Tall Younger Sister Story File

Mira looked at her sister’s face, then at her own reflection in the mirror over Lena’s shoulder. She was still Mira. Still the eldest. Still fierce. Just a little closer to the ground.

On the fourth night, Mira found a note on her pillow. It was written on a torn piece of notebook paper in Lena’s loopy, still-messy handwriting. Mira, I didn’t ask to be tall. You didn’t ask to stop growing. I’m sorry the world looks different from up here. But I miss when you used to walk beside me, not behind me. I don’t want to be your rival. I want to be your sister. Can we please just be sisters again? — Lena Mira read the note three times. Then she did something she hadn’t done since she was twelve. She cried. Not for the lost inches, but for the lost weeks. She had turned her sister into a monument of her own insecurity. Lena hadn’t stolen the height. The world had simply kept spinning. tall younger sister story

“Probably.”

Then the summer after Mira’s freshman year of college happened. Mira looked at her sister’s face, then at

Lena grinned. “You want to borrow my platform boots for the party next week?” Still fierce

Lena went silent. She stepped back, and for a moment, she seemed to shrink. She didn’t slam the door. She just walked away, and that was worse.

Lena let out a wet laugh. “I remember. You smelled like strawberry shampoo.”