Ryuhi was a fake.
Her whole life she had been told she was a fake.
Her stepmother had spat in her face, slapped her, and kicked her out when she was eighteen.
Her father had sold her away to an old man for spare change. Ryuhi was no better than a slave. To them she was the replacement. She was always the replacement.
She remembered when she was still a kid, her brother loved to play with her. They always played hide and seek together and he always let her win. Ryuhi remembered his wide grin, with no teeth in the middle, the grass tickling their feet as they ran through the lawn that the gardener had just mowed. How he would always give her the dishes she liked. How he would steal her ice cream and they would have a pillow fight in the middle of the night, stifling their laughter trying not to wake up father.
Now, he had thrown her out with nothing but the clothes on her back and accused her of bullying their 'real' sister.
Ryuhi wiped the tears on her cheek, only to find out that her eyes were dry.
There were no tears left to drip.
Her life had been perfect. Rich, smart and beautiful with a loving family and even though her father had remarried, her stepmother was amazing. She always gave Ryuhi and her brother chocolates without telling anyone. They would go shopping and eat ice cream for lunch and while her step mother did grown up things like make up and facials, she would wander around the mall and steal the cotton candy while the cotton candy man pretended to not see.
Ryuhi's father was kind of distant but that was okay for twelve year old Ryuhi because he was always there for her when she needed him. One time she and her brother had a phase of climbing trees for fun but she had fallen and broken her leg. Her father had carried her in his arms to the hospital himself and gave her bazillions of candy when she crying from pain.
But now, she realized the love wasn't hers at all.
She was leeching it away, stealing it, robbing it away from the 'real' one.
Ryuhi almost wished she was in a tv show or a novel. At least there would be a male lead for her to depend on.
Ryuhi scoffed.
She had forgotten she was the villainess and not the heroine.
The wind slashed at her cheeks and her hair flew into her face. The moon was looking pretty today. The night sky glittered with stars. It was such a rare sight in the city, the water glimmering, paddling slowly on the rowing boats as she took in the scene one last time. Maybe the universe wanted to show her how pretty the sky could be one last time.
She wondered why it didn't show her this when she was locked in the attic with only moonlight to depend on from the small vents.
Maybe she would have fought to see it again.
It was too late now. She just wanted to leave. Ryuhi couldn't bear to breathe a single second more in this world. It felt like a constant itch in the heart, her skin building up and up until she couldn't bear to live with it anymore. She wanted to be free.
Ryuhi wanted to fly.
She took of her cardigan and sneakers. It was three am in the morning and she knew there would be no cars in this section of the road. Only drunks who were lusty for a girl.
Ryuhi knew because she had accidentally wandered here when she was thrown out from her house. She had experienced it herself. Ryuhi remembered the days where she stuffed herself with a pillowcase so that her cries wouldn't disturb the neighbors.
The times when she would flinch every time he came close to her.
But now? Now she felt nothing.
She just wanted to die.
Ryuhi wondered if her family would even hold a funeral for her. She wondered if anyone would cry. She wondered if they would regret what they did to her.
They were the ones who had killed her.
The only thing she would kill would be her body.
Ryuhi laughed. The only thing they would be worried about would be their reputation. She hoped they would suffer. She hoped they would pay.
Deep in her heart, she hoped that they would love her again.
But she knew she would be forgotten. That's just who she was. A speck of light in the million skyscrapers.
A falling chick from the nest.
Her only wish was to be remembered. She hoped at least one person would cry over her.
What a pathetic life.
Even beggars had dogs but in all nineteen years of her life, she couldn't even get one friend. When all her classmates went to see the fireworks on New Year's, she was working part time with one meal a day.
Ryuhi was used to it.
She used to watch their photos on Instagram secretly when her boss wasn't there, she would watch them smiling and laughing, kissing on the camera, eating street food and used to wonder what she did to deserve this.
She didn't willingly get switched at birth.
So why was it her fault that the real daughter grew dirt poor for twelve years?
Why did she have to pay for that?
Ryuhi never even got to see her real mother.
Sometimes, she wished she had frown up unwanted. Abused. Tortured. Starved.
At least she wouldn't have known what 'love' felt like. At least she would never have known what a home was, what a family was, what it felt to have friends and what it felt like to be actually wanted.
Ryuhi got up on the ledge, her feet teteering as she stretched her arms wide, like the sparrow she saw when she was six. The sparrow that fell out of the nest just to fly.
And then die.
Her breath hitched when she saw just how high she was. How the currents raged under the full moon. How the clouds seemed just an arm away out of reach. She could turn back and go back.
Her breath quickened and her heart beat faster. Just the thought of going back there, just the thought of living tomorrow was too much for her to take.
With one final look at the sky, she closed her eyes and jumped.