They Forced Me to Save My Twin, But I Was Already Dying

The day I ran into my estranged family again, I was sitting under the bright lights of a professional photography studio, taking the very last portrait of my life.

My brother, Robert, walked in. A flicker of something unreadable crossed his face when he saw me. "Maya, how can you still be in the mood to take photos?" "Lily has leukemia.

We drew straws, and you, as her twin sister, were chosen to save her." My eyes didn't even flicker.

I felt completely numb. "I'm not doing it." Ever since we were kids, whenever our family needed someone to make a sacrifice, they would "draw straws." But somehow, I was always the one who ended up with the short straw.

The year we graduated, I got "unlucky" and drew the straw to give up my spot at Yale and work to support the family.

The year of the wedding, I just happened to draw the straw to give up my high school sweetheart to Lily.

Three years ago, I drew the straw again, no surprise there, and left the family with nothing, completely kicked out. And now, they wanted me to save her life.

At my refusal, Mom stepped forward, her voice sharp with urgency. "How can you be so heartless?

Are you really going to just stand there and watch your own sister die?" I remained unmoved, gesturing for the photographer to keep shooting.

After all, this was the photo I was going to leave for my own funeral. Robert's face darkened.

He clearly didn't expect me to refuse so bluntly. "Maya, you are a part of this family. Besides, donating stem cells won't kill you.

Why won't you save her?" My eyes flickered slightly. A part of the family? I hadn't heard that phrase in a very long time.

When I was screaming and begging them not to strip away my chance to go to college, why didn't they consider me a part of the family?

During the last three years, when I was going through medical treatments all by myself, where were they? I didn't say any of this. I chose to stay silent.

I didn't want to waste my breath on them.

Seeing my silence, Robert looked at me with confusion. "I feel like you've changed." I curled my lips into a mocking smile. "People change." He choked on his words.

Mom shoved him aside, rushing up to grab my arm, trying to drag me out of the studio. "You're going today whether you like it or not!" "You have to save Lily!" A sharp pain shot through my arm.

Underneath my oversized clothes, both of my arms were covered in needle marks from my own treatments. But she didn't know. She just kept dragging me toward the door.

I didn't struggle much because I simply didn't have the strength.

Instead, I just said in a calm, flat voice: "Even if I go to the hospital, I won't sign the consent forms." She froze.

She turned around, looking at me with utter disbelief. "We haven't seen each other in three years, and you've really become this heartless?" Seeing that she couldn't convince me, she resorted to her favorite weapon: guilttripping.

Her eyes welled up with tears instantly. "Maya, when I gave birth to you and Lily, I had a massive hemorrhage.

I almost died on the operating table to bring you both into this world!" "I never let you suffer a single day growing up.

How can you be so selfish and ungrateful now?" Even though I had heard these exact words a thousand times before. Right now.

My throat still tightened, and a sharp pain pierced my chest.

In the past, it wasn't that I hadn't fought back against their rigged "family votes." But every time I did, she would play the victim and guilttrip me like this.

Giving up my bedroom to Lily and sleeping in the utility closet was like this. Letting Lily go to college while I dropped out to work was like this.

Handing over my boyfriend, Ethan Reed, was like this too. Every single time, I had to swallow my tears and choke down my grievances. But now... I was done compromising. "I said no.

Go find a matching donor yourself.

I'm not going." "You!" Mom glared at me, letting go of my arm with a violent shove, her breathing heavy with rage. "You selfish, coldblooded brat!" "It doesn't even affect your health!

How can you be so selfcentered?" I curled my thin, bony fingers. I remembered what my doctor had told me just recently. "Eat well, enjoy your time, and do whatever you want to do.

You have six months at most." "Make sure you don't get hurt. Your platelet count is basically zero right now.

Any internal bleeding could be fatal." And that was almost six months ago. Robert stepped forward, his tone turning into a plea. "A matching donor is incredibly hard to find.

