Thinner

Recently, there was a case in UK where a 7 year old was starved to death by her mother. This is my take of a similar story. of course, the fictional parts are fictional, including the names.
"http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/5453570/Seven-year-old-girl-starved-to-death-by-her-mother.html"

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She took a deep breath after taking off everything on her body, including the rubber band that she used to tie her hair. Very slowly, she stepped on the digital scale and exhaled until her lungs was empty. The scale showed 40.2kg.
“Not good. I have to work harder and control myself”. She thought.
She turned on the light in the bathroom and looked at her naked self in the mirrors. The mirrors were arranged at the right angle so that she could see her front and back without turning around. Her collar bones and ribs were clearly seen, as well as the protruding spines on her back.
“I will have to buy the more of X-slim from Angie later. Have to make Mei-mei to eat more. She is not slimming down at all”

Tonight is weekly gathering night that she had never missed since she joined the group. She took a quick shower and drove to the Angie’s house with Mei-mei.
On the way, Mei-mei was sitting quietly with her head down.
“What’s the matter, my dear?”
“I m hungry, mom.” Mei-mei answered in a very soft voice.
“What? You are already over weight and all you can think of is food? Do you want to be a fatso when you grow up and have no husband?”
Mei-mei dropped her head and kept quiet for the rest of the journey.
“My dear, I m doing this for your own good. It is more painful if no man want you, than to control your weight and look pretty. Look, all these X-trim products are not cheap and I m working very hard just to pay for them.”

There was already a small crowd at Angie’s house when they arrived.
“Oh my! Linda. You look slim and great. How I wish I can look like you.” Angie greeted them at the door. Linda loved to be complimented. This was the only pleasure she had after her husband left one year ago.

The gathering started with everyone chanting the weekly motivation slogan.
“We can and we shall make it. X-trim, Xtrim, we shall be slim”

After the chanting, it was the weighing session.
Linda waited nervously when Mei-mei stepped on the scale.
“Have you been eating our X-trim product everyday as per my instruction?” Angie asked Mei-mei.
“Yes. Auntie Angie.”
“Mei-mei, you have gained 1 kg since I weighed you last week. Give her a boo, everyone. Mei-mei is a failure.”
Mei-mei stepped down from the scale slowly and didn’t dare to look at Linda.
After the gathering, Linda dragged Mei-mei to the car in brisk steps.
“Come on. You useless fatso. You are really good for nothing. You must be eating secretly at school. I have to see your teacher tomorrow.”

“Ms Linda. You have to understand. Mei-mei is 10 years old. It is perfectly normal for children at her age to gain weight because she is growing up.” Mei-mei teacher, Mrs. Ravi explained patiently to Linda.

“I don’t care. I don’t want my daughter to become fat and disgusting. I want her to have good future. I request the school to monitor her and make sure she doesn’t eat anything other than the food I prepared for her.”
“Ms. Linda. This is not the responsibility of the school to do this. Besides, Mei-mei is a very smart child and she needs balanced nutrition for her brain development. The slimming product is not suitable for young children.”
“Oh. Now I understand. You had been giving her those fattening food. I know, you are jealous to see us look slim and pretty. Look at yourself, fat and disgusting. Did my ex husband pay you to ruin our lives?”
Linda walked out angrily from the office and slammed the door.
Mrs. Ravi shook her head and sighed.
“Poor Mei-mei.” She thought.

“The whole world is against us. Why do they want to ruin our lives? Is it not enough for him to dump me for another woman? Now they want to ruin my daughter’s life too. I have to do more to make sure she doesn’t grow into a disgusting fat girl.” Linda thought while she was driving home.
“I will double the X-trim ration for her everyday. That should make her slim down faster.”
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Linda was hysteria and needed 3 men to hold her down when the paramedics put Mei-mei’s pale body onto the ambulance.
“WHY are you taking away my daughter? Give her back to me! You are all jealous and want to make us suffer. She was doing very well and slimming down finally.”
At the hospital, Mei-mei was lying with her eyes closed and her father was sitting by her bed.
The doctor spoke to him earlier about the condition of Mei-mei.
“Your daughter has a serious problem. She had probably consumed large quantity of supplements containing excessive copper and selenium, which caused the liver and kidney to overload. These minerals also suppressed the iron and potassium levels in her body and as a result, they have caused other complications as well. We will do our best.”

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Mrs. Ravi cried when she read the last entry in Mei-mei’s dairy.
“Mommy said I m a useless fatso because I m not slimming down. I hate myself and I don’t want to be a useless and disgusting fat girl. I will eat more X-trim than what mommy gives me so I can slim down quickly. Mommy will be very proud of me when we go to Auntie Angie’s house next week.”