Disclaimer: All original characters from the House of Night books belong to P.C and Kristin Cast but the storyline and new characters belong to myself.

My Version of Burned
Chapter 3
Zoey's POV

"Don't forget me, Zo." Heath whispered into our trembling last kiss.

"As if I could." I smiled sadly at him, a single tear sliding down my cheek.

I couldn't believe it. Was this supposed to be how it ended? Was I supposed to say goodbye to Heath, the blonde haired jock, whom I'd loved and who had loved me in return since third grade? Because he was dead and he wasn't going to come back.

Well, was dying because he wasn't officially gone yet.

"I'll love you forever babe, don't forget that either." Heath smiled his cute bad boy smile at me, trying to cheer me up but unfortunately failing.

As if I could forgot that he was the love of my childhood. I was about to answer that of course I wouldn't forget that and that I loved him too, impossibly so, but before I had the chance to, he was already leaving. He was shifting off of the ground and moving further and further away from me.

"Heath, no! Don't go yet!" I sobbed, looking up at him in the sky. He looked like an angel.

"Zo, it's not me whose leaving, it's you." He explained, his voice sounding confident but his eyes filling with tears, "You know that I will always love you, Zoey Redbird. You are the first, last and only girl I have ever loved and that's never going to change.

"I've loved you my entire life. You have been the first thing I thought of every time I woke up and before I went to sleep and every second inbetween them both ever since the first day I saw you. You were even beautiful as a little girl. I've watched you go from adorable to cute to stunning to sexy to beautiful to gorgeous to amazing and that was just in the first day."

Wishing I had a packet of tissues with me, I felt my heart rip in two.

"I can't leave you!" I screamed, collapsing to the floor and wrapping my arms around myself.

"You have to baby, but it's okay. I'll always be with you. In here." He placed his hand over his heart and I mimicked his gesture.

"Every day," I sniffled, "I will think of you every second of every minute of every hour of every day of every..."

"I get it, beautiful." Heath smiled and took my breath away, "I love you."

"I love you too." I whispered into thin air.

He was gone.

My lifeline, my love; gone.

"He was right, Zoeybird." I heard the soothing voice of my goddess, Nyx, through my pain. I smiled through my tears. She always made me smile.

Opening my eyes, I saw her smooth black hair drifting around her shoulders and the sun reflecting off of her pearl-white skin in the bright meadow.

"I-I...don't know. How to, I mean, or even if I want to..." I stuttered to her.

"Patience my child," Nyx soothed, "You will return to your friends...when the time is right..."

When the time was right?

And then, like waking up from a dream, everything disappeared.

The bright green grass, the sunny blue sky, the soothing sound of water flowing, Nyx: it all went.

But instead of waking up in my bedroom with the reassurance that I would always be okay because I had my consort, I woke up in a room full of darkness.

Darkness which shifted uncomfortably around my disorientated figure, making me question whether I was in a room or not at all.

All I knew was that it was dark.

Very, very, very dark.

As if my life couldn't have gotten any worse.

I tried calling for Heath, for anyone, but to no avail.

Far away, I could hear a distant sobbing but I had no idea who it could be.

I tried listening harder but all that happened was a few salty teardrops fell down my face.

My eyes widening in surprise, I realised something.

That wasn't me crying.

I lifted my right hand to my face to feel my sodden cheeks. It was definitely tears wet but no water was leaking out of my eyelids.

As I brushed the corners of my eyes, a blinding light came from behind me.

"WHAT THE BULLPOOPIE?" I screeched in my normal voice.

"Your non-cussing ceases to amaze me." Aphrodite laughed quietly into the deafening darkness.

"Aphrodite! What are you doing here?" I asked, shocked.

"I was hoping you had an answer to that." Aphrodite responded sounding like she didn't have a care in the world.

"How would I know?" I asked her, confused, "Also, how can you not be panicking about all of this?"

"Well, pretty easily, it is just a dream after all." I froze after hearing the word dream.

"A dream?" I asked hopefully, "So Kalona coming back and Heath and Stevie Rae dying, it's all a dream? So when I wake up, Stevie Rae will walk with me to the dining hall and I'll have my bowl of Count Chocula and then when I go to Vamp Sociology, Neferet won't be evil and then I'll go to drama and Prof. Nolan won't be dead and...and..." I babbled on even though I knew the whole concept was ridiculous, it soothed me all the same

"Zoey? Shut up! I need to tell you something." Aphrodite interrupted me quickly before I could get another word in.

"Urm, okay...?" I waited impatiently.

"The thing is, your soul disappeared from your body when Heath died, so your tattoo's disappeared because, you know, they are tattooed into your soul and now everyone thinks you are dead. So you better wake up and let everyone know that you're going to be okay now!"

And then, just like Aphrodite had ordered my soul into my body by force, I woke up in the place where Heath had died.

"Stark...?"

My warrior; where was my warrior?

I opened my eyes, searching for my Stark.

And there he was.

My brave, beautiful warrior towering above me with so much adoration in his eyes that he seemed unreal. I knew that as long as I had Stark, I would be okay. I finally felt at piece.

"Z-z-zoey?" His voice was like honey despite the pain which could be heard in it.

I'll come back for you.

I smiled peacefully and my eyes fluttered closed.

"Wait for me."


A/N: I am honestly sorry. I know that I said I would make longer chapters but I seriously don't know how to make them longer without ruining them. I said to myself that I would try to make all of my chapters, with the exception of my prologue, 1,200 or more each so I'm purposely making a long author's note here so I can fulfill my promise even though it's kinda cheating. After I've gone through the Zoey waking up and her and Stark sorting everything out phase, I will probably keep my chapters the same except for a little beta-ing here and there. I hope you are enjoying the changes because I heart you guys!


Favourite line? /lydia xox