My first day had been a nice, relaxing change of pace. Green Gables was one of the nicest places I had ever seen. The facility was one of the nicest places I had ever seen. I was beginning to think those Tylenol pills had worked and I wound up in heaven. My room mate, Rick, seemed like a cool enough guy, and we appeared to have a lot in common, including reasons for being here. The surroundings had pulled me in, to the point where I was optimistic about the future, for the first time in my life.
The next morning, when I woke up, I got dressed and headed to the cafe for breakfast. The smell of breakfast wafting through the air warmed my nostrils as when I opened the door. I had always been a fan of my mother's cooking, but the delectable foods in my immediate vicinity could easily serve as a close second. French toast, pancakes, biscuits, everything was there, like a buffet in my dreams. We were so lucky to be here, where so many clearly cared for our happiness. I only wondered if people got sick of such treatment; I would certainly meet some new people today.
I grabbed a little bit of everything and found a seat. I was apparently early, and there were not a whole lot of people in here yet. It was probably for the better; I was going to town on all of this amazing food and I probably looked like some kind of food obsessed monster. I heard the door swing open and I saw a girl enter the cafeteria. She was skinny, with brown hair. She looked a bit snooty, and she only grabbed one french toast. Her eyes met mine, and, after filling up a cup with water, she made her way to my table.
"Can I sit here?"
I looked up at her. She was a very pretty girl. "Of course. I'm Adam."
She sat down, sliding her tray on the table. "I'm Stephanie. You must be new here. I haven't seen you here before."
"Yeah, I just showed up yesterday. I absolutely love it here! It's such a nice place."
She scoffed. "This place is miserable. The staff is full of idiots, the food is garbage, and our nurse is a cow."
"You mean Candy? She seemed really nice. I mean I only just met her and all but-"
"Ugh, she's the worst. She's always forcing me to eat and telling me I need to gain weight. These people don't realize I'm happy with being thin. I'd rather be skinny than be a big titted cow like Candy. I swear each one of those things is bigger than a basketball. They probably have their own magnetic pull."
I could sense some hostility in her voice. There was some kind of hatred boiling in her seemingly cold heart. Piecing the clues together, I assumed she suffered from some kind of eating disorder. I always felt I was unqualified to guess at what they were. There were the usuals: anorexia, bulimia, over eating. However, I understood that I was a dumb kid that knew nothing, so I shouldn't be diagnosing others.
"That sucks," I said, trying to sound sympathetic but not attacking anyone. "I guess I'd have to get to know these people better. You look perfectly fine to me, it seems weird that they would try to force you to eat."
"See, you get it!" she said, now worked up into a frenzy. "Look, I have some classes, so I gotta run. We gotta hang out sometime. Tomorrow?"
"I can't imagine I have anything booked for that day, so sounds great," I said, chuckling. She smiled at me and walked away, her little frame going with her.
The rest of my day was fun. I was introduced to some of the other patients in a few different classes. I wasn't forced to reveal my problems yet, but I was starting to feel like that didn't even matter. We were all there with our issues, and nothing was going to hide that we were imperfects. At least Green Gables was set up to welcome us in such a supportive way. The day was just more positive reinforcement, a statement of how much better of a place I was in.
