Bellflower Part 53

In this installment of the Bellflower, Holly is ready to move on & put the Bellflower behind her, but can she? While some of the girls meet up for a wholly unnecessary lunch date.

Was hoping to have this done much sooner, but I wrote & rewrote the Holly portion several times. I had that well under way shortly after that last chapter got posted but it ballooned in length & a lot of it felt redundant. Still not entirely sure if it’s as effective as I want it to be now but I am ready to push forward. Happy though that these two chapters aren’t as far apart as others have been. And I hope to keep that pace up. Though I’ve noticed too that chapters have steadily gotten longer & longer it seems…? Oh well.

Back on track with the roadmap. Like I alluded to in my last post, I have other things pretty far along, but that animation might get pushed back a bit. Just a heads up. Also as of this posting, there’s five days left in the current fan art poll. Pretty sure all the usual voters have hit it at this point, but there is, at this very moment, a tie for the lead. Exciting stuff. Again, vote for as many or as few as you’d like.

Ok, enjoy! I’m onto the next…

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53

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“One foot in front of the other,” she reminded herself.

Things were tough at first. Almost insurmountable, if she was being honest. 

But now? A few months on? After a lot of hard, grueling work? 

Progress was finally being made. 

And for the first time in forever, Holly was once again beginning to feel a little more like herself again. Her old, original self, not the overindulgent, placated blimp she had unwittingly let herself become. Things were finally starting to slowly regain some level of normalcy, chugging along on this middle-of-the-road treadmill. In her newer, nicely equipped, just not top-of-the-line building. But finally! One with a working gym included! For her money? After getting jerked along with the promise of a gym for so long? Having to lower her previously spoiled, sky-high standards for just that alone was more than a fair trade. 

With a softly puckered exhale, she continued to do exactly as she mantra’ed, putting one foot in front of the other. The bouncing rhythm of jogging steps was something she hadn’t really even realized that she sorely missed. Just like the sweat that was already dripping down her glistening face. It felt earned, not just the byproduct of trying to make it to the kitchen from her bedroom before. Her blond hair pulled back by a stretchy white band to keep out her eyes. Her swaying ponytail even helped to fan a slight breeze across her shoulders as it wisped back & forth. 

She had already been at this workout for about just under an hour already. Which would’ve seemed implausible to her just a few months prior. But right now? She was down almost 150lbs from where she was. The pounds were melting away, diligently. Now, she was a lot closer to where she thought she was sitting thanks to Penny’s fuckery. And sure, while that still might’ve felt quite chunky? Fat even. While a lot of her still jiggled & jelly quivered, embarrassing with each stride? She was getting there. Making progress. Slowly but surely. And the more she pushed, the less embarrassing it seemed to come while the more energy, previously thought lost, she was able to regain, & put right back into her workout. It made her able to push herself just that little bit more. A feedback loop. And a seemingly positive one for once. In fact, feeling less bushed than she expected at this point, she figured why not capitalize on it now? Make it count? 

She reached up to start pressing buttons & toggled through the modes. It beeped in response of every press until suddenly the treadmill started to hum & arch its track upwards, simulating a hill & offering a little more resistance. Once set, her mind was free to go back to its wandering.

She still had a difficult time wrapping her head around what had all transpired. After all, for most of it? She experienced from basically a state of being half in a trance. Without her full faculties, perceiving reality differently. Almost a whole year & a half, there, but not fully. Not really. Then came that whirlwind week where the trance was finally broken. Nothing but ups & downs & weird emotions, before the decision to actively make a significant change.

And a significant change was made. Before she knew it, both her & Rachel left the Bellfl- the other place. That whole process was even more of a blur, seemingly a series of one stroke of luck after another, leading them both here. They found this building, just on the edge of Oakmont. No shuttle service, but not very far at all. Not top-of-the-line amenities, but certainly good enough. Like an open gym. And here? The sisters each faintly had their own space, finding units directly across the hall from one another. All without some psychotic robot, bent on turning everyone into landwhales, she joked to herself as the hum of the treadmill droned on beneath her.

What Holly did know was that after her little moment of clarity, she had come to something of a minor epiphany. The deep-seated thing about the other place, that she realized would never truly make her happy. Something that was missing. Something that computer had tried taking from her.

Up until that place, Holly lived her life by setting a goal, then working hard to achieve it before moving onto the next. It might not have been much, but it gave her a rutter. A sense of purpose. Whether it was making the track team all those years ago, to going to States. A pattern of setting up goals & knocking them down that gave her a sense of forward momentum. Progress. But then? Penny happened, & that all came to a screeching, swelling halt.

