Apex 18-Serum
Updated: Oct 14
Written by Angela Zhou from Lakeview, Louisiana, USA
The Aurora Conservatory of Art & Dance
End-of-Year STUDENT REPORT CARD
Academic Year: 1980
Student Name: Maria Bronte
Year Level: 11
Student ID: ACD-24-7831
Core Dance Subjects
Classical Ballet: High Achievement
Contemporary Dance: High Achievement
Jazz Technique: Outstanding
Conditioning: Developing
Performance & Production
Attendance: Excellent
Performance Quality: Strong
Professional Development
Work Ethic & Discipline: Reliable and Focused
Teamwork & Ensemble Skills
Outstanding Collaborator 7/10
Works Well with Peers 8/10
Teacher’s Final Remarks
Maria is an amazing dancer, but she needs to lose weight and keep fit. Her performance this year shows potential, but her physical condition is falling short of what elite programs consider acceptable. At this stage, her final year, she cannot afford to ignore this shortcoming. Other students demonstrate the discipline required for professional entry, and selectors will compare her directly to them. Unless she shows a visible commitment to meeting the expected body standards, her chances of advancing in the dance industry will be seriously limited. Time is precious. Eat less – move more.
***
I descend the narrow stairwell of the dance academy, the cold lights casting a hard sheen across my white shapewear. Through the glass across the hallway, I catch my reflection, a narrowness I’ve worked so ruthlessly to maintain.
Tick-tack – my heels strike the wooden floor with clockwork precision.
At the end of the stairwell, a single-file line of girls stands, leaning rigidly against the wall. It’s time for their scheduled lunch. All of them, dressed in a uniform-fashioned white leotard, hair neatly tied up, hold a kit. Inside sits a delicate collection of utensils: three transparent capsules containing a pale, opalescent serum; a sleek, graphite-colored syringe; and a thin adhesive square that tracks metabolic response.
Enclosed upon the girls are mirrors that slightly reshape their reflection – they stretch their figures, broader and heavier, just enough to be flawed in ways that keep them vigilant.
“Good morning, young ladies.” My voice echoes in the dining hall, reverberating back and forth between the mirrors. “Please be careful with your food; don’t play with it. It is our honor to become part of the pilot round of this great invention, the Apex-18 Weight Lost Modulator.”
—
She floats down the stairs like a ghost, yet every step she takes articulates an unmistakable accent, tick-tack, each strike igniting every piece of my cold skin.
I carefully pour the serum into the syringe—my last bite of the day. Aligning my vision with the barrel, I tilt my hand at an exact forty-five degrees and watch the liquid slowly trickle into the glass container. As the final drop hits the surface, a girl rushes from behind, brushing hard against my shoulder.
Split. Crack. Splash.
A thin, shimmering smear immediately stretches across the wood floor, climbing toward the tip of my flats. I watch it in fright. Reflecting the sharp lights from the ceiling and the mirror, its iridescent film ripples with sickly colors. It bleeds into the cracks between the wood tiles, seeping downward, pulsing faintly, thinning into delicate threads of silk before vanishing between the seams.
My nose fills with the metallic, chemical smell that lingers in the air, yet underneath it lies a vague sweetness. My throat tightens.
Then comes the burning pain in my shoulder. It jolts me out of the shock—me and everyone else. Fear and anger swarm through my body.
“What is the matter with you?”
“Alicia… I… I’m…” Her voice quivers.
I look at her in dismay. I was the one hit in the shoulder. I was the one who lost the precious serum. I am the one who now has to wait in agony and emptiness for another twelve hours. Why is she acting like the victim? Her frightened look triggers me even more. I throw a piece of glass at her, inches from her frightened eyes.
Without further adieu, the hall ignites.
—
The hall ignites as Alicia’s glass glides through the skin of that girl.
Girls with pure white leotards throw themselves into the fight. Pulling, punching, cursing.
A moment before, they stood apart – bright, immaculate shapes in the corridor, bearing the quiet dignity of independence and grace. Their whiteness is declarative, testifying to their innocence and kindness.
But the virtue does not hold.
Their clothing falters. In the harsh hallway light, the girls flicker in and out of clarity, brief, ghostly silhouettes struggling to preserve something unsullied in a world intent on marking them. They look like fallen angels.
I stand at the bottom of the stairs watching them quietly, motionless.
This kind of violence, this daily frenzy happens so often. It should be fine, shouldn’t it? If this is the prize of staying light, staying beautiful, then it cannot be too high! A few scaffolds, a few disoriented nerves – nothing compared to what waits for the girls who grow out of shape.
At least my girls are all slim and shiny now. At least they will never have to bear the humiliation of being examined in front of the audience and found excessive. At least they will have a bright future unshadowed by the dread of stepping on scales, without whispered ridicule, without ruthlessly judgemental report cards.
Isn’t this mercy? It should be. It must be. It is the help that I never received.
I remember. I remember being the girl tucked into the back row because my thighs brushed together beneath my tights. I remember the teachers’ gaze on my waist before they ever bothered to watch my moves. I remember the way the studio mirrors warped into enemy lines, each reflection a verdict. I remember the hunger that lived in my ribcage, and its heavier sibling, shame, that lived everywhere else.
So the injection, a small dose, a devotion, it's a final stretch before salvation.
