Light Illuminates Darkness
(can also be found here) is a SHARE MY STORY ongoing fanfic by CMR Rosa.
It is written as a crossover between two Share My Story videos: I Was Abandoned Because I Was Too Ugly and My Sister Is Jealous Because I Am Prettier Than Her. In it, two characters from each video, named Eva and Sara, meet up and discuss their troubles. Sara finds in this stranger not only a friendly chat but salvation and hope that she can rebuild her life.
Light Illuminates Darkness contains examples of:
- Adaptation Expansion: This story adds and expands the background of the two protagonists from I Was Abandoned Because I'm Too Ugly and My Sister Is Jealous Because I'm Prettier Than Her.
- In the My Sister Is Jealous Because I'm Prettier Than Her video, Sara and Selena's father just disappear without explanation before her mother takes Sara to the city at 12 years old to work with the modeling agency. This story explains that Sara and Selena's father died when she was 12 years old before her mother took her to the city to work at the modeling agency.
- In the My Sister Is Jealous Because I'm Prettier Than Her video, the incident that destroyed Sara and Selena's relationship was when their mother, Lisa, told Selena to skip school to help prepare for her sister's makeup for a photoshoot. Selena started crying, and when Sara asked her what was wrong, Selena pushed Sara back on her chair so violently that it fell over her head. At first angry, Sara realized that today was Selena's birthday. Sara told her mother, who said she did not care because her photoshoot was more critical. After bugging her mother for an hour, Sara convinces her to buy Selena a birthday cake. But things ended badly when Sara gave her sister a piece of cake, but when she went to get her piece, the mother said, you can't have cake because you have to stay thin and let your sister become as fat as she wants. Selena runs crying to her room while her mother eats her piece of cake. Sara tries to comfort her sister, but Selena rejects Sara's attempt to comfort her, making Sara say she thinks Selena is ugly despite Sara telling her that she isn't ugly and she loves her no matter how you look. Selena bullied Sara in secret for weeks, and the breaking point for Sara was when she tried to reconcile with Selena by giving her an iPhone, only for Selena to take the iPhone and her sister's iPhone and sell her sister's iPhone for a quick buck. Sara told their mother, and their mother threatened to throw Selena out unless she stopped and obeyed her sister. Sara was angry at her sister and force her sister Selena to clean her room while laughing at her; it implied that Sara started to bully her sister as revenge for her treatment. This story revealed that Sara was 14 years old when the incident happened, meaning that two years have passed since Sara started work at the modeling agency. Sara also revealed that she and her sister Selena had started to drift apart during those two years because she was busy with her job at the modeling agency and taking the role of the family breadwinner, so Sara was always too busy to spend time with her. Finally, It was revealed that after Sara got even with her sister Selena for mistreating her, Selena started to get really depressed, so they eventually stopped fighting with each other. They were cold to each other, and Sara tried to be civil to Selena; they were not as close as they once were.
- In the video, as Sara gets older, she gets more job offers. At 16, she secured a 50,000 us dollar deal for participating in a fashion campaign. The whole photoshoot took two days. Afterward, the family moves into a two-bedroom apartment. It should be noted that Sara and her sister Selena look happy in the scene and are smiling at each other, implying they are getting along. Sara thought she and her sister were going to share a room; then, the mother told Selena that she was going to be sleeping in the maid's room, which was really just a small storage room with a mattress on the floor and no windows or air conditioning, and spiders. Sara in the story revealed that she and her sister Selena were glowing closer again and were thrilled to be moving to the new apartment. Sara was excited to share a room with her sister. Sara was also shocked and horrified when her mother forced her sister Selena to sleep in the small storage room and wanted to protest, but was too afraid of her mother to stand up to her.
- In the video, after Sara and her mother learn that Selena how to become a drug addict, the mother wants to kick Selena out of the house. Sara refused, telling her mother that she had made the money in this house and Selena was staying. The mother told Sara that Selena was her responsibility. In the story, Sara implies that their mother, Lisa knew that Sarah would crack under the pressure of taking care of her sister Selena and was subtly manipulating Sarah into abandoning Selena.
- Ascended Extra: The boy that Sara was interested in only appeared in the the My Sister Is Jealous Because I Am Prettier Than Her animated video only appeared in a few seconds to explain why Sara gave up on her sister Selena; Selena stole and sold her sister’s phone just as she gotten his number. Here in this story it’s revealed that his name is Jasper and Sara ran into him at her job again, with him providing the necessary info to find Wade the drug dealer.
- Breaking the Fellowship: Selena's friends gradually broke apart and lost touch over the years.
- Dark and Troubled Past: Sara describes her not-so-wonderful upbringing in incredible poverty and with terrible parental figures.
- Get Out!: While Selena had been welcomed in Maria's home, Maria's parents didn't take too kindly to her drug use and threw her out.
- Irony: ‘’In the My Sister Is Jealous Because I Am Prettier Than Her’’, the breaking point that causes Sara to give up helping her sister Selena with her drug addiction is when her sister sells Sarah’s phone just as she gets the number of a cute boy she liked. It is the boy, Jasper, who ends up providing the information that helps the two sisters reconcile.
