One of Two // JJ Maybank

the darkest hour: three

it was now almost 10pm, the time wheezie had told us to meet her at deaches point. me and sarah made our way onto the docks, passing by large boats. the cool breeze from the water made me shiver. it was extremely quiet. almost too quiet. "wheezie?" sarah shouted,, looking around us. "come on..."

i sighed, leaning my head back and looking around also. we heard a couple of breaths and walked towards the noise, hoping it was our little sister. as soon as me rounded that corner, rafe stood in front of us. "nah, not wheezie." rafe said, looking between us.

i shuddered, bringing my arms close to me. "where the hell is wheezie?" i asked rudely.

rafe wiped his nose and looked away. "don't worry about it." he replied. me and sarah took a few steps back as he walked towards us with his hands out. "hey, woah. it's all god, i just-" he motioned his hand by his head. i breathed heavily, holding my chest. "i needed to talk to you guys, like, a little bit. is that okay?"

sarah put her hand out in front of us, stopping rafe from coming forward. "don't come near us." she sneered.

"cause what you guys do, sarah and spencer, i-it affects me." he mumbled. rafe was talking like a psychopath which terrified me greatly. "you-you don't think of that do you?"

"you shot us, rafe." sarah argued, crossing her arms.

rafe raised his hand at sarah and scoffed, looking away. i noticed his demeanor change and in not a good way. "that's it, right? it's... it's always my fault." i watched him pace back and forth. "like, uh... you know, i... i wanna keep what's mine, that i got by my work, and i'm the bad guy for trying to hold onto it?"

i was starting to worry he would snap so i tried to stay calm and collective. sarah was terrified and so was i. "i-it's not yours, rafe." i said quickly.

he huffed. "like i'm wrong to protect what's mine!" he yelled at us. i covered my mouth and sarah shut her eyes and opened them again. he stepped closer to us and sighed. "listen to me, okay?" he said softly. what is wrong with him? my eyes widened. "the cops are going to talk to you guys... and i need to make sure the story is straight because-"

sarah interrupted as i looked to her in worry. "you killed peterkin." she said bluntly, staring at him right in the eyes. "our story is straight."

rafe clenched his jaw and shook his head quickly while rolling his eyes. "rafe." i started as he looked at me. "this would go so much better for you if you just-"

he got close to my face as i gasped. "who are you trying to protect here, huh?" he asked aggressively.

"we're trying to do the right thing." i spoke quickly, interrupting his sentence. "rafe, come on."

sarah started tearing up as he started getting mad at me and so did i. i don't know what was gonna happen to me if i continued, but i did anyway. "no, you're not listening to me, spencer." he growled. "you doing the right thing, is the reason you got grazed and sarah got shot, because you two were following john b."

"john b might get the death penalty because of you!" sarah cried out next to me, stepping closer to him.

"that!" rafe yelled, making me flinch and step back as did sarah. his eyes went darting through our faces, trying to scan our scared expressions. "that right there! that-that's exactly what i'm talking about." he sat down on one of the dock pegs. i stammered, trying to talk but nothing came out of my mouth. "you two have always been against me."

i scoffed and shook my head. that was bullshit. "that's not true, rafe." i argued, pointing at him. i thought about all the times i've covered for him, helped him while he was drunk, and everything else.

"don't shake your head at me." rafe mumbled, looking dead at me. "and you still are. no, no, no, no. you guys aren't against me. you're against us." i assumed he was talking about our murderous family." he pointed at himself, slowly. "we're your family." i saw the tears fall down his face slowly as he talked. "and you two are against us."

me and sarah stayed silent, sniffling from our own tears. "you know..." he started again. "dad always takes your guys' side, right?" he asked. we didn't respond because we knew it was true. rafe stood back up, walking towards us. "because you two cry in front of him like you guys cried in front of me. i'm a proactive type of person." he seethed through his teeth. "and we have a problem, and i gotta solve that problem tonight."

my breathing became quicker as he stepped closer. "do you understand?" he said. we didn't respond again. "do you understand?" he shouted loudly.

sarah grabbed my hand not even a second after and started running, it took me a second to process but then it hit me. i heard rafe yell our names as we ran through the docks and boats, trying to get away from him. i hopped over a metal pipe and followed sarah but we were cornered by a large tank of water. rafe grabbed onto both of us by our arms. how was he so strong?

he pushed us against the water tanks as i sobbed. "stop, rafe, stop!" i shouted as me and sarah tried to fight out way out of his tight grip. i sobbed again as he looked to us and stopped. "i-its us. it's your sisters." i whimpered as tears filled his eyes.

he stared at us for a moment and scoffed. "what about me?" he mumbled. "you guys had me fryed." sarah whimpered and shook her head as i did the same, trying not to make him snap.

it was too late. he grabbed me and sarah's faces, pushing us under the water. i screamed as water filled my lungs, trying to fight him off. i heard him yell something as he pushed us farther down. i kept screaming and scratching at his hand.

i didn't know if anyone could hear us. i kept screaming but i couldn't take it any longer. i tried holding onto the side of the tub to try and get out, but i had no strength. this was it. my own brother was gonna kill his twin sisters. i thought about everything the last year, the treasure hunt, me and jj, being stranded in nassau and almost getting killed.

everything stopped as my eyes fluttered shut and my body shutting down, my hands dropped to my side and i took my last scream.

everything went dark.