect like this."

"I haven't always been like this! Tyler, listen to me!" She was screaming again, her voice raw. "I was thin! I was 130 pounds! This morning I could run, I could move, I could fit in my clothes! This isn't me! This isn't my body!"

But even as she said it, she looked down at herself and felt a horrible doubt creep in. Had she always been like this? No. No, she remembered being thin. She remembered her body, her real body. Didn't she?

"Tyler, please," she sobbed. "Please believe me. I'm so scared. I'm so fucking scared. My whole life is gone and nobody remembers and I can't, I can't do this. Please help me."

He knelt down beside her, opened a burger. "Shh. It's okay. You're going to be okay."