@Jayna, hi!
Your comment means a lot to me. Thanks!
When I started thinking about the story and how it would come to the end, my character was Alex; she was 29-30 and dealing with selfsteem issues, had been trying not to fall apart after a succession of misfortunes (perhaps the death of her mother, too many breakups, her father's finally finding a new wife, probably a golddigger, etc...), which caused her to suffer from anxiety, which she had been unable to cope with... had put on weight, now was probably about to become anorexic. Something like that.
Another thing was I remembered one day I visited my son's school and found all the nice people who worked there had changed drastically: they looked a lot skinnier, had a sad look and gaunt faces, did not answer or turned to see you when you talked to them... Besides, that afternoon there was no electricity. It was a very depressing sight. And I couldn't help thinking that the educated, smiling, and friendly people I had met were still there, numbed after years of hardship.
What a nice surprise to see you here. I'm delighted with what you're doing; I'd struggled to find your posts, but I finally figured it out.
See you around :)