As he wrapped his arms around her, trying to lift her up, the bones across her chest pushed against his hands. She wasn’t soft anymore, her body was hard, without anything between the skin and the ribcage. She’d never been fat, but she’d been healthy, with slight curves and soft where she was meant to be. Having grown up on Earth, Harper knew this was entirely wrong, but he wasn’t sure he’d ever seen someone look this skeletal. Unless he’d just forgotten? Anxious to get Beka away from the crowd’s gazes, he grabbed her sweater and, with much effort, managed to help her put it back on. She giggled, whisking the hair out of her face. Harper looked over at the bar.
“What did she have?” he called over to the bartender who nodded to three empty vodka bottles. Harper’s eyes widened. Three bottles of straight vodka? No wonder she was drunk. No. Correction. She wasn’t just drunk, she was pissed out of her head. And the body he’d just seen, that couldn’t possible have been her. He moved a hand over, and knowing she’d have killed him if she wasn’t so out of it, ran a hand over her chest and waist, cringing as he realised it was her. He hadn’t imagined it. What could have caused this? The same thing that caused her to get so drunk maybe? Possessed by an alien entity sounded like the only reasonable cause, considering this was Beka. No, not very likely.
“She must be sick,” he decided, remembering how reluctant Beka was to let anyone know when she was sick. “Parasites maybe, feeding on everything she eats. Or some sort of disease where she throws up everything. I have to get her to med bay,” he decided, gritting his teeth as he managed to pull Beka out of the bar.
“I have to…” Beka mumbled before stumbling to her knees and vomiting all over the floor. She was sick for what seemed like ages, throwing up some sort of mix between vodka and bile. When she’d finished and there was nothing more to throw up, Harper helped her up, wrinkling her nose. Great, now she smelt like a mixture of alcohol and sick. Lovely. She leaned against his shoulder, mumbling something inaudible, before her knees buckled and he only just caught her. As he lifted her up, he cringed again. She didn’t seem to weigh more than a child. What was wrong with her?
****
A killer headache welcomed her as she came back to reality. The last thing she remembered was…being really upset over Harper or something…and ordering vodka…she looked around her. Med bay. Oh God. She must have got drunk. Really drunk, if she couldn’t remember anything. A wave of panic hit her. Did she throw it all up? She wasn’t sure how much she’d had to drink, and what if she wasn’t sick after all? She got up from the bed, groaning, but needing to go to the toilets to make sure. As she stumbled into the bathroom, she didn’t really find it hard to be sick. The nausea was hitting her in waves but while she felt like throwing up forcefully, only bile and small amounts of liquid was coming up. Ok, so obviously she had thrown it up. She groaned as she stood up, returning to the bed. Suddenly it hit her. Harper must have taken her back to the Andromeda. Oh God. Poor Harper. She really owed him an apology. It didn’t really come into her head the amount of times she’d had to drag him back to the Maru after a drinking binge. It wasn’t the same. How could she have done that? She wanted to slap herself, but it would be a little silly. Ok, so now she had to swallow her pride. Only, where was everyone?
****
“I had a look,” Rommie said in a grim voice, “and you are definitely right Harper. Beka has lost a copious amount of weight, and it’s becoming quite dangerous for her health.”
“It can’t kill her, can it?” Harper said. Rommie shrugged.
“I don’t know Harper, it depends. If she continues to loose weight, then yes, it can. She weighs just over six stones now, which put her way below the healthy weight for her height.” Trance swallowed.
“I can’t find anything wrong with her,” she admitted. “Beka said before she left…” she paused, unsure of whether to reveal this piece of information, “she said she’d had a miscarriage.” At the surprised glances she got, she hurried to add; “but I checked her over, and there are no signs of her ever being pregnant. Or any illnesses for that matter. I can’t find anything to suggest how she’s lost all this weight.” This piece of information seemed to surprise everyone, apart from Rommie.
“I have been analysing possible reasons,” she said, a little reluctantly. “Along with Trance’s scans, there’s only one possible cause I can find. But, it doesn’t necessarily mean that’s it. Maybe we’ll find something with more scans.” Tyr frowned at her.
“So, what is this cause?” he said impatiently.
“You won’t like it,” Rommie informed them. At the silence that met her, she sighed and continued. “Anorexia Nervosa,” she stated.
“Um…bless you?” Harper said. Rommie shook her head.
“No,” she said, “that’s the name of the illness.”
“No,” Trance said, “I told you, I haven’t found any illnesses.” Rommie glanced at her.
“It’s not an illness you can find in a scan,” she exclaimed. Realising that no one had any idea what it was, she sighed. “It’s something that used to be quite common but nowadays is nearly unheard of. Basically, if Beka has got anorexia it means she has, for some reason, got obsessed with the idea of loosing weight.” Harper took in a sharp draw of breath. This couldn’t possibly be…could it? Rommie continued. “Anything can trigger it really, a remark, a small weight gain. It generally starts as a diet, but becomes an obsession.” Harper broke her off.
“But Rommie,” he said, “even if Beka had this…arexia…whatever thingy, she’s lost enough weight now, hasn’t she!” He gave a small laugh, but it was forced, and sounded more like a creak. “I mean, even if she’d been obsessed with being thin, she’d have been thin long ago.” Rommie looked at him sadly.
“That’s the problem,” she sighed. “If you are anorexic, you don’t know when to stop. No matter how much weight you loose, it’ll never be enough. Even if you’re a skeleton, you’ll see a fat person in the mirror. Beka probably, if she’s got it, thinks we’re all thinner than her.” Harper shook his head.
“You must be joking,” he said loudly, on the verge of tears, “we need to help her and find out what she’s sick with, not sit here and talk about stupid things like this! Since when is Beka obsessed with looks?” He shook his head, trying to get a similar reaction from everyone else. He failed.
“I’m sorry Harper,” Dylan said, “but Rommie’s idea, while unlikely, doesn’t sound so impossible. Beka might never have been obsessed with looks, but we all know from her flash episode that she’s insecure and prone to addictions, or obsessions.” Rommie cut in again.
“There’s only one way to find out,” she said.
****
“Hello Beka,” Trance said cheerfully, “I’ve got you some food.” Beka managed a smile at her, but shook her head.
“I’m not really hungry,” she squeaked. Harper’s heart fell, but he quickly pulled himself up again. Maybe she just wasn’t hungry.
“Well,” Trance said, with a quick glance in Harper’s direction, “if you eat something, you can go back to the Maru. But if you don’t, you’ll have to stay here.” Beka turned down and bit her lip, then shook her head. Harper’s eyes widened. Beka would do anything to get out of med bay. So something was wrong.
“Beka,” he tried to sound cheerful, “it’s your favourite. Have some, and then we’ll go back to the Maru. Or you can go alone, if you prefer.” Beka didn’t reply, but he could see her fighting tears. She still wasn’t touching the food in front of her. Harper sat down, his heart feeling like a stone that had fallen down in his chest.
Anorexia Nervosa. He pledged to read up on it.