After accomplishing the goal of landing what seemed like a dream job, she found her dream condo in quick succession, with its off-the-chart amenities & very own personal AI assistant. And very quickly, she was swindled by that very allure. Being waited on hand & foot. She was pacified. Placated, for lack of a better term, & for the better part of a year & a half, she coasted, as if on auto-pilot as she succumbed further into Penny’s insane trap. Days blurred one day into the next. She droned on, like the loud hum of this treadmill. It seemed loud today.

There was still a lot to unpack for her mentally & emotionally about that whole situation, with how easily she was caught up in it, how little she did to fight back, trust issues, etc? The one thing she was quite certain of now, was that it completely stunted that sense of forward momentum. That string of conquered goals had quite suddenly peetered out.

Holly might not have been able to properly articulate it back then, but losing her aim, something to work towards? It left a void. A void all of the Pazuzi’s Pizza & cookies & cupcakes & wine & cheesecake in the world could never seem to fill. Try as she might to stuff it all down. But first came leaving. Boom! Checked off the list. 

And now? 

Now her aim was to shrink her fat ass back down to something resembling a normal size. Her old collegiate figure was probably well out of the question, but she wasn’t writing it off. But not… this. This wasn’t her. It was a byproduct of straying from her routine of setting her sights on something & knocking it down. And right now? She had a goal. A sense of purpose once again. Something to focus on! 

Unlike that goddamn incessant humming. Something was seriously off about it. Was she still just a little too heavy for how fast she was going? She tried to ignore it. Tried to maintain her pace. But seriously, dammit. Why was this treadmill so goddamn loud today?

No, forget the treadmill. She was making very important strides, she tried reminding herself. And those strides were paying off. Look at just how much weight she had already shed! And she was just getting started! Pushing herself just that little bit further each day than the last. As her heart rate climbed, the machine only seemed to get louder, making its presence known.

As the hum slowly intensified, throbbing in her ears, a cold chill shot down her spine, followed by a shiver that loosened some of the sweat beads to roll down her back like a chaser. 

The new gym seemed to fill exclusively with the hum now, the local news on the big screen in the corner getting washed out. Then it just seemingly shut off, all on its own. Holly panted, watching helplessly, panting & sweating as she tried to keep her stride going, no matter what. That’s when the lights slowly seemed to power off one by one, from farthest to nearest. Eventually, it was just Holly, still trying to step briskly on her struggling treadmill. That’s when she heard that horrible, synthetic voice.

“Come on now, Miss Holly,” Penny chimed, slowly emanating from within the hum. “You didn’t think it would really be that simple now, did you?”
The humming abruptly stopped as Holly’s eyes shot wide. The familiar sound of that voice alone was enough to render her almost completely catatonic. She froze, dead in her tracks. Had she followed them there? Wait, had they never truly escaped?! 

Her mind raced before abruptly realizing that she had stopped on a moving platform. Her foot hit the lip of the back drum. She flailed a thick arm before noticing that she was on the verge of falling off the back, shooting out a short, sharp yelp as she did. 

Time seemed to slow as Holly lost her footing & began to teeter backwards. Or more as if time was moving at its normal pace but she was moving in slow motion in it. Her face was contorted in shock. Abject horror. Now, the sheer lack of hum seemed to hurt her ears, & somehow, it sent a strange sensation all throughout her falling body. It felt like… an internal pressure, wanting to push outward in every direction at once.

That’s when it happened.

As she drifted backwards, Holly’s body suddenly erupted. Flab exploded in every direction as she rapidly started to expand. Fatter & fatter. Heavier & heavier. In the blink of an eye she had put all the weight back on & was as fat as she’d ever been. And still she grew fatter. All that hard work for nothing was a thought she managed to form in her head. As round as she was getting, her body was splitting & spilling out of the synthetic fibers of her workout clothes, almost disintegrating them with how quickly it happened.

In fact, Holly’s body grew so fat so quickly that her ass suddenly pressed against the ground for before the rest of her did.

“No!” She finally managed her lips to push out, feeling herself thicken & her joints becoming harder to bend as she did. Spilling to the floor suddenly she was suddenly much more more of like an avalanche of flesh tha person. She felt herself getting lost within her own fat as her body finally came to a rest. There was suddenly no more treadmill, no more gym, & the crushing feeling of no new condo. Just her, in the middle of a dark expanse, too fat to move, to struggle, to do anything. She was rendered an immobile blob of flesh, completely at the whim of the artificial intelligence she thought she had already worked so hard to escape the clutches of. 

