FATWORLD

It started with a whisper. Not a sound that could be heard with ears, but one that slithered through the corners of her mind, soft and insistent. "Eat." Claire had always been careful about her diet. She loved hiking, yoga, and the simple pleasure of feeling strong in her own skin. But after the whisper came, everything began to change. At first, it was a harmless craving an extra cookie after dinner, a second helping of lasagna. Then the voice grew louder. "More." She found herself buying groceries she never would have touched before boxes of pastries, tubs of ice cream, entire cakes. It didn’t feel like indulgence. It felt like compulsion. Her hands moved of their own accord, shoving food into her mouth even as her stomach ached and protested. Her nights became a blur of crumbs and wrappers, her days a haze of guilt and exhaustion. Her body started to change rapidly. Clothes grew tight, her reflection unfamiliar. Yet, the whisper was unrelenting, evolving into a commanding

Rachel Whitmore was captain of the cheerleading squad, a straight-A student, and the star of every social circle. She glided through the halls with effortless confidence, her toned figure a testament to years of discipline and practice. But behind her perfect exterior, Rachel harbored a dark, unspoken embarrassment: her older sister, Denise. Denise was everything Rachel wasn’t morbidly obese, awkward, and reclusive. She rarely left her room except to binge on snacks from the kitchen. Rachel avoided mentioning Denise to her friends, afraid of the cruel jokes and judgment that would follow. But things began to change one fateful autumn when Rachel started noticing subtle shifts in her body. At first, it was nothing alarming a little extra softness on her stomach, tighter jeans, a puffiness to her face. She brushed it off as stress eating during finals and the upcoming cheerleading championships. Yet no matter how many salads she ate or how many hours she spent at the gym, the weight