Not The Daughter You Wanted

Summary

My sister and I were twins.

But from the moment we were born, she was the beautiful one. The sweet one.

The day the earthquake hit our summer cabin, the ground violently tearing itself apart, my mother grabbed my sister.

My father grabbed my sister’s dog.

I was left buried under the rubble for twelve suffocating hours. I nearly died in the dark.

When they finally pulled me out, my parents didn’t hold me. They warned me.

"Josie, don’t make a scene," they said, their voices tight.

"If you throw a tantrum over this, we will beat you half to death."