Favorite sister

My sister and I were trapped in the fire. I heard my parents' voices.

“Save Ashley first!” Mom’s scream ripped through the smoke.

They were saving my sister. Maybe they just didn't have enough people to get us both at once. Maybe they’d be back for me.

I waited. Then I saw a charred body.

1

Was that me?

So this is what it feels like to burn – this searing, all-consuming pain.

“Our Ashley is so beautiful. Tomorrow is your birthday party. This is the dress Mommy bought you.”

I recognized the dress. Ashley had whined that it cost a thousand dollars. A thousand dollars was more than a month’s salary for my parents.

My spirit followed Ashley. I watched Mom and Dad fuss over her. She’d burned her finger in the fire, a tiny scar they rushed her to the hospital to have treated.

We weren’t rich. But for Ashley, they always found the money.

This two-bedroom apartment was something they’d bought five years ago, taking out a loan so Ashley could go to a good middle school. One room was for my parents, the other for Ashley.

“Amy, my friends will laugh if they see how cramped it is here. You can sleep in the living room.” Ashley dragged me to the living room and tossed me a blanket.

I tried to complain to Mom and Dad, but they just said, "It's just the living room! We had it so much worse growing up. We used to sleep under bridges. You can handle this."

The living room sofa became my bed. I slept there for five years.

Once, I’d accidentally touched Ashley’s bed while cleaning her room. Mom shrieked, “Your hands are so dirty! You'll get her bed filthy!”

After that, I never went into her room again.

“Mom, I want to have my party at a restaurant!”

Ashley’s twentieth birthday. At a restaurant. They were factory workers. Where would they get that kind of money?

I saw the deep lines etched on their faces. But when they looked at Ashley, their expressions softened.

I’d always been afraid of my parents, never dared to look them in the eye. I never knew they had a gentle side. Apparently, it was just for Ashley.

“Honey, your birthday is so important. Of course! It's all booked. You'll be the most beautiful girl there.”

“It’s a shame Amy had to die right before the party. Such bad luck.”

I was nothing to them. My life, my death, it didn’t matter.

When I was little, I thought I was a part of Mom, like a piece of her. No matter how much she favored Ashley, I thought she still loved me.

Dad always said, “Spare the rod, spoil the child.”

They would hit me, yell at me, whenever I did something wrong. They wanted me to remember, to learn. And I did. I never made the same mistake twice.

The neighbors praised me for being so well-behaved. My parents would sometimes even smile.

“Amy was so capable. It’s such a shame she died in that fire.”

I watched Ashley, her eyes dry. I wanted to claw them out.

2

I remembered.

I could have escaped. But Mom and Dad had drilled it into me: protect your little sister.

I was almost out, dragging Ashley behind me. Then, at the doorway, she scrambl...