Anabel Stone's Story

Anabel paused in the doorway to the building, going through her bag to make sure she had her key one last time. She had checked before leaving the dance studio and a couple times on her way home, but she had a bad habit of getting nervous that she didn't have it, that she had left it somewhere, even if she had checked a couple minutes ago and remembered finding them. It usually slowed her down considerably, but if it gave her some peace of mind, she didn't care. And moving burned calories, so the more she dug through her bag, the more calories she'd burn. Sure, the amount of calories it took to find the key wouldn't contribute all too much to her burn-all-the-calories thing, she didn't care. Every calorie counts.

Once she found it, making sure she still had it, she started to walk through the apartment, holding her empty Mountain Dew bottle. When she was fatter, she would always get a Mountain Dew on her way back from dance, and it was important to make it seem like she still drank it. She would buy a drink, duck into an alley a couple blocks away from the building, and pour out about half of it to make it look like she drank it. Then she'd figure out ways to dispose of it through the rest of the evening so her mother wouldn't notice. Easy enough.

Anabel smiles shyly back at the girl who had smiled at her. It wasn't very much, but it made her happy. Or as happy as she got. Most people either pretended she doesn't exist or aren't afraid to admit how much they hate her. It's probably because I'm fat, she thought as she walked down the hall, frowning a little to herself. Why would they like me? People liking me would make me happy, and fat people don't deserve to be happy.

She stopped at her door and unlocked it, slipping into her apartment. She wanted to go out tonight, but she had no clue where she would go. There are normally people at the park, she could take a book and read, pretending to be out to enjoy the fresh air or something. Maybe someone would talk to her. But probably not. She could, as long as she stayed as far away from the hot dog stand near the east end as possible. She didn't want to smell it. Cooking smells made her feel sick, but she wanted to eat at the same time. She figured the sick feeling was because the smell was making her fatter, even though she knows it isn't logical.

She just needed to shower first. She gets in the shower and does everything as quickly as possible, suddenly eager to get out. It was strange, normally she'd switch on her computer, go on Netflix, and have a Doctor Who marathon, but she didn't want to tonight.

Anabel got out of the shower, pulled on a pair of jeans that were quite loose on her, much to her delight, and a top. She slipped on her shoes, put her key and phone in her purse, grabbed a jacket and a book, and left. She walked to the park slowly, she had plenty of daylight left and it wasn't too far away. Once she got there she found a tree to sit under and looked at the cover of the book she was going to start. It was The Fault In Our Stars by John Green. She'd been meaning to read at for awhile, but hadn't gotten around to it yet. She read the summary once again, then opened the book and started reading, disappearing into Hazel's story.

Anabel sighed as twilight began to fall over the park. She got up, dusted off the back of her pants in case any grass stuck to them or anything, made sure she had everything, and started walking back to the building, more quickly this time, because she wanted to make it back before it really got dark. Walking alone at night always made her paranoid, even if she didn't have a reason to be. Every now and again, she checked her purse to make sure she had her key, always having it. She finally made it back to the building, opened the gate and shut it quietly behind her. She started to walk to her apartment, but two guys were blocking the hallway. "Excuse me," she said quietly, keeping her head down and avoiding eye contact.