Status Updates From Possessed (Pythonissam Filia)

“When a man hurts you, you can run or you can fight. But what if it is not one man who harms you? What if it’s generations, legions? What if the violence has become so ingrained that it hides in broad daylight? That it’s what allows men like your husband to go unpunished? What do you do then?”

She did not answer, so I did.

“You burn it all down.”

"The pail was only half full when she ran dry. It used to fill completely, sometimes requiring a second container. But I patted her neck gratefully anyway. “Every drop is rebellion,” I told her. “Every day you survive past your usefulness is a small victory against a world that measures our worth in what we can provide—milk, babies…silence.”