Lily doesn't have that much time." "Maya, I'm begging you, okay?" He paused, then added, "Besides, we voted on this as a family. Even Ethan agreed." My spine went rigid.

A wave of agony washed over my eyes. Just then, a familiar figure walked over from the entrance of the studio.

But those eyes, which used to be filled with love for me, now held nothing but cold detachment. "Maya, I did vote yes," Ethan said. "So please, save Lily.

Save my wife." I repeated those words in my head, and a dull, agonizing pain began to spread through my entire body. "I won't." I turned back to the camera. "And please, get out of my sight." They finally left.

I spent another hour taking photos until the photographer finally packed up his camera.

As the photos uploaded to the computer screen one by one, I looked through them. But I felt like something was missing. Over the years, I had barely taken any photos of myself.

Since this was going to be the final portrait left for my funeral, I didn't want it to look like a rushed goodbye. "Can we shoot another set?" I asked.

The photographer was surprised. "Of course.

What style are you looking for?" I thought about it for a moment, and my eyes landed on a rack of fairytale princess gowns. "I want to wear one of those.

I want a princessthemed shoot." I didn't want a gloomy blackandwhite photo. That felt too rigid, too trapped.

I had been trapped my whole life; I didn't want my final memory to be like that. As for the style...

I remembered how Lily used to love princessthemed things, and she never allowed me to have them. So, from childhood to adulthood.

I could only watch her play with her beautiful dolls, envying the gorgeous princess gowns she got to wear for her birthday every year.

The photographer nodded gently. "Sure." By the time I finished the shoot, it was already dusk. I got my printed photos.

Just as I was about to walk out of the dressing room, I heard familiar voices outside.

Lily was speaking in her usual highpitched, fragile voice. "Once we finish our wedding photos, am I going to die anyway?" Ethan quickly interrupted her. "How is that possible?" His voice was filled with heartache. "We've already found Maya.

Don't worry, we will definitely convince her." Lily, dressed in a stunning white wedding gown, wept softly. Surrounding her, besides Ethan, were Mom, Dad, and Robert.

The way every single one of them looked at Lily was with the kind of love I could only dream of. I decided to stay inside the dressing room.

I didn't want to waste the precious little time I had left on pointless arguments with them. I waited for a long time.

I listened to them chatter and comfort Lily, promising her they would force me to donate my stem cells. Once the lobby fell silent, I finally stepped out.

But right after I paid the bill. I ran straight into them at the exit.

They had turned back to grab their car keys. "Maya?" They all stopped in their tracks, looking at me in shock. "What are you doing here?" Robert's gaze drifted down.

Seeing the large photo frame wrapped in my hands, he subconsciously asked, "Did you come here to take photos too?" I gave a faint nod.

He continued, "Why are you taking photos?" The studio clerk standing nearby glanced at me, a look of pity in her eyes. I spaced out for a moment.

I wasn't going to tell him that this photo was for my tombstone, so I just shrugged. "Just felt like it." Lily, who was right behind them, saw me. It took her a moment to react.

Then, she threw herself forward, grabbing my hands, her eyes turning red instantly. "Maya, did you come here looking for me?" A glint of hope flashed in her eyes. "Does this mean you've agreed to donate your stem cells to me?" Mom and Dad exchanged a look of joy.

Even the way they looked at me became a bit softer, losing some of its usual harshness. "Now that's my good daughter." I only felt a deep sense of irony.

To them, my only value lay in how useful I could be.

My voice carried undisguised mockery. "You're dreaming." "I said it before, and I'll say it again: I'm not donating." The room fell dead silent.

The joy on their faces vanished, replaced by instant rage. Mom practically jumped in anger. She pointed a finger directly at my nose and screamed. "You ungrateful wretch!

I truly regret giving birth to you!" The studio clerk couldn't watch this anymore.

She frowned and tried to speak up. "Excuse me, ma'am, your daughter, she..." I raised a hand to cut her off.

I gave her a reassuring smile, then turned to Mom, my voice laced with bitter sarcasm. "I'm just not going to save her.

