-1Chapter 25
Over the ensuing months, though she had continued to perform and show up at rehearsals like always, those around Janis—especially her closest friends and band mates—noticed that for some reason, she was starting to deteriorate.
Donnie was especially concerned about Jan's recent fixation on her weight; this was not the Janis McFarlane he'd known and hired to front his band. That Janis didn't aim to be eye candy and blend in with 'the standard'.
When he did talk to her about it, Jan would laugh it off, saying she wasn't getting any younger and she needed to take better care of herself while she could. Besides, on the off chance she did get a guy in her life, she didn't want him being afraid to come home to her, did she?
Donnie had been puzzled. Where the hell did that kind of theory come from?
When he sat down with Brett, Chico, and Jerome to discuss his concerns, he was especially relieved that they shared them.
"Though I think I know what may have triggered all this," Brett said. "Donnie, remember her saying that 'he might be afraid to come home to me' remark?"
"Yeah, what about it?" Donnie asked, clearly interested. Anything that would get a grip on the whole thing with Jan would help right now.
Both Brett and Jerome filled him in on what Janis had told them about a chat she'd been in with the guys one evening.
Donnie pondered over this for a moment. "Jesus Christ, kind of contradicting themselves, weren't they?"
"Just what I was thinking, Don," Jerome nodded. "All this brouhaha about Janis being 'perfect' and then turning around dissing another girl for gaining some weight. I'm kind of with Brett; I think this could have been the tip of the iceberg."
"Problem is, holmes," Chico added, "she doesn't think she has a problem."
"On the exterior, it appears she doesn't," Brett replied, "but the truth be told, given experience of seeing my own sister go through this, I think Jan has an eating disorder."
"That and there's still some things from her past that I think she never addressed. One thing could have reminded her of something in the past and that could have set her off on a downhill spiral too," Jerome added.
"So what do we do?" Chico asked. "We can't exactly watch her destroy herself."
"We need an intervention of some sort," Donnie replied. "The thing is, we can't have Jan knowing it's an intervention. Now, let's put our heads together and figure something out."
Two nights later:
It had been halfway through the set at Hard Rock when Janis collapsed on stage.
Chaos has ensued shortly after; between Chico and Brett working with the bouncers to keep frightened and worried patrons back, the club staff summoned help while Donnie and Jerome attended to Janis.
The EMT's soon arrived, rushing Janis to a local hospital, where the other three men now sat in the ER while Donnie had gone back to get the story on what happened.
"Why do I have a feeling this was bound to happen?" Jerome asked.
"I have no idea," Brett sighed. "But I can't help but think perhaps we should have intervened sooner."
"There is a good side to this, amigos," Chico spoke up. "She'll have no choice but to get help now."
"You know, Chico, you are damn well right," Jerome nodded in agreement. "Now let's hope we can get our Janis back in the meantime."
"The old Janis," Chico replied. "The front woman of the Underground people know and look up to."
A few hours later:
"So what's the scoop?" Brett asked.
"She'll be on the medical floor for a few days," Donnie replied. "Her whole blood chemistry is fucked up. Turned out she'd stopped eating completely the last two weeks too and was just subsisting on tea. I suspected something wasn't right for awhile, but I didn't think it had been going on for such a long period of time before she quit eating altogether."
"Damn. What's going to happen from there? They tell you?"
Donnie nodded. "They're going to send her to some clinic for people with eating disorders. They also found some indications Jan was bulimic, and this wasn't the first time she was. I remember her saying once she was when she was nineteen."
"My God," Brett sighed.
"But at least now she'll get some real help; more than any of us could have given her."
"Funny you said that," Jerome nodded. "Chico over there just happened to say the same thing earlier."
"I'm canceling the rest of the show schedule," Donnie announced. "Not only do you boys deserve a vacation, but also Janis getting better is more important than any gig right now. If we lose money, so the hell what? I'd rather it be that than lose one of our members."
"Amen to that, holmes," Chico agreed eagerly as the others nodded.