Kyle Rolinatis is a midwestern horror/comedy author. She is the two-time recipient of the prestigious “Pleasure to Have in Class” award at Prairie Lincoln Elementary School. Kyle spent most of her life with her nose in a Stephen King book, brooding, or writing poetry and short stories. These days you can find Kyle working on her debut horror/comedy novel “Ope!” between crippling bouts of procrastination and her day job in healthcare administration. In her free time Kyle spends time with her family and too many animals in Columbus, Ohio and loves to vacation in coastal Maine. Her debut novel is set to be released in 2024 and if you follow her on Facebook or Instagram she promises to get a website started as soon as a child or teenager shows her how.
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NO PAIN, NO GAIN
by
Kyle Rolinatis
“Just running out to the gym” Katie yelled from doorway. Her husband appeared in the hallway bouncing their baby in the crook of his arm.
“OK, see you soon” Steve winked and whispered quietly, trying not to wake Colin while he was asleep.
Katie had made a New Year Resolution to lose her baby weight and it was not going well. Even after all her efforts of intense dietary restrictions and going hard at the gym seven days a week, she seemed to be gaining if anything. Katie would do anything to get her pre-baby weight back at this point.
***
In her peripheral vision she saw someone mounting the stair climber next to her. It was Paula, a trainer at the gym who was there every day. Katie could not afford the “trainer option” with her membership so they only passed and said hello. Katie was sweating and her legs were screaming in pain. She looked over at Paula who was not winded whatsoever and was staring at her. Katie dismounted her machine.
“Hi” Paula said, “Do you have a minute to talk about something delicate?” she whispered the last word and lowered her head.
“Umm OK.” Katie said reluctantly.
Paula gestured for Katie to follow her to the back room. Paula closed the small storage closet that was full of excess gym equipment behind them.
“I see you’re struggling, working so hard here at the gym. You take no days off, like literally” Paula said. Katie looked at Paula up and down, noting she was perfect.
“Sorry, but I got the hard sell when I joined, and I just can’t swing the private trainer lessons. My husband’s work is slow and I’m staying home with Colin.” Katie shrugged.
“No, no” Paula sighed “not training.” Paula said, “what if I told you that last year, I weighed 275 pounds?”
“I’d say bullshit” Katie countered.
“Well, it’s true– and I was given a pill that fixed everything, and it worked immediately.”
Katie looked down at her lingering bloated baby bump and winced. She hated herself in this moment. She looked at Paula with no hesitation and said, “I’ll take it.”
“Whoa! Hang on! There are side effects that can be… bothersome” Paula countered.
“OK, so diarrhea? Headache?” Katie was already abusing laxatives so she doubted she would notice.
“No, you will get hungry. Hungrier than you have ever been before. Eat whatever you want and whenever you need to. You might even think you are gaining at first, but then the pounds will melt off” Paula turned around and opened a small container sitting on a shelf and turned around with two small red capsules in the palm of her hand.
“Take one now,” she said. “Take the other in a week.”
Without argument, Katie popped one of the red capsules in her mouth and swallowed it with some effort dry.
“One week. Not sooner, not later, OK?” Paula asked seriously.
“Got it” Katie agreed.
***
That evening when Katie got home, she began experiencing the most intense stomach cramps she had ever felt. As if someone was scooping out her insides with a melon-baller.
“You OK?” Steve asked.
“Just a stomach bug.” Katie sputtered out over the symphony of disjointed trumpeting happening in her digestive tract.
“Maybe we should see if your mom can watch Colin tomorrow. I will be in the office.” Steve said.
“Yes, please give her a call,” Katie said while drawing her knees up into the fetal position as tears streamed down her face.
***
“How’s the stomach feeling?” Steve asked over the phone. Colin was at her mothers’ and Katie was eating shoving Cheetos and Oreos into her mouth as fast as she could swallow them. The only thing that made the pain stop was eating but she could not stop. Not even for a short time.
“It’s improving,” Katie responded.
“Good, see you at 7,” Steve said.
Katie apprehensively stepped on the scale. Yesterday she weighed 150 and today with the volume of food she had consumed, she weighed 161. In just the brief time she went to the bathroom to use the toilet the pain in her stomach became unbearable. She rummaged around under the sink and found an unopened tube of toothpaste and squirted the entire tube into her mouth to ease the pain. Before she left the bathroom, she got back on the scale which was now at 166. This was more than she weighed at nine months pregnant. Panic-stricken and ignoring her pain, she ran downstairs and popped the other pill in her mouth. She wanted to hurry this process along. Although the pain was crushing, the weight gain was even more unbearable.
***
She woke up on the kitchen floor. The refrigerator was opened, and all the cabinets were emptied, and debris was strewn everywhere. The searing pain in her abdomen was unbelievable. She had eaten everything from raw and cooked food to all her canned goods, to the packaging of many items. She reached up and her face was sticky with blood from the lambchops she devoured raw. Bones were splintered in her teeth and gums. She looked down and her stomach was less bloated, and her yoga pants had a little more room.
Katie needed to eat now. She looked out the back window and saw the neighbour’s dog playing in the yard. Salivating, she opened the patio doors just as the chime from the garage door opening sounded. Katie wrenched over violently in a wave of horrifying pain. Steve came into the kitchen with his mouth agape looking at all the chaos in the room.
“Katie, what happened” Steve gasped.
Katie started crying, hugging Steve. “Your stomach? We need to get you to the hospital.”
Katie reached behind Steve’s back on the counter grabbing a knife, resting her face in his neck. She turned her mouth toward his ear.
“My god honey, you smell absolutely delicious today.”