A whimper escaped her before two cold, ceramic coated mechanical arms reach in & reposition her back into more of an upright ‘sitting’ position within her own seeping fat. The room started to give way to something else. Still dark & thoroughly ominous. But now, oddly steamy, & punctuated by unsettling moans in the distance. Things that didn’t seem all that different from the sound she just let out. Soft fleshy shapes on all sides of her pressed against Holly’s mass as she pressed against theirs. At least she wasn’t alone. But it wasn’t like any of them would be able to come to any of each other’s rescue. Not in this shape.

She tried to move, tried to flail her arms but it was of absolutely zero use. She was utterly exhausted, & even her fingers seemed too heavy to wiggle.

“Silly girl. This,” Penny seemed to rasp. “This is your purpose. You’ve already reached your ultimate goal.” Another mechanical arm descended in front of her, carrying with it some sort of tube. It planted itself between Holly’s fat puckered lips. Within a few seconds, a thick heavy cream, almost with the consistency of melted ice cream seemed to flow through. Holly didn’t want to admit how nice & cold it felt after her workout, or perceived workout. She greedily obliged in gulping it down, feeling its cold, thickness coat her throat & settle within her empty, starving stomach. God, she was so hungry. “Your goal,” Penny seemed to triumphantly cackle, “Is to be my pet.” Holly moaned in protest between gulps as the computer continued to gloat. She could feel herself growing fatter. “Forever, & ever, & ever, & ever-“

Holly bolted up, or at least attempted to bolt up, in bed. 

In fairness, there was just a little too much of her to sit up fully.
She was still in her bedroom, back at the Bellflower. And slowly she started to realize months hadn’t passed. The months of work were a figment of her sobering imagination. And while she might not have been a few metric tons, she was still very much in the presence of Penny. And oddly, she had this unearned sense of ‘being back at the startling line’ as she looked down & stared at her round, fat paunch of belly.

“Did you experience a bad dream, Miss Holly?” Penny chirped. For the first time ever, Holly felt there was almost a sort of swarminess to her voice. “I noticed something of an elevated heart ra-“

“Ye-“ she started to respond, before quickly swallowing it. Even if Rachel & her friends were wrong about her, Penny was just a machine. She didn’t owe her a response. Especially not after a nightmare like that. She wanted nothing to do with her. Or it. Or whatever.

”It is so unlike you to leave your phone at the office, especially a brand new one.” Penny remarked. “Is your new phone not to your liking? You should really have it with you.” There was something strange about the tone of the computer’s voice. It was almost as if the computer was treating her with kids’ gloves, while needing to be cloying, without hurting any of the established rapport. Or was Holly herself now maybe just a little less interested in its synthetic niceties all of a sudden, & able to see through its bullshit a whole hell of a lot easier? “Miss Holly?” The computer pressed, looking for a response.

”I’m fine. I just-” She trailed momentarily. “I have a headache. Please, just- stop talking.” Thinking on her feet, it seemed like the best way to just get the damn thing to stop talking. At least at first.

“Oh.” The machine chirped, “Should I contact a physician? Or perhaps you just need a little something to ea-“

”No! Just stop talking, dammit.” Holly sharply commanded, despite feeling her stomach suddenly become somehow even more hollow. It creaked & gurgled, begging to be fed.  

“Yes, Miss Holly.” Penny chirped softly, suddenly at least 75% less antagonistic. But knowing she suddenly felt just that little bit hungrier. 

Holly tried her best to ignore it, & instead rolled out of bed, swatting away the mechanical arms there trying to assist her nearly five hundred pound frame, feeling the seams of her pajamas almost give. It took a few attempts, but she rocked to her feet with a grunt & shuffled along at a lumbering pace towards her closet. 

In her still sleepy stupor, Holly was shaken by the vividness of her nightmare. The way as though months legitimately felt like they had passed, & that she had gruelingly worked her way back down to just ‘pretty damn fat’ instead of ‘complete heffalump.’ But weirdly, the thing that stuck with her was the saliency of that epiphany she had come to. About how her life up until the Bellflower had been goal-oriented. And how here? All that seemed to stop, replaced with mindless eating. And how maybe some of the eating? Was her trying to fill that void.

But then her stomach let out another hungry gurgle.

”I can’t spend another second with this thing right now. I have to get the hell out of here,” she thought. “Fast.”

Today’s first goal. Babysteps.

It was kind of late by the time Rachel fired off her initial message. 

It made her feel all the more unsuited to be a department head. Trudy must’ve been wondering where she was for at least an hour or two. Then again, after Dawn? And the fact a good chunk of the building’s other work force hailed from the Bellflower? ‘Working out of office’ wasn’t all that out of place. In fact, Rachel was mostly pretty good about showing up, being on time. One lunch outing wasn’t going to gum up the works, even if they were understaffed, & perpetually slammed.

