Alexis

Alexis came in the back door. Her parents and sisters were nowhere to be seen, and the only lights on were the ones outside the backdoor, and the light over the kitchen table. She glanced at the microwave clock, 9:37.

Shit, she thought, just how long were we out there? Alexis's thoughts were interrupted by her stomach, I guess it has been a while.

She opened the fridge and found leftover pasta with a note in her mother's tight, clear handwriting

We figured you ate with Jessie so we went ahead and ate.

Sure glad you're worried about me, Alexis thought as she pulled out the large Tupperware of spaghetti and forked some out on a plate. After heating it she plunked a few pieces of cold garlic bread on the plate and poured herself a glass of coke.

She took one bite, then another, and another. Then she was shoveling the food in her mouth as fast as she could.

I guess the cold made me hungry, she thought as she got herself a second, bigger, helping of everything and waited impatiently for the microwave. It took even less time to eat the second plate. At that point she gave up on both the plate and the microwave, she devoured the entire container of spaghetti, the entire loaf of garlic bread, and the entire two-liter of coke. And she was still so hungry. She ate the last three slices of pizza from the night before and an entire quart of ice cream, before downing the bottle of chocolate syrup. She ate all of the deli meat, an entire block of cheese, two boxes of cookies, a bag of marshmallows, four more liters of soda, her mother's 'secret' bag of candy, three entire bags of chips, two boxes of pop-tarts, the bottle of maple syrup, and then lost track of what she'd eaten.

When she finally made it up to her room she stared at herself in the mirror, her stomach bulged like the biggest pregnant belly she'd ever seen. Strangely, it didn't bother her at all, and she didn't think it was just because she was exhausted.