A Beautiful World by Editscifi

A Beautiful World
Waking Ugly
Kenzie McGrey was sitting at her desk in a cubical near the break room working on a proposal for her company.  It was about one in the afternoon and she just wanted to get it done so she could get the rest of the paper work out of the way.  She was the typical former homecoming queen type who had spent her life making sure she stayed beautiful and thin.  She had long glossy brown hair and small perky breasts poking slightly from her professional but very reveling outfit.
A group of women were laughing and talking in the break room disturbing her concentration.  The office rules were that everyone was to be back by 12:45, but was not strictly enforced unless work was not completed on time.  The three women were all late getting back and were getting pop, coffee, and snacks for their desks.  The loudest of them all was a medium height morbidly obese woman who laughed loudly as she talked with her friend a tall very slender woman.
After less then five minutes of their banter Kenzie got up and went over to the women with a distinctive huff and a glare.  Patty, the slender of the two was leaning against a counter stirring her coffee and smiling at Milly, the fat and vocal woman.  A third, a somewhat mousey woman with a scar on her lip and a large mole above her eye stood listening to the conversation but not seeming to really be a part of it.
“Some of us are here to work not gab.”  Kenzie said staring at the three.  She showed more disgust of Patty for associating with the two misfits.
Milly looked over to the small slender woman who was berating them.  “And some of us have friends and like to chat instead of eating at our desks all lunch hour.”
Patty tried to be reasonable, “Yeah come on, relax for a wile.”
Though attractive Kenzie’s personality was that of a woman who knew she could get what she wanted from her looks, and had no hesitation in going for it.  She wasn’t accustomed to being shot down by people she thought of as beneath her, and like the spoiled brat she was the pretty woman threw a tantrum.  “Right, relax and risk looking like that giant tub of lard you call a friend.”
Patty was angry now defending her friend.  “Hay, she works harder than anyone here.”
“You call this work, you’re interrupting work.  And stuffing yourself with crap making yourself more of a disgusting mess than you already are.  Now shut the hell up.”
All this time the woman who had been listening to the conversation simply watched thinking seriously as Kenzie continued on her tirade.  After the young spoiled beauty marched off in a huff the woman popped open her can and walked between the two who were still standing.  Milly hurt by the words, and Patty angrier than she could remember.  “She better watch herself.  The world has a way of evening the score.”
When she looked over she saw the owner of their business, a tall middle-aged Hispanic man with dark skin leaning over talking to Kenzie as the lovely woman sat seductively talking to him.  The young fat woman plunged one pudgy hand into her bag of candy with a shake in her voice.  “Yeah, she looks like she’s really suffering.”
Patty leaned over putting a hand on her friends ample shoulder in sympathy.  “Come on, let’s just get back to work.”
When Kenzie got home it was past seven.  She had gone to the gym and worked out as usual.  Her dinner consisted of a light salad with baked herb chicken and no dressing, just a hint of vinegar.  She watched a show about modeling and thought about her upcoming weekend.  Mr Alvarez, or Choto, as he liked her to call him was taking her to Cancun on Friday.  She had the perfect bikini to wear.
She looked around her small but well cared for apartment.  The furniture was nice and well maintained.  Her TV was small but new and her bedroom had a lovely queen sized bed with a soft expensive mattress bought by Choto for her comfort and when he came over to stay the night.  She was most definitely a kept woman, and she loved it.  As she put on a small white tea shirt and white panties to go to bed she thought, “Maybe I could get him to fire those busy bodies.  I know how to get him to.”
She closed her eyes smiling to herself not only about the idea of a quieter work place, but of the fat Milly in a soup kitchen line homeless because she couldn’t find another job.  Yes, her life was perfect.
When Kenzie woke up the next morning she knew before she got out of bed something wasn’t rite.  Her back was stiff from her hard mattress and she had a headache that came from sleeping in an awkward position.  When the slender woman got up and looked around her room things just weren’t quite right, and it was hard to place how at first.  It was as though the room seemed dimmer than it should.
Eventually she noticed the bed wasn’t as plush.  It was an old mattress she had over a year ago.  Confused, but not yet more than a little worried, Kenzie walked to her closet to get dressed for work.  When she looked at the clothes they seemed wrong.  The sleeveless tops she owned had been replaced by short sleeved tops and she had many dark colored jackets.  Her skirts were all also much longer than she remembered and the slacks hanging there were baggy and unflattering.  The young woman stared at everything in confusion.  Then it dawned on her.  All her nice things were gone.  She had some items that were clearly well cared for and some new, but none were her expensive gifts from Choto.
