The Wrong Daughter

by Dandy Smith

They are sisters. They are aged ten and thirteen years old. They are home alone. Neither girl notices the man who watches them from the woods behind their house.

Intro

Olivia is gone. Her journal is gone, too. Their father promises Caitlin that Olivia will return. That her mother will stop making those broken, animal noises. That everything will be alright. Caitlin doesn’t reply. She doesn’t reply because she knows the truth, she feels it in each beat of her heart, in every breath, even in the bright red of her blood: her sister is never coming home.

Chilling

Mum would never admit it, not even to herself, but that’s part of the reason she encouraged me to follow that path. In the ghost of Olivia’s footsteps.

Then I log out of the account, call a taxi, and go to meet the best friend who once belonged to my disappeared sister.

The Writing is remarkable

I can’t remember the sound of her voice. It has faded like a bruise I never wanted to lose. One I haven’t been able to pinch back into existence. I try to think of something meaningful and profound to say but the words are lost to me, dissolving on my tongue like candyfloss. Gone before they become anything more substantial than spun sugar.