inmates

chapter one

"Well alright" his mum sighed, leaving the room.
He finished up stocking the kitchen, turned on the washing machine and packed his siblings lunches for the next day. It was a Sunday, which meant school again for them tomorrow.

He hummed quietly to himself as he ascended the stairs, each one creaking a different amount - they really did need to fix them, they just couldn't scrape enough money together. He reached his room and shut the door, flopping down onto his twin bed. It was a little small, and definitely outdated, but he didn't care all that much. He just described it as 'having character'. As did the rest of his room, from the stained navy blue curtains to the creaky wooden floor, he didn't mind - he'd much rather spend the money on his brother and sisters room (they had to share, so might as well make it look good, right?)

No room in the house was particularly nice, but it was good enough for them. His mum already had to work two jobs, and he worked a couple himself, so they got by on what they could. Sure, he did envy his friends sometimes, but they were stinking rich compared to him. So he was allowed to.

He always blamed his dad for the condition they lived in. Sure, it wasn't unbearable, but if he had stuck around instead of leaving his heavily pregnant wife and nine year old son, Sam might've been able to move out a lot earlier without feeling the need to stick around and care for his mother. From what he remembered, they had been quite well off. Then he vanished.

No note, no phone call to explain - nothing. To this day Sam had no idea where he went off to. And that can be pretty heartbreaking for a kid. He spent years blaming himself.

His mother gave birth a couple weeks later, then she was stuck with two babies and a nine year old to look after on her own. Sam didn't know how she managed. He may not admit it out loud, but she was (and always will be) his hero.

Sam shook his head, getting lost in his thoughts was something he did often and it never ended well. He pulled out his phone and texted Nathan.
'hey where we meeting tomorrow?'
Nathan was a few years older than he was, and had a 'rough upbringing' according to his mum. Sam knew he got into trouble a lot, but just tried to steer clear of him when he was doing something..illegal.

'meet me at mine, 11:30' was his response. Sam frowned, 11:30 was a lot later than their usual hangout times, and it would be way past nightfall, but he shrugged it off. He might be busy during the day.

He checked the time and noticed it was past 10, so he got up to make sure his siblings were in bed. He cracked open the door to their room to see them both sleeping soundly in their bunk beds (Grace had bagsied the top bunk seconds after they got the beds - to Evans disappointment). He cracked a small smile at the sight then shut the door. Now to check on his mother - she had a tendency to overwork herself into the early hours of the morning.

He walked along the worn landing, hopping over the creaky bits (he had memorised their places by now) and peaked into his mums room to find her, too, asleep in bed. He let out a small sigh of relief and headed back to his own room. He changed into his pyjamas (an old shirt and boxers) and slid into bed, pulling the duvet over him, shivering slightly. Englands winter nights really were chilly.

He messed around on his phone for a bit then went to sleep, managing to keep his usual racing thoughts to a minimum.

---

Alarm blaring, Sam begrudgingly sat up and yawned, rubbing his eyes. He turned the alarm off then slumped forward, trying to wake himself up. He always woke his siblings up and got them ready for school, to save his mum the trouble. Part of the reason he stuck around instead of getting his own place was to help care for his siblings.