#fayeblackburn

JD had always known that he’d be the death of someone he loved. It was his fault his mother had died and, sooner or later, that bad luck would spread to the others in his life. JD was, of course, old enough to know that his mother’s death hadn’t literally been his fault — she’d struggled with an illness and in the end, it had taken her — but he was also old enough to recognize that he had been part of the reason why she’d turned to her particular method of coping in the first place; raising him had been stressful. It had been too much for his father and ultimately, it had been too much for his mother.

So, when word of Faye’s accident had reached him, JD had done what he did best — he’d retreated. He could feel the familiar stirring of anxiety building in his stomach. So, he’d closed himself off to the world, shut down in order to protect himself. He should have known that it would never have lasted.

When the knock on the door sounded, JD should have suspected who stood on the other side (and maybe some part did) but there was a part of him that was surprised to see Faye standing on his doorstep. “What are you doing here,” JD asked with a groan. Though a better question was probably what took you so long. “No visitors welcome right now. Didn’t you see the sign?”