4:00pm, he sits on a chair sighing. He's looking "off" today, not smiling, blah. He has rings under his eyes. They've been getting darker as the weeks have progressed. The flesh around his cheeks sag a little, like there is too much skin for his bones.

Hey, what's up? You don't look perky today. You know we've gotta be perky here

"My body is just....oh, I don't know....tired, I guess"

No surprise there. He is awake at 4:30 every morning like clockwork. The buzzing alarm yells to him that he has to get up to work out again. Every morning it's the same thing. He drags himself out of bed to pump iron, go jogging, or whatever kind of physical activity that I consider to be torture at that ungodly hour. He works out for two hours, then has juice for breakfast or one of those tasteless protein shakes.

I've seen the weight shedding off him, too quickly. He keeps himself on a strict diet with little variety. All of this in the name of attaining the perfect body. He was fit about 30 lbs ago, in my eyes anyway. He looked better than he had his entire life, very fit and trim. Yet he still continues this downward spiral off weight loss. He's obsessed with it. No wonder his body is tired with the relentless assault of deprivation.

You should sleep more.

"I can't sleep, not usually until almost midnight. I'm not tired then. My mind is too busy planning the next day."

You need to take care of yourself better. Shake things up a bit. Why don't you go out to dinner, come home and read a good book, then take a nice warm bath? That ought to relax you and then you'll fall asleep at a decent hour. Either that or get up later, let your body recharge.

"I can't go out to eat! That food's not healthy, I'll undo all the work I've done! I'll gain back weight."

Raises eyebrow. Frankly, you could use a little more there, bud.

"No Robin, I can't. You don't get it. Everytime I look in that mirror, I see what I was. It's kind of like being anorexic. I see the fat clinging to me. I can't go back to that. I just can't."

He gets up and shuffles off back to work, four more hours to go for him. His body is speaking to him but he is unable to hear. He will continue on this path until his body gives out, I fear. He doesn't see. He doesn't listen. He's not ready to. He's wasting away for vanity. I hope the quest doesn't kill him before he is happy with himself.

Log in or register to write something here or to contact authors.