Alexandra Raisman, known as Aly by her friends and family members, had just returned home after an injury she had received during one of her own competitions.
Albeit being lightly injured, she had nonetheless been forced to stay at home and rest for a few months, as it was ordered her by her physician and, even, by her own coach. Still, not one to let herself down, Aly had accepted the orders with a smile on her face, already dreaming of when she was going to return to her career.
But in her household, not everyone was as optimistic as she was.
Her parents, after having the pleasure of having their daughter back to them for barely a week, already could see that Alexandra was thinking only on returning to the career she loved so much. Rick and Lynn weren’t bad parents, they equally loved each of their children but, Aly was a special case in their eyes.
Especially since the injury, her mother began to fret on her daughter, risking herself in such a way over what she thought to be nothing worthy of the said risks. One night, as Aly had gone to bed to rest, both Lynn and Rick stayed behind in the dining room to discuss.
Rick Raisman was a gentle man, he was kind and polite, and yet, if someone had ever tried to harm one of his childs he would have turned on them like a wild beast. Still, as much as it had pained him to see his beautiful daughter unable to perform due to the injury, he wasn’t overly worried. His wife, Lynn, instead was getting afraid of the risks her daughter was placing herself in.
“Lynn, I think you’re overreacting”
“It was supposed to be harmless! What if, instead of bruising her legs, she had fallen headfirst and tumbled down on her neck?”
“Come on, you know Aly…she would never be so careless…”
“And yet, she had this injury.
Rick, it is not a matter of trusting our girl… Is a matter that the accidents can, and will, happen. Why should we let her go and increases her chance of having her life at risk? I’m not saying we should lock her in… But, we could find a way to have her leave this gymnastic thing.
Let her find a real job, living a real life.”
Rick, slowly mulled on his wife words. Although he was trying to not let it show, Aly’s injury had shaken him to the core. Deep inside, he knew of having the same doubts of his wife.
“And what would you do? How can you tell her that she can’t return to her career? She would end up destroyed…if she would listen at all.”
Lynn straightened herself as she sat at the table, looking at her husband in the eyes, showing him the resolve, she had within her to get their daughter to live in a safe environment.
“I know that. For this reason, I thought about something… Aly must rest in these months… so, no sports, no exercises and no tiring activities. All we’ve got to do is to let her grow complacent and satisfied of living here… and while we carry it out, we can make sure that she’s well fed. That, coupled with her currently stress-free life, will surely get her to put on a few pounds, so rendering her…”
“Rendering her unable to return to her career! Lynn, you’re a genius. But are we right in doing so? She’s a healthy girl already…wouldn’t it be bad of us to force her in such a way?”
“Do you prefer a slightly fatter daughter, or one that has lost her ability to move after an incident? We will just cater to her a bit, enough to let her lose this chance…afterwards, we can help her diet back again… in a few years, just to be on the safer side.
You know that she’s headstrong.
If we don’t work behind the scenes, she would never listen to us.
What do you say, babe?”
“Alright, Lynn. I’m not entirely convinced of doing this behind her back but, I agree with you. If we asked her to retire, she would ignore us and go for her way.
Yes. Let’s do it. But we have to be careful. Although we have only a few months to let her grow, we can’t be too hasty in this.”
As the two parents discussed and decided their plan of action, Aly was fast asleep already, dreaming of returning to the sport she loved so much.
As the new day began, knowing full well that their daughter was used to wake up pretty early in the morning, Lynn was already behind her door room, waiting to be hearing her daughter waking up. As soon as she heard her, she entered the room, trying to act as casually as she had brought with her a basket of already made laundry, to be used as justification if Aly was to ask.
“Hey mom…g’morning…”
“Good Morning, sweetheart. What are you doing already up?”
“What do you mean? I always wake up at this time…”
Lynn took a stern expression as she turned toward her daughter.
“That’s exactly what I mean. You should be resting. Doctor’s order, remember? Now, get back to bed and sleep a bit more…I’ll come to wake you up at the proper time.”
“A-Alright mom…Sheesh…”
Slowly, the young gymnast returned to bed and placed herself under the covers. As she wondered how she was going to return to sleep, now that she had woke up, she slowly drifted off on her own. Lynn, seeing her daughter sleeping again, hurried out of the room, silently, and went to the kitchen where Rick was busy preparing the breakfast for their daughter.
“So, Lynn, she’s in bed again, uh?”
“Yeah. I guess we shall have to keep doing this for a few days, until she starts sleeping in on her own. How’s breakfast coming along?”
“Well, it’s nothing much, in truth. Just a glass of orange juice, a scone, and a few cookies. Only, I’ve spiked everything with those medicines we took online.
Within a few days she should start developing quite the hunger. And with that she will start snacking on her own without our intervention anymore.”
“Good.
Remember Rick, we’re doing this for Aly’s future well-being”.
For the entire week, the two parents kept up with these and similar tricks, as they started to let Alexandra live quite the relaxing time. Always being around ready to provide to her for anything, barely letting her move a single finger. All meals that they brought to her, for Lynn requested her to just stay in bed to rest, were spiked with the same drugs that they had been using for her breakfasts.
As this lazy week had passed, Aly’s really was getting used to this royalty treatment and so began to get lazier on her own.
As the new week started, she began to wake up early in the morning, less and less, as she did notice that waking up a couple of hours later, especially since she couldn’t train, she always felt well rested. Still, she couldn’t fail to notice that lately she had started to feel rather hungry throughout the day but instead of making an issue out of it, she excused herself since she was ‘injured’ and ‘in need of the extra energies’ to cope with that. Plus, she couldn’t deny that having her breakfast prepared and brought directly to her by her parents was just so good.
Although both Lynn and Rick did all they could to keep her as still as possible, neither saw any real change in their daughter physical appearance, although her behavior had started to change already. As she was growing already lazier than before, reaping in the benefits of having them doing everything for her but, her body looked just fit and trim as it had always been.
Still, the couple didn’t worry. They knew that it was going to take some time for their plan to be really in motion.
They had just to wait a little bit longer, and then they could really start pushing on her with calories.
Not that Alexandra wasn’t already starting on her own.
Each and every day she made sure to have always a few more snacks than previously, during her daily ‘activities’, which involved more and more to just laze about in bed surfing the net on her phone or watching TV, instead of practicing light exercises in her room.
As that second week passed, Aly’s began to really get lazier about anything, which meant that she mainly woke up late, for her previous standards, at around 9:00 am, while she enjoyed a hearty homemade breakfast directly in her bed, quickly followed by a long stream of snacks brought forward by her mom, as she ate them leaning in bed, watching TV. During lunch and dinner time, as well as throughout the afternoon, she often found herself always munching something that she had always avoided before, being too rich in sugar or fats, or without the proper nutrients.
And yet, only the thought of depriving herself of these ‘harmless’ treats she had grown so used to, made her feel weak, so she simply gave herself some excuses as she started to indulge a little bit more with each passing day.
And yet, as the third week passed, Lynn still couldn’t see any external evidence that her daughter had started to grow thicker. Both she and her husband had made sure that their eldest daughter had turned into a lazier version of her previous self but, her body seemed to still be refusing to her physical perfection.
It was for this reason that, during one of the weekly, evening meetings, as they discussed about what to do with Alexandra, Lynn came out with the idea of…
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