Pain Is a Family Matter
After the Ritualist declared that Amber would not live past 18, I, a perfectly healthy girl, became the Misfortune Vessel.
When Amber broke a leg, my left leg was crippled.
When Amber tried to kill herself with shards of glass, the tendons in my hand were severed. I could no longer hold a pen.
From childhood to the present, every wound meant for Amber landed on my body. She never stopped testing how far she could go.
Skydiving from two miles up. Chasing sharks in deep water. Survival expeditions to the extreme North. Every choice courted death.
I cried. I screamed that it hurt.
My brothers refused to allow it.
"Enough already. It's just a small injury. How could it hurt that much? You're too delicate."
"If it hurts, then endure it."
So I endured until the day I turned 18. That was when the Shared-Sense System found me.
I enabled family sharing, and every single one of them went insane.