“Mom figured it out.

She told the truth.” I pressed my palm flat to the cold marble.

For years I’d believed keeping the peace meant biting my tongue and looking away, that ignoring the shadows kept the monsters back.

I understood now that a peace built on a lie is only a bomb with a longer fuse, waiting for the next child to be standing near it when it goes.

“I chose the truth, Porter,” I said into the quiet.