"Hey, Mum, can I talk to you for a minute?" Babsie looked up from her computer.
"Sure, Matt, anytime."
"Well, it's about Carmen and Esme, I'm really worried about them." Babsie furrowed her brow, not knowing why.
"I guess I'm the only one who noticed, but I think it might be because I was away for a while. I think that they're starving themselves." Babsie, never being one to either jump to conclusions nor believe rumors or gossip without evidence, just nodded.
"Okay, now, I'm not saying I don't believe you, but what makes you think that?"
"Well, first of all, they've both lost a great deal of weight, even to a point where Esme doesn't even look attractive anymore, she looks too thin. Carmen excuses herself to the bathroom after every meal. They both look gaunt, and when I saw them brushing their hair the other day, they both had an unusual amount of hair in their hairbrushes. Their behavior and appearances remind me uncannily of the eating disorder girls at the hospital. I've been watching them since I got home, and that's the conclusion I've come to. And when I confronted them about it, they just snapped at me. Mom, I'm really scared for them, I think they're killing themselves without even seeing it." Babsie let this all sink in.
"You're right, Matt, and I don't know why I didn't see it earlier. I'm going to talk to them when Esme gets home from cheerleading tonight. I don't want to send them to the psych hospital, it was hard enough watching you go, but if that's what has to happen, so be it. I also need to talk to your father about this all." Just as Matt was about to leave, the phone rang. Babsie answered it and started to pale almost immediately.
"That was the school. Esme fainted at cheerleading and they took her to the hospital. I'm going to get Carmen and take her over there. Please call your father for me, and let Natalie know what's going on, okay?" Matt nodded as Babsie rushed out the room. At the hospital Babsie talked to the doctors before she went to see Esme. Apparently she hadn't eaten a thing all day, save the small amount of breakfast she had eventually thrown up, and that was why she blacked out. She was malnourished and at risk for a heart attack. When Isaac finally showed up at the hospital, they sent Carmen into Esme's room while the two of them talked in the hall with the doctor. Finally, after making a decision they joined the girls in the room.
"Okay," Isaac said, "we've reached a decision. Whether you admit it or not you both have a problem, and we are not going to watch our daughter waste away at home. So, starting today, you are both being admitted to the hospital's eating disorder clinic. You'll stay here until the hospital decides you've become a healthy weight, and then you'll continue group therapy and individual counseling through the clinic's outpatient program. And if either of you refuse these conditions, we'll be forced to admit you to the psych hospital where Matt was treated." Isaac was stone-faced, not knowing whether or not he was doing the right thing, being so harsh. The girls argued for half an hour before they took them to the clinic and admitted them, putting them in separate rooms. Then, Isaac and Babsie went home, they had all their other kids to worry about, too.
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By October the girls were both back at home, routinely going to therapy and were finally starting to seem like their old selves again.