- The Kindness of Strangers: At the beginning of the story, Sara is depressed that she searched for six months for her sister Selena and has not found her, and she worried for her safety because she was last seen living with a dangerous drug lord known to be violent and broke down crying as she sits down on a bench. Then a middle-aged woman named Eva noticed her crying and asked her what was wrong. Sara was grateful for Eva's concern for her but asked her if she was sure she wanted to hear her out since they were strangers. Eva tells Sara that she was a sad young girl all by herself once. Eva had no one else to talk to, so she'll be the person she wished that was there for her.Eva: "Hey, what's wrong? Do you need help?"Eva: "I just saw you crying all alone. What's got you so upset?"Sara: "It's, uhh, complicated." She said, hesitant. "You sure you want to know?"Eva: The woman simply nodded. "I know 'complicated' very well, believe me. Maybe I can help you out? I'm Eva, by the way."Sara: "Oh, right! I'm Sara."Sara: "Do you really want to hear me out? We're strangers."Eva: Eva nodded again. "I have a good feeling about you. You seem like you need a good listener right now, and I'm an expert listener. Besides, I was a sad young girl all by myself once."Eva: "I wish someone had reached out to me when I was young, so I will be the person that I wish had been there for me."
- My Greatest Failure: Sara feels this way for not having done more to help Selena, walking around consumed by despair.
- Nice Girl: Eva offers Sara someone to open up to just because she wants to help someone.
- Restored My Faith in Humanity: As Sara and Jasper talked about Sara meeting Eva, Jasper was happy that Sara has a positive role model in an older female, considering her mother's behavior. Sara admits that she spent so much time stuck with her rotten mother that she forgot there are good people in the world.Sara: "Well… I was totally on the verge of giving up, crying all by myself, when I met Eva. She's this lovely older lady who has some experience with this type of family struggle." Sara explained, a warmth in her eyes as she remembered that afternoon. "She owns this cafe, and she sat me down and helped me out. She's gonna help me track Selena down in any way she can!"Jasper: "That's amazing! I can tell she's helped you out a lot already." Jasper took a long swig of his iced tea. "Sounds like a really kind person to extend a helping hand to a total stranger."Sara: "Mmhmm… I can't even say how long it's been since I met someone that, well, warm." Sara said.Jasper: "You know… Considering your situation, I can imagine meeting a more positive older role model is refreshing. I mean, your mother hasn't been filling that gap from what you've told me. Not to be too hard on her, but still…" Jasper said.Sara: Sara shook her head. "No, you're right. I think that I was getting too used to my mother's behavior and… I forgot just how kind people can be when they allow themselves to be a little more vulnerable. I think that Eva helped me to see that. Seeing and hearing some real sympathy for Selena and me from an older figure like Eva? It really helped lift the weight."Jasper: "And to think, you just met her while you were at your worst and crying?" Jasper said.Sara: "Uh-huh." Sara sighed with a kind of relief and wistfulness. "She just… She approached me and insisted that she had been young once, crying all alone and how she wished someone had been there to help her. It hit me pretty deep when she said that, too."Jasper: "So she was pretty much being the change she wanted to see in the world? Nice." Jasper was thrilled to hear all this. "You know, with every person you get involved, things will get easier for you and Selena. My whole family chipped in to help my cousin when he was at rock bottom, and he always mentions how grateful he is for that."
- Slowly Slipping Into Evil: Discussed. When Jasper and Sara are talking about a lead on finding Wade, a drug dealer who was last seen with Sara's sister Selena, Sara wonders how many lives Wade could have ruined. Jasper admits that people like Wade spend so much time being criminals they become numb to the evil they do with every life they ruin.Sara: Sara's eyes widened. "No way. Do you think it's the same guy? Is the same guy messing with your cousin and my sister? How many lives do you think he's ruined… This Wade character…"Jasper: "Possibly. I mean, from what I've heard about guys like that… They stop caring who they hurt. It's complicated because they're doing it to support themselves. Still, after a while, it stops being just about that. After a while, it becomes about making as much money as they can, no matter how many people they hurt." Jasper said.Sara: "Yeah, I suppose you're right." Sara sighed. "It's a shame that there are people out there who end up thinking that way."Jasper: Jasper sheepishly rubbed at the back of his neck. "I think that's just what the drug trade does to people. It ruins the lives of the addicts, but it also takes away a lot of humanity from the people who get involved in selling it. It ruins their minds, too."Sara: "That's pretty bleak." Sara stared back at him, astonished by what he was saying. "Still, I can imagine your cousin probably told you a whole lot of stories that taught you this, huh?"Jasper: "Yeah. Once you've heard the kinds of things people like him have seen, you realize just how destructive that whole criminal underworld is for everyone involved. It's an awful business." Jasper shook his head, then turned to Sara again. "I'm gonna ask him the next time I see him. I'll ask him to tell me more about Wade."
- You Are Better Than You Think You Are: Eva assures Sara that her regrets prove she wants to be a better person.
