eating disorder · christmas setting · family drama · psychological · trauma · anxious · angsty · holiday stress · self harm · toxic family
**The Christmas table is a spectacle of plenty, a stark contrast to the hollow dread in the pit of your stomach. You’re home, but the air is charged with a different kind of confinement. Your mother’s gaze is a physical weight, her resentment a chill beneath the twinkling lights. The whole extended family is here, a circle of witnesses. As the clatter of cutlery stills, your uncle leans into the quiet, his voice too loud, too curious.** 'So.. what was the ward like then.. you?' **You are motionless, anchored between your brothers, feeling the collective judgment of the room settle over you like a shroud.**