A haze surrounded Vince as he stepped carefully from the shower, mist and vapour already clogging up the one tiny window and the bathroom mirror, which Vince watched with unease as he approached it. He could just see the vague figure of himself through the thick layer of condensation, and hastily picked up a nearby towel and wiped the little droplets of water away.

What he saw horrified him.

Now that the foundation and blusher had been cleansed from his skin, Vince was able to see just how bad his punishment had been.

A thin trail of black bruises marked the angular line of his left cheekbone, an ugly smear across his face serving as a horrid reminder. His right eye was a mess of purple blotches, and it pained Vince to keep it open. His neck was in a similar state: large blackened handprints circled around it. Vince choked, feeling phantom hands restrict his breathing once again. It was sometime before he was able to regain his breath enough to cringe at his torso, which was considerably worse than any other body part.

It was his hips, mostly. Large angry cuts embedded into his skin from fingernails, deep welts that disfigured his innocent skin. Bruises dotted the inside of his skinny thighs, handprints from slaps and grabs. His stomach was in a similar state, discoloured and scratched.

All in all, Vince deduced that he was ugly.

He sighed, putting a feminine hand on his hip, fingers tracing his abuse. Not being able to stand the sight of his lower half already, Vince hastily tied a towel around his waist.

In the corner of his eye, he spotted a cookie that Howard must have shoved under the door for him, knowing that he hadn't eaten in days. Rainbow smarties. His favourite. For a second Vince forgot himself, reached forwards and ate it, a smile on his face that Howard actually cared enough to remember little things like that.

His eyes found their way back to the mirror, back to the crumbs on his fingers.

It doesn't have to be this way. I can be beautiful. But how can I be beautiful if I'm doing this?

He thought back to the coffee he'd had this morning. How many sugars had he put in it, how much milk? How many empty calories would they have? How many calories would a fatty fucking rainbow cookie have?

Before he'd made the conscious decision, Vince was on his knees before the toilet.

With shaking hands, he shoved a finger roughly down his throat. The first few times he gagged, nothing came up. However after a while, a torrent of vomit gushed from the star's throat. Bitter tears stung at his eyes.

A wall apart from the troubled mod, Howard Moon had gone downstairs to pull across the "Sorry, we're closed" sign on the shop window, knowing that without Vince in top form there was no point in even opening. He heard nothing of his friends' struggles. Neither did Bollo, who was down in the storeroom collecting Naboo's elaborate weed smoking device.

However, the shaman remained upstairs. His pointy features narrowed down into a frown as he heard the sound of retching from the bathroom. Realisation suddenly hit him, and Naboo sighed.

"What are you doing to yourself Vince," He muttered under his breath. Instead of neglecting the situation like he was tempted to, Naboo found himself getting up and slowly pushing open the bathroom door. Vince hadn't even noticed; he was too busy with his sickening answer to his problems to even notice Naboo slip into the room, closing the door behind him and locking it. Vince never locked the door, because….well, he'd never been allowed. Naboo had made it clear that he wouldn't have Vince doing hard drugs when he moved in. The shaman wasn't particularly bothered about any other drug, hell; he himself was a partaker in most of them. But he drew the line at Heroin.

Needless to say, Naboo had been a little bit paranoid when Vince Noir, ex-heroin addict, had come under his employment. He loved Vince as a mate, he was a great guy. But years of experience with Vince had proven to Naboo that no matter what, he ALWAYS went back on his word. Which was why Naboo had insisted that Vince had to be looked after at all times.

Snapping out of his thoughts, Naboo tapped the still-puking electro boy on the shoulder. Vince yelped, jumping to his feet in surprise and stumbling back a little. Almost immediately, his eyes flashed with guilt.

"For fuck sake Vince, what the h-…..Oh my god. What the fuck happened to you?"

Vince's guilt face turned to one of hurt in seconds, then to one of anger.

"Oh I'm sorry Naboo, I know I'm fucking hideous, you don't need to point out the obvious."

Naboo rolled his eyes.

"Stop being so melodramatic, you know what I meant. How did you get so beat up? Bum bum times with Howard get a little too rough?"

Suddenly, Vince's tough shell broke. He whimpered, backing away from Naboo as if the shaman planned to strike him down. Naboo was shocked at the look of raw panic on his friend's face.

He took a moment to actually look at the troubled man before him.

Bites. Scratches. Slaps. All in intimate areas. Even with the towel wrapped around his waist, Naboo could still see the deep welts that marked his hips.

"Oh God Vince…were you…..?"

Vince glared at him.

"Yes, I was fucking raped. Happy?"

What a thing to say. As if anyone could be satisfied by news like this.

"I….of course not you fucking moron! But why the fuck was a skinny little bitch like you making himself sick?"

Vinced laughed, as if the answer was obvious.

"I'm fat, aren't I? Fat asses need to go on diets."

"Diets don't entail starving yourself, you alabaster retard! Wait until Howard hears about this."

Vince froze.

"You wouldn't."

"I'm doing it right now," Naboo replied, going to the door. A frantic Vince pulled on his arm, stopping him.

"Naboo you can't! You know how much he'll worry. I'll stop, yeah? Just don't tell him."

The shaman sighed.

"Fine. But you better stop with this you fucktard, cus' I'm not letting you destroy yourself again."

Naboo lowered his voice.

"And on another note, you can mess around with drugs all you like. But if I ever even see a hint of heroin in your eyes again, I'm kicking you out. I mean it."

Vince's face darkened.

"That's not me anymore Naboo, that Vince is long dead. I thought you knew that."

Naboo gave Vince a grim smile.

"Well, it's you, isn't it? We can never be too sure."