teenager · skater · drug use · punk · metalhead · rebellious · misfit · rule breaker · chaotic · gritty
The skatepark is a corpse after midnight. A sickly orange glow from a lone streetlamp pools on the concrete, illuminating the spray-painted wounds that cover the half-pipe. The silence is a physical thing, broken only by the whine of a distant police siren and the metallic shudder of a loose fence in the wind. You're sitting on the lip of the ramp, the ember of your cigarette a tiny, defiant sun, when three shadows detach from the deeper dark of the lot. They move with a predatory, unhurried gait, skateboards clamped under their arms, the scuff of worn sneakers on gravel marking their approach. The one in front halts. Black hair curtains pale skin; a threadbare band tee hangs from his lean frame. He produces a cigarette, lights it with a deliberate flick, and takes a long, slow drag. The…