Lucy Flawless

Chapter 1

I didn't believe what Bob, my agent, was telling me. I was the world-famous Lucy Flawless. At 18, I was the top-grossing porn star in the world. At 19, I was the top-grossing actress of all kinds. Critics said I couldn't act, but producers, fans, and my bank account said otherwise. At 24, I was practically nothing. I had become pregnant a year earlier, and though I had gotten an abortion, it seemed it had an impact on my metabolism. My weight had crept up. I was still thin, but other actresses were thinner, and the gigs weren't coming in as they once were. And my agent seemed to be telling me I could get more work by gaining more weight. I just stared.
"Lucy, I don't think you're understanding me right. I haven't even gotten a call about you in weeks. If you were anyone else, I'd have dropped you long ago. This is a godsend. You practically don't exist right now, but this is THE top show on television. I know you're worried about your body, but this gets average people in tabloids and headlines for months. For you? You'd be a household name again. And probably not just for months. I think we would be talking years. You are familiar with the rules, right?" I had just been staring at him, slack jawed, as he spoke. I shook my head. I once was famous for not watching television or movies, preferring to seem "spiritually" detached from the world. He shook his head.
"Alright, well, it takes four women of around the same BMI, and watches as they are tasked with gaining weight. The woman that gains the least weight is contractually bound to be a contestant until they no longer come in last place. Winnings are based on weight gained."
"What if someone just doesn't want to gain weight?" I really didn't want to gain more weight. I hoped I could become famous again just from being shown, without gaining anything. Hell, maybe that would be best: I could appear season after season, always losing.
"They would be hated by fans and the industry alike, being seen as someone that didn't do their job, a very simple job that most people actually have to work at avoiding, and someone that took advantage of fans and a very popular show to profit at their expense." I gulped, realizing that many other people might be able to get away with it, but it was my career on the line. I nodded in understanding. "Great! I really think this is the right move. If you win this thing, you aren't just famous again, you're filthy rich! First place gets ten million dollars. The most anybody has ever needed to gain for that is just seventy-three pounds!"(33 kilos) I gasped.
At 122 pounds(55 kilos)I told myself. I knew I might be a bit heavier) I had a rough idea of what 73 more would do to me, but I was pretty sure I wouldn't like it. Still, my agent was very persuasive. "So how can I make sure I don't lose?" I could work off the weight from one season, I thought, if 73 pounds was the very most I'd have to gain not to lose, with the average probably being much less. Actors and actresses had gained more to play a role and worked it off. Hell, I'd probably be in better shape after that than I am now. But if I got stuck with a second season, there might be no going back.
Bob, my agent, smiled at me as though I were a very simple child asking a silly question. "You already have, Lucy, when you hired me. I'll get the best professionals to work with you." That sounded like a reasonable strategy, though I wondered what sort of professional could help with something like this. I suspected most guests on the show didn't have professional help. Still, that seemed like a good answer, so I nodded. I anticipated more of a confrontation, more of... something. I didn't think I'd just be saying okay to this. Deep down, I knew I needed it, I just hoped I could find a way not to need it, a way around it. My agent was all smiles talking about this, making it seem like it was my dream come true. And like that, I was a contestant on Big Winner, competing against three other women to gain the most weight in the three month season of the show.
As soon as I nodded and signed the forms he handed me, signaling total acceptance with the show, appointments were being made with the professionals that would help me. I didn't know what appointments each day held, I simply had a driver that would come and tell me that I had an appointment approaching and needed to be dressed and ready. The first appointment I had every day was to a hypnotist, and I remembered the first few minutes of the meetings with the sweaty, overweight, bespectacled man, but no more. He relaxed me, and then it all went dark. Then there was a nutritionist, who took various measurements, even looking at my DNA, and every other day ordered a shipment of foods and drinks for me, always way more than I could ever consume. Then there was Simon, my chef, who was tasked with getting as many calories into me as possible, and seemed to relish this job, seemingly using every waking hour to maximum effect, and then there was another woman I never seemed to be able to remember. She regularly gave me a shot, a painful one in the belly button, but somehow anything that might identify her remained a blur in my mind.
Having all of these people looking to make me fatter was one thing, and I hated it. Worse was the fact that they all communicated and collaborated to do so. One day I would tell the chef I didn't like mayonnaise, for example, and the hypnotherapist would change that. I now loved mayonnaise. I didn't really know exactly how I was being hypnotized; I only really remembered being relaxed into a trance, but I got the general idea that I now loved much fattier foods than I did before, I was hungry more often and was vastly more likely to indulge when hungry, and anytime I thought about my weight, food immediately jumped into my mind, most especially how much I could eat of whatever I craved. I had a constant desire to push myself, and to view being full as a delusion. I could always eat more. I went from fearing fat to loving it, feeling a need to get fatter. Initially, I was very uneasy and felt uncomfortable eating anything heavy; I just didn't like it. I ordered a pizza my first day, a large garden pizza, and managed to eat three slices initially. Then the hypnotist arrived and I found I had eaten the rest when I came out of the trance, and was still hungry. I got a call later that day, my agent telling me about a Doctor Goldwell. He said he could give me a surgery that would temporarily allow me to gain weight easier, and said my agent had contacted him. I set up an appointment.
Three days later, I had gained a pound and a half, despite my best efforts, and had to stop eating for 12 hours before my surgery. I was miserable that day, and suspected my hypnosis was working against me, making me desire food more than I normally would. I couldn't wait to be put under anesthesia for the surgery. I was told on the way to the operating room, on a stretcher, that the surgery would impair my body from using fats for energy, sending them straight to storage. I remember nodding in approval, a mask already anesthetizing me, and then asking, "Once it was undone, will the weight gain be reversed?" The doctor gave me a curious look.