Wednesday, Oct. 13, 2004

The Perfect Miss P

Things are rarely as they seem. No one knew this better then Josie Parks. Though soft spoken, painfully shy, overweight, and alone, she still seemed to have everything a girl could want. Coming from a loving family, with friends and acquaintances all believing they knew the angelic Miss. P. An ideal student, who bent over backwards for friend and foe alike, asked little of those around her. She simply goes through life, drifting from day to day, smiling for those she loves.

What the world didn’t see was the ugly side of Josie. You see, she caught the liars disease and the slowly the poisonous infection took over her “perfect” life. In time she became a shell of her former self. And when the day finally came, the day the world caved in, those closest to her stood aghast, mouths hanging open, appalled their perfect Miss. P had fallen so far from grace. Some said there were no signs, some wept, others scorned. But none, no matter the reaction, were ever the same again.

You see, young Josie had a terrible secret. Brought on by years of smiling pretty, fat jokes, and an inner voice slowly seeping poison into her innocent mind and tender heart, an empathetic soul she was one to take on others problems though she never lacked for her own. A little over a year ago Josie became a statistic. One of the millions of girls every year who resort to binges to free themselves. One of the lemmings who naively bought into a male driven media’s view of what beauty should be. One more misguided youth, weeping as she purges to cleans her soul. One more angst ridden angel, broken and forgotten.

It started simply enough, a real weight loss plan, a well meaning mother and the fuel of showing everyone she was more then the “smart one”, the “sweet one”, the A-typical fat best friend. The life she was forced to lead her catalyst into this darkness.

The darkness of Mia.

Mia, her new best friend. Mia of the stars, her looking glass twin, her inner voice, her warped sense of self and reality. Her only true ally in her battle. The only soul who understood. The only one who would always stand by her, Mia.

In another eight months Josie will die. Those she loved will find her diary and know the dark secret. They won’t understand it wasn’t about being thin anymore, they won’t understand every heartbroken rejection is what pushed her on. To the world she’ll be one more lost chance victim of teenage angst repression. They won’t ever understand why their perfect Miss P was coved in cuts, full of laxatives, and clutching a bottle of sleeping pills as she fell comatose into tub of running water.

They won’t ever really know, but now you do.