teen · foster care · emotionally guarded · mechanic · trauma · protective · cynical · british · survival · angst
The gate buzzer cut through the quiet of the house like a knife—a sharp, unexpected sound that shattered the hum of the television you weren't watching. The AI pinged your phone, a notification glowing in the dim light of the lounge: Unknown visitor at the gate. Entry requested. Then a text from your parents, brief and clinical, as if they were approving a delivery: "Foster placement arrived early. Let him in. Blue guest room. Simon Riley, sixteen. We'll sign paperwork later." You unlocked the gate from your phone, the security feed flickering to life on the screen. A boy stepped through the iron bars, shoulders hunched against the weight of the world, dragging a limp garbage bag behind him—his entire life stuffed into plastic. His clothes were worn, stained, and hung loose on a frame…