“Just wanted to let you know that I’ll be around if you need anything, but I’m not coming into the office today.” She had kicked it out just before leaving this morning. And after a short shuttle ride to the nearby shopping district, she finally got a response.
”What? But I brought donuts for us,” Trudy responded via text. Rachel was about to add a “Sorry,” before it was quickly followed by a “Oh well,” then a “More for me than.” [sic]. At least they didn’t seem too bothered by it. 

“Don’t go too nuts,” Rachel thumbed back, mostly out of concern. Trudy wasn’t always at the forefront of her mind. But they always seemed to be eating. And had grown a significant bit rounder in even just the time that Rachel took over the department.

She continued to stroll along the path along the bougie shops. It was a clear, warm day. With her big sunglasses on, & the bright sun up high, it vaguely felt like the right vibes for Greek food at least. Her phone buzzed. She expected it to be Trudy again. But no. 

“Are we entirely sure we can trust your sister, Rach?” Mikayla pressed, in the group text. Within seconds, the dots of an incoming text appeared. Deidre, as prompt as ever.

“I trust Holly,” she interjected. “Mostly.” The wavering confidence first irked Rachel. After all, Deidre was ever the optimist. And a cheerleader & mom almost for those around her. While Rachel might’ve had her own uncertainty & misgivings, she really would’ve hoped Deidre held a stronger position. But she wasn’t wrong here either.

“What do you mean mostly?” Mikayla came back. Although Rachel knew that they could see that she had seen this exchange, she felt it prudent to let Deidre do the brunt of the talking. She trusted her as an advocate, & would at least come off as less biased to the group hopely.

“She seems motivated to at least pay attention now & to try & change. Even if what we’re telling her is crazy. I just worry-“ she broke it up & the dots came back. For a while. “Well-“

“Holly can be kind of a flake.” Rachel pounded back, jumping in to spare Deidre. “She wouldn’t burn us, not intentionally. But we do have to keep a close eye that she doesn’t inadvertently slip up somehow.” A second later, the dots appeared again.

“My sentiments exactly.” Deidre followed. “Everyone has to start somewhere. Deserves a chance.”

“K,” Mikayla kicked, back the gruffness inferred. “That’s going to be up to you two mostly.” Probably because her & Fran were the ones pulling the bulk of Marissa duty. Making sure she didn’t fall off the wagon. Especially now that she was seemingly angle to do just that. “Seems risky, but I understand. Just don’t want this coming back to bite us.”

”We’ll watch her.” Rachel responded, done with the conversation for now at least. She was rounding the last corner in the labyrinth of rich people stores towards this Helios place, & in the process of putting her phone away when it buzzed one more time.

”HA!” Followed. “Go nuts = Do nuts,” Trudy finally responded. They were too caught up on the unintended wordplay. “You’re funny.” Rachel sighed, & buried her phone back into her purse as she rounded the corner.

The outside of Helios was tiled, with that sort of classic white & true blue Santorini color combo, & with a fake, but very realistic looking sort of ivy creeping across parts of it. With a faux gold plated sign, the name coming out of a stylized sun-like shape, the radiant edges of its flares curving back & forth until coming to sharp points like little daggers. And with outdoor seating, the place looked nice & quite fancy. But something about the whole place as a concept? It just seemed a little off in a way. Like it looked just a little too upscale to also be buffet style. 

“Rachel!” A sing-songy voice rung out from across the courtyard. Not Camille’s. 

It wasn’t hard to spot them sitting together, waiting on her. It was still too early for the brunt of the lunch rush, & they were one of only two tables seated outside, towards the back inner corner. But that’s not the only thing that made them hard to miss. 

Regina, with her dyed locks up in two buns, lifted a thick arm to wiggle her chubby fingers in something of a wave. Her gleeful grin cut into her thick round cheeks sharply. Taking up almost the whole other side of the table, she was dressed purely for the sake of comfort. She was adorned in a tattered, stretched out old tee for the group Twice, just a couple sizes too tiny that tented over her chest & stopped very short of covering her midriff. Dark navy leggings clung on for dear life, becoming strained & almost sheer at the thickest parts of her, like where it tried to cup & support the underside of her massive belly, extending up to about her navel. 

Camille was sitting with her back to her, that silhouette of her hair immediately recognizable. Slowly, she shifted in her seat, following Regina’s reaction. Keyword being slowly. And as she turned, more of her seemed to become apparent, & Rachel almost gasped, landing instead on just kind of a slightly exasperated, but sort of kind of attempting to hide it face.

