My reflection was her and it wasn’t her. I was myself but I was my sister… I learned… that one is looking upon their dead twin when really they are looking at themselves – is a common experience among identical twinless twins. It is impossible for surviving twins to differentiate their living body from their twin’s; they become a breathing material for their lost half.
-- Christa (chapter 1 paragraph 6)

Importance: Christa describes what almost hallucinations were after her twin sister, Cara, died. It underscores the unique closeness that twins share.

Mom put us first but also put us in the way of whatever moved her and, so, avoided the anxiety of the unknown, the fear of failure, the pain of opening up her heart and feeling her losses. Her selflessness was also her selfishness.
-- Christa (chapter 5 paragraph 53)

Importance: Christa’s mother gave up on her personal life and focused on her daughters. While she gave her children her...