The People Project

The Skinny Girl

Author's Note-

I'm not sure if anyone regularly reads this or had added it their library or anything (Let me know if you have!) but if you do then I am very sorry for not updating for a long, loooooong time. This is the kind of writing I need inspiration for, and inspiration doesn't just come knocking at your door everyday.

I wish. Life would be so much easier.

The Skinny Girl

She sits at the table while her friends around her chat and eat. She sits hugging her arms across her stomach, the fakest of smiles covering her face. Her long hair hangs over her huge, beautiful eyes that are thickly coated with mascara.

I wonder how no one notices what's happening to her. I bet she's wondering the same thing. Thinly veiled behind her smile and mascara her eyes are pleading for someone to see her, to see that she's starving.

What could have happened for her to hate what she sees in the mirror that much? I'm no stranger to self-confidence issues; I doubt any teenager is. But what could have pushed her far enough to take these measures to change her body? Surely there have got to be better options.

I'd grown up in the same town as her. We'd never been friends, but we'd had classes together over the years. She'd always been very happy and friendly. Sure, she'd had her share or drama and friend troubles over the years, but everyone had. And she'd never been overweight. She was never anywhere near as skinny as she was now, but she'd always looked healthy. It was just in the last year or two that there'd been a change.

So what happened? Was she jealous of how much attention someone else got for being beautiful? Did people tease her and she took it too much to heart? Was it a boy? As much as I would love to tell you that it isn't true, I don't lie when it comes to my writing. Boys hold so much power over a girl's self worth. Way more than they they think they do, which is a dangerous thing. Did she read to many magazines with gorgeous, photo-shopped models? Or did she just look at herself one day and find that she could no longer love the person she saw?

Furthermore, why does she think that the only way to be beautiful is to be able to see her hip bones jutting out of her sides? Why is that the idea put in people's heads? It's not realistic to want to look like an image created by computers. It may have started off as a real person, but by the time make up and directors and photographers and editing get through with the it the similarity is equal to that of an alien species.

So why is that how she thinks she needs to be loved and more importantly to love herself? That isn't fair. And yes, dear reader, I am aware that life isn't fair and that it never has been nor will it ever be. But this is beyond unfair; it's twisted and sick. She shouldn't have to be unhappy every time she sees herself, every time she turns down a meal, every time she opens up the internet and sees a million different ads on how to lose weight.

They say that people who suffer from this have a distorted perception of how they look. I believe that they have a distorted perception of how they're supposed to look. There, one key word changes the whole thing. If she simply thought she was fat when really she was skinny, there's no problem. As soon as you tell her that she's not supposed to be fat, she's supposed to be skinny, that's where the problem begins. It doesn't matter if she thinks she's something she's not until you tell her she shouldn't be that way.

The worst part about seeing her sitting hunched over at that table is not being able to think of a single way to make a difference. What could I possibly do to help? I could pull her aside and tell her that if she ever needs someone to talk to I'm here, but it's not like she'd listen. She'd probably go back to her friends and they'd laugh about how bizarre and weird it was. I could tell her that I think she's pretty, but if she hates the way she looks enough that she's starving herself there's no way she'd believe me.

So instead I just sit and watch the skinny girl, hopeless and sad.