“RaeanneMirror, MirrorWhen I look into amirror,it is her face I see.Her right is my left, doublemoles, dimple and all.My right is her left,unblemished.We are exactopposites,Kaeleigh and me.Mirror image identicaltwins. One egg, one spermone zygote, divided,sharing one completeset of genetic markers. On the outside we are the same. But not inside. I thinkshe is the egg, somuch like our motherit makes me want to scream.Cold.Controlled. That makes me the spermI guess. I take completelyafter our father.All Daddy, that's me.Codependent. Cowardly. Good, bad. Left, right. Kaeleigh and Raeanne. One egg, one sperm. One being, split in two. And how manysouls?”

“That's what I'll be. A silhouette, rarely seen, and yet believed in. Kaeleigh wants to believe in me. I am her twin, forever alive inside her. And when she needs me, I am always here.”

“I can't change what has happened in the past, Kaeleigh. I can only promise to make the future better.”

“I do have friends, but they don't know me, only someone I've created to take my place. Someone sculpted from ice. I keep the melted me bottled up inside. Where no one can touch her, until, unbidden, she comes pouring out.”

“I only have have one question, scraping the inside of me. Answer it, and I will stumble back into her shadow, shut my mouth, never ask again. I've tried to ignore it, but it won't go away. It haunts my dreams, chases me through every single day, and I don't have the strength to turn around, face it down. So please tell me and I swear I'll never ask again. It's in your power to make it go away, and all you have to do is tell me why you love her more.”

“I haven't cried since Mom died. I mean, after something like that, what's left to cry about, right? But I let myself cry now. Loss is loss. Doesn't take death to create it. (266)”

“Always before, I just said no, left it solidly there. I waver now. I want to share everything with him. Want to know what he knows, feel what he feels, share the same space he's in.”