TRIGGER WARNING talk of eating disorders and body image issues.
Skinny.
She pinched and pulled at her stomach, frowning at the mirror and seeing the skin she was pulling at as fat instead of seeing her ribs that were showing dangerously, or her spine that was sunken and pointy, threatening to break through her skin.
She turned and looked at her profile, poking her thighs and hips, seeing only stretch marks there and not her hip bones that looked like daggers or pieces of glass ready to slice through the skin.
She looked at her arms, pinching the skin on her biceps and not seeing her wrists that looks delicate and fragile enough to break in a subtle breeze, telling herself that she needed to fix her flaws and lose more, more, more, not aware that she was killing herself in the process… or maybe she just didn’t care.
She tilted her head and prodded at her cheeks and neck, feeling hot tears stream down her cheeks silently as the skin moved, not seeing the way the tears dipped drastically at her sunken cheekbones then curved up again at her sharp jaw.
She pulled her hair back and observed she shoulders and her collarbone, pinching the skin on her chest and biting her lip to keep the sobs in, looking but not seeing her sternum nearly breaking through the skin she was pinching from being so underweight.
She let her hair fall and ignored the grumbling of her stomach, pulling her dress back on to cover herself, telling herself she wanted to cover the excess fat she had yet to get rid of, when really, if the world saw her as she was, they would gasp and tell her to eat, tell her to take care of herself because she looked as if she was going to be blown away by a slight wind.
She pulled on a sweater to cover her arms, wanting to cover the skin there but not knowing that if people saw them they would be scared for her life and carry her to a hospital on their back.
She told herself to cover herself up and save people the dismay at having to see her for who she thought she was.
Photo credit here
Thank you all for reading, and thank you @mariannewest for the prompt!