Angry, she went to her phone to call him, thinking maybe he had come in during the night and had taken them all back.  This didn’t make much sense but nothing made much sense at this point.  When she got to the phone he wasn’t on the call list.  In fact there were only about five numbers on her cell phone her mom’s, her dad’s, her sister’s, work, and 911.  All her friends numbers had disappeared.  She didn’t actually know Choto’s number so she couldn’t call him.  The only way this was going to be figured out was to get dressed and go to work.
She dressed in the clothes she thought made her look frumpy trying to make them look as nice as she could.  The vain woman did her hair and makeup before leaving.  Looking at herself she decided she looked decent enough and went outside to go to work.
When she left her apartment she was confronted with a sight she wasn’t prepared for.  A neighbor of hers, a hugely fat woman who made Milly look nearly average, waddled by in an outfit that made Kenzie simply stare in disbelief.  The woman’s long blond hair was fashioned into a large fancy style held up by chopsticks, her makeup looked professional, her fitted low cut red shirt exposed her cleavage which was being held up by a bra clearly made to cause her breasts to wobble as she moved.  The top encased her huge belly that hung low in front of her swaying from side to side as she walked.  The black skirt she wore barely hung lower than her stomach.
It appeared as though the huge woman had gone to great lengths to look good and was clearly pleased with her choice, but Kenzie felt physically ill at the sight.  She had never been kind to the woman, and was about to come up with a comment, telling her to put actual clothes on but the woman beat her to it.
“What the hell are you looking at, bean pole?”  In a moment’s appraisal the fat neighbor looked her up and down as if Kenzie were the inappropriately dressed one.  “Good God, cover up.  If you don’t have the decency to put some flab on, at least have the self respect to hide the scrawn.”
The woman walked on, her huge butt peeking out from under her short skirt.  Kenzie just stared, dumbfounded.  “Did that just happen?”  She thought, locking the door to her apartment.  “Put some flab on?  What the hell is going on here?”
The young and now very confused woman, lived in a city where about as many people walked or rode the bus as drove to work.  She always walked to work and rode home as a way of getting exercise.  She usually got some jeers and whistles as she made her way to work, but today was different.  One thing she noticed was there were a lot more fat women, and not just a couple of hundred pounds.  Most of the women she saw were at least 400 lbs or more.  Many wore low cut pats that actually let their bellies hang out and showed the crack and thong in the back.
As she looked on in revulsion and disbelief, a man yelled from his car, “Yo twig, put some clothes on.”
She looked at herself for a moment.  She was wearing a skirt and a short sleeved top.  It was professional, but more conservative than she usually dressed.  Her arms were exposed and her legs could be seen, that was all.  When she kept on walking another thin woman walked into her, head down, and apparently trying not to be noticed.  She was covered from head to toe and was sweating under all the layers in the hot weather.  The woman looked momentarily in disgust at Kenzie’s body as if to say, “Cover up will you?”
When Kenzie finally got to work, things continued to go downhill.  The young woman didn’t think it was possible, but she should have known better.  The only one who seemed unaffected by whatever was going on, was the woman with the harelip scar and large mole.
Milly was even fatter than the day before, her large double belly spilling out from her pants and her massive breasts barely contained in her top.  Her hair, which had previously been not much more than clean, looked like it had a professional style and cut, piled up high with curls spilling down over her forehead.  Patty was now over 200 lbs and had a huge jelly belly that she seemed to be quite proud of.  Her bubble butt poked out of her tight dress and when she moved large hanging folds of fat jiggled on her arms.
The two women still gabbed in the break room as Kenzie tried to work.
“I put on another 20 lbs.”  Patty said with apparent pride.
Milly was smiling, quite jolly and eating from a tray of donuts that hadn’t been there the day before.  “I told you you could do it.  All you need is determination.”  Milly laughed loudly as she grabbed another donut.  “I better watch it or you’ll get fatter than me.”
Kenzie rolled her eyes and actually put her hands over her ears trying to block them out as she worked.  The world had truly gone nuts and the insanity wasn’t about to end.  Choto finally arrived at work.  The young and formerly most attractive woman, had intended to chew him out for dumping her, but the situation had turned around completely.  She was smart enough to know things weren’t as simple as she had originally thought.  This wasn’t about him any more.  This was about the whole dammed world.
As Milly walked out of the break room, she saw Mr Alvarez go into the office.  With what appeared to be intended as a prim swagger, the very large woman moved her body in such a way as to make sure every part of her body jiggled as she made her way to her cubicle.  Patty also returned to her desk, making her belly bounce as much as possible as she walked.
Kenzie stopped being shocked by the women’s actions but she was still disgusted by the sight.  Choto Alvarez walked a circuit around the room talking to his employees, as he did once a month.  It just so happened that Kenzie was having a few issues they needed to discuss and he lingered at her station.  As they talked Kenzie thought he was being overly nice, and maybe in this screwed-up world he was still her lover, just not so openly.
