Fashion Statement

Fashion Statement

By T.Wrage

Arising out of her coffee coma, she attempted to get up so she could eat something, but nothing tasted good anymore, so what was the point. Coffee seemed to be the only pleasure that she found. It had to be black, no calories in that. She had dieted her whole adolescence and adulthood. Now she just believed this would never end, as she continued in her quest seeking flawlessness. This was a type of perfection that seemed unattainable, as she walked a tightrope slowly leading to her destruction.

She had always been beautiful, no one disputed this fact, and even she could not deny it. The mirror had always been her closest companion. Each day she would rise and gaze at the image she would find there. She would polish this glass until it gleamed and glistened, as nothing could come between her and the image she longed to bring to excellence.

No one was made privy to this self-deluded world in which she dwelled. She was always very good at hiding her secret. Her friends were far and few between. She had no family as she was an only child and her parents had died years ago.

She had been the product of a lush life. Since her parents were quite wealthy she never had to work a day in her life. All her money could not satisfy her desire for the unattainable beauty that she so desperately craved. The few so called friends that she did have turned a blind eye to her life style and reckless behavior.

This morning was as all the others. She struggled to maintain this perfectly unbalanced life she had embraced. Today, though something was different she felt strange and could hardly get out of bed. Eventually she stopped trying. She lay there unable to move.  Then she found it difficult to breathe. Ultimately, she stopped doing that also.

The maid who came to clean twice a month, whether the house needed it or not, noticed an odor; it was pungent and noxious. She became ill as she entered the bedroom. There she found the body, still and cold. Immediately she called the authorities.

The coroner arrived and gazed down at her emaciated corpse, so fragile that her bones seemed to protrude up through her thin flesh. She looked as though she had been starved for months. He shook his head as he spoke to the officer at the scene, “Why would anyone do this to herself?”

The officer glumly replied, “Who knows, you know women today, they all want to be skinny. Maybe she was making a fashion statement.”