*warning - talks about an eating disorder, not very detailed but mentioned*
Tori headed downstairs and just slid down the banister instead of walking, she decided to do it more often despite all the confused looks she got. When she got downstairs, she realised that it was time for her to go home, just as she was walking out the door, she got stopped by Zoe.
"By any chance do you have a dog?" she asked,
Tori was confused by this as it was completely random "Yeah, a German shepherd why?",
"Oh, my daughter Ellie told me that she wants a dog" Zoe replied.
Tori was still a bit unsure of it but agreed happily then said "Why will my dog help this?"
"Ellie wants a big dog but there weren't any to look at when we went to the dog shelter so I thought she would like to look after a dog for a couple of hours, if that's ok" Zoe really wanted to get Ellie a dog but she needed to see if she was ready.
Tori thought for a moment before saying "I'll bring Blu in tomorrow",
"Thank you so much, see you tomorrow" Zoe said before turning to leave.
Tori unlocked her front door and walked inside to be greeted by Blu.
"Have you been lonely boy?" Tori asked almost expecting an answer,
Blu ran into the kitchen and returned with his bowl in his mouth.
"I know what you want, come on" said Tori as she gave Blu some pedigree dog food and a biscuit.
Early the next morning, Tori got ready for work but this time, she packed some dog biscuits and got Blu ready. She set off at the same time, as usual. When she got there, she was greeted by Zoe and Ellie. Ellie ran up to Blu when Tori had let him out of the car, he sat in front of her and held out his paw, Ellie laughed happily and shook it.
She then turned to Tori and said "Thank you for letting me look after him!"
"No problem, he needs to get out of the house more anyway" Tori was surprised at how polite Ellie was.
Zoe mouthed thank you to Tori before leading Ellie and Blu to the staffroom.
Tori had decided to work all morning so she could have a longer break at lunch. She looked at her watch and saw that it was 11:50, she had until 12:50. When she had checked her phone, she reminded herself never to skip breakfast and work all morning again. She headed to get a drink from Honey and maybe something to eat, when she got there, she just decided to get a drink and leave the food.
"Coffee please" she told Honey,
Before going to get her a drink, Honey closed her eyes and tried to focus on something before saying "You're worried about someone, I can tell."
Tori smiled at this because she knew it was true, "How did you know" she asked.
"I can't tell you that, it's a secret" said Honey before returning with her drink,
Tori smiled yet again, she thought Honey was nice and sweet "Thanks for the drink" said Tori while getting a £2 coin out her pocket then adding "Keep the change". She turned to leave and decided to get some fresh air and go outside.
A few minutes later she finished her drink and decided to stop herself from being bored by doing various gymnastics combinations. It didn't stop her boredom, while looking around, she spotted a tree that she figured must have been planted on the hospital grounds around 80 years ago. Suddenly, Tori had an idea, she walked up to the tree and picked a branch that looked strong enough before doing a bar skill to get herself up.
After about 10 minutes of sitting on the tree, she saw Zoe sit on one of the benches. Tori jumped down from the tree almost giving Zoe a heart attack,
"Don't ever do that again! Zoe exclaimed,
"Sorry, I'm just really bored" said Tori who was struggling to hold in her laughter.
"In all seriousness, what have you eaten today?, you're looking pale" Zoe could now see that Tori was no longer laughing,
"Um..." Tori tried to think then said "Nothing, just a cup of coffee".
Zoe gave her a stern look before saying "Don't ever do that again either",
"Sorry, I'm just not hungry" said Tori who really didn't want Zoe to lecture her about healthy eating.
Zoe disappeared inside after telling Tori "Wait there, I'm going to get you something",
Tori did as she was told and waited for Zoe to return.
Zoe came back in 5 minutes with a pack of biscuits and a leaflet, "Eat these and look at this" said Zoe as she passed Tori the things,
Tori ate the biscuits while reading the leaflet, not actually paying full attention to what it was. when she had finished the biscuits, she turned to Zoe and said "I don't have an eating disorder anymore".
"Anymore?" questioned Zoe who was shocked at this,
"I used to have anorexia because people always told me that I needed to be thinner for someone my height and age, but I'm fine now" Tori didn't really want to explain this as it brought back bad memories for her.
