Blaze

Blaze is a 12-year-old girl living in a Paddington terrace house. Her bedroom sits in the roof space, sparsely decorated with a display cabinet of paired china animals and a small white dragon she calls Zephy. Her mother is absent, and Blaze’s everyday world feels quiet and isolated, tinged with imagination.

While returning from a shop, Blaze watches as Jake violently assaults Hannah in a service lane behind them. She hides but observes the confrontation, torn between fear and the urge to watch. The event marks Blaze’s first confrontation with brutal violence in her life.

Blaze drops her ice-cream and runs home, sobbing under her blanket. Her father Luke asks what happened, but Blaze remains mute, overwhelmed by what she witnessed. The distant wail of sirens suggests the case is already spiraling toward official attention.

Blaze and her father go to the police station, where her phone is found at the crime scene. She is fingerprinted and given a DNA swab, and undergoes a forensic examination by a doctor. The investigation begins to place Blaze within the narrative of the crime.

Two weeks after the assault, Blaze is interviewed by Jade, a police psychologist who is unsympathetic to her situation. The interview probes her memory, fear, and reliability as a potential witness. It sets the tone for how her testimony will be treated in court.

At the committal hearing, Blaze identifies Jake as the rapist, though the defense questions whether a young girl can truly distinguish rape from role-playing. The courtroom atmosphere is tense and skeptical. Flames from Blaze’s chinaware dragon appear in close-up during the moment, signaling emotional eruption.

Luke is informed that Blaze’s testimony has been discounted as unreliable. The defense suggests the assault could have happened later and by someone else, leaving Blaze feeling sidelined in the pursuit of justice. The family dynamic strains under the weight of legal doubt.

Blaze discovers Hannah Blum’s surname and finds websites devoted to female attack victims. She scrolls through Hannah’s life on social media and extends her vigil by adorning her wall with Hannah’s pictures. The search deepens Blaze’s fixation on the victim’s story and the case itself.

After a regular judo class, Blaze recognizes Jake on the bus and tries to confront him, banging the window and drawing blood. She is sedated and later admitted to a psychiatric clinic. The incident marks a shift from legal proceedings to intensive personal treatment.

Blaze is released into her father’s care and prescribed medication to be taken with meals. The treatment aims to stabilize her mood and anxiety, though she fears losing her dragon Zephy during therapy. Luke becomes a steady, if anxious, anchor in her recovery.

Weeks pass with little noticeable improvement. Blaze begins hiding capsules in a figurine, and the drugs wear off, returning her to a torpid state. Her coping turns darker as she hangs figurines by wool and melts wax to ignite a dangerous display.

Blaze goes back to her judo class and is publicly supported by her father during a tense moment in the gallery. She also confronts danger outside the dojo, staring down a loitering adult male until he retreats. These moments signal a fragile but growing resolve.

Blaze and Anna locate Jake’s home and confront him, insisting they know what happened. He denies knowledge of the case and the claim. When Blaze returns home, she finds that photos, her laptop, and china figures are gone, and Luke has found the hidden capsules Blaze kept for herself.

In a desperate, dangerous act, Blaze starts the car and speeds across the road, injuring her father and causing minor damage. She is re-admitted to the psychology ward the next day. A counselor helps her process her fears, and she experiences her first menstrual period that night.

Now aged 13, Blaze faces the possibility of testifying in the criminal trial. An older schoolboy offers guidance, and Blaze passes him her white china dragon as a symbol of courage. She tells her father she will take the stand, signaling a decisive step toward seeking justice.