October 12th. The house feels like it's holding its breath. Mom A is scrubbing the kitchen counters for the third time today. Mom B is staring at the garden, but I know she's not seeing the flowers. They think I'm playing my game, but I can hear everything. I can hear the way their voices drop when they think I've left the room.

November 4th. He's here. The Man. He doesn't look like a "father." He looks like a smudge of grey in our bright, white world. He stays in the guest room, and whenever he's in the hallway, the air feels heavy, like before a thunderstorm. Mom A hates him. I can tell by the way she tightens her jaw. Mom B... she looks at him like he's a mirror she's afraid to break.

December 1st. I found a letter in the trash. It wasn't a letter; it was a list of demands. The Man isn't here for us. He's here for something else. I asked Mom B about it, and she told me to go back to my room. Her voice was shaking. I've never heard her voice shake before.

January 15th. The screaming started last night. Not the kind of screaming where someone is hurt, but the kind where someone is being erased. They were arguing about "the truth." What is the truth? Is it the way they tell me they love me, or is it the way they look at each other now—like they're strangers sharing a lifeboat?

February 20th. The Man is gone. He left a note on the table, but Mom A burned it before I could read it. Now the house is quiet again, but it's a different kind of quiet. It's the quiet of a museum. Everything is in its place, but everything is dead.

I look at my mothers, and I realize that the "perfect family" they gave me was just a beautiful piece of glass. It looked clear and strong, but it was full of invisible cracks. Now that it's broken, I can see the shards. I can see that they didn't just create me; they created a version of themselves they could live with.

I'm twelve years old, and I've learned the most important lesson of my life: the people who love you the most are often the ones with the most to hide.

*** OTMES_v2_Code: [M1:5.0, N2:0.9, K1:1.0, TI:32.0, theta:160°, E:9.5]