Almost Surely Dead

by Amina Akhtar

No one ever tells you how to get through grief, how to not let it take over your life. Because it does. Every part of your life is hit. And sometimes, just when you think you’re turning a corner, months after your loved one died, you get hit by something new all over again. It doesn’t stop. You just have to learn how to live

with it, until the pain of them not being in your life anymore becomes a dull ache.

I had done everything I was supposed to, and nothing happened. The justice system in a nutshell.

The number one thing is to fight as dirty and as loud as you can. This is your life; you have to do whatever it takes to keep it. We never like making scenes, but we have to if we want to survive.”

We’re taught to be quiet—women, you know?”