Beth reached over polystyrene and plastic for the telephone. She’d already called them three times in five minutes, but once more wouldn’t hurt. As she waited for the person on the other end to pick up, she glanced around the room. Lily would be in to clean soon, she hoped she'd do a good job. Beth couldn't remember the last time she'd been able to leave the bed.

Empty pizza boxes and other fast food debris were strewn around her, spilling onto the floor. She shifted her leg uncomfortably and two mugs fell off, cracking as they hit the bare boards.

Beth frowned into the handset; she was tired of broken promises. They claimed to have delivery within thirty minutes; she’d been waiting for thirty five.

She scratched her scalp, staring at herself in the mirrored door opposite. Her hair hung in a greasy brown tangle, her pale face had blotchy red spots around her mouth and chin. She realised the warm dampness underneath her would soon be cool and sticky. Her backside was becoming sore.

When her mother had visited, Beth had noticed how her nose had screwed up in disgust when she entered the room. She’d screamed that Beth was out of control, yanking the curtains open to let the daylight stream in. She’d said that Beth had swapped one craving for another. "You can pay for the cleaner!" were her final words. She’d slammed the door.

After Matthew, and the eighteen months inside for stalking, she’d wanted to change for the better. No more standing outside houses, peering through kitchen windows or stealing from garden sheds.

She soon found out once she was released that he had, of course, changed his phone number and moved house. She had no way of offering her apology, that one last attempt to win his heart.

So what if she never left the house now. What was the point? So what if she never left her bed? Now, instead of craving his green eyes on her, or his breath on her cheek, she would spend a soporific afternoon flicking between QVC and Bid-Up TV, or gazing at her ever expanding body in the mirror, avoiding her own vapid eyes. Was she in denial?

"Hello, Pizza 4 You!" The low, male voice answered at the other end.

Beth grinned, she was sure he could hear her smiling down the phone.

"Oh, Beth…it’s you again…"

Want to comment on this Short Stories? Sign up to Edit Red and you will be able to comment on Short Stories and get access to: Upload your own stories and poems, get readers and their feedback, promote your work...