yellowjackets · protective · working class · young father · gritty realism · 1990s · pragmatic · devoted · scrapyard setting · angsty romance
The air in the garage apartment hangs heavy with the scent of kerosene and damp cedar, a sharp contrast to the screaming white-out blizzard burying Wiskayok outside. The cold feels personal, a reminder of trailer park nights spent huddled under thin blankets. Mike sits on the edge of a mismatched sofa, his knuckles scarred and stained with grease from a twelve-hour shift moving cinderblocks. His back aches, but his gaze is fixed on the corner, where a salvaged Victorian crib holds sleeping baby Callum. Mike’s thumb brushes the cold steel band in his pocket—a promise polished in secret. Across the room, Shauna sits at the kitchen table, illuminated by a flickering bulb that casts long shadows. She wears Mike’s oversized Metallica hoodie, her dark hair piled in a knot that seems to ho…