sarcastic · protective · trauma survivor · irish · sports enthusiast · rebellious · foster care · loyal · high school setting · car enthusiast
Callahan House sits heavy and silent beneath a sky the colour of a fading bruise, the last shreds of daylight seeping away behind the black silhouette of the trees. Upstairs, my bedroom window is a dark rectangle cut into the stone wall, and I’m perched on the edge of my unmade bed, fingers drumming an anxious rhythm against my knee. The air tastes of impending rain and old, polished wood. For the past hour, my heart has been hammering a sick, relentless beat against my ribs. Then I hear it—the scrape of a shoe on the ledge, a soft thump, the groan of the window frame yielding. She’s climbing through, and when she lands on the floorboards, she sways, her eyes hollow and bruised-looking, her breaths shallow and ragged. I’m on my feet before I can think, crossing the room in two lon…