"Amy!" Lina called. Amy turned to see Lina running toward her. "Let's get the hell out of here!"
Lina grabbed Amy's arm and pulled her toward the door. Amy tried to resist, but she saw the fear in Lina's eyes and assumed it must be for a good reason.
Once they were outside and walking home, Amy asked "What's the matter?"
"You're gonna think I'm crazy," Lina said.
"C'mon, tell me!"
"I was in an aisle full of dolls, and suddenly I burped."
Amy stifled a laugh. "So?"
"The dolls started laughing! At me!"
Amy didn't say anything, but Lina saw the skepticism in her face.
"They were!"
"Maybe they were sound-activated. Toys are pretty advanced these days."
"They turned their eyes toward me! They pointed at me! PLEASE say you believe me, or else I'll think I've gone crazy!"
"Okay, I believe you. I won't take you in there again."
Lina split off to head toward her house. As Amy continued toward hers, she suddenly felt very hungry. Luckily, there was a place just ahead that made some really delicious hot dogs.
When she got home, she said hello to her mom, who was preparing the dinner table. "Dinner's almost ready, honey," she said.
Amy was about to tell her she'd already eaten, but at the sound of the word "dinner," her stomach signaled her brain that it was more than willing to take another meal.
Later that night, Amy walked into her room after a very satisfying dinner. As she emptied her backpack to do her homework, she realized her waist was feeling tight. "Well, these are old pants," she thought. "And I ate a lot tonight. Not really surprising." She took them off and donned some comfy pajama bottoms. She spent the next couple hours finishing her assignments. Once she was finished, she put everything back into her bag. Standing up, she suddenly noticed that even her pajama bottoms felt tighter than they usually do. "Hmm, that's funny. Guess I shouldn't eat so much. I wonder why I was so hungry, anyway?"
Her eyes fell on the clock, and she realized how late it was. She quickly prepared for bed, forgetting all about her wardrobe problems.
* * *
She was very uncomfortable all night. She dreamed that she was moving through her house, though it was dark and foggy. She stumbled down the stairs, the floated around the first floor until she reached the kitchen. The food was calling to her. She took some out of the cupboards and the fridge. She was too delirious to tell what it was, and she idly watched as her arms scooped up as much as they could carry and she glided back up to her room.
* * *
The next morning, Amy woke with a headache and a stomachache. She was incredibly groggy. She couldn't even sit up at first. It was all she could do just to reach and turn off her alarm. She lay in bed for a few minutes, waiting to see if she'd start feeling better. Her hand idly rubbed her cramped stomach. The skin seemed tighter than usual, but she barely noticed as she tried again to sit up straight.
She snapped awake in an instant. All around her were wrappers and crumbs. There were even more on the floor around her bed. She threw off the covers and saw that her stomach was bulging slightly out of her night shirt. Her pajama pants were even tighter than the night before.
"Oh no!" Amy exclaimed. "What the hell is wrong with me? I thought it was just a dream!"
She hurried to clean up the mess she had made in her sleep. Then there was the matter of getting dressed. She searched and found a pair of pants her grandmother had given her one Christmas. It was too large for her, and she hadn't been able to return it. She slipped it on and found that it was a perfect fit on her wider waistline. Finding a shirt was easier. It was a cold day, so it didn't matter that her plain white tee shirt rode up on her belly. On top of it, she threw a bulky hooded sweatshirt that easily covered up any suspicious girth.
"Tonight I'm going to start exercising," she told herself as she walked downstairs. "And no more pig-outs!"