Page 30 of Reckless Dare

Ava nodded with a small smile. Pooja was welcome to have Abhiram Simha as her boyfriend or whatever. In fact, Ava hoped Pooja would succeed in catching his attention.

Then he would be distracted enough to stop tormenting me.

The rest of the evening was spent discussing boys, professors and upcoming events and parties. Although Ava enjoyed their group’s company, she excused herself after an hour. She was still too shaken about what happened through the week with her tormentor.

She called and spoke to her sister briefly before settling in for a relatively early night. It was only nine thirty, but she needed the sleep to hopefully regain her strength to face the coming week.

Or rather, she needed strength to face her tormentor again.

*****

The next morning, Ava had begun to set up her room. She put up some family pictures on the wall and placed several knick knacks on her study desk and on her nightstand. She already felt surrounded by the warmth of her family.

She stared at the picture frame of her sister and her during a dance recital when they were twelve and sixteen years old. She smiled at memories. She was about to hang another picture on the wall when she received notification on her phone. Her breakfast had arrived.

She still had a few more pictures to hang, but she decided to take a break.

Pooja and Nitya had breakfast outside in the campus cafeterias. So, she knew they wouldn’t be interested in sharing hers. So, she decided to brew coffee for them while she ate breakfast.

She stepped out of her room and noticed that Nitya and Pooja were inside their rooms. She could hear Nitya talking on the phone, but Pooja’s room was quiet.

She let out a sigh, hoping Pooja would warm up towards her. Somehow, she sensed that her roommate disliked her. Despite attempting to speak with her many times, Pooja froze her out.

Maybe Abhiram Simha asked Pooja to avoid me.

As soon as she thought of her tormentor, she immediately shook her head.

Don’t think of him!

She was determined to have a peaceful weekend. And thoughts of her tormentor would agitate her.

Taking a deep breath, she waited for the coffee to brew. She was about to pick out a breakfast plate when she heard some noises. She frowned, wondering what it was. It was coming from one of the bedrooms and it sounded like someone was in distress.

She went closer and realized it was a gagging noise and it was coming from Pooja’s room.

“Pooja? Are you okay?” she asked from outside the bedroom.

There was no response but the gagging noises continued.

Feeling concerned, and hoping to help her roommate, she opened the door and stepped into Pooja’s room. The sounds got louder as she walked towards the bathroom.

“Pooja? Are you all right? I—”

She was taken aback at the sight. Pooja was kneeling in front of the toilet and throwing up. But what was shocking was that Pooja was sticking her finger into her throat and deliberately inducing the vomit.

Pooja suddenly stopped throwing up and turned towards her. “Get out!” she shouted.

Ava was taken aback. “I-I thought you weren’t feeling well and wanted to help.”

“I don’t need your help! I know what I’m doing! Get out!”

Even though Ava felt concerned, she stepped away from her roommate and went out of the room.

My God. She needs help.

Ava knew anorexia was a sickness. Pooja was deliberately inducing vomit to remain thin. It explained why Pooja’s eyes seemed sunken and cheekbones were too hollow. Even though deliberately throwing up kept a person thin, it came with a severe cost. Anorexic people often suffered severely due to lack of nutrition or worse.

I can’t just let it go without telling her the risks.

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