Chapter Five: The Last Straw

Kimberly got up in the morning to train, and sighed. It was getting harder and harder to care about her gymnastics. It wasn't fun anymore, and that's one of the reasons she had begun to do it. She went to the shower, to get ready. She could already tell that this was going to be a supremely awful day. She got one of her dizzy spells as she was grabbing a towel out of the cabinet, to put on top of the toilet. She stopped and waited until it passed. She shook her head and stepped into the hot spray and hoped that she could get past this.

After she finished showering, she got out and dressed in her leotard and some shorts and grabbed a sweatshirt. After she'd slipped her feet into her sneakers, she hurried down to the kitchen to grab some water.

She drank a couple of glasses, and then hurried out to her car. When she reached the gym, she went into the bathroom, to check how she looked before she went out on the floor. She looked in the mirror. She looked frail and very sallow. She was the skinniest she had ever been in her life, and she didn't like it one bit. Jason was going to flip. Kimberly hadn't been eating like she was supposed to.

Kimberly ran a brush through her hair and pulled it into a high ponytail and pulled her sweatshirt off. She left the bathroom and went to the locker room to put her sweatshirt away.

When she stepped out on the floor, she saw Stephanie making a face at her. Kimberly didn't rise to her bait. She ignored her and went over to the balance beam. Leslie was sitting on top of the one next to her, and she asked, ''Are you feeling OK, Kim?''

Kimberly turned to look at her. ''I'm fine, and I'm not quitting.'' She immediately said, and climbed on top of the balance beam.

Leslie looked taken aback. ''No one said you were. Are you sure that you're OK? Maybe you ought to take another day off or something.''

Kimberly shook her head vehemently. ''No way. I am fine.'' She gritted her teeth and began to practice her routine, determined to make it through the day, no matter how badly she felt.

An hour later, she was getting showered and changed to head home. She was exhausted, and hardly able to move. Jason was going to kill her when he found out that she was letting herself get this tired without eating. She went out to her car and drove home, trying not to fall asleep as she did so.

When she got there, the phone was ringing. She immediately snatched it up, hoping it was her husband. She hadn't heard from him yet that day, and she was really wanting to talk to him. ''Hello, Scott residence.'' She said.

It was her gorgeous hunk of a husband. ''Hey, Kim. It's me, how are you doing today? Did you eat something?'' He was so worried about her.

Kimberly crossed her fingers behind her back. ''I'm a little tired from practice, but I'm fine. I miss you. Thursday can't come fast enough.'' She opened the fridge to get out a jug of water.

Jason leaned back in the chair he was sitting in. ''Kim, I know that you think that I am nagging you a lot, but I really just am worried about you. I love you so much, and I don't want to lose you. When you had to end up going to the hospital, that scared the shit out of me.''

Kimberly nodded, and remembered that he couldn't see her. ''I know, it scared me, too. I don't want you to lose me, either.'' She dropped the jug of water on the floor and it began to empty. She held onto her stomach, which was aching. She blinked as she began to feel dizzy. Then she lost control in a split second and fell to the floor, hitting her head on the way. Jason was calling her name, and Kimberly tried to answer as she lost consciousness for the second time...

When she woke, she was lying in a hospital bed, and she felt stronger. She looked at all the tubes in her arm, and wondered which one was pumping all the food into her system. Jason was sitting in a chair beside her bed, asleep. She wondered if she had had lain there for long before he had been able to get to her.

The doctor came into the room just then along with Zack. Zachary Taylor was definitely one of the best friends that she had ever had in her life. ''Hey, Zackman.'' She said, never more relieved to see him in her life.

Zack said, ''Hey, girl, glad to see that you're awake.'' He kissed her forehead. ''Now do you see why you need to take a break now? You were all alone. If Jason hadn't called you, you would be dead right now.''

Kimberly nodded. ''I know. I see, and I really am going to take a break and get some help.'' She nodded again when she saw the skeptical look on her friend's face. ''Really. I don't want to put you guys through this anymore.''

Two months later, she and Jason were packing up their things and putting them into the car. They were going to move back to Angel Grove. Kimberly was putting her dream of going to the Olympics aside. It was too much right now, and she really needed to keep going to a therapist and gain some of the weight she lost back. Jason loaded the last box in the car and got the keys to the U-Haul. ''Coming, Kim?'' He asked.

Kimberly stood on the balcony, by the bar. She looked up at it, knowing it would be the last time she ever saw it. She jumped up and did a chinup, then backflipped off and landed gently on her feet. She smiled. She wasn't one hundred percent perfect, but it was OK. Perfect was overrated, anyway.