Mehreen Ahmed

Well then? What did it matter whether she was living or dead? My mother’s pictures were strewn across the iPhone screen like innumerable stars in a night sky. When I viewed them, they looked exactly the same as the ones who were still living that I had not visited in ages. In stillness, it didn’t matter. They all looked alike. …

Rozie vapes, tanning in high afternoon sun in a bikini, lounging by the roof-top pool on her tall apartment building. She scrolls through socials as she relaxes, surveying her skin every now and then, lavishly applying sun screen on her long hands, legs and the upper body portion. Her white skin slowly browning into light almond. She smiles as she …

People stared us down; they sat on our faces. They came across our seats when we were having morning coffee. One person tried to shoo us away because they needed the table. No, this was our space! We weren’t going to move even an inch, I told my husband. But people were becoming relentless and crazy. They didn’t move an …