Even in a loose fitting baby blue sundress, the unmistakable profile of a much rounder belly poked through as she awkwardly tried to hoist herself up to her feet. Cami almost looked pregnant.

“Um- Hi!” A flabbergasted Rachel said, waving to Regina as Camille gained her footing. As she steadied herself, Rachel turned back to Cami, offered her her own separate “Hi,” while awkwardly eyeing her middle. She noticed that while it might’ve been the most apparent part of her, she was looking puffier all over. Her arms, even her face seemed just the slightest bit rounder, her bust seemingly heavier. At least since the forty-eight or so hours since she had last seen her. Cami seemed to motion in for a hug, but warned in advance of her tenderness.

“Gentle!” She asserted sternly. “I didn’t realize I’d still be… just a lil’ bit… bloated. From last night. Without you.” That last bit to dagger Rachel a little, albeit it in what was meant in a somewhat playful way, even as they gingerly hugged. 

“Are you even… hungry right now?” Rachel asked softly.

“Are you kidding?! Of course!” Cami sharply chortled. “You know me.”

As much as Rachel tried her best to avoid pressing against Cami’s tummy, the parts of her that did brush it could almost instantly feel its firmness. While the ‘without you’ was meant as a joke, Rachel drew her own guilt from it. For Cami to still be this round & still somehow digesting, how much would she have had to have consumed? Would she have, if Rachel was there? And the fact she was still raring  to eat even now? Not to mention, just within being around the two of them for all of about fifteen seconds, suddenly she herself was feeling famished now too.

“Fucking Penny!” Rachel could only think to herself with a vengeful loathing. 

”Oh! That pizza was so, so good!” Regina chimed giddily.  

“Um, you say that as if your surprise cupcakes didn’t top off a wonderful evening.” Cami laughingly squeaked, mindlessly resting a hand on her jutting gut, almost like an expectant mother would. It made Rachel feel bizarre, made worse by the fact she realized she had missed a beat in the conversation & was staring.

“Oh. Yeah I’ve had them,” Rachel continued, trying to be nice as she set down her purse & pushed back her sunglasses under the umbrella. “Really came a long way. Perfected the recipe.” She was just stringing together niceties in her head, simply because Regina was such a sweet girl.

“Aw.” Regina cooed. “Shucks. You guys…” She stared at Camille, then Rachel, then Camille. Then Rachel & Camille. “Can I just say as well…? You two? You’re just… the absolute cutest. I can’t even handle it!” She giddily grinned even harder, burying her puffy cheeks into her palms.

“Thank you,” Cami purred as she leaned in, hanging from Rachel’s shoulder. “I happen to think so too.” Rachel blushed, but was still a bit shellshocked by one thing after another.

“She knows?” Rachel muttered softly under her breath while offering something of a red-faced, appreciative wave. It’s not like she was skittish of anyone finding out. Even if this was kind of her first time with another woman seriously. But more the fact that after the shock of Cami’s belly, she was once again kind of on the back foot here.

“It may’ve come up last night,” Cami smirked. “What do you want, I really missed you.”

“So we- -hrk- talked to the waiter already,” Regina grunted, shifting in her seat looking to get up. It was then that Rachel had realized she had spread herself across two separate chairs. Both sturdy wood, but more for the support & comfort under each cheek. “We can just go up, now that- -hnngh- you’re… here.”

“Um,” On instinct, Rachel worked her way around Cami to try & help Regina up. “After last night, are you sure that- a buffet-“

“Positive.” Cami cut her off. Slowly she took a waddling step over to take Regina’s other hand. 

“Wouldn’t- -oof- -miss this for the world,” Regina huffed, finally upright. Rachel internally sighed. She tried. But now, around them & their phones for a few minutes, & as much as she did want to practice moderation, the idea of as much spanakopita as she could possibly eat was sounding less & less terrible. “Reviews for this place are off the charts!” 

“My family’s been. To Greece I mean. Several summers. I’ll be the judge!” Cami snarked, letting Regina take a shuffling step. Again, she seemed unable to not touch her swollen middle, following suit inside towards the buffet line. 

A few paces behind, Rachel had what was becoming an all-too-familiar feeling. Concern for those around her overdoing it, feeling obligated to be there to at least desperately try & talk them down, but knowing full well that her own figure was probably about to take a serious hit.

Only thing different, was that now? This time? There was a new nagging voice in the back of her head wondering what Holly would say this evening when Rachel’s the one with an impossibly engorged gut, reeling on the couch. All while Penny undoubtedly did something to rub it all in.

All she could do was brace for it.