Big Ballerina

> Natalie Rickert was 32 years of age and a professional dancer with the Louisiana Ballet Company when she was killed in a car crash on her way home from Thanksgiving dinner with her parents.
> (The other driver was drunk and died shortly after being extracted from the crumpled wreck of her car, but her story is for another day)
> Thanksgiving was always tricky for Natalie, as she had to very carefully watch what she ate for her career. The bountiful amounts of food on the table were always so so tempting, but she couldn't.
> The portions served were also very generous due to the size of her family. Despite being limber and thin, the rest of her family was absolutely not, ranging from mildly-hefty to morbidly obese.
> Her final thoughts before she was t-boned by an erratically-driven Ford Focus were that of the feast, and she wished she could eat whatever she wanted. She wanted to EAT.
> When the spirit leaves the body but stays on Earth, it's the most regretful memories or emotions that tend to be what's left, alongside something that defines who they are (if it is an equally strong motivator for the spirit).
>It is speculated that there might be a moment of confusion immediately after death, but it is quickly replaced by raw emotion and the spirit is guided by its sense of self.
> Natalie's remaining aspects that she could recognize and grasp on to, were that she wanted to eat that feast, and that she was a dancer.
> Natalie was immediately drawn back to her Parent's home, the source of the food she had so desperately longed for moments before she had died.
> As Natalie's spirit soared through the night, her parents had gotten a call from local law enforcement that she had just been killed and that her body was being transferred.
> Her family rushed out of the house to get to the scene of the accident just as Natalie slipped into the kitchen, where the leftovers were in the process of being wrapped up.
> The house was devoid of people, and Natalie finally, FINALLY gave into her hunger.
> She tore through slabs of turkey, juices falling to the floor, guzzled down the gravy straight from the pitcher, and slurped down what mashed potatoes she could find. Pies were demolished, hams were vanished without a trace, and the sweet potatoes stood no chance.
>Once the massacre was complete, all that remained were oily splotches, bones and crumbs.
> Reports from the family indicated that there was what they believed was a break-in, but there was no sign of entry and no valuables were stolen so most people gave it no notice.
> After all, "these lardasses probably just ate it all and forgot" is what people would say.
> But what happened to Natalie's family is of little interest in regards to this particular story, for they grieved and eventually moved on, as most folks do.
> What IS of interest is where Natalie went after her feast, which in this case, was homeward, the route she was taking when she was killed.
> Along the way, there were multiple staples of the south (barring churches) on the sides of the road: Restaurants.
> Not just any restaurants, but the ones she could NEVER partake in due to her strict diet. Fried chicken joints, pizza parlors serving greasy pies, bakeries with sugary confections of all sorts, and (in true Louisiana fashion) the gumbo joints. The forbidden fruits, fresh for the plucking.
> Nobody could explain why vast quantities of food had suddenly vanished along the various restaraunts alongside this particular road, but nobody could file a police report for any real crimes, as there were no visible criminals.
> After multiple stops were made, the severely bloated ghost made her way towards "home", towards what defined her, the dance studio.
> What is interesting for spirits is that even if they happen to possess something in the living physical world in or on them (in this case, food), it has to be able to reappear if the spirit has any possession over something else in the physical world. Matter cannot be created or destroyed, especially physical matter. The food never really disappeared, it was just transformed into something else.
> Natalie always believed in life that if she ate as much as she just did, she would get fat. So her spirit took the food and changed it into something tangible based on that belief.
> At least, all the above is just the theory going forward, as nothing else can really explain what happened next.
> As Natalie's spirit drifted through the hallways of the Louisiana Ballet Company, faint voices could be heard from the various dancers within, all shocked at the death of Natalie Rickert. Most were obviously upset, with a few being nonchalant, and a couple seeming...pleased.
> Natalie had no thoughts of vengeance towards any of them, just a desire to return to her "home" and paid the happier figures no mind.
> She finally reached her destination, the female changing room, which contained many lockers inside. One of which belonged to Natalie..
> She finally passed through the doors of her locker, just as they were jimmied open by the happier girls, but Natalie paid no mind as she settled into what gave her comfort and purpose: her pink satin pointe shoes.
> As the girls opened the locker, hoping to loot whatever they could before any family member could claim them, they immediately reached for her shoes, knowing that they could sell fairly well as used goods, for nothing was cheap in the ballet industry.
> As one blonde girl picked up the shoes in glee, she gazed at them and stopped. The shoes were changing in front of her.
> The firm bodies of the shoes began to...soften according to the girl when asked about the events. The sides began to bloat out and sag towards the ground, weighing steadily heavier in the girl's hands.
> She was baffled at the changes occuring in front of her, and wondered why they were so...flabby? The thought had entered her head without much resistance, but she wondered how or... why shoes could do that? It made no sense. Then she felt the moisture.
> The bulging parts were colliding against each other, providing "rolls" and crevices in between each soft mound. And in those crevices, liquid was beginning to leak out. One of the other girls swore that it was "sweating."
> A third girl noticed the shiny ribbons of the shoes, the ones that curved up the ankles, were swelling up as well. The edges were rounding out as the fabric itself was growing thicker, the edges were rounding out. Everything was softening and fattening up.
> By the end of it all, the pretty little ballet shoes were disgustingly obese parodies of their former selves. The rear portions of the shoes were dimpled with what the girls considered to be "cellulite".
> It made no sense, it defied understanding. It was utterly disgusting, and there was no rhyme or reason to what was occuring in front of them.