The Wellness Tax

The vitamin D supplements sat on Elena's desk like accusation. Sixty dollars a bottle, packaged in frosted glass with minimalist gold typography—because even health needed to look expensive.

"You should try them," Sarah said, leaning against Elena's cubicle wall. Her hair had changed again—blonde extensions cascading past her shoulders, expensive and carefully maintained. Three years ago, Sarah had chopped it all off during their junior year abroad. Now she worked as brand strategist for Vitality, the same wellness conglomerate that had just acquired their marketing firm.

"I get plenty of sun," Elena said, not mentioning how she'd started researching hair thinning at thirty-two, how she'd considered the supplements herself.

Sarah laughed, but it didn't reach her eyes. "That's not how it works anymore. Everything's a deficiency now. Have you noticed your energy levels? Your skin?" She gestured vaguely at Elena's face. "You look tired, El."

The words landed precisely. They always had. Sixteen years of friendship meant Sarah knew exactly where to press.

That evening, Elena researched the company behind Vitality's new line. Two lawsuits about false claims. A factory in Ohio with repeated safety violations. The science was thin, but the margins weren't—Sarah had mentioned her bonus over drinks last week, how she'd finally put a down payment on that condo she'd wanted since college.

The next morning, Elena placed the bottle in Sarah's hands. "I can't take this."

Sarah's expression shifted—hurt, then something harder. "It's not about the vitamins, El. It's about supporting me. I'm trying to build something here."

"You're selling people things they don't need, using fear as a marketing strategy."

"Like your pharmaceutical clients are any better?"

The silence stretched between them, filled with sixteen years of shared secrets, late-night study sessions, failed relationships, the way they'd promised to never become their mothers—corporate, compromised, selling things they didn't believe in.

Sarah's hair caught the fluorescent light, artificial and perfect. Elena's own gray hairs, the ones she'd stopped plucking, felt suddenly like evidence.

"The condo looks great on Instagram," Elena said finally.

Sarah smiled, something broken in it. "Yeah. Come over sometime. I'll pour us something expensive."

They both knew she wouldn't.