MsCezanne's Odyssey

The city was gripped with fear. An otherwise beautiful summer was being disrupted by the worst serial killings anyone had ever seen. So far 11 people had been killed, all of their bodies found, strangled, their bellies full of food, in places like bakeries and fast food restaurants.

Among the victims was the owner of a successful diet centre, a surgeon who performed weight loss surgery, an advocate for banning high calorie foods, a model known for promoting bulimia, and a few fitness instructors from local gyms. The police were completely baffled how this could happen without any evidence available.

Sheila was more terrified than most. She owned a yoga studio, and taught a range of classes, including some for those trying to lose weight or stay fit. She wasn't famous or anything, but not all the people killed had been famous either.

She always made a point of making sure she was with someone when she went to/from work. Sometimes she felt silly for it, but with every new murder discovered, she was thankful to have vigilant friends.

As the summer wore on though, her classes became emptier, she had to lay off a few instructors, and finally, she found herself alone in the evenings a few nights a week. At first she was absolutely terrified, but after a few days nothing happened. A week passed, nothing happened.

Towards the end of summer Sheila was more concerned about her business than her safety. She wasn't even covering salaries for her reduced staff, much less paying the rent and utilities. One night, she decided to walk to a nearby bar, rather than drive straight home.

Out of her peripheral vision she saw someone move in the alley as she passed by. At that moment she knew that she had made the biggest mistake of her life. Over time, of course, it turned out to be the best thing that could have happened to her and the city.

Basil moved quickly, clamping a hand over Sheila's mouth before she could scream. As she started to struggle he managed to pin her arms and pull her quietly back into the alley. Before long she was gagged, bound and in the trunk of a car.

After a long drive the car finally stopped, and the trunk opened. Sheila was blinded by the light before being administered a needle that quickly knocked her unconscious.

Sheila finally wakes up in a soft bed. She looks around, she's in a small white room. There was a solid metal door, a large mirror, probably a one way mirror she thought. There was a large soft chair, a medium sized bar fridge, a small pantry and a microwave oven. The room is clean, almost clinically so. It seemed to large and comfortable to be a jail cell, but too foreboding not to be.

Not long after taking in the room the door opens. Basil enters the room. Sheila retreats into the corner, preparing to fight.

"Don't worry, I'm not going to hurt you. Not now, anyway," he smiled. "I'm Basil, and I'm making the world a better place."

"A better place? By kidnapping me?" Sheila found herself surprisingly courageous.

"Oh, it's not just you. I'm ridding the world of evil people." He sat down in the comfortable chair, a satisfied smile on his face.

"It is you. You're the killer! You think you're making the world a better place? By killing people?"

"I'm only killing the people who are evil, who bring darkness to the world, those who deserve it!" Basil's speech was well rehearsed by this point, but he relished every moment of it.

"But I don't hurt people, I help them! Make people feel better about themselves." Sheila tried not to sound too pleading. For some reason the last thing she wanted to do was beg to this monster.

"Better? Your job is to make people think they have to transform who they are! You take their money, and then make them give up their very lives! The world is so full of beauty, so full of people of different shapes and sizes. But you, you! You want a world where everyone is just tiny, feeble, anorexic, shred of a person. You won't do it. You and your kind will be stopped. People will be free to be who they want to be, fat and all."

Sheila paused, "this is because I'm not fat?"

Basil’s face went red with anger, and he spat out, "this is because you hate fat and I hate you."

Basil left the room, but quickly came back with a large steel cart, his demeanour eerily calm after the previous outburst. "You've got two choices Sheila. You can eat all this food," he pointed to the cart which was loaded with junk food, "and then I will kill you. Or, you can not eat the food, and I will kill you right away."

For the first time Sheila completely lost her nerve, she began to cry. She watched as Basil unloaded the cart into the pantry and fridge.

"You'll notice there are three colours of food containers: red, white and blue. On day one you'll eat the red food, on day two you'll eat the white food, and day three you'll eat the blue. If I find you haven't eaten the day's food, you will die." With the food put away, Basil left Sheila alone, crying in the corner.

After a few hours hiding under the covers on the bed, desperately trying to wake up from her nightmare, Sheila finally became hungry. She slowly walked over and began to look over the food. There were doughnuts, cookies, pizza, non diet pop, all kinds of food she would normally avoid. There were a few foods with redeeming nutritional values though. She laughed to herself, Basil must've bought them by accident. She ate those first.

There was nothing else for Sheila to do in the room but sit, pace, or eat. She tried sitting, she tried pacing. Finally she realised the only way to buy time was to eat the food in red containers.

At first she was repulsed by the sweet, greasy and doughy foods she had to bring to her mouth. Before long though, she did admit to herself they really did taste good. Before long she was indulging herself. There was no point in looking out for her health if she wasn't going to live!

Throughout the day she snacked and snacked. The pile of food didn't seem to diminish though. She began to panic, she didn't know how much time was left, and she wasn't sure she could eat all that food. She was already so full!

She came to her senses though, using some yoga techniques she calmed down, and managed to actually adapt some movements to help her eat past her full feeling.

No sooner was she done the last cookie than Basil came into the room, a length of rope in his gloved hands. He looked around. He saw Sheila laying back in the chair, her stomach was distended, and her eyes were glazed over. A smile danced across her lips. He took count of the empty red containers and smiled himself.

"I wasn't sure you had it in you. You're so small, and I know you probably haven't eaten that many doughnuts in your life before today. I'm glad to see you're happy too. You've got two more days." He turned and locked the door behind him.

Sheila tried to get to the bed to sleep, but she couldn't move, so she fell asleep where she sat. The chair was soft, it seemed just so perfect. Her hands were rubbing her belly, it was so full, but so comfortable.

Labels: Adiposity Nights, Basil, fiction, Part One, Sheila