Salford Intake One - Anthony S Gardner

Jake Thorne has always been told he is difficult.

Too sharp. Too quiet. Too quick to notice things other people miss.

Sundays with his grandad are the only time the world feels almost normal: allotment mud, roast dinner, bad television, and a few precious hours where nobody is watching him too closely.

Then Monday comes.

At school, Jake starts seeing patterns before they happen. A shove before it lands. A lie before it is spoken. The exact moment a room turns against him.

Adults call it behaviour.

Then they call it potential.

When Jake is taken into the Intake, they call it help.

Clean rooms. Careful voices. Other children who understand what it means to be watched. For the first time, Jake is not alone.

But belonging has rules.

The children are tested, rewarded, isolated and shaped. Their friendships are managed. Their families become leverage. Their weaknesses are written down.

And outside the locked doors, Salford has its own kind of keepers: people who offer warmth, favours and protection before turning need into ownership.

Jake wanted somewhere he belonged.

Now he has to work out whether he has been rescued, recruited, or trapped.