My speculation is interrupted when, through the chaotic crowd, Alicia’s wet eyes meet mine. Her once-defiant gaze now shimmers with apprehension and anguish. She looks at me as though the brittle soul behind those eyes is struggling to grasp even a fleeting glimpse of hope and safety in my gaze. My heart stumbles.
I turn, retreating up the stairs and march back to my office.
—
Ms. Bronte has left us to it, as always. I stare into the mirror in front of me, numbed. My bun has loosened, and hair sticks to my cheeks, mixing with tears. My shoulder was probably dislocated as the burning pain from the skin now digs deep into my marrow, sucking out all my energy and grace.
The hall gradually quietens down as we finally exhaust ourselves from the fight. So we just stood there, scattered around the spilled serum.
Silence envelopes the dining hall.
Then an unnamed force rises in me, quickening my heartbeat once more. I sink to my knees on the wooden floor and lower my face toward the puddle of serum.
—
I pant anxiously as I open the door to my office. I loosen the zipper on my shapewear so I can breathe, and I sink into the chair.
On the screen across from me, I see Alicia kneeling on the floor, scooping the remaining serum with a piece of glass and feeding it into her mouth. The sharp glass has cut through her mouth—a jagged shard caught between the flesh of her cheeks. Each bite she takes widens the cut, the wound opening like a desperate, shaking flower. The serum dribbles from the bloody gash, more leaking out than she manages to swallow. Streaks of blood bloom across her lips, dripping down her leotard, startling, vivid.
Fear and surprise engulf me all at once; this is unprecedented.
The girl closest to Alicia bends down, imitating her frantic scooping and feeding. Then another girl. And another. One by one, they gather around the puddle, greedily consuming whatever is left on the floor. Some discard the glass entirely, licking the mixture with their tongues.
—
MEDICAL DIAGNOSTIC REPORT
Facility Name: Green Horizon Medical Center
Department: Behavioral Health / Substance Use Evaluation
Patient Name: Alicia Mason
Patient ID: ADCM-88241
Date of Evaluation: 04/12/2026
Clinician: Dr. Hawthorne, MD, Addiction Medicine
1. Reason for Evaluation:
The patient was brought in due to an acute behavioral incident at The Aurora Conservatory of Art & Dance. According to video evidence, the patient engaged in compulsive ingestion of a non-nutritional, experimental weight-modulating substance. The behavior was accompanied by visible emotional distress, oral self-harm, and physical agitation.
2. Substance Use History
The patient reports routine administration of the Apex-18 serum as part of a structured regimen implemented by the dance academy. Although the regimen was described to her as “nutritive” and “standardized,” the patient states experiencing escalating cravings, lack of self-emotional control and heightened preoccupation and fear of missing scheduled intake.
No prior history of prescription-medication misuse. Despite severe impacts of treatment on her health, she obtains increasing psychological dependence on the serum, especially its association with body weight, self-worth, and performance evaluation within the academy environment.
3. Behavioral Observations
The patient appears to be exhausted but alert. She demonstrates guarded posture and avoids direct eye contact when discussing the incident, while remaining emotional and prone to agitation. The patient displays signs of compulsive behavior including fixation on “needing the serum,” and intrusive thoughts regarding weight, shape, and approval from authority figures.
4. Physical Findings
Multiple lacerations to the oral mucosa and inner cheeks consistent with contact from broken glass.
Active bleeding at time of arrival.
Dehydration and elevated heart rate.
Body mass index below expected percentile for age.
Long-term effects of Apex-18 remain unknown due to lack of regulatory approval.
5. Psychological Findings
The patient demonstrates severe body-image disturbance consistent with Body Dysmorphic–Type Presentation. The patient exhibits cognitive distortions around weight, self-worth, and performance standards.
Substance-Induced Compulsive Behavior
Possible Physiological Dependence on Apex-18 Serum
Eating Disorder
Panic Response Associated With Missed Doses
High susceptibility to authority-driven pressure and environmental conditioning
The patient shows insight in brief moments but, overall, minimizes harm and rationalizes compulsive actions. She expresses fear of consequences at the academy and believes failure to maintain “required standards” will result in loss of identity, opportunity, and belonging.
Further evaluation recommended, along with immediate removal from the serum-administration program until medically cleared.
—
COERCIVE CONTROL: DANCERS REVEAL HORRORS OF TOXIC INDUSTRY
Written by: Eleanor Monroe from The Chicago Chronicle
Director of The Aurora Conservatory of Art & Dance, Maria Bronte, arrested for illegal application of unregulated weight loss medication. Authorities allege that the serum, administered under the guise of a performance-enhancing protocol, posed significant health risks and was applied without parental consent.
The investigation began after several students reported adverse reactions, including injuries and compulsive behavior, during a routine academy program. Teachers in the academy face a shocking accusation that they are fostering eating disorders in young students, with harrowing figures revealing the diet beliefs held by dancers. Officials are now examining the program's scope and whether other students were subjected to similar treatment.
Alicia’s father, Mr. Mason, in an impassioned press conference, implored listeners to understand the pain that Maria Bronte caused his family. “You can only imagine how hard this has been for us to watch our daughter’s psychological health degenerate under the hands of such abuse. We are suing her and we are suing the school!” He finished by holding up the latest headlines and declaring: “This is the last lesson we will let them ignore.”
More parents are expected to come forward soon and add their own lawsuits to the pile.
Maria Bronte is being held without bail at the Los Angeles' Pitchess Detention Center. She is currently on suicide watch. Her arraignment is scheduled for February 12, 2026.
Comments