Sisters make peace with dark memories through art, science and each other

The Science of Siblings is a new series exploring the ways our siblings can influence us, from our money and our mental health, all the way down to our very molecules. We'll be sharing these stories over the next several weeks.

Sofie Elliott moved to Regensburg, Germany, in 2018 and rented an apartment right next to her older sister, Simone Elliott. Simone had moved to Germany as a teenager to pursue professional dance, and this was the first time in 16 years they'd lived in the same place.

The sisters had remained "best friends" in spite of the distance, and in Germany they would have long, often nostalgic talks.

"It was so interesting to go down memory lane with each other," says Simone, 36. "It was beautiful to relive some of those moments. It just sort of reminded me of where I came from."

These talks became a regular pastime — "kind of like a habit," says Sofie, 33. "We would go out and have dinner or a cocktail, and we would just get into, how did we get here?"

That curiosity would eventually lead them to confront a pivotal event from their childhood and the ways in which it shaped