I'm going to sit back and watch Lily..." Before the word "die" could leave my mouth, a sharp, hateful slap landed squarely on my face.

Mom's screech rang in my ears, "Shut up, you monster!" Robert looked at my swelling cheek, his brow furrowing slightly. "Maya, you've gone too far. Lily is your biological sister.

How can you curse her like that?" I wiped a smear of blood from the corner of my mouth, letting out a dry laugh. "I can't even say a word?" "Then back when Lily sliced me with a knife, when she lured me into that alleyway to let those thugs beat me up, when she framed me for cheating and got me isolated by the whole school..." "Where were all of you?" Their faces froze instantly.

Finally, Robert and Ethan spoke almost in unison. "But didn't you turn out fine in the end? Nothing major actually happened." Hearing that. I suddenly lost all desire to argue.

I wanted to leave, but Lily suddenly threw herself onto her knees right in front of me, blocking my path. Tears streamed down her face. "Maya, I'm so sorry!

It was all my fault, I apologize to you!" She began slapping her own face, crying hysterically. "I was young and stupid back then, but please, I beg you, save my life just this once." They all looked at her with pure heartache.

But I was the only one who saw the deep resentment flashing in Lily's eyes. It made me sick.

Just as I was about to speak, Lily's eyes rolled back, and she collapsed onto the floor, unconscious. "Lily!" Mom's eyes widened in horror as she and Dad rushed to catch her falling body.

Robert's usually calm face flushed with panic. As for Ethan. He gave me a look of pure disappointment. "Maya, you are truly evil." I didn't get to leave.

Instead, I was dragged violently to the hospital by my hysterical mother. We all stood outside the emergency room. "Please let her be okay..." Mom paced back and forth in a panic.

Suddenly, she rushed up to me and violently grabbed my hair, pulling it hard.

The look in her eyes wasn't the look a mother gives a daughter; she looked at me like I was her worst enemy. "You bringer of bad luck!

If anything happens to Lily, I will make sure you pay with your life!" A sharp pain shot through my scalp. She shoved me hard, sending me crashing to the floor.

I didn't even have the strength to stand back up. "You jinx!" Listening to her curses, the ache in my lower back from my recent bone marrow biopsy flared up painfully.

We were both her daughters. Why... Did she hate me so much?

Robert finally stepped in and helped me up, but his gaze was cold and disappointed. "Just tell me, what will it take for you to save your sister?" My throat felt like it was blocked by sand.

Finally, I let out a bitter laugh. "If you want me to save her, fine." The four of them lit up instantly. "What are your conditions?" I clenched my fists tight. "First, publicly announce that I was the one who actually got accepted into Yale, not Lily." "Second, Lily and Ethan must divorce." "Third, kick her out of the house." These were all the things.

That she, and they, had done to me.

But the moment the words left my mouth, the four of them rejected them without a second thought. "That's impossible!" Mom glared at me with venom. "You are sick!

Are you trying to drive your sister to her grave?" I took a deep, shaky breath. Even breathing felt painful now. Sick? Driving her to her grave?

I let out a cold laugh, my voice incredibly calm, as if I were telling someone else's story. "You can't even handle this?" "I am merely asking her to spit out the things that never belonged to her in the first place, and suddenly I'm the evil one?" "But back then, when you used your socalled 'family votes' to steal everything from me, weren't you evil?" Robert's voice was heavy.

He clearly didn't think they had done anything wrong. Instead, he looked at me with deep disappointment. "You're the older sister, it's only natural for you to yield to her!

Did we ever let you go hungry or cold all these years?" But I was her older sister. By literally one minute...

While the atmosphere remained tense, the emergency room door swung open.

The four of them immediately abandoned me and rushed over to the doctor, their faces filled with anxiety. "Doctor, how is our daughter?" The doctor took off his mask and sighed. "It's the same as before.

