Together

You Are Not Alone

okay, hi... this should be the last of the sad chapters, for now... this one still deals with the unhealthy methods of weight loss, and there is also a mild emetophobic trigger. Those are the only ones that I'm really aware of, but if there are others, then please let me know... This chapter gets pretty intense, so just be careful. Comment and vote if you wish xxx
-ab

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October 26, 2025

Patrick

I knock on the door. "Harper? Love? I've got some toast for you. You've got to eat it. Can I open the door to hand it to you?"

"I guess," she replies.

"It should be pretty easy on your stomach." I crack the door open and hand the plate through to her.

"Thanks," she replies, forcing a small smile before I close the door again, leaving her to herself. I sit down on the floor and lay my head back against the wall. I soon her her throwing up inside of the bathroom.

In a moment of weakness, I collapse my body, burying my face in my palms, and let out silent tears.

Why Harper?

That's all that I can think. She's the light of my life, and the light of so many others' lives. She's been hiding this secret all this time. Should I have seen it?

She's never used this stuff before, has she? I can't help but wonder how she even found out about it in the first place.

We are going to have to have more of a talk when she's done being put through hell with the side effects of this tea.

The fact that it is hitting her as hard as it is is giving me comfort, in a strange way. It means that her body isn't used to it.

The hours seem to pass by, and my eyes grow heavy as my body is yearning for sleep. I don't want to leave Harper alone right now, but I also have to work tomorrow.

"Sweetie, is anything starting to get any better in there?" I ask her, after I've been sitting outside of the bathroom door for... probably nearing four hours. I feel so bad for her, as she's in such discomfort.

"A little bit," she replies.

"Good," I tell her. "Whenever you're ready, please come out and we need to have a talk."

"Okay," she gulps. "Patrick?"

"Hm?"

"I'm sorry."

"Love... sweetie... there's nothing to be sorry about. You shouldn't have used the tea, but you were in a bad mental state. You probably still are, but now you know that the tea is not the right way to solve things. That's what we are going to talk about once you think you're ready to come out of there."

"I think I need to eat something else," she tells me, "but I don't want to just throw it up."

"Try it," I state. "It's okay."

After another half hour, Harper decides that she's in the clear from diarrhea, so she comes out of the bathroom.

I lead her to our bed, where we both sit down on the edge. She tucks her legs up under her.

"I need you to answer me honestly. Have you ever used that tea before?"

"No."

"How did you find out about it?"

"I'm not even sure," she admits. "I've known about it forever, but hearing them say what they said during the Anastasia fitting, it just sent me over the edge, and I went and ordered some on Friday night. I shipped it with Amazon Prime so that it came quickly. I was hoping to kill off some weight before rehearsal on Monday."

"Sweetie, do you know what that tea can do to you? You could get addicted to that tea. Do you understand how bad that would be? On top of that, you don't need to lose weight."

"Don't you understand, Patrick? Everyone tells me that, but I just can't see where they get it from."

I let out a sigh, and grab both of her hands, facing her and looking her directly in the eyes. "Harper Elise Kennedy. You are absolutely beautiful, just as you are. Now, I'm going to throw that tea away, and we are going to try to do this ourselves. If I catch you with that tea ever again, I'm taking you straight to a professional to get help, alright?"

"But Patrick-"

"No buts. Now, how would you feel about the two of us facing this together? We can start cooking healthier meals every night after work, and we can cut down on our sweets. Together."

"Would you really-"

"Of course I would. You, my love, are the best, and most important, thing in my life. I don't want you to ever forget that. I need to make sure that you're safe. If that means cutting back on my Hummingbird cupcake deliveries, then so be it."

Harper lets out a little giggle. "I love you, baby."

"I love you too. So, how about we make a deal? Once a week, Hummingbird date. Other than that, keep sweets to a minimum, or none at all. We can cook healthy dinners together every day. Do you think that would help you to feel better about yourself?"

"It might," she admits. "I suppose that it's worth a try, but it's going to be hard."

"I know, love. It'll be hard for me, too, but we can do it, together."

She nods. "Love, you're going to work tomorrow still." She looks at the clock. "It's already tomorrow. Come on, let's get to sleep."

"Did you call off of rehearsal?"

"I told them that I was just feeling so sick and needed to rest for the day."

"It's not a lie," I assure her. "They understand. Plus, you've been putting in so much work for this role. You aren't going to die by missing one day."

"But I'm carrying the entire show," she protests. "And we go into tech at the theatre on Wednesday."

"You need this, love. I promise, you'll thank me later. Now, what do you say we go properly dispose of this tea, together? Then we can sleep. I promise."

"I guess so," she nods. I take her out to the kitchen, and we walk over to the sink, where I fill up our electric kettle with water.

"What are you doing?"

"We are going to put all of these tea bags into water so that you can't pick them out of the garbage can."

"You really don't trust me, do you?"

"I just can't be too careful," I tell her, planting a kiss on her forehead. "I don't want you to go through that again."

"Alright..." she reluctantly replies.

We steep the tea in the hot water, then dump it into the sink. "Didn't that feel good?" I ask.

"I guess it did," she admits. "Thank you for helping me tonight, love. I don't know what I would've done without you."

"I'm just glad that you didn't have to find out."