chapter five

A month later

The numbers appeared on the screen of the scale. They had gone down from the last time Bam stood on the scale, but not far enough as he was concerned. Bam had been exercising obsessively, and was eating less and less. And sometimes when he had an urge to eat other that a 'regular' meal, he would take a diet pill instead. However he still wasn't satisfied with his weight.

He stepped off of the scale as he heard the pounding on the door.

"Yo Bam! Are you done in there? I gotta piss!" Shouted Novak
Bam frantically searched the medicine cabinet for his diet pills, much to no avail.
"Bam?"

"Uh… just a minute!"

He gave up looking in the cabinet when he remembered where he hid his pills. He looked into one box and then tossed it over his shoulder, seeing that it was empty. The second box he checked was empty as well. Glancing at the door in a panic, he then picked up a third box. He sighed in relief when he saw half a pack of pills left.
'I'll have to get more later.' He thought as he quickly popped a pill into his hand.

"Bam could you hurry up?"

"I said I'll be out in a minute!"

Bam swallowed the pill and picked up the boxes he had thrown, and put them back in his hiding spot. He then pushed the scale with his foot over against the wall so it would be out of the way. Novak was about to pound on the door again but Bam opened it with an edgy grin.

"All yours Novak."

"It's about time. What were you doing in there any way?"

"Why do you need to know? Are you keeping tabs on what everyone does in the bathroom?"

"No, sorry I asked." Novak went into the bathroom and closed the door.

Bam sighed as he headed downstairs. When he reached the bottom of the steps he looked up, surprised to see his mom. She walked up to him with a greeting smile.

"Ape what are you doing here?" He asked as she gave him a hug.
"Just thought I would stop by to check up on you." She pulled away from him and eyed him up and down with her hands placed on his waist.
"What?"

"Oh you just look different."

"Different how?"

"I don't know," she gave his side a slight squeeze "you seem thinner. Not a whole lot but… I guess it's just noticeable to a mother's eye." She turned away and went in the direction of the kitchen. "Have you eaten yet?"

"Mom… I…" He followed his mom into the kitchen "Please you don't have to make me any thing."

"So did you eat?"

"Uh… yeah. Yeah I ate." 'If you call drinking a glass of water and taking some diet pills eating…'
"Are you sure? You look like you haven't eaten in a while." 'Besides, you know, that I know when you're lying too me.' "Here let me fix you something."

"Mom please don't."

"I insist." 'He really has gotten thin since the last time I saw him.'

He sighed with a roll of his eyes and allowed April to make him eat. He decided that he would just have to work harder in burning it off. A few minutes later April placed a plate and a bowl on the table before her son. The plate contained a sandwich and the bowl was filled with soup she had just heated up in the microwave. Bam frowned as he reluctantly picked up the spoon. He slowly stirred the soup with the spoon, knowing that his mother was watching him and expecting him to eat.

"Bam are you going to eat, or are you going to play with your food?"

"I really don't feel like eating right now."

"Oh come on. I made it for you the least you could do is eat it."

'Do I have to?' "Why are you doing this? You never made me eat anything while you were visiting me."

"That was before I saw how thin you've gotten. Now eat."

"Mom."

He looked away from her and down into the soup, realizing that she wasn't going to leave until he was a good boy and ate all of his food. April Margera was just a stubborn as her son was, and she was going to make sure that he ate while she was there. Jenn had been telling her in private that Bam hadn't been eating very much lately, and that he had developed a new obsession for exorcising. This visit to check up on her son was to see if what Jenn had been telling her was true. And by the looks of things so far, she was realizing the great truth in it. Bam continued to stir his soup, and only took small nibbles of his sandwich when his mom looked at him. This was not enough to please her, but it was all he was going to allow himself to eat.

"Bam don't make me come over there and force-feed you." April said with growing frustration and concern.

He looked up at her with pleading eyes and stuck his spoon into the soup once more. This time he actually swallowed some of the liquid nutrients just to spite her. He wanted to run into the bathroom to force himself to vomit what little bit of food he ate.

"Bam what's the matter with you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You've never been this finicky when it came to eating. You've hardly touched your sandwich, and the most you've done to your soup was stir it up. You're acting like eating is the worst thing in the world for you to do."

"But I told you that I don't want to eat right now."

"Right now or… ever?"

His lip trembled a little as he fought back tears "Don't… don't do this to me Mom."

"Bam, Jenn has been telling me about you and it worries me."

"Mom… I… There's nothing wrong with me, if that's what you're getting at."

"How long has this been going on, Bam?"

"What? What are you talking about?"

"Bam, if this is the way you want your life to be, then I can't stop you. But that doesn't mean that I can't worry about you."

"There's nothing for you to worry about!" He pounded his fist into the table, causing the dishes to clank.
"All right. If you insist." She stood up from the table and took the food away from Bam. "Have fun making yourself sick, Bam. You obviously don't care what other people think about you."

Bam sat there, stunned, and watched his mom leave. For a minute he didn't know what else to do, so he just sat there at the table and silently wiped a tear away. He then stood up from the table and went upstairs as fast as he could into his bedroom. He closed the door and plopped to the floor. Tears rolled down his cheeks as he frantically did some sit-ups. Even though he didn't eat very much while his mom was there, he still felt the need to burn off the calories.