Lost & Found: The Tale of Gwen & Henley

This definitely isn’t somewhere that I’m familiar with. Not that waking up someplace strange is anything new, sadly. I wonder where I am. I wonder how long I was gone, this time. What day it is. At least I’m dressed. I hate waking up naked. I hate looking at my body.

Still, these clothes aren’t anything that I’d wear. They’re too tight, and fit much too closely to my body. Just being here, in these clothes, is very uncomfortable, and I’m alone right now. I can’t imagine being around people while wearing this.

I’m going to be seen, though, aren’t I. I have to figure out where I am, which means walking out of these woods. What the hell was Henley doing all alone in these woods, anyway? I don’t know, and I can’t ask. Not without risking her coming back and myself going away again so soon.

I really want to know how long it’s been this time. Have only a few hours passed? A few days? Weeks? Longer? The longest time that I’ve missed so far was three months, and it was terrible. I couldn’t look at myself in the mirror for weeks afterwards, disgusted by what I saw.

My therapist says that I looked healthier then. That’s not what I saw, though I suppose she’s right. I know, really, that she’s right. That I have an eating disorder. Anorexia. That what I see when I look at myself isn’t the same as what everyone else sees. Sometimes, knowing this helps.

And sometimes, it doesn’t.

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Gwen goes away inside when she doesn't want to deal with food, and then Henley takes over. They've coexisted like this for years, but now Henley is developing her own problems with eating. Will the two of them be able to find some balance with each other, or will they both just be wandering around lost in the woods forever, following a trail of bread crumbs that leads nowhere?

This short story is a modern retelling of the classic fairy tale, "Hansel & Gretel".

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Want to read more? Check out this short story here on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07PQ4SJCR.