The pulsating pain from my ear had only worsened. The incessant sloshing of the small pool of water stuck inside of my head was excruciatingly irritating, so it was no surprise that I would gobble up the pills my mom had given to me to ease my ear infection without a second thought. I made way to bed hoping to wake up feeling better the next day for a swimming competition.

What I woke up to was a worsened ear infection and a new sensation of hunger in my stomach. I felt empty. I ate a hefty bowl of Frosted Flakes to satiate my hunger along with another dose of my mom’s pills. I must’ve been nervous for the swim meet that day, because in less than 5 minutes I had already made my way to the bathroom with explosive diarrhea comprised of half digested Frosted Flakes.

Through the locked doors of the restroom my mom was shocked to hear loud explosions echoing within the toilet bowl. It lasted for a while but ended abruptly. It was like no other stomach pain I had experienced before. Not only did I feel hungry when I woke up, I felt hungry once again after the Frosted Flakes I had eaten was immediately expelled from my body. Despite my bodily malfunctions, I was still going to attend the swim meet.

As my mom drove me to my destination, she urged me to eat anything from a bag of snacks to give me energy. However, I was afraid that the consequences of me eating the slightest amount of food could lead to an embarrassing experience and even put her car to waste. Eventually, I had successfully made the trip without eating a single bite, and I was planning on not eating anything throughout the entire day.

As the day progressed through events I became famished. The snack bag my mom had packed for me began to look more appetizing than ever, so I decided that I needed the energy.

It only took a ham sandwich and some bread to set me off. It was as if my digestive system had been lubricated from top to bottom from the inside out. Within less than 5 minutes I found myself in a wet stall emptying out my insides. My bellows echoed through the halls and to the showers.

After completely emptying out what I had just eaten, I was shocked to see that 20 minutes had flown by when I stepped back out onto the pool. My race was in less than 5 minutes. I panicked. I hadn’t even warmed up, and I wasn’t quite sure what would happen if I entered the water. Instead of testing what would happen, I waited behind the starting block and hoped for the best.

As the heat before me came in and finished, my empty stomach got butterflies. Only moments before diving in I was merely hoping I wouldn’t cause a catastrophe. When I dove in I clenched my muscles, hoped that I had expelled all of my ham sandwich in the restroom, and swam my hardest.

When I finished at the wall and looked behind me into the water, a wave of relief hit me as the water remained completely clear with not a single hint of brown. Not only had I successfully kept my stomach secure, I had gotten a new personal best time. I might’ve been able to attribute it to the lack of weight in my stomach weighing me down.

Returning home later that night I assumed that my nervousness would’ve settled down, and that I could finally satiate my hunger. However, everything I ate just slid right down in a matter of minutes like it had done before. I continued to blow up the household toilet. Not only did my stomach not solve its problem, my ear infection was getting worse, and my mom continued to prescribe more pills. Having no solution, I slept on an empty stomach in preparation for school the next day.

Getting ready for school in the morning, I had decided to not even bother with breakfast, and instead went to go get the pills my mom had ordered me to take the day before. I was dumbfounded to see the tin foil wrap over the pills that I had been taking for days say in big plain letters, “Laxative” all over it.