Summary

Beth Macy’s article “‘I Am Going to Die if I Keep Living the Way I Am.’ She Was Right.” opens by revealing that the body of a young woman named Tess Henry was found in a dumpster on Christmas Eve, and notes that it will share the story of her addiction.

The journalist, Beth Macy, starts by sharing a phone call she received from Tess’s mother the day after Tess was found dead. She then recounts how she had followed Tess’s story for two years leading up to the point of her death, giving her a pseudonym to protect her identity.

Macy shares her first meeting with Tess while the latter was in an M.A.T. program, receiving drugs to help her cope with her withdrawal symptoms. Macy also notes that she was personally involved with Tess’s case, sharing that she helped her take care of her young son during her Narcotics Anonymous meetings. Macy kept in touch with Tess even as she dropped out of the M.A.T. program, lost custody of her son, and went through all kinds of struggles as her addiction worsened.

The story then skips to the following year, where Tess was enrolled into an expensive abstinence-based rehab center thanks to f...