Chapter 1 - Sign up

“Largeandlive.xxx” I chuckled as I read the strange web domain. But in spite of myself I started typing it in anyways. It had been the source of a couple of funky rumors online. Every post about it seemed to be up and deleted seconds later. But I had happened to catch one of those posts. It had been blank barring that simple url. Needless to say, I was incredibly bored. Hence searching for something that was surely just a scam to steal my credit card number. As my little tablet loaded up the screen nothing I saw countered by my presumptions. A wall of incredibly tiny script composed of writing I didn't even recognize with two buttons at the bottom. I wasn’t a nerd by any means but I had been around the block enough times to know a terms of service agreement when I saw one. Once again, my boredom induced curiosity got the better of me. If I didn't go deeper down the rabbit hole, I’d have to find something else to entertain myself. I hit the button on the right.

The screen briefly flashed with some odd colors before settling down, I felt a slight fuzziness in my fingertips. That was a little odd but I wrote that off as my own nerves. The screen had become split between two panels. One took up the majority of the screen, while the remaining third of the screen was filled with a vertical rectangular box. The bigger box was completely dark, barring a pale blue glow I couldn’t quite identify. While the other box was empty. Until it wasn’t. The slimmer box slowly began to fill with text. Once again in the language I couldn’t read, lines began to drift by, scrolling down in a chat room like format. There was nothing I could do in a chatroom with no content and using a language I didn't understand. So, I soon flopped over from the tablet and stared at the ceiling. For the umpteenth day in a row my room was shrouded in complete darkness illuminated only by the dim glow of the tablet screen. I began to have a small existential crisis of sorts.

I had flunked out of college out of sheer boredom. My older sister was more than happy to accommodate me so long as I was willing to pay up and help around the apartment. Not that I did as much of the former as I probably should have. I was sure that if college wasn’t right for me, I’d find something else that was. But everything just seemed so completely dull. Partying had been sort of fun at first. But even that had lost its luster after a while. I couldn’t keep down any of the part time jobs for that very reason. In my early 20s I was supposed to be in the most exciting years of my life. Not lazing around with nothing to do. As I wrestled with existentialism, I could feel the tablet buzzing next to me. It seemed to buzz once with every message. They had been pretty slow at first but as time was dragging on, they were building up. At one point they suddenly sped up enough for me to take notice. I considered taking a glance over to see what they were talking about. But my apathy had gotten the better of me and my interest was waning.

There was a bell sound from my tablet, the buzzing stopped and the text slowed down. I was wondering if the notification was to inform me they’d finally stolen my social security number. But as I worked up the motivation to check I was interrupted by a growl. A borderline unearthly sound emanating from my stomach. It was incredibly awkwardly loud in the otherwise quiet room. I would’ve been embarrassed if anyone could’ve heard it. It seemed I was hungry which was odd since I had definitely had dinner earlier that evening. Still there was no arguing with a sound like that and I flopped out of bed and staggered to the door. Opening it and casting light into my room for the first time that day. I was seriously starving. At the fridge in the kitchen though I found my aspirations tested. There were a few items in there, a few healthier options, a frozen salad, some leftover tofu-based stuff from sis’s lunch, some candy bars. At the bottom though was the infamous litre tub of ice cream I had bought. I was fairly sure Sis had a breakup on the horizon and had the comfort food all prepped to go. I settled on the leftovers since there’d be less effort.

There was a distant bell sound. Heard through the open door to my room. With my hands hanging over the leftovers. I pivoted to clasping the litre and heaving it up. Sis wasn’t the sort of girl to go through a full litre of ice cream anyways. Or so I rationalized to myself. Normally I would’ve dragged it into my room. But I was so starving I couldn’t help but just dig in then and there. I tore off the plastic layer on top and started shoveling the vanilla goodness out right in the kitchen, barely making time to grab a spoon. I swallowed every bite I brought to my lip. I found myself letting out a little groan. I had never eaten ice cream that tasted quite like that before. Every spoonful was perfectly creamy and left my taste buds feeling tingly with raw flavor. I was sure I would pay for it later but in the moment, I was having a fantastic time making a bit of a pig of myself. Over in my room I could literally hear the rapid-fire vibrations of the tablet. It seemed something had set that chat room on fire. I was curious but god tier ice cream took a pretty significant priority.

I slurped the sweet creamy goodness from the spoon and admittedly felt shamefully good doing it. I could swear food wasn’t supposed to taste that good. But there I was filling myself up with even more of it. Slowly though I couldn’t help but become aware of just how much I was shoveling into myself. My stomach was started to feel a tad bloated. As good as it was feeling I was fairly sure I had a figure to look after. I may have been a shut in but I liked to keep it tight and toned all over. The buzzing in the other room was accelerating again and my curiosity was heating it up in turn. I licked my lips complacently and put the figure threatening ice cream down. I had eaten my fill of the forbidden snacks. I took a step back towards my room, but was interrupted by another bell like sound emanating from my tablet. I paused and ran my hand across my midriff. I was in shape. I could afford a bit more. Even as I rationalized it to myself something felt off. But it wasn’t enough to stop me from shoveling down another spoonful of the sinful delicacy.

I was overdoing it, I could tell. Every bite was ever so slightly forced, but was rewarded in equal parts with the pleasure of its delicious taste. I tried not to focus on the slight ache in my middle. Or the knowledge of how many calories were jam packed in every hedonistic bite. I persisted even as my shirt began to ride up slightly because of my bloating. The flavor was explosive but I was becoming increasingly aware of how much a pig I was making of myself. Nevertheless, I just couldn’t seem to stop myself from going back for more. Another spoonful another aching sensation in my middle. Another future pound staring back at me on a scale. I hadn’t pigged out like this since thanksgiving. Through my persistence I eventually felt the spoon scraping the bottom of the tub. Even still I found myself shoveling the rest of the fattening cream down. Through raw hoggishness the full liter was sitting in my middle. I staggered back. My churning gut shaking a little at the motion. I panted slightly at the sheer feeling of the weight on my middle.

Too much. Way too much. I patted it to confirm it was real and my knees shuddered a little from the sensation of its sensitivity. It was practically round. Its expanded state filling out and pushing slightly against the perimeter of my sweat pants. I had never been the sort of girl to put food away like that. But there was no denying my stuffed state. Or the empty ice cream container next to me. The buzzing from my tablet was at a fevered pitch. It was time to turn the thing off. My plans had quickly changed to include the rest of the evening spent sleeping off my bloated state. Along with some added cardio in my future. As I stood panting, there was another bell from my room. On the way there I stopped by the fridge. Reached inside and grasped those candy bars. It was almost a second thought. I didn't realize I had done it till I was at my door. There was no way, I would even be able to fit those in my stomach. So why was I holding them and why was I so certain I needed to start eating them. As I unpeeled the wrapper, beginning to feel extremely uneasy. I turned on the light switch of my room and turned to finally shut up that tablet.

What I saw presented a small problem of sorts. On one side of the screen the text in the language I didn't understand was progressing rapidly. At the top of that box was three sub divisions like a poll of sorts with bar charts. All the options were written in that lettering I didn't understand. That wasn’t what concerned me. What worried me was what was on the other side of the screen. Namely a woman, slightly on the short side with messy red hair, and amber eyes, with snow pale skin. She was dressed in some lazy sweat pants, and a sleeveless t shirt. This coupled with the ice cream stains around her lips indicated she was probably a bit of a mess. Sure, she seemed pretty in shape, but her middle was seriously bloated. I blinked, and she did the same. I raised my hand and so did she. She was me. Video footage of me, standing in my apartment. Dressed down and practically spherical.