The noise from the street outside never seemed to let up. Cars pushed past in steady waves, sirens cut through the air without warning, and inside the small apartment where I sat across from a young man, everything felt heavy. He spoke in fragments at first, offering pieces of his story like someone unsure if they were safe to share the whole thing. on identities that never quite fit.

The engine in Cody’s car idled a little longer than it needed to that Monday. I could picture exactly what that moment feels like, because I have sat in similar parking lots, staring at a building full of kids and feeling the quiet pressure rise in my chest.

The field had mostly cleared out, and I was already mentally moving on to the next thing on my schedule. My bag was slung over my shoulder, and I was halfway turned toward the parking lot when I heard my name cut through the noise behind me. It wasn’t casual or quiet. It was loud, urgent, and repeated like it couldn’t afford to be ignored. ht I needed to get to next.

The first thing I noticed was how quickly he changed the subject whenever anything personal came up. We were sitting on a worn-out couch in the corner of a crowded youth room, and every question I asked seemed to bounce right off him. I asked about school, and he gave me one-word answers.

The first time he sat across from me, he barely spoke. We were at a long folding table in a loud gym, kids bouncing basketballs and shouting across the court, but he stayed quiet, eyes scanning the room like he was looking for an exit.

The marker squeaked as I drew another line across the whiteboard, trying to pull the group’s attention back into the activity. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw him lean back in his chair, balancing it on two legs, his focus fixed somewhere above the ceiling tiles.

The scrape of shoes against tile echoed louder than it should have as he dragged his feet down the hallway beside me. The rest of the group’s voices faded behind us, but I could still feel the weight of their attention lingering on what had just happened.

He kicked the back of my seat hard enough that it jolted my whole body forward, and I turned around faster than I should have. We were in the middle of a group activity, and I had just finished explaining the instructions when the disruption cut right through the room.