game on | jj maybank [1]

twenty five: burning red

edited july 2025

"Remembering him comes in flashbacks and echoes
Tell myself it's time now, gotta let go
But moving on from him is impossible
When I still see it all in my head
In burning red"

chapter twenty five: burning red

"I don't think this is a good idea" JJ admitted as they got to Tannyhill

They all had been trying to get Blake to leave it alone and convince her to not talk with Rafe but she wasn't even hesitating, she needed it.

"I have to talk with him J. I need him to look at me in the eyes and tell me" Blake told him

"I wouldn't do that. Just don't go in there, there's nothing to win" Kie groaned tired of her friend

"It's not always about winning, Kie" Blake snapped "Can you stop being so judgemental for a second and think about how I might feel right now?"

"Yeah but this is just stupid" Kie replied

"Stupid? You don't know Rafe, okay?" She unbuckled her seatbelt "and clearly you don't know me"

Blake knew Rafe very well, she knew he was unstable, a narcissist and not even a good persol, but he wasn't a murderer.

"Hey, Blake" Jj got out of the car after her "Be careful with him, he just-

"JJ, relax, he won't touch me" she assured him "Wait for me here"

Blake was worried, she didn't know how Rafe could have done that, what drove him to do it and even more, she was worried about her brother, he was clueless about everything going on and now his best friend was a murdered.

"Rafe" Blake called out when she got to his room

"Blake?" he came out of the bathroom "What are you doing here?"

"I'm worried about you" she replied sitting on his bed

"He told you" Rafe realised

"Yeah, he did" Blake nodded "At first I didn't believe him. I told myself that you wouldn't be capable of something like that, but then it clicked. You did it for your dad, for the approval you've always seeked"

"And I finally got it, he told me he loves me, Blake" Rafe admitted nervously

"He lied to you Rafe" Blake sighed

"No, I saved my dad, yeah, I saved him" Rafe sttutered. Blake could see the tears building up in his eyes.

"John b could go to jail for something he didn't do" she told him "Look, obviously, I don't want you to go either but we both know your dad will get you out"

"I can't do it, I can't, I can't" Rafe shook his head a lot of times while walking fast in his room

"Rafe, calm down" Blake put a hand on his shoulder

Rafe didn't say anything for a while, he just looked into Blake's eyes. He was losing himself, this was not the confident and arrogant Rafe she knew.

"Why do you always choose them?" he asked out of nowhere

"What?" Blake frowned not knowing what he was talking about

"Sarah chose John b and you chose JJ, why?" Rafe asked her again "It's always them"

"Sarah loves John b and I love all of them, they're my best friends" Blake replied as calmly as she could

"Why?... Why them? Why can't anyone love me?" Rafe started panicking again and pacing in his room