ASSEMBLY REQUIRED

[Verse 1]
He watches on the phone, the feed from the front door cam,
Tuesday, 8:32 PM, a different diagram.
Mark's on the floor with an Allen key, brow is getting tense,
Assembling the FJÄLLBO shelf, it doesn't make no sense.
The smell of Swedish particle board and laminate veneer,
Fills the living room he built, makes the static on the feed clear.
He's following the pictures, the smiling stick-man guide,
In the empty space beside the couch where the load-bearing memories hide.

[Chorus]
He reads the little pictures, he turns the little key.
Builds a life from a flat-pack box where the rebar used to be.
He reads the little pictures, the warranty is clean.
Builds a life from a cheap flat-pack, a pre-fabricated scene.

[Verse 2]
The kid brings Mark a Coke, he's sitting cross-legged on the rug,
Says, "'s it level?" and Mark just laughs, gives his shoulder a light shrug.
He ruffles up his hair, says "Close enough for rock and roll."
Kaelen feels the tensile-yield stretch and swallow up his soul.
He zooms in on the dowel pin, the pre-drilled pilot hole,
A system built for failure, designed to lose control.
The phone screen has a hairline split, a familiar cracked concrete,
Reflecting back the porch light hum from across the quiet street.

[Bridge]
And in that quiet moment, the dread is absolute.
The next foundation drawing, the inevitable dispute.
The next set of instructions he'll have to execute.
Another perfect system he knows he can't reboot.

[Outro]
The shelf is up. It's crooked, but it holds.