“You think you’re better than me, don’t you, Sarah?” Rachel’s voice was sharp, filled with frustration. “You’ve always been the perfect one. Everyone loves you. Everyone listens to you. But I’m the one who’s always left behind!”

“I never asked for any of that, Rachel. I never wanted to be ‘perfect,’” Sarah’s voice was calm, steady, but Rachel was too angry to hear the hurt in her words. “Why do you always assume things are so easy for me?”

“Oh, please!” Rachel snapped, her face red with anger. “You’ve never had to fight for anything. You’ve always been handed everything you wanted. While I’ve been scraping by, trying to make something of myself! You have no idea what it’s like to be me.”

“I do know,” Sarah replied, her voice growing softer, but Rachel was already too far gone in her rage.“You think you have it all figured out, don’t you? You’re always the one everyone turns to. The one who never makes a mistake,” Rachel’s voice broke. “I’ve always been second best, Sarah. Always. And I’m tired of it.”

“You’re not second best, Rachel. You’re my sister. I’ve always been here for you,” Sarah’s tone was gentle, trying to soothe Rachel’s pain, but Rachel wasn’t hearing it.“No! You’ve always been the one everyone loves. The one they trust. And I’m just… nothing!” Rachel shouted, throwing her hands up in frustration. “It’s not fair. You never had to struggle like I did.”

“You think I haven’t struggled?” Sarah’s voice quivered with hurt, but Rachel just couldn’t stop herself.

“Don’t act like you know me, Sarah. You’ve never been in my shoes. You’ve never had to fight for anything!” Rachel’s hands clenched into fists, her whole body shaking with the emotion she was holding inside. “And that’s why I had to do it. You wouldn’t let me have anything for myself. You always took the spotlight. You always took everything.”

Sarah was silent for a moment. “You didn’t have to do this, Rachel. I never wanted to be in your way.”

“You don’t get it, do you?” Rachel’s voice broke, and her eyes filled with unshed tears. “I had to make it stop. I had to make you disappear. You were standing in my way, always perfect, always in control. You took everything from me.”

“You’re wrong,” Sarah whispered, but Rachel couldn’t hear her anymore. She didn’t want to.“I loved you, Sarah,” Rachel choked out, her hands shaking as she wiped her eyes. “I loved you so much. But you never understood me. You never understood how I felt, always second, always overlooked. You were always the one they admired, the one everyone wanted to be around.”

“I just wanted us to be sisters, Rachel,” Sarah’s voice was barely a whisper now, and Rachel’s heart pounded in her chest, but she didn’t care. “I never wanted to be perfect. I never wanted to be the one everyone looked up to. I just wanted you to see me.”

“I saw you… but you didn’t see me,” Rachel murmured, her voice breaking as tears fell freely now. “You never saw me.”

Suddenly, a strange stillness filled the air. The world seemed to fall into a heavy silence. Rachel stopped pacing, her breath shallow and uneven. She looked around, trying to gather herself, but something was wrong. The wind had stopped, the birds were no longer chirping.

Looking down at the ground, her stomach churned as she noticed the fresh dirt beneath her shoes, the flowers scattered around her feet. Her chest tightened. She hadn’t seen it before, hadn’t noticed it. But now it was too clear. Too real.Her eyes slowly drifted up to the weathered headstone in front of her.

And in that moment, the truth hit her harder than anything ever could. Sarah wasn’t arguing with her.

She hadn’t been arguing with her for months.

Because Sarah was already gone.

Rachel had killed her.

And in this graveyard, at her sister’s grave, Rachel felt no remorse. Just the relief of finally being free.

10PM

10th Jan 2025

Rae’s Quill