“What happened after?”
“At first, having no identity was terrifying.”
“Nobody knew me.”
“I barely knew me.”
“But eventually…”
She hesitated.
“Eventually it became the first time in my life nobody compared me to Claire.”
I stared.
She continued through tears.
“I learned I liked gardening.”
“I hated the clothes I used to wear.”
“I discovered I actually liked being quiet when people didn’t treat quiet as something wrong with me.”
“Nobody asked which twin I was.”
“Nobody said you were better at something.”
“So when your memory came back…”
I already knew.
“You stayed gone.”
“At first because I was scared.”
“And later?”
She looked straight at me.
“Later because I chose myself.”
My mother covered her mouth.
My father sat down.
I stepped backward.
“You chose yourself by letting us bury you.”
Lily flinched.
“I know how horrible that sounds.”
“It sounds horrible because it was horrible.”