Please find a matching donor as soon as possible. She won't survive much longer without one." Mom's body swayed. She choked out, "We found one!

We've already found one!" My body went stiff. Before I could react, she dragged me forward, pointing at me. "She is the match!

They are identical twins!" The doctor stayed silent for a moment. "It has to be voluntary." With that, he turned and walked away.

Mom gripped my arm with terrifying strength, her eyes bloodshot. "Say it! Tell him! Tell him you're doing this voluntarily!"

I turned pale from the sheer pain of her grip. But I grit my teeth and remained absolutely silent. "You useless wretch!

I should have suffocated you the moment you were born!" My pupils contracted. At that moment, I suddenly changed my mind. "I'll save her." They all stopped.

My voice was very soft, so soft it felt like it could vanish into the wind at any second. "On one condition: you have to spend three days with me." Robert frowned. "What do you mean?" I hid the dark gleam in my eyes. "For these three days, you must treat me like your beloved daughter and sister.

After three days, I will save her." They exchanged a quick look and agreed immediately for Lily's sake. "Fine." The next day, when Lily woke up and heard about the deal, she stared at me with venomous eyes. "What are you planning?

Are you really going to save me?" Looking at this face that was identical to mine, I felt no familial warmth, only disgust. "Won't you find out in three days?" "At least for these three days, you can't threaten me." Leaving a furious Lily behind, I turned and walked out.

I walked down to the hospital garden and sat on a bench. My spine slumped as if all the strength had suddenly drained from my body. I laughed at myself.

When I was a kid, the person I envied most was Lily. Every night, Mom would tuck her in and sing her to sleep.

No matter how busy Dad was on business trips, he would always call to sweettalk her. Every year, Robert would host a massive birthday party just for her.

Even though he would bring me a gift, it was always just a afterthought. As I was thinking, I suddenly let out a violent cough. In a panic, I covered my mouth with my hand.

When I pulled it away, my palm was covered in dark red blood. I let out a bitter laugh. Soon. It would be over soon. An hour later.

Robert took me back to the house I hadn't stepped foot in for three years. It looked completely different from when I left.

On the porch swing, there was a wooden sign that read: "Lily's Private Spot." The peach blossom tree I had planted with my own hands had been completely upended.

In its place was a pear tree, Lily's favorite. Inside the house. Her trophies, certificates, and professional portraits were displayed everywhere. There wasn't a single trace of me.

And yet, this was supposed to be my home too... While I was staring blankly, my parents and Robert stood behind me, none of them saying a word.

After a long silence, Robert finally spoke. "If you want, you can put up your own photos too." I shook my head. "No need." His lips pressed into a tight line. "Then what exactly do you want us to do?" My expression was flat. "It's simple.

Just treat me the exact way you treat Lily." For the next three days. I finally experienced the kind of overwhelming love Lily had lived in her entire life.

In the evening, Mom would bring a warm cup of honey water to my room. She would gently remind me not to look at my phone for too long. She would tuck me in and whisper goodnight.

Dad would sit with me to watch TV, buying me whatever I glanced at. As for Robert. He wouldn't even let me dry my own hair.

He would use the gentlest setting on the hairdryer, carefully running his fingers through my locks until they were dry. I didn't feel sad.

Instead, I felt a strange sense of closure. I finally understood. They didn't need a reason to favor my sister, just like they didn't need a reason to dislike me.

The way they looked at me was no longer filled with hostility. Instead, their eyes held a complex, unreadable emotion. I saw it, but I didn't care.

The three days passed in the blink of an eye. I really didn't have the strength to play along anymore. We went to the hospital together.

The transplant surgery was scheduled for today. Robert's tone was no longer harsh. It was unusually gentle. "Why are you so pale?" I smiled faintly. "Am I?

I don't feel anything." He hesitated. "If you're feeling unwell, we can postpone the surgery for a couple of days." Mom opened her mouth, but in the end, she didn't object.

At that moment, I knew I had achieved my goal. "I'm fine. Let's do the surgery."