Chapter 1The Body She Left Me

My sister died, and then she moved in. Not into her old room, but into my body.

At first, my parents didn’t believe me.

Then, they got used to the switch.

And then, they found a hypnotist to erase me.

* * *

I destroyed the living room. Anything I could lift, I threw. Anything I could break, I shattered. The floor glittered with a thousand pieces of my soul, each one a silent scream.

Mom covered her mouth, tears tracking through her makeup. Dad’s face was a mask of fury, but he didn’t stop me.

“Why?” I screamed at them, my voice raw. “It’s my body! Why do I have to give it up for her?”

Dad pressed the heels of his hands into his forehead, a gesture of someone who has finally made a terrible decision. “We saw a therapist, Chloe. This… arrangement. It isn’t working. Neither of you can live a full life this way. We have to choose.”

He tried to soften his voice, but it was rough with false pity. “This is tearing us apart. You’re our daughter, too. We wouldn’t do this if there were any other way. You have to understand.”

I snatched a water glass from the end table and hurled it at his feet. It exploded, and he flinched back. He opened his mouth to yell, then shut it, remembering he needed something from me.

“I understand you,” I spat, the words tasting like poison. “But who understands me? You’re in pain? You have no other choice? So I’m the one who has to die? This was always my body. If anyone should disappear, it should be her. It should be Stella.”

Rage and despair were a storm inside me. Just days ago, they had been my parents, the people who loved me. Now they were my executioners.

My words made Mom sob harder. But Dad’s brow furrowed in annoyance. “Don’t be so dramatic. Stella will live on through you, using your body. And it doesn’t matter if you agree. The decision has been made.”

He had no more patience for this. He took Mom’s arm and pulled her out of the house, leaving me in the wreckage.

After another fit of destruction, I collapsed onto the floor, a single question echoing in the ruins of my mind.

Why me?