Beautiful summer

twenty-six

'Keep a little fire burning. However small. However hidden' ~Cormac McCarthy

Rafe stared at the girl in front of him. She looked scared but also murderous at the same time. "Come on put the gun down, you wouldn't kill me" he laughed watching as she looked down at the weapon in her hands. "You hurt me Rafe" she cried shooting the gun towards the tree next to him making him jump.

"Put it down for fucks sake Hannah" he screamed walking towards the girl quickly. She didn't have time to react to this and he wrapped his hand round her neck tightly causing her airways to get blocked. She dropped the gun to the ground as she tried to grab for Rafe's arm as he continued to suck the life from her.

"Help" she tried to get out but it only came at a struggled whisper, her face starting to turn blue. "Get the fuck off her" JJ smashed the gun across Rafe's head causing him to collapse, Hannah coughing and spluttering as she tried to get her breath back.

"You okay" he asked kicking the gun away from the boys reach as he crouched down beside her to see the hand prints around her neck and her wrist, her bust lip and nose and a bruised chest. She shook her head as her lip started to tremble. She didn't know how much more she could take from Rafe before he actually killed her.

She knew if JJ hadn't heard her screams from earlier she would've been dead already. "It's okay, I've got you" he whispered taken slightly by surprise when she fell into his chest at breaking point. He looked up at Skylar who had just gotten there to see her face fall in shock.

She didn't know the amount of hurt she'd cause by pairing two people together all because a boy was in love with her and not someone else. "Shit Hannah I'm so sorry" she apologised bringing a hand to her mouth as she looked around at the scene around her.

Two bullets on the ground, blood from the pair covering the leaves, mud covering the girls dress and a broken girl in the arms of JJ Maybank. "We should go" Skylar sighed helping Hannah up from the ground wrapping a supportive arm around her waste as Rafe started to regain consciousness.

"Don't forget Sky, I know what you did" he called after her as the group of three walked off Skylar turning around her face falling at the realisation. Rafe Cameron was her alibi, he was her ticket out of jail. She knew if she did anything to piss him off she'd been locked up in an instant. JJ turned to look at the Conley girl holding a hand out for her as she remained stood to the spot staring at Rafe.

"Your too coked out to actually understand what was going on Rafe, you think anyone would actually believe you" she spat kicking him in the stomach with her heel causing him to grunt while coughing up some blood. "Did that hurt" she pouted crouching down beside him and brushing the hair out his face to see him nodding slightly at her question.

"Good" she scoffed kicking him once more. "I'll meet you back, I'm not done with him yet" she told JJ, nodding towards Hannah telling him to leave her and she'd be fine by herself. JJ didn't have a doubt in his mind that Skylar wouldn't be okay but that still caused him to worry.

"I always knew you were a shit person Rafe. I mean Ward wants to kick you out, you can't help but ruin everyone's life with your stupid coke addiction but almost killing Hannah. That's fucking disgusting" she spat kicking his face in causing him to spit blood out from his mouth caused by his bust lip.

Skylar thought she knew Rafe. She thought he could get better over time but all she saw now was a monster.

A monster that had stripped away Hannah's self worth layer by layer until even her bones held no trace of her personality. Skylar had lost sight of the girl she used to be, she was caged in her chest, he swallowed the key as she stood there and watched. The problem was that Hannah wanted to be loved so badly she couldn't tell it wasn't love.

Rafe, her parents, her friends, her brother taught her love was them draining her of her own identity, injecting self doubt into her veins. They let her think love was questioning her own sanity, walking around aimlessly. Love to Hannah was scrubbing their heavy words off her skin and making her mental state fall to the floor.

The taste of their 'love' lingered in her heart and it ate her apart. She told herself she could fix him, but he's been rusted for too long and he can no longer be fixed. Don't be the lamb he sacrifices drinking your blood like alcohol. Don't be the martyr to his hate, don't save him by destroying yourself. Save yourself and let flowers bloom where he once touched you.

"I swear it wasn't as bad as it looked" he muttered when Skylar began to walk off causing her to turn back to him starting to laugh sarcastically. "Don't you dare try manipulate me Rafe because it won't fucking work and you will come out more broken than you were before" she warned crouching down beside him taking the gun away from him.

"I hope you fucking die"

**********

Hannah sat in the back of the Twinkie in silence while JJ tapped his fingers on the steering wheel stressing for Sky who still didn't look to be anywhere in sight of the van. "You okay" he looked through the mirror at the brunette girl who lightly nodded her head unable to speak.

She just wanted to be loved. She wanted to be so loved that it made her feel like a little giddy kid, she wanted to be so loved by the person she was in love with. She wanted to be loved with hand written letters, small acts of kindness, loved with thought and intent and surprise.

She wanted to be loved in a way that would make her say "ladies this is proof of if he wanted to he would", to be able to drown in this love. She wanted to be loved with lazy cuddles and kisses on a morning, a coffee when she least expected it, a coffee where he knows her order off by heart and knows how she likes it.

She wanted to be loved and not have to worry about being loved. She wanted to be loved without worry, without concern and anger. She wanted to be loved without the green jealousy and without bad communication.

She wanted to be loved and keep falling inlove everyday, to know someone so deeply and intently and to be loved through a bond so strong that it pulls at her heart strings. She just wanted to be loved.

But somehow god wouldn't allow that life for her. Instead she was trapped in the hands of Rafe Cameron. Every time she tried to leave he would somehow drag her back in until he hurt her all over again each time getting worse.