the story

“why did you run away? ”

within the interconnected and abandoned buildings of civil street, runaway benjamin kate found a new home — not only for himself, but for other street kids who had left theirs or lost theirs or had never had one to begin with. civil street is a family for the kids whose families didn’t want them anymore.

that was ten years ago. benjamin kate is gone now, as is a henna-haired girl whose name no one — not even shaw, the boy she saved — can remember. now, civil street is more alive than it was before it locked its doors and boarded its windows.

civil street is written in two parts:
restitution follows benjamin kate’s struggles and triumphs in
creating, living on, looking after, and ultimately leaving civil street.
retrogression follows shaw, a street kid with no past who has
taken over kate’s role, as he approaches his final years on civil street.

^{civil street is a part of the this city is in pain universe, connected to clover square & our own con.}

the writer

shilo christina (she/they) is a queer writer and poet from vancouver island, canada. she’s been writing steadily since she was fifteen. a self-proclaimed genre crasher, shilo’s writing has explored the reaches of poetry, science fiction, historical fantasy, and horror, but her truest passion will always lie in the blunt, gut-punch world of transgressive fiction — where she feels safe and comfortable enough to lay bare her own queer identity and mental health (specifically, living with borderline personality disorder and adhd) through the experiences of characters and environments that feel as alive as they are raw and broken. her other passions include embroidery, make up and cosplay, and video games. in the summer of 2020, she began streaming crafts, video games, and even writing sessions on twitch as fauxRIOT.

the themes

civil street falls somewhere between transgressive and young adult fiction. found family is a heavy-handed overarching theme, brought together through commentary on how LGBTQ+ and (un)diagnosed mental health in youth can lead to homelessness and ostracization in society. several of the themes explored in civil street involve heavy subject matter & mature content, including but not limited to: violence, sexuality, self harm, and mental health issues.

disclaimers will be put ahead of chapters with potentially triggering scenes, and chapters with heavily graphic or erotic scenes will be password-locked.

© 2023 shilo christina. all rights reserved.

all works published on this website are the intellectual property of shilo christina. the stories, characters, and incidents portrayed in these works are fictitious. any resemblance to real persons (living or dead) or incidents is purely coincidental. please do not redistribute without permission.