Stolen Nine Years, Courtesy of My Mother
My sister, Anna Hawkins, and I are twins, but I'm slightly heavier than her when we were born.
Anna has always been weak and sickly since young, whereas I'm always active and healthy.
When Anna was four years old, she was diagnosed with leukemia.
Mom blamed me for stealing Anna's nutrients when I got born, so I needed to return the nutrients to her.
When I got my blood extracted for the first time, a thick syringe was used on me. I was so scared when I saw it.
Mom told me not to be scared. She gave me a magical pen, stating that whatever wish I wrote down with the pen would come true.
I wrote, "It won't hurt."
When the syringe was plunged into my arm again, Mom bought me a sweet lollipop. The pain never struck me again afterward.
When I was five years old, I drew a strawberry cake on the paper while getting 1000cc blood withdrawn from me.
That week, Anna could sit up in bed and play on her own.
When I turned seven years old, I wrote down my wish that I'd like to go on a vacation. The next day, I was sent into the operating theater for the doctors to collect my hematopoietic cells.
For the first time ever, Anna's cheeks became rosy.
When I was eight years old, I wrote that I wanted to become the top student of my grade. But a day before my exams, my bone marrow was drawn from me.
Anna finally got discharged by the hospital. She got to wear new dresses that I never got to wear.
In the year I turn nine years old, my body is heavily depleted. With a trembling hand, I can only write down a line in messy handwriting.
"I hope… that I won't become Mom's daughter in my next life."