Unlock Me

Chapter 2

I cannot say that I like the holidays, but I cannot say I loathe them either. They're just in between.

It's the space of time when you're separated from life as you know it, left to fend for yourself. At the same time though, it's like a parallel universe. If, for instance, you were home-schooled, days would typically be like this. Boredom central. Not really an ideal way to spend your days, huh?

Obviously, the minus comes with the plus. There's all that thinking time (which is why Sierra probably loves going on vacation), along with a stretch of nothingness to do, well... nothing. In that period of nothing, you see nothing, say nothing, eat nothing, read nothing, and just do nothing. Nothingness should not be underestimated though. I think that nothingness can save your life. Certainly not from boredom, but from the threatening world beyond. Doing nothing cannot hurt you.

Ahem. Excuse me for having a Sierra-moment. This is what happens when I attempt to do nothing. I become Sierra's clone and start to think like Aristotle.

My stomach suddenly gurgled as a waft of beef patty aroma edged past my nostrils. I glanced at my alarm clock. Dinner? Already?

I reluctantly hopped off my bed in search of food, like a cat chasing after a mouse.

Unsurprisingly, I saw that Mum had started dinner without me. She was already feeding Jinni. I pouted at them and shuffled over to the kitchen island to compile a plump hamburger, with lettuce and melted butter oozing down the sides.

Mum exclaimed to me, stuffing a spoonful of diced tomatoes into Jinni's mouth to stop her from gurgling saliva, "What took you so long?"

"Muuuuuuum," I groaned, "You didn't tell me to come. It wasn't my fault!"

She rolled her eyes as she wiped Jinni's chin with the filthy-looking bib tied loosely around her neck. This only made Jinni dribble even more. Can't really blame her though, she's only a year old.

I sat down and practically gulped down the whole burger in one go. Then I went for seconds.

As I stood up, Mum nudged me and said, "Get me one, will you?"

With a muffled 'okay', I made my way to make another two burgers. Naturally, I gave myself the biggest one.

As I chomped on my second burger, slightly slower than it's predecessor, I watched Jinni toss her food in her petite hands as though she were juggling balls. Short, dark curls rippled down to her ears, bits stuck to her cheeks with saliva and milk. Her eyes were wide set and were brown, with a slight dark mustard tinge to them. Her lips, though drowned in drool and tonight's dinner, were small and red, almost like an equal sign drawn in red texta.

She looked so much like me.

It was strange though. We both had different dads (my dad was actually married to Mum, while Jinni's dad was one of Mum's two-month boyfriends), but yet we had striking physical similarities. However, the weirdest thing was that neither of us looked anything like Mum. Mum, being Dutch and very longed-limbed, had the body of Gisele Bündchen, even at 41. She had shoulder-length dirty blonde hair, and enchanting forget-me-not blue eyes. This was how I saw her, anyway. Her many boyfriends may have thought otherwise.

I finished my second hamburger in two minutes flat, which was actually not that fast for me. Some say that the faster you eat, the more you can fit in, but I've tried this before, and I can safely say that it doesn't matter what speed you eat. You can always stuff it in. All you need is the motivation. And boy, was I hungry this time. Oh, and motivated.

Like clockwork, I stood up, made myself a burger, and ate it, then repeating the cycle several times. When I got to my fifth burger—yes, I bothered to count—Mum decided to say something.

"Mason, dear," she often added on the 'dear' when she was going to insult me, "Aren't you full yet? You already had those slices of pizza for afternoon tea! What's going on? Are you having a growth spurt?" Mum lifted Jinni out of her highchair and let her toddle off. "If you are, I should give you more milk and calcium instead. It's better for you."

Laughing hesitantly, I said, "Er, Mum, I'm just hungry. And I eat this much normally anyway."

As she collected the dishes, Mum sighed, "You know, dear, if you have the body type of your dad's..." Mum purposely drifted off from her sentence, giving me a chance to answer it myself. I didn't want to give up though.

"... I will be perfectly fine. Thank you for warning me Mum, but it's really not necessary!" I protested.

There was silence for a few moments, only interrupted by the clink-clanking of Mum scrubbing the dishes and Jinni clashing around on a baby keyboard. I presumed that Mum was preparing for a lecture.

"Mason, dear, it's really time that you ate healthily," Yep, I was right. Mum said firmly, "The unfortunate thing about us women is that the fat we consume grows from inside to out. So yes, the extra fat may show, but it could be instead coating your internal organs. And you wouldn't want that, would you? Imagine, drooping, sagging white cellulite smothering and killing your organs..." Mum literally shivered in horror as she said this, "It's awful. Just plain awful. And I won't allow it. You're going to go on a cabbage soup diet from today, through to the end of the month. I will track your progress, and if you're good, I'll let you have a fruitarian diet next month."

My mouth dropped, and bits of beef and saliva even eased towards the edge of my mouth, Jinni-style. "Mum! You can't! There's nothing wrong with me! I'm not fat!" My world... my world of choc-chip cookies and fairy bread and steaming hot meat pies crashed onto my head. I felt dizzy from the impact.

"Enough is enough!" Mum announced, "You are on the borderline of becoming overweight, Mason, and we need to prevent this from happening!"

Right there, I actually started to cry. I didn't want to leave good food. I preferred to call myself a connoisseur, rather than a gourmand, but now, I began to question myself.

With my chest heaving and nose overloading with snot, I disappeared into the warmth and hospitality of my room. Then, sitting on my bed, I stared at the 'Eat! Healthy!' poster Mum gave me last year for Christmas, lost in thought.