"Just think about going to the clinic, please, I don't want to see you get hurt" said Zoe before walking off.
Tori shoved the leaflet in her bag and went inside, She was still extremely bored and had 45 minutes left until her shift. She sat in the staffroom playing games on her phone when she got a text from her ex she opened it but didn't really want to know what it said 'I'M COMING FOR YOU!'. Tori threw her phone in anger, it hit the wall with a loud thud which cracked the screen really badly.
Connie entered the staffroom and saw Tori sat on the sofa with her phone in her hand, the screen almost falling off.
"What was that?" she asked thinking it sounded more like a fight than a cracked phone,
"Oh, I just dropped my phone" said Tori trying to sound less angry than she was.
Connie gave her a confused look "Truth?" she asked knowing that if the phone was dropped then it wouldn't be that bad,
Tori stared at the floor and said "I got a text from an ex boyfriend who wants to kill me." She paused before adding "So I threw my phone at the wall".
"Do you want to talk about it?" Connie asked even though she knew the answer would be no,
Tori sighed then said "No thanks, Zoe's already been pestering me about what I ate today and giving me leaflets about weight clinics."
Connie replied with "Last year she did the same to me, she told me I was too thin and that I needed to go to a weight clinic",
"I think she worries too much." Tori knew that Zoe worried for a reason and appreciated it but she still thought that sometimes she could care a bit too much.
"Just go to the stupid clinic, it will help, trust me." Connie could see that Tori still wasn't 100% sure so she added "Zoe will stop bothering you about it as well."
"Ok, I'll go but only because I don't want to be bothered about it anymore" said Tori with a hint of annoyance in her voice.
"Do you have anything else to text off?" asked Connie changing the subject.
"Yeah, I have an IPad at home" said Tori wondering why this was important,
Connie got some paper out of her pocket and wrote down the email address to her IPad "Here, add this to your contact list and text me if you ever need anything or if you just want to talk".
"Thanks" said Tori "I'll text you later to see if it works, I haven't used my IPad in about 2 years so it might take me a while to find the charger",
"Ok, well I've got to go so I'll talk to you later" said Connie who had only just noticed the time.
"Bye" Tori called after her as Connie was already halfway out the door.
Tori returned back to her work feeling really dizzy.
"You ok?" asked Robyn who was working with her,
"Yeah , fine thanks" said Tori even though she could barely stand up without falling over. Just then, everything went black, the last thing Tori heard was the thud of her body hitting the cold, hard ground.
When she woke up, everything was blurry, Tori blinked about 100 times before she could see properly. She saw that Robyn was standing next to her bed "What happened?" asked Tori while failing to sit up as the pain in her head got worse.
"You collapsed and hit your head quite badly on the floor" said Robyn while removing a needle from Tori's arm and sending the blood off to be analysed, Robyn saw that she was still very confused and asked "Do you want me to get Zoe for you?".
"Yes... please" said Tori who had now managed to sit up, Robyn left and headed towards Zoe's office.
A few minutes later, Robyn came back while explaining to Zoe what had happened,
Zoe walked towards Tori and said "I told you so".
Tori wasn't in the mood for joking "I know, but I thought I'd be fine",
"Take the rest of the afternoon off and go to sit with Ellie and Blu in my office" Zoe instructed, she wasn't taking no for an answer.
"Ok, but I'm working tomorrow no matter what" Tori said while walking in the direction of Zoe's office.
Tori arrived to see Ellie bouncing a tennis ball of the wall and seeing if Blu could catch it.
"Hello" Ellie beamed not taking her eyes off that ball,
"Hi Ellie, having a nice time today?" asked Tori trying to avoid being asked 'what's wrong?'.
Ellie gave Blu the ball and sat down in one of the chairs by the desk before answering with "Yeah, thanks for letting me look after Blu, how has your day been?",
"Well I have the rest of the afternoon off because I collapsed in cubicles" said Tori feeling now really tired.
Ellie could see that Tori was tired and said "Go to sleep on the sofa and I'll take Blu outside for some fresh air."
"Thanks" said Tori who was already half asleep.