NYAC | 3min Read
Published on May 7, 2026
The Movie
The Movie
The VHS tape. It’s finally here. I ordered it a day ago, but it feels like I have been
waiting forever. No doubt that it’s outdated, but it feels right – putting the cassette in
the player is so different than just clicking a button on the remote. It’s still surprising
to me how this place has tech from out there, but that doesn’t matter right now. I eye it
apprehensively. I already know everything that’s in here, but I’m still scared. Yet, I
take a deep breath, and insert it into the video cassette player, one that I bought just for
this tape.
The TV screen lights up, in contrast to the dim room. It starts in a bright classroom
called 6C, with colourful posters and a feelings chart, though the students thought they
were too old for it. A short, curvy girl called Neena had developed an onslaught of
acne.
“Oh god, look at your face!” Sanjana, the ‘popular’ classmate remarked.
Already being extremely insecure, Neena’s eyes turned glossy.
“Don’t worry though!”
Sanjana exclaimed hurriedly, looking at her expression.
“Just follow Vivienne Clora
on Instagram, and I swear, she’ll help you glow up in less than a week!” Neena
thanked her and intently listened to Vivienne once she reached home.
“This skincare
routine is PERFECT for glass skin, it’ll feel like magic.
” Her acne lessened, but her
self-hatred grew.
The movie cuts to when she was 14, just navigating becoming a teenager. She was a
bit on the chubby side, as was her family.
“Oh look, the fatty’s here!” the boys pointed
out. She cried herself to sleep every day. In period 7, when the boys were again
laughing, Lyla approached her afterwards. Being the skinniest girl, Neena expected
Lyla to bully her too, but she didn’t.
“Hey, don’t mind the guys, they’re always such a
pain. Though Kiki Ito has a diet plan for weight loss on YouTube. It helped me a lot.
”
She winked and walked away. Neena heeded her advice.
“Cut out half of you usually
eat,
” Kiki said through the tiny, bright screen. But her parents would knew if she did,
so she found herself in the bathroom, retching all her meals out. She also did intense
“Lose your fat in 1 week” workouts at home. They didn’t happen as fast, but they did
work. Now she was less than 30 kg, but with this ‘prize’ came an eating disorder.
At 17, Neena overheard the conversation of a couple of guys in her class.
“You know,
dead girls are prettier. They’re skinny, they’re pale, and they don’t even talk!”
Everyone in the group laughed at the ‘joke’
. Was that really what the world wanted
girls like her to be? Dead? Her self-starvation was driving her insane, fatigue making
her screw up her exams. She’d sacrifice hours of her sleep in night skin-care routines,
and makeup before school. And here, people were saying that she should just die
instead? As if it was fate, she passed away four days later. The toll of beauty was tooheavy on her. Her parents were howling in the funeral, leaving the rest of the guests
silent. I watched her body, as slim as a stick, get cremated.
The movie ends with a jar, containing a pile of her ashes. My ashes. I’m Neena—or
more accurately, I was her. This is the afterlife. A candle besides the TV snuffs out,
leaving the place in darkness. The wax has fully melted into a puddle, so I couldn’t
light it again. In the silence, I cry until my tears run out, grieving missed chances.
