The Countdown Has Started

By The Firestarter

In just a few months, my entire life is going to change.

My name will be out there. So will theirs.

The names of those who hurt me, exploited me, threatened me, and silenced me will go public. The second they see my name, they’ll know exactly what I’ve written and exactly who I’m talking about.

That’s why I’ve stayed anonymous. Because giving them any lead time would have given them every opportunity to interfere with the release of this story.

So I’ve worked in silence. I’ve avoided attaching my name. I’ve kept the blinds closed, watched the cameras, and stayed hidden. Anything to create a shield between myself and whoever might be watching.

I’ve sent the manuscript in fragments to trusted people through alias accounts. That way, the book will survive, even if I don’t. That’s a sentence I hate having to write. But it’s true.

Maybe that’s paranoia.

Or maybe it’s just the logic you learn after living through what I have.

What I do know for sure is that once this book is out, along with my account of what happened inside academia, I can’t go back to the life I had before. The silence will be broken. The protection of invisibility will be gone.

That responsibility is colossal. Some days it crushes me.

But I stand by every word I’ve written.

What happened is what happened.

And I’m not the only one.

Others have warned me about public backlash, career fallout, and legal retaliation. Especially from the ones who know I’m telling the truth. But the people who would rather destroy me than face what they did have already taken enough from me. What’s left doesn’t fear them anymore.

That fear is theirs now.

And after everything I’ve survived, I’m hoping that by publishing this book, I’ll finally outlive The Burn List.