Chapter 2: She

"-Awn! Oh my God-"

Bright light.

"Dammit, you jackass, wake up!"

Forte? Where are you?

"Oh! I think she's coming to!"

When my vision had cleared, I found myself strapped to a bed. The beeping noises of the heart monitor buzzed in my ears, causing an unbearable headache. It made me feel no better that the patches on my body made me itch like crazy.

Instinctively, I scrunched my nose up. God, I hated the smell of medicine. I tried to speak but the dizziness was swallowing up my consciousness. My ears strained to catch the conversation being held by the bed side.

"She's fine now. I'll leave the rest to you. She can be discharged by tomorrow. We'd like to run more tests to make sure she's fine."

"Oh, thank you, Doctor. Yes, we'll take it from here," my mom's voice was slightly broken but I knew she was relieved to hear I was okay.

"Mom?" I squawked, my voice hoarse from dehydration.

"Dawn?" she rushed to my side and asked, "Are you feeling alright now, dear?"

"Mom, for God's sake, get me out of this place," I snarled, trying to get the blankets off. Unfortunately, Forte, my 'trusted' brother, flung them over me again.

"You're not getting out of here till we can ascertain nothing's wrong with you, he growled. "Tch, you made us worried sick about you, dumbass."

"It was just a little heart attack. I'm fine, aren't I? Doctor Nathan said so," I persisted. "It's not like it hasn't happened before anyway."

My mom gave a hysterical shriek and collapsed onto the chair. Forte sighed and shook his head. I just remained silent, looking around the room.

"Where's Dad?" I asked, not really wanting to know the answer.

"Out getting himself drunk."

Should've guessed as much. Since he'd been married to Mom, he'd been out day and night either drinking or playing truant with some gangs. He only came home for three reasons; to refill his wallet, to eat and to sleep.

Wouldn't be surprised if he'd already started sleeping around with other women.

"Dawn, you have to stop this," Forte said, "You can't keep landing in a hospital every time you overeat. You have to go on a diet."

Diet. Man, I hated that word more than I hated hospitals. That's all I hear out of everyone I see. Nowadays, I can't even eat a decent meal in school without people sniggering at me. Then again, in those conditions, Forte would take the tray from me and glare at the rest, growling, "Can't my sister get some food for her beloved brother? I'll give you a second to turn around before I break your necks."

I really treasured Forte. He always protected me from whoever bullied me. My only safe refuge was home. Nowhere else could make me safe.

"Dieting will not help," I insisted. "I just want to get out of here. For, please, let's go?"

"No can do, Dawn. You're staying until after Doctor Nathan's done with the tests. We can't risk you getting another heart attack," said Forte, shaking his head.

"You worry too much."

"You don't worry enough," said Forte. "Like you said, it's not the first time you've had a heart attack. We have to do all we can to make sure it never happens again."

I leaned back and closed my eyes. "Fine. I give up. Wake me up when he's done with his mumbo jumbo."

By evening, I was so drained thanks to the amount of blood the doctor had to withdraw from me that I skipped dinner - something I almost never did - and slept instead.

When I woke up, Forte and Mom were sleeping on chairs beside me. I had my breakfast which consisted of nothing but vegetables because I was also slightly constipated. By 12 in the afternoon, Doctor Nathan confirmed I had nothing to be worried about at the moment and allowed us back home but only under the condition that I returned to the hospital for regular checkups.

"Finally," I thought, huffing at the hospital before getting into the car.

Inside the car, Mom started the engine and said, "I'm going straight to the office after I drop you off so Forte, dear, make sure Dawn doesn't eat any more than what the doctor prescribed. Get rid of all her junk food and do not allow her outside the house if it's to buy any food."

Forte nodded and looked at me in a way that meant "You heard her."

Rolling my eyes, I looked out through the windows. Yeah, that was pretty much my life. Sorry for the late intro, but my name's Dawn - as you would've already figured - and I'm turning 15 in two months. My mom's Paula, 39, and my brother's Forte, 17. We're pretty much a happy family, despite my constant trips to the hospital.

Let me tell you why. I'm obese, apparently. I presently weigh between 75 to 80 kilograms and that's monstrous to Mom, though I kept telling her there were fatter people in the world. No offense.

So far, I've fainted once in school because of indigestion and suffered two minor heart attacks including the one I just had yesterday. My unbalanced diet, according to Doctor Nathan, was the prime cause to all the incidents as well as the lack of exercise.

Recently my mom bought a treadmill for me from some fitness shop, but I've only gone on it two or three times since its purchase. We had P.E. classes in school, of course, but I've always made up excuses that got me out of them such as fake asthma, stomach cramps and all that.

Well, I've never been at outdoor person. I've always preferred being inside, either eating, being in front of a television or getting cosy on a sofa while reading a good book.

To make matters worse, my dad had been confirmed a diabetic but he hid the fact from Mom before they got married. Turns out I might be prone to diabetes. How comforting.

Other than that, though, I lead somewhat a normal life.

I go to school at Mort Hans Innerworth Gregor Heathcliff, also known as Mort HIGH. Each name represents the various principals who founded the school. Mortimer Ainsley was the boss, however, so his name remained as Mort.

Being an introvert, I didn't have a lot of friends. I didn't have you called a group of over exultant girls either, who have frequent fads over new Roxy arrivals and pink handbags I could get for quarter the price at a cheap shop.

I guess I'm just... different. In more ways than one.