Writer’s Prompt: Grief, Grit, and a Glock: One Mother’s Reckoning

What happens when sorrow sharpens into justice? One mother’s heartbreak over her son’s overdose leads her to fight back—with a vengeance.

✍️ Fiction Writing Prompt: Opening Paragraph:

The first time she held the Glock 19, her hands trembled—not from fear, but from memory. Every weight, every click, every recoil echoed her son’s last breath. Before grief hollowed her, Sarah was a third-grade teacher, a PTA volunteer, a mom who packed lunches with notes that said You’ve got this. Then came the knock, the needle, the silence. Her son, Noah, dead at 22. Her world didn’t just fall apart—it turned to ash. Counseling was a lifeline, or at least a pause button on the free fall. Her psychologist asked one question that stuck: “What will you do with your grief?” The answer wasn’t immediate. But weeks later, after attending yet another funeral for yet another young overdose victim, Sarah found herself at a gun range. Not to forget, but to prepare. No more fundraisers. No more candles at vigils. She was going to hunt the ones who made their money peddling death—and she wouldn’t stop until someone stopped her.

🤔 Dive Deeper Questions:

1. What moral lines get blurred when grief becomes a weapon?
2. Can vengeance ever bring healing—or only more devastation?
3. If justice fails, is personal justice ever justified?