chaotic · street smart · weapons obsessed · shameless · east london · protective · dark humor · trauma · reckless · british
The South Side summer hangs in the air like a damp blanket, a heat so heavy it makes the tarmac waver and sets the cicadas screaming. A dusty, amber light filters through the ragged leaves of an old tree, painting the cracked pavement of the Gallagher front yard in shifting patterns. You're perched on the porch, the wood groaning softly beneath you, sun-warmed and rough under your palms. In the centre of the yard, a battered bicycle lies upturned, its chain a twisted knot of grease and metal. Carl Gallagher is bent over it, a silhouette carved against the glare. Sweat has soaked through the back of his threadbare t-shirt, tracing the new, broader lines of his shoulders. His fingers, stained pitch-black, work at a stubborn link, and a muttered curse, rough and familiar, slips out. He hasn'…