Kira watched as the digital numbers flew by and frowned. 145 pounds. And even then she was cheating. She took her hands off the bathroom counter and watched the numbers as they were set back into motion. A whopping 160 pounds. She was only 5’ 2’’. How could she have let this happen? S***, she swore as she stepped off the scale and kicked it aside. She yelped in pain and grabbed her throbbing toe. Why was she always so stupid?

“Why?” she questioned the blank, white ceiling. She received no reply. Grumbling, she stomped all the way down the stairs and opened her bedroom door. Kicking aside dirty bras and cosmetics, she plowed her way to the mirror. She peeled off her clothes and looked up into her brown eyes then down to her midsection and waist line. NO! she thought in despair. I look like an oversized pear. Without much hope she turned sideways. Nice, she thought, an oversized pear that’s pregnant. That’s what she looked like. Kira was only 15 and living a pretty brutal life. Her weight just happened to be one of the side effects. She had no idea who her father was and her mother had a hard time with alcohol and drugs. She could still remember crying behind the couch while her mother and her druggie friends enjoyed themselves in their scary world of heroine, crack, and overdose. Sometimes while she was at Suzy's house, her mother would go in her room to do all this. Many times after coming home, Kira would find a bed full of needles. And as if that wasn’t enough, her mother hit her. And not just a little tap across the cheek. What she received was full fledged child abuse. She had a hard time trying to cover up all the bruises and burns, but would just receive more when her mother was drunk or high.

Kira did a 360 in the mirror before pulling back on her clothes. She let a long hard sigh escape her tiny, petite lips. They were the only small thing on her. It was sad, really. Her doctor, Dr. Lute, would always hint towards her weight issue and basically inquired she wasn’t being obvious enough with her hints for at every appointment. At each, Kira had gained weight, not height. Wonderful, she inwardly thought, for she believed her appearance was everything. Of course she didn’t tell the boys at school that when they teased her. She told them that she was beautiful inside and she just had a little work to do on the outside. She rolled her eyes at that thought. What you see is what you get. If I’m gonna change for anyone, it’s gonna be for me, no one else. She stepped away from the mirror and grabbed her backpack. Slinging it over one shoulder, she thought, look out world, here I come, the circus elephant. That’s what they called her, the circus elephant. Sure, she hated it, but she wasn’t gonna just laugh and agree with it. Wasn’t everyone always ranting and raving against peer pressure? Well, she wasn’t going to let the scale control her life. All it was, well, it was a big piece of metal and plastic and things like that. Things that weren’t as important as her. Things she knew would never force her to bad decisions like bulimia and anorexia. That wasn’t Kira. She was going to get help. She was going to fix her life. She was going to save her mother, even if that meant them being separated, it was still important to fix what she could. She took the roller-coaster life threw at her and decided to fix it. Maybe the boys who called her the circus elephant did do some good after all.