I met Benny at my locker, as I did every morning. We were having a good discussion of our favorite superheroes. Benny seemed cold, holding his arms around his body. I was fine, myself wearing a T-shirt as well. We survived the day, being devoid of anything supernatural occuring, which I was thankful for. Benny and I made way back to my place.
As we sat down for dinner, I realized that Benny looked...somehow, smaller than usual. Skinnier, maybe? I doubted he could have lost weight since I saw him yesterday. Must be the lighting. Mom brought out the chicken she had cooked. We had green beans as a side, with mashed potatoes. A relatively bland dinner, I admit, but not so much that Benny, who usually ate so much would turn down seconds. I thought nothing of it, thinking that he was probably not hungry. Benny excused himself to the restroom, and my mother questioned me.
"Honey, is Benny feeling okay? He hasn't eaten as much as he usually does. Mind talking to him?"
"No problem, Mom. I'll ask him about it after."
I went back to my room, starting up the video game I just got. A Marvel superheroes vs. game. I was excited to try it out. I heard that the graphics were amazing, and that the cut-scenes were fantastic. When Benny walked in, I noticed he now looked much paler than usual, and his blood vessels were broken. He looked weak in the knees, so I went to help him stand up.
"Are you okay, Benny? You didn't eat much, and you look like your just threw up." He was so easy to hold up, so much lighter than I thought. As I supported him, a vision flashed through my head.
A vision of Benny, hunched over the toilet. In my bathroom. He was throwing up, tears rolling down from the effort. He stopped, stood up, flushed the toilet, and rushed over to the mirror. He lifted up his shirt, surveying his stomach. And sat down, exasperated. Tears rolled down. The vision ended.
No matter how much I wanted not to believe that this was Benny. No matter how much I didn't want to believe that this was what Benny did, I knew it was true. My visions were never wrong. And as I layed down Benny on his spot and the floor, and offered him his pajamas. I saw with utmost horror, as he lifted up his shirt, that my vision was correct. The Benny I saw was flesh and bone. His stomach reduced to a third of what it had been last time he changed in front of me, 2 weeks ago.
"Benny..."
"Yeah?"
"What did you do...? Please don't tell me that you're...Please, Benny." He looked at me in the eyes, his looking sad and fearful.
"Ethan..I'm sorry. I can't..I'm not strong enough. I'm just so fat, I can't help it. I want to be skinny, like you and Rory..."
"Benny...What are you talking about? You are skinny. You're taller than me, and so you should weigh more than me, and you're not fat at all. Sarah and Erica have both said that you're skinny. It's unhealthy to be this way Benny...Please, you're my best friend. I want you to be happy. I'm coming back in 2 minutes. With food. Please eat something, and no bathroom trips afterwards. You're going to get better, and I'm going to help."
He looked down, ashamed. He shouldn't be, but I loved him, and I wasn't going to lose him to anorexia nervosa. He was going to be Benny again, and he wasn't going to be a sack of bones.
I came back with a plate of leftovers. Chicken and green beans, with mashed potatoes. He was going to eat, he had to eat. I wasn't going to go to bed until he ate everything.
"Benny, come on, you must be starving. Come on." He looked away, trying not to see the food, but he knew it was there, and he was hungry. He had to be, he hadn't eaten anything for at least 2 days, without throwing it up three minutes after.
"Benny. How long have you been doing this?" I asked each question in the softest voice possible. I didn't want to yell at him, I wanted him to feel safe, accepted.
"Benny, look at me. How long has it been since you ate?" He turned around, looking straight into my eyes.
" Two weeks."
"And why? Why haven't you eaten for two weeks? Has someone been saying something to you? Why didn't you tell me?"
"I knew you wouldn't let me do it, and I should have told you, so you could talk me out of it sooner. I did it because...I haven't been feeling very good for the past few weeks.." He was lying. That wasn't why. I could tell.
"Benny! Why...did you...do it?"
"Jesse." He was broken, his voice shaking with tears. Jesse, the boy who had turned Sarah into a vampire, had come back, and he was bullying Benny.
"What did Jesse say to you?" I put my arms around him, knowing tears would be flowing freely soon.
"H-he..He said n-n-no one liked me. That I was an arrogant, useless human being, that no one would miss me if I died. He said I was the ugliest thing he had ever seen, and I should stop polluting the world with my overweight, disgusting person." Chills went up my spine, and I embraced Benny. I held him hard. Feeling all of his own pain. He wept hard and put his face into my chest.. I was being used for protection. I couldn't rely on Sarah, or Erica, and definetely not Rory.