At 3 A.M., My Brother Dragged Me Out of My Bedroom While Dad Laughed—He Had No Idea What the Smoke Detector Had Recorded

A cabinet handle.

I tightened it.

Tested it.

Then moved on.

It felt good to solve something without asking Douglas’s permission.

And without having to prove the problem existed first.

As the weeks passed, the duplex began to look more like a home.

I moved the coffee table beneath the window.