I Survived Long Enough to Speak

Preserve.

Your moment is coming, and when it comes you will need everything you did not throw away in panic now.

Chapter 5 — What My Father Built

Before he died, my father had installed a small camera in the kitchen.

He put it in after Lars began “accidentally” breaking things during arguments — a habit my father noticed long before I let myself understand what it meant.

Lars knew about the visible camera above the pantry; he had made his peace with it, the way a man makes peace with a thing he believes he controls.