TW: eating disorder, mentions of abusive parents
I woke up in an unfamiliar room. I tried to sit up but my headache made me fall back down. I also noticed my uncle was next to me.
"Hi, darling." He said quietly. "How are you feeling?"
"I'm okay. My head is killing me. Where am I?"
"In the nurses office." My uncle said. I was able to open my eyes with the pounding headache.
I noticed professor Quinn was leaning on the door with a plastic bag in his hand. Then the nurse walked in.
"What happened?" I asked her
"You fainted." She said
"What?"
"Your blood sugar was very low. Did you eat or drink anything today."
I shook my head. "I wasn't hungry."
They all looked puzzled.
"Mr. Jacob's. May I speak to you in the hallway please?" He walked away from me and left the room the same time professor Quinn walked inside.
"You weren't hungry?" He asked
I shook my head.
"I don't believe that." He said while grabbing some snacks that were in the plastic bag and hanging it to me. I pushed his hand away. He got on the bed and sat next to me.
"You want to tell me what's wrong?"
I kept looking at my hands. He leaves my chin and turned my head to look at him. He wasn't smiling. Now I knew he was being serious.
"ARFID"
"What is that?" He asked me
"Avoidant restrictive food intake disorder."
His face relaxed. "You're starving yourself. Right?"
I stayed silent for a few seconds up until I nodded.
"When did this happen?" Quinn asked
"When my Dad died."
His jaw dropped. "I'm sorry." He said.
"It's fine. My dad wasn't the problem."
"What do you mean?"
"My mom was an alcoholic and an addict. She always body shamed me and always starved me when I was very young. She was also physically abusive to me."
He put his and over his mouth.
"This scar is from when she hit me in the head with a bottle."
He then took his hand away from his mouth and nodded.
"What about your father?" He asked
I felt my eyes starting to water. "He died from gastric cancer."
(A/N: gastric cancer is a tumor in the stomach, or known as stomach cancer, that causes change in appetite, vomiting, feeling heartburn, or nausea.)
He noticed and wiped my tear with his thumb.
"Listen, Rose. You know I'm hear of you need somebody to talk to if you to scared to speak to your uncle. Okay."
I nodded. "But I want to help you get over this eating habit because it's not healthy."
I smiled at him since he's nice enough to help me.
"I do want you take these with you and eat them. You need your energy for the assignment."
"Assignment?"
"You weren't paying attention. Were you?"
I shook my head.
"I'm sure Shelby can help you with that."
I took him by surprise by wrapping my arms around his neck and hugged him. "Thank you." I whispered.
We pulled away when I heard my uncle come back into the room with the nurse. The nurse told me about what she thinks why I fainted and I told her my history about my dad died and my mom got into the drinking and abuse. The nurse then told me to go home and rest. Professor Quinn was nice enough to get my maths and my other classes for the rest of the day. My uncle was disappointed that he had to get back to work but professor Quinn said he could drive me home.
We both arrived at my home. "Your home is lovely." Professor Quinn said.
"Thank you."
I got out of his car and started walking to my front door. I heard footsteps behind me. I turned around and noticed professor Quinn walking with me. I didn't mind it.
"Well I better get back to class. I'm sure the kids have questions."
"I'm sure they do."
"I won't tell them I was with you."
I nodded. "Thank you Professor."
I unlocked the door and walked in. I tried to close the door but professor Quinn held the door open.
"What is it?" I asked
"Joseph."
I didn't understand what he meant.
"What?" I asked
"My name is Joseph."
I just smiled at him.
"See you tomorrow. Joseph."
He winked at me and walked back to his car.
I made it to my room and noticed that by backpack felt funny. I opened it and less it was the plastic bag filed with the snacks I refused to eat in the nurses office. I didn't notice that it was filled with all of the snacks I loved when I was with my Dad. I smiled and took the bag out of my backpack. I took at of them out of the plastic bag and saw a piece of paper at the bottom. I took it out and saw that it was a folded peace of paper with writing on it.
"Rose Jacob's" it said. I opened it and noticed it was from Joseph
"If you're reading this, you made a good decision on eating the foods. I know it's going to be hard to get over this disorder. But, I want you to know you are not alone. If you need anything else, call me.
- Professor of the arts."
I giggled at his note. I saw that he wrote his number. I decided to type it in my phone and sent him a text
-I got your message.
I put my phone down and did my homework that I missed. I had Shelby on the phone to help me with my math work. It's good that we have the same class.
After I finished my homework, I went down stairs for dinner. Before I could say anything, Shawn wrapped his arms around me and picked me up.
"Shawn..... I-I can't breathe."
He put me down and examined me.
"Are you hurt? Feeling any pain? Uncle told me what happened."
"I'm better." I said
He nodded and sat down at the dinner table.
Shawn and uncle Rick were surprised that I finished dinner. For the first time I enjoyed dinner.
I told them goodnight and went back up to my room to take a shower.
I got out of the shower and put in some short shorts and a t-shirt. I was about to lay down until I heard my phone go off. I looked at it and saw that it was from Joseph.
-Good. Sleep well my darling.
-You too. Professor.
I plugged my phone up and pulled the covers up. I couldn't stop thinking about Joseph unit sleep took me away.