She began to be more flirtatious with him, but the older man appeared to either miss the subtle gestures or was ignoring them.  As he moved on she realized, to her instant humiliation that she had been swooning over him like a love-sick puppy.  When Mr Alvarez stopped at her male neighbor in the next cubicle he chatted exactly as he had done with her.
The thin and confused woman stared at her computer screen, tapping a pencil while holding back tears of frustration.  He was just a nice guy showing some attention to the ugly girl in the office, nothing more.  There was still one shock left for Kenzie, one she should have expected given how things had changed.  When Mr Alvarez got to Milly’s cubicle he bent over the huge woman who was leaning back letting her belly hang between her legs.  They talked quietly as she fiddled with her hair and grinned widely, making a third chin on her fleshy face.
Unable to resist Kenzie listened in on the conversation as she pretended to work.
“Oh, yes, Cancun is lovely this time of year.”  He was brushing his hand down the expanse of her wide fat belly making her giggle with the light tickling.
When the laughter ended, Milly said seductively.  “I have a new bikini, it’s so small you can barely see it.”
Kenzie didn’t know whether to get sick from revulsion or cry with self pity.  That was supposed to be her trip.  She had worked so hard to get him in this place.  With any luck she was going to be able to trap him.  He had said he wanted to get married and this was going to be her ticket out.  But fat-ass Milly was going instead.
“Well.”  Mr Alvarez said, leaning in closer over the huge woman.  “I have planned everything just to your liking.  I will love to fatten you up just as much as I can.”
Kenzie got up and left the office in disgust and frustration.  She walked into the bathroom, not caring that everyone was watching her.  After a few minutes of crying in a stall, the young woman stepped out and looked at herself in the mirror.  Not only did she look frumpy and washed out, she now had swollen eyes and her makeup was ruined.  She cursed at herself, realizing she had left her purse in the office.
In a moment Patty was by her side handing her the purse and looking sympathetically at her.  Kenzie grabbed the purse out of her hand glaring at the newly fattened woman.  She turned to fix her makeup without even saying thank you.
“Everyone knows you have a thing for him,” Patty continued as if the cold shoulder hadn’t been offered.  “Storming out crying won’t make him like you.”
Half fixed up Kenzie looked over at Patty.  “Do me a favor, Patt.”
“Anything, you know I just…”
Kenzie interrupted talking slowly as if to someone mentally challenged.  “Mind your own business.”
Patty turned to leave her patience worn out.  But before going she tried one last time.  “You know, its not that hard.  I’ve put on almost 100 lbs in just the last few months.  You might not get Choto, but maybe you wouldn’t get laughed at.”
Kenzie shoved her makeup in her purse, irritated and angrier than before.  “I said, mind you own business.”
Patty, now angry too, opened the door and looked at Kenzie.  “I take it back, even if you were fat no one would like you.  No one likes a bitch, Kenzie.”
After Patty left Kenzie looked at her reflection in the mirror.  “This has got to be a nightmare.”  She muttered to herself.
A toilet flushed and Kenzie spun around to see the frumpy woman with the mole on her face walking out of the stalls.  “Then try and wake up.”
The strange woman left the bathroom with Kenzie staring after her.
By the end of her work day Kenzie was deflated and more morose than she had ever felt before.  She had never been a negative person, just spoiled and she expected things to go her way.  She didn’t realize it, but the way she was feeling was exactly how all the victims of her insensitive nature had felt.  She didn’t know how to be ugly.  The always popular young woman didn’t realize that kindness and compassion weren’t her due simply for existing.  After a day of being mocked, belittled, humiliated, and blatantly ignored she felt as ugly as she was viewed by everyone else.
Now she was riding the buss to her gym about a mile away from home.  When she got on the bus she had to stand because there were no seats, and no men offered her his as they usually did.  Standing in the isle holding onto the bar she looked tiredly at the ads which were altered as she had begun to expect.  “Gain 50 Lbs in 50 days!!!”  was in an ad where a thin woman looked out as the “Before” and then a woman who was presumably her in the “After” with way more than 50 Lbs gained.  Another said, “Metabo-loss, the new diet pill that will crash your metabolism and make you gain weight fast.”
As Kenzie got off the bus at the stop next to her gym, she saw the all-women’s gym was replaces with something called a Feedery.  She looked inside with surprise and disgust.  She saw women, including Patty and Milly, with tubes in their mouths reclining in chairs and watching TV on huge screens.  Men walked around the room changing the large vats that hung above the women, from which the tubes came.  The vats appeared to contain barely melted pure lard which the women were sucking up quickly.
When Kenzie turned away, she saw a sign on the wall, with a photo of a woman who was at least 600 lbs smiling back at her, with a belly apron that sagged down to her knees.  The sign said, “Join now and your first 100 lbs are free!!!”  Kenzie stared at the picture intently, thinking there was something very familiar about the woman.  She jumped back in disbelief when she realized it was Brittney Spears.
