Playful Peach #11
“Welcome to Camp Refuge, a place that you will soon learn to call home!” the camp director bellowed while standing in front of the crowd of gaunt teenagers sitting cross-legged in a meadow surrounded by tall trees. Three boys stood out in the crowd of young women all frail and pale, all looking miserable. The boys sat together bound by their common gender. They couldn’t believe this place pretended it was a camp (as if they were going to actually have fun here), but they also couldn’t believe they had the girls disease.
Ethan was the perfect child all his life. His father was an Episcopalian minister and every Sunday since he was 8 Ethan sang in the choir. He had the voice of an angel people in the congregation would say. His angelic voice was matched by his perfectly kept blonde hair and shining blue eyes. He was, based on all outward appearances, the perfect child. However, when he got into middle school something changed in Ethan. He looked distracted in church, like his mind was somewhere else. Then, he started losing weight. It started out small; he lost a few pounds here and there. His parents ignored it believing that he was just going through a phase. He was a healthy boy, he said his prayers and ate dinner with them every night. What they didn’t notice was what he did after dinner. The first person to acknowledge his condition was his dentist, who suggested that Ethan’s parents put him in therapy. They didn’t know how to handle their son having this problem and life at home was a nightmare for Ethan. His mother constantly left meatloaf in his room or hid protein bars under his pillow. It was around this time that his parents decided to send him to Camp Refuge.
Jeremy and Jill were inseparable from birth. Jill was born 2 minutes before Jeremy and that seemed like the longest time they had spent away from one another. They were interested in all the same things as children. Both played youth soccer, both were in the Scouts, both excelled in math and science and loved reading. They were set out to defy the belief that one twin gets to be “good at everything.” That is until the 8th grade science project. They both eagerly entered the statewide science project where they had to invent something to catapult people into the future. The twins spent weeks planning what they would do, but it was the first time they couldn’t do it together since they were in competition against each other. When the day of the fair came Jill was prepared with her project but Jeremy wasn’t. He couldn’t get his invention to work and was distraught. Jill went on to win first place in the contest and competed nationally. Jeremy was utterly defeated, he felt like a huge failure. Even worse, it seemed like no one noticed. Everyone was fixated on Jill and her success. That was when he began losing weight. At first it was only small amounts but then his weight began to rapidly decline. He and Jill were two of seven children in his family and while his parents wanted him to get help, they couldn’t give him the attention he deserved. That was how he ended up sitting in a field at Camp Refuge.
It was always difficult for James to talk to girls. He was socially awkward and a little shy, but he was very handsome. He had chocolate colored eyes and olive skin that matched his dark brown hair. By the time he had reached high school his looks made him strikingly handsome, but he still couldn’t muster up the courage to ask a girl on a date. That is until he met Eve. He was in a bookstore, one of his favorite weekend activities, when he saw her looking in the foreign books section. He picked up a book in French and began to pretend like he was reading it. She looked up at him intrigued and asked him if he spoke French. He lied and said yes which was the right answer because she grinned happily at him. This then launched her into a story about her dream of going to Paris and her incessant babble set James at ease. She made him feel comfortable because she talked so much he didn’t have to. They started dating soon after this meeting and were happy for a while until Eve started getting restless. She told him that she loved him but she needed to go to Paris and explore the world alone. The day after she left James didn’t get out of bed. He lost his appetite and began losing weight, only a little bit at first but soon it started getting more dramatic. He received compliments for his new look (he was a little chubby before) and kept denying himself food. Soon his mother became alarmed and asked him what was going on. He refused to talk to her about anything and in reaction to his silence she sent him to Camp Refuge knowing in her heart that something was wrong with her boy.
“Alright, we are going to split up the boys and girls and go have a little art project” the camp director said, trying to evoke some enthusiasm out of the teens. The three boys shuffled silently to the art shed and were told make a postcard about anything they wanted. The three boys sat down and stared at the construction paper and pens and began to draw out the pain in their lives that brought them there in the first place.
Ethan was the perfect child all his life. His father was an Episcopalian minister and every Sunday since he was 8 Ethan sang in the choir. He had the voice of an angel people in the congregation would say. His angelic voice was matched by his perfectly kept blonde hair and shining blue eyes. He was, based on all outward appearances, the perfect child. However, when he got into middle school something changed in Ethan. He looked distracted in church, like his mind was somewhere else. Then, he started losing weight. It started out small; he lost a few pounds here and there. His parents ignored it believing that he was just going through a phase. He was a healthy boy, he said his prayers and ate dinner with them every night. What they didn’t notice was what he did after dinner. The first person to acknowledge his condition was his dentist, who suggested that Ethan’s parents put him in therapy. They didn’t know how to handle their son having this problem and life at home was a nightmare for Ethan. His mother constantly left meatloaf in his room or hid protein bars under his pillow. It was around this time that his parents decided to send him to Camp Refuge.
Jeremy and Jill were inseparable from birth. Jill was born 2 minutes before Jeremy and that seemed like the longest time they had spent away from one another. They were interested in all the same things as children. Both played youth soccer, both were in the Scouts, both excelled in math and science and loved reading. They were set out to defy the belief that one twin gets to be “good at everything.” That is until the 8th grade science project. They both eagerly entered the statewide science project where they had to invent something to catapult people into the future. The twins spent weeks planning what they would do, but it was the first time they couldn’t do it together since they were in competition against each other. When the day of the fair came Jill was prepared with her project but Jeremy wasn’t. He couldn’t get his invention to work and was distraught. Jill went on to win first place in the contest and competed nationally. Jeremy was utterly defeated, he felt like a huge failure. Even worse, it seemed like no one noticed. Everyone was fixated on Jill and her success. That was when he began losing weight. At first it was only small amounts but then his weight began to rapidly decline. He and Jill were two of seven children in his family and while his parents wanted him to get help, they couldn’t give him the attention he deserved. That was how he ended up sitting in a field at Camp Refuge.
It was always difficult for James to talk to girls. He was socially awkward and a little shy, but he was very handsome. He had chocolate colored eyes and olive skin that matched his dark brown hair. By the time he had reached high school his looks made him strikingly handsome, but he still couldn’t muster up the courage to ask a girl on a date. That is until he met Eve. He was in a bookstore, one of his favorite weekend activities, when he saw her looking in the foreign books section. He picked up a book in French and began to pretend like he was reading it. She looked up at him intrigued and asked him if he spoke French. He lied and said yes which was the right answer because she grinned happily at him. This then launched her into a story about her dream of going to Paris and her incessant babble set James at ease. She made him feel comfortable because she talked so much he didn’t have to. They started dating soon after this meeting and were happy for a while until Eve started getting restless. She told him that she loved him but she needed to go to Paris and explore the world alone. The day after she left James didn’t get out of bed. He lost his appetite and began losing weight, only a little bit at first but soon it started getting more dramatic. He received compliments for his new look (he was a little chubby before) and kept denying himself food. Soon his mother became alarmed and asked him what was going on. He refused to talk to her about anything and in reaction to his silence she sent him to Camp Refuge knowing in her heart that something was wrong with her boy.
“Alright, we are going to split up the boys and girls and go have a little art project” the camp director said, trying to evoke some enthusiasm out of the teens. The three boys shuffled silently to the art shed and were told make a postcard about anything they wanted. The three boys sat down and stared at the construction paper and pens and began to draw out the pain in their lives that brought them there in the first place.
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