Disclaimer: I do not own The Suite Life of Zack and Cody. Just a fan
Cody Martin awoke with a shudder - the sweat was pouring down his back. He was blinded by the tears that were pouring out of his eyes. He wiped them roughly with the backs of his hands and uttered an animal screech of pain as the present came rushing back to him harshly. He jumped out of bed and began to pace back and forth.
He recalled that terrible night in flashes of horror. His mother, Carey, screaming. His friends Esteban and Maddie trying to escape. And Zack. There was Zack, crying. It was so hot in the room. He needed to get out. Where was Cody? Why had he left without Zack?
Cody took a deep breath and was dragged back to reality, where he was stuck inside a stupid hospital because he was covered in second degree burns; back to where he had no family left - well, none that really cared about him like Carey and Zack had. He wanted to see them so much. He wanted them back so much. So much that it hurt.
"Cody," said a soft voice. Cody turned to see a nurse looking at him. She smiled at him sympathetically, and held out her arms to him.
Cody hesitated, and then slowly leaned in. She hugged him gently, careful to not hurt his burns.
"Honey," she said gently. "I know it hurts. I know, because I lost my husband just a year ago. Why don't you talk about it? It might help a little."
"No!" cried Cody with surprising force, drawing away from the nurse. "No! What's to talk about? My mother, my friends, my freaking twin! They're all dead! They're all dead, and I'm ALONE!"
The nurse's eyes welled up with tears; pity for this young boy who had lost so much in so little time. "No, sweetie. That's not all. You need to talk about it. If you don't, you'll never move on. You have to get past this."
Cody clenched his fists in rage. He glared at the nurse through squinted eyes and a red, angry face. "I can NEVER get past this! Never, ever, EVER! Go away! Get away from me!"
Now Cody was thrashing about, and the nurse was grabbing ahold of him. And the world was spinning around and around, and there were flames, and screams, and smoke, and nothing was okay and everything was wrong and Cody was falling, falling, falling into the memories. They flooded him involuntarily, and he was screaming because it hurt so much, but he couldn't help it. There they were - all of them. The people he loved most in the world: Zack and Carey and Esteban and Maddie and London and Mr. Moseby and Arwin and the rest. All going up in smoke. All screaming as they felt the heat on their faces and the flames surround them. And he knew, he just knew what had killed them. He knew why they had died.
Cody Martin had set the fire. Cody Martin had killed them all.
A/N: Okay, this pains me to write it, because I love all the Suite Life characters. But it popped into my head as an idea and I just had to write it down. If you'd like to know what happens next, please review!