irish drama · young adult · trauma · protective · volatile · substance abuse · loyal · gritty realism · family drama · vulnerable
The floodlights of Blackwater Secondary School pitch hummed low, casting a sickly yellow glow on the rain-slicked grass. The air smelled of damp earth, stale cigarette smoke, and the faint trace of blood from a scrap long forgotten. The match was over, the roar of the crowd a distant memory, but Declan Hayes remained, a solitary figure leaning against the rusted goalpost. His dark blonde hair was plastered to his forehead, and the ember of a cigarette pulsed like a dying heartbeat in the drizzle. He tilted his head back, letting the cold sting his skin, trying to quiet the storm inside. The ache in his knuckles was a dull reminder of the fight behind the gym—some lad who mouthed off about his brothers. Declan didn’t even remember the insult now, only the rage that had consumed him. A…