This was just too much.  She nearly ran the whole way home.  Huffing and in near sobs she made it to the building where her neighbor was going out in an even more reveling outfit than in the morning.  “Oh staying in again I see.”  The woman said with cattish cruelty.  “Well maybe if you put on a couple hundred pounds and got a personality transplant some guy would want you too.”
At this point Kenzie had heard it all so many times she just stopped listening and went into the building.
She went to bed early hoping when she fell asleep she’d wake up and find out it was all just a bad dream.  She tossed and turned on the old worn mattress.  It had popped springs and even stank a little making it hard to get comfortable.  When she did sleep her dreams were filled with the hateful thing she had experienced that day.
The sun shone in through the window, making the whole room feel like a warm spring morning.  When the young woman first got up she looked around sleepily thinking how horrible her nightmare had been.  She had been ugly, a concept she had trouble even fathoming.  Her, the victim of deserved ridicule due to her looks?  She pulled herself out of bed not even noticing the bed was the same as in the dream.  Going out into the living room she felt the horror of realizing it wasn’t in fact a nightmare.
She turned on the TV to a morning show and saw the once svelte young anchor woman was gigantic.  Kenzie wanted to cry with frustration.  How could this be happening?  What was going on?  She collapsed on her couch crying, her whole body heaving with sobs of self pity.  She couldn’t go in to work.  She just couldn’t face all that again.  The jeering, the mocking, and huge fat Milly with her meal ticket.
After almost twenty minutes of sobbing Kenzie realized she had to go to work, she had to face it.  Slowly the young woman got dressed in as concealing an outfit as she could manage.  She wasn’t going to get laughed at today if she could help it.  She did her makeup with care not to bring attention to herself.  She did her hair plainly and wound up leaving almost a half hour late for work.  When she finally got there she realized almost everyone was looking at her and she wanted to shrink into her cubical and hide.
As with the lunch schedule people’s tardiness was only brought up if their work suffered for it, but she still cringed at the thought of making a spectacle of herself.  She hunched over her desk, working and listening to the gossip.  Then it dawned on her, this was Friday.  Milly was going to Cancun with Choto.  She and Patty were talking about it between working and snacking.
On the pretense of getting ink for her printer Kenzie left the work area to get away from the talk of tropical fun and gluttony planned for the next two days.  The now fully demeaned woman stood in the storage room rocking herself slightly while fighting off more tears.  “What the hell is going on?”  She asked herself.
She turned in surprise as the door opened and the woman with the harelip and mole entered the room as if she belonged there.  “I’ve been waiting a day and a half for you to ask that.”
“What the…?”  Kenzie blurted in surprise.  “What are you doing here?”
The woman looked at Kenzie blankly as if the answer was obvious.  “I came to answer your question.”
Kenzie stared down at the woman, now desperate and demanding.  The other looked at her not showing any sign of intimidation.  “Then answer them already.”
“I will.”  Kenzie noticed what she had always thought of as an accent was actually a lisp.  “As soon as you calm down.”
Kenzie leaned against the shelves of paper, her arms folded impatiently, but quietly waiting.
“The world has a way of setting things right when it gets too far off-course.  Most people don’t notice because they are simply caught in the cross-fire.  As far as those out there know, fat has always been the sign of beauty and the thin women have always been the outcasts.”
Kenzie curled her lip unprettily and began to protest.  “But then how come I can remember, and why am I still thin?  And why do you remember?”
The woman smiled with what looked like malicious joy.  “Because fat or thin I’m still scarred, have a tumor on my eyelid, and I still have a cleft palate.  Weight doesn’t matter, I’d still be ugly.  So none of this affects me.”  Now the woman grinned waiting for the reaction.  “And you remember, because this is your fault.”
Kenzie looked shocked and stared at the woman in disbelief.  “What?  No!  I didn’t do anything.”
“Others have been more cruel, but no one has hurt people with less justification.”  She relished Kenzie’s reaction enjoying it as only someone who knew what being hurt really was about.  “You demeaned a woman just for being friends with someone who was fat, it tipped things so much that this had to happen.”
With resolve Kenzie plugged on, figuring she would think through the answers when she was alone.  “How do I make things right, put them back the way they were?”
“They won’t go back.  You’re stuck.”  The woman smiled, showing a scar even in her gum line where a gap in her gums had been imperfectly filled.  “Ask yourself, how much can you stand being ugly.  What are you willing to do to be beautiful again?”
The woman turned and left, leaving Kenzie to think about what she had heard.  After almost 15 minutes in the closet she noticed the boxes full of goodies that were kept for the break room.  In moments she had a bag opened and half downed.  She would be damned if she’d spend the rest of her life being made fun of.