91. Gluttony

Genre: Paranormal romance, drama

Type: Series

Characters: Leigh, Eloise, Lily, Krisis

Prompt: 90. Gluttony

Word Count:  1070 +

Warning:  bleh pictures

Rating:  M- (coarse language, adult situations, nudity. N.B-Applies to the whole series)

Summary: Leigh and Eloise have a confrontation...

90. Gluttony

________

Bridgeport, present day...

For the eighth night in a row hunger pangs disturbed Leigh’s sleep. She quietly made her way to the kitchen, careful not to wake Lily sleeping peacefully in her crib.

The band was in Riverview for the past week, and Leigh had volunteered to look after Lily. Michaela wasn’t responsible enough, and in any case, she was staying wth a friend in her parents' absence.

In five minutes flat, Leigh had consumed the large tub of ice cream. It was Eloise’s favorite flavor, and she knew her friend would have a fit in the morning. But at that moment she couldn’t care less about Eloise and her favorite flavors. All she wanted was to satisfy the gnawing hunger at the pit of her stomach.

Feeling far from satiated, she rubbed her tummy gently, noting the slight bump.

“I really have to stop with the midnight snacks,” she thought. The kilos were slowly piling on. She’d noticed. And if she had, Krisis had too, but he was smart enough not to point it out. Knowing she needed to hit the gym didn’t stop her from rummaging through the fridge again though.

The juice went down as quickly as the ice cream had. She moved on to the bread next.  When Eloise rose to attend to the call of nature, Leigh had already eaten the entire loaf.

“Leigh, are you okay?” Eloise asked on her way back to her bedroom. She hovered at the door, and glanced at Leigh sitting forlornly at the table.

Even though the room was bathed in darkness, Eloise saw the place looked a mess. There were containers of food everywhere, breadcrumbs and empty crisp packets on the table and kitchen counters, an empty pizza box decorated the floor, and her friend seemed to be lost in thought, staring blankly into space.

“I’m fine,” Leigh replied tearfully. She didn’t understand what was going on with her, and she felt ashamed of herself. She’d gone through tons of food, but she was still not full.

Eloise joined her at the table.

“How long?” She asked in a gentle tone, taking both Leigh’s hands in hers. Leigh gave her a blank stare, and she explained. “How long have you had an eating disorder? Did it start in Champs Les Sims? Barnacle Bay? Does it have to do with what you went through after Jacqueline compelled you? How long Leigh?”

“No! I don’t have an eating disorder, Eloise!” Leigh’s denials were profuse. She shook her head, a confused look in her eyes. How did her friend come to that conclusion? Yes, she had been eating far more than usual, but to suggest she had an eating disorder was absurd!

She caught Eloise's scent then, her sweet enticing smell played havoc with her senses. She bit her lower lip to prevent herself from clawing at her friend, and she slowly counted to ten, forcing her racing heart to slow down. It took her a while to calm herself and for the graphic images in her head, of herself ripping into her friend's neck, to disappear.

“Come on Leigh. Look around you. Look at this place. You think we haven’t heard you sneak around in the middle of the night, and we haven’t noticed the vanishing food, not that we’re keeping score, of course; but the groceries have been going quicker than usual.” Eloise replied, hoping she didn’t sound too harsh or petty. She and Devon had talked about it a few times but neither of them had been brave enough to broach the subject with Leigh.

“I don’t have an eating disorder Eloise!” Leigh reaffirmed her earlier statements before quickly making her way to her room.

She knew if she’d stayed one moment longer, she would have attacked Eloise. Lately, she found her friend’s scent, along with Devon’s, appealing.  It disturbed her that she was having sadistic thoughts about ripping through her brother and best friend.

For the past few days, her disturbing urges had kept her locked away in her room, and when she did venture out, she spent a few minutes in their company before quickly retreating to safety. 

She blamed the blood bond she’d formed with Krisis. The weird cravings had begun soon after she’d tasted his blood, but she’d ignored them, hoping with time they’d go away. For the hundredth time since their encounter in Barnacle Bay, she wondered if he’d unknowingly turned her, and her transformation just took a little longer to occur, the standard time was three days, and they were already four weeks into the their blood bond...

She waited a while, until she was sure Eloise was safely inside her bedroom, before she sneaked back into the kitchen. This time she didn’t hold back on the meat. First to go were the beef patties. She stuffed them down, raw and bloody, without a moment’s thought, and then she quickly moved on to the sausages. If the chicken wasn’t frozen, she would have consumed it too.

She started to cry when she saw the mess she’d made. She was still hungry, but the raw patties and sausages had satisfied the hunger a little. She knew though there was only one thing that would completely take away the feelings of emptiness. She knew it that first night when the cravings first started; and she knew it now. She just kept hoping if she ignored it, it would go away.

She reached for the home phone on the wall and dialed Krisis’ number. He picked up after a few rings.

“You’re up late, what’s going on?” She cried harder when she heard the smile in his voice.

“Leigh what’s wrong? Did something happen? Is it Lily?” He asked again, this time concern had replaced the smile.

“No. Nothing. Lily’s fine…I-”She couldn’t bring herself to tell him; he’d think her weird and messed up, like she had some sick compulsion or something.

“Leigh, you know you can tell me anything. It hurts me to hear you cry like this, and I’m so far away to help you. Please tell me what’s wrong.” He murmured again.

“I think I’m in trouble…”

And his heart dropped to the floor. He’d had the sense that something was wrong with her for a few days now, but each time they spoke on the phone she’d always assured him she was fine, and Lily too. He knew he should have listened to his gut…