“Liz, she’s got a small point though, right?” asked Sherry over the phone. Reception was a little shaky down in Hell, but it was good enough to carry a call. She laid down on her bed, legs dangling off the edge.

“I don’t wanna hear you say she’s right about anything.” Lizzy spat. 

“Liz, your mom is a fashion model. If anyone knows the body, it’s her.”

“No, if anyone knows the body, it’s a doctor. My mom upsets ma and half starves herself for what? To pose for a magazine cover.”

“Well, how long has she been modeling?”

“Um…” Lizzy tried to think of a plausible amount of time to give. “Longer than you or me have ever done it.”

“Then why don’t you trust her?”

“You know why, Sher. I’ve-”

“Dinner’s ready!” Lisha cheered, poking her head through Lizzy’s door.

“I’ll be there in a sec.” Lizzy dismissed. Lisha gave a thumbs up and closed the door. “I’ve told you for the past two years why.”

“Listen Liz, I know you’ve got some feelings about your modeling mom, and that you trust your home mom a lot more. I get that. You don’t have to give her a chance, but how much could it hurt?”

“You don’t even know.” Lizzy groaned. “Let’s talk about something else though.”

“Heh, yeah…” Sherry said uncomfortably. “Liz, you know how today was my last day at school before I moved?”

“Yeah…” she said sadly.

“Well… I want you to know one day I’ll come back!”

“What?!” Lizzy said, bolting up.

“I’ll come back one day and we can live together like besties!”

“W-but you…” Lizzy was stumbling. “You said you’d go to America and-”

“There’s plenty of colleges in Canada Liz! I can go to one close and we can work it out.”

“Come on Sher, don’t say that…”

“I don’t see why you’re upset Liz. It’s a dream come true for us.”

“But Sher, your dream was to go to America and study to be a lawyer.”

“I know Liz. But I’ve been thinking, and it doesn’t feel right without you there with me.”

“It’s just… What about your dream…?”

“Liz, what I told you is the dream.”

“Sher… it’s just…” There was another knock on Lizzy’s door. “Listen, I gotta go. We can talk again later.”

“Alright Liz. Night.”

“Night.”

Lizzy hung up and sighed. Her day wasn’t getting better, so she assumed dinner was just going to make it worse. She went to the kitchen to eat another family dinner. When she got there, Beatrice and Lisha were already sitting down and eating the lasagna. At least, Lisha was; Beatrice was picking apart her meal and attempting to not eat.

Lizzy sat down and started quietly eating the plate of food in front of her. She hoped that if she didn’t say anything, nothing would happen. She did that every dinner, but it only actually worked sometimes. This wasn’t one of those times.

“That’s a lot of lasagna on your plate.” Beatrice said offhandedly. She was stirring around her food and not even looking up. “Must be really hungry.”

“Yeah…” Lizzy mumbled, putting another forkful in her mouth. She knew that Lisha gave them all the same amount, but the comment ate away at her anyway.

“Does it taste good?” Lisha asked. “I spent a good amount of time on it and I think it really paid off!”

“It’s good.” Lizzy said blandly, focusing on the lasagna on her plate.

“Fine, honey.” Beatrice answered, still staring at the lasagna mix that she was still stirring up on her plate. Lisha made a sad sigh from the sight of the two of them looking so distant.

“I’m glad to hear it.” she mumbled. “I’m going to get seconds.” Lisha got up and left for the oven to grab more.

“I guess you really are hungry.” Beatrice said, making note that Lizzy barely had any left to finish. “That was a lot.”

“You know me…” she sighed. “I do have a big appetite.”

“Probably because of how your mother fed you when you were little. Kept feeding you all day long.”

“Yeah… she did…”

“It definitely shows too-”

“Honey,” Lisha sternly said, coming back with more food. “Less talking and more eating. Less playing with your food too.”

“Ugh, fine.” she begrudgingly said, putting just the smallest amount of dinner in her mouth and swallowing. Lizzy couldn’t really take the atmosphere anymore.

“I’m going to get some more and do my schoolwork.” Lizzy said. “I’ve got a lot to get done before tomorrow.”

“Alright baby, make sure to get what you need done.”

“I will, ma.”

Lizzy excused herself and got another piece of lasagna before going to her room. She sighed and put another slice on her plate and listened to Lisha and Beatrice start talking. It was another talk about Beatrice’s eating habits and her comments towards Lizzy. She didn’t feel like sticking around for this one though; she simply left for her room.

She knew that when Lisha and Beatrice were married, Beatrice had made a promise to get better with her body and not starve herself for her job. She had kept it up for a while, but apparently she had begun to slowly slip backwards a little before they had adopted Lizzy. And since she was a part of the family, she had seen Beatrice slowly get thinner and thinner. Not quite what she used to be before they married, as Lizzy could gather from magazines, but not too far off either.

Lizzy spent the rest of the night in her room eating dinner and watching videos on the internet. She didn’t even bother taking her plate back to the kitchen; it usually disappeared by morning on nights like these. When she went to change into night clothes, she could see the imprint on her skin that Sausage left when she unwrapped from her waist.

“Hey, a little looser next time.” Lizzy complained. “I’m not a stress ball.”

Sausage quickly slithered out of her room and Lizzy rolled her eyes. She would probably wake up in the middle of the night with the snake under the blankets anyway. Sausage didn’t stay away for long.

She crawled into bed and slipped into a peaceful dream. She was a little girl again, laughing as Sausage slithered beneath her oversized sweatshirt from Lisha’s closet and eating half a brick of cheese that her mama had put on her plate for lunch. Lisha was happily eating the other half of the brick, laughing while Beatrice was giggling and trying to pull Fluffy from being lodged in a container of chips.