After the Murder

Kim Sisto Robinson

“Your coffin reached the monstrous hole. And a part of me went down into the muddy earth with you and lay down next to you and died with you.”
― Rosamund Lupton, Sister

After the murder, my prayers went something like this:

“Help me. God, help me. Please, fucking help me.”

I’m not certain whether I said these words aloud, or if they were stuck in my throat like something ready to explode. I don’t know whether I was alive when it was all happening. When it was all done. When she took her final breath.

What I mean to say is, I don’t know how I survived that dark, ugly, indescribable day and all the insufferable days afterward.

How I walked and talked and even applied makeup on the morning of her funeral.
How I put on a black and white dress, nylons, and brushed my hair, my teeth.
How I stood at the mirror with my stupid lipstick wondering how the hell we got here, how she was gone and I was here.
How the monster managed to shoot her three times in the head without me trying to save her, say goodbye.

I would’ve killed him with my bare hands. I would’ve broken every finger so he’d never pick up a gun. I would’ve sewn his lips together. I would have…I would have…

But I didn’t hear her when she cried out my name.

I remember my mom and I ironing seven salmon colored shirts for the pallbearers and wishing we were ironing them for a wedding, a baptism, some kind of celebration.

“Mom, is this real; is this happening?” I asked.

“Yes, honey.” She answered.

And we continued ironing those stiff, funeral shirts numbly, dizzily, in slow motion without uttering another word.

After the murder, my friend, Jeanie, brought me a case of Cupcake Merlot. I drank a bottle a day until they were all gone. And this couldn’t even deaden the pain, the massive loss of her—because grief is born into the world, but doesn’t die. It lives inside but doesn’t forget. It bites you at the most unexpected times with its decayed, sharp fangs.

That’s the whole truth in case you’ve been wondering.

The world is made up of people who are uncomfortable with death and mourning and your stories about the past. They only want to hear about the living.

You need to adjust into who you used to be, who you once were before your heart shattered into a million pieces.
You need to put on a mask of feathers, bright red lipstick, and smile as if you were completely functional, normal.

Nothing will ever be normal again.

You must learn to breathe in between the aches, the pains, the solitude, and the twisting of organs. In the beginning, the in-betweens are brief and fleeting, but you can still find God, still find flickers of light.

After the murder, syllables begged me to write them down, release them from the dark corners of my mind. And this is what saved me from turning into oncoming traffic, drinking myself into oblivion, and sticking my head inside an oven. It would have been easy to die. Easy to become nothing. But I decided to live instead.

*If you are being abused in ANY way whatsoever, help is available.
Call the National Domestic Abuse Hotline  1-800-799-7233

Photo Credit: @Kim Sisto Robinson All Rights Reserved

Written by 

Kim Sisto Robinson is a mother, lover, poet, writer, educator, obsessive blogger, lover of cats, cheese puffs, chocolate chips cookies, Sylvia Plath, addicted to books, women’s stories, walking with audio books ( Lolita was off the charts!), and powerful, transformative words. Her work has appeared in Scary Mommy, Bella On Line, Glass Woman, Migrations, Rebelle Society, and Feminine Collective. She created her blog, My Inner Chick, to honor her sister, Kay, whom was murdered by her estranged husband in 2010. Her mission is to give “Voice” to all women without one. She was honored the "Men As Peacemaker's Award" in 2015 for her work with domestic violence.

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22 thoughts on “After the Murder”

  2. Pingback: Domestic Violence, Murder, & Rising Up. –

  10. Because you have so bravely chose to live- you are saving lives, shining light in dark corners, and bringing hope to dying souls.

    Every single day you chose to live, you pour out your heart so that others might be saved.

  11. This is so powerful, Kim. I’m sure it was hard to write and to relive each time.This: “—because grief is born into the world, but doesn’t die.” Profound. Painful. This will save a life.

  14. Love you Kim. Love how you can always so eloquently draw us into you, to feel what you feel My heart aches with yours.
    Much love and hugs from sunny South Africa,
    🙂 Mandy xoxoxo

  16. I am so glad you decided to live and write, write, write; because you made it ok for me to bare my soul and speak about my abusive ex honestly. Your strength and honesty exposes abuse in all its ugliness. Thank you!! Hugs ♡

  17. I, for one, am so glad you decided to live. It truly was a choice – a hard one – you had to make to choose life. The world is a fa,r far better place because you are in it!

  21. I truly cannot even imagine, but I am so thankful that you decided to write, write, write about it, about you, and about your beautiful sister. Your words will make a difference in this world and in the lives of people and women who unfortunately are in similar situations. I love your heart.

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