[Mira's POV:]
…
I never liked mirrors.
Even before the Rift and the apocalypse ravaged the world, when the world was still intact, I hated looking at my reflection.
Not because of how I looked, though I always thought my eyes were too plain, and my hair too limp, but because whenever I saw myself, I thought of her… my older sister.
She was the prodigy.
The one who could run faster, study harder, smile brighter.
At school, everyone whispered her name with awe. At home, our parents hung her awards on the wall and framed them like holy relics.
Mine? Mine sat in drawers, forgotten. All I got was participation ribbons and decent grades, nothing remarkable.
"Why can't you be more like your sister, Mira?"
I heard it so often it became a drumbeat in my head.
Every achievement of mine was weighed against hers and found lacking. She was light, I was shadow. And shadows don't shine.
The weight didn't stop at home.
