Say it again, she whispers into the mirror, fingers scraping against her rib cage

Tell me the story again, she pleads, staring deep into her reflection while her fingers claw into her cheek bones

The mirror coos fairytales of Prince Charming and prominent collar bones
It warns her of wary glances and hospital visits
It tells the story of a broken family, trying to keep their daughter from falling apart.

Digging her nails into her legs, she finger paints stories of self loathing up and down the blank canvases that are her thighs
How much will he love me, she screams, when I am nothing but skin and bones?!
Please tell me how much substance I will gain when I lose myself.
Whisper sweet nothings into my ear, the way I know he will.

"Lie to me!!", she begs, tears gushing down her sunken face
Banging her fists on the glass, she attempts to destroy the truth 

Make me feel something!
She smashes her fists into the mirror again and again
Until she can no longer feel the shards of glass embedded in her skin

Make me feel like I'm worth something, for once in my life, please!

This weight just isn't bearable anymore, she cries, wringing her blood coated hands.
Grabbing fate off of the counter she swallows her fear, and chases it with morphine.
She takes enough to kill a cow, which she finds fitting.

If only she could realize that self worth isn't weighed, isn't counted.
It isn't measured by something as trivial as a number on a scale.

Her eyes roll back into her skull.
Knees faltering, she collapses face first onto the floor.
Blood drips from her pale, lifeless lips

This was never what she wanted.
It didn't have to come to this

The magazines, the runway shows, the way the media portrays women as nothing more than a body to lust over
This is what pushed her over the edge

Mirror, mirror on the wall: Is she beautiful enough now?!
Now that her bones are protruding through her skin
Hair falling out in chunks
Teeth yellow, face sunken in
Collar bones prominent, hips cutting through her porcelain skin
Mirror mirror on the wall, is she truly the fairest of them all?

She is nothing more than a pile of emancipated limbs, bleeding out all of her hopes and dreams
She will never graduate from high school
Never fall in love
Never walk down the aisle
Her parents will lower her into the ground in casket that feels as empty as their hearts

Mirror mirror on the wall, do you realize how many innocent lives you have stolen?
How many young girls you have starved?
Do you know how many families you have torn to shreds?
Do you have any idea what you've done?

Her vision fades as she seizes violently on the bathroom floor
The pill bottle falls from her cold grasp
Her story is ending, and with it, so is her pain.
A small smile forms on her face

As her struggle is coming to an end, another's is just beginning
A countless number of girls across the world are fighting the same war
Battle scars cover their wrists, thighs and hips
But this will never be enough to make them forget their pain
Proof that words cut deeper than any razor ever could

20 million women are losing this same fight 
The first battle encountered at an early age
60% of elementary school girls worry about becoming fat
This conflict is killing us as a nation
Anorexia is the most common cause of death among young women

This girl was more than a statistic
She was someone's daughter
Someone's sister
She was a friend
A person...

We live in a world that puts the importance of looks on a higher shelf than the sanctity of life
And until this changes, the death toll will continue to rise.