Zalfie Story Book

Burn (Impact Followup)

Inky night gives way to dim sky,

Zoe zipped up her last suitcase before shoving a couple pounds of makeup in her carry on and tossing it all to the front door. She was oddly excited for the trip that was quickly approaching, she'd barely slept a wink in anticipation. The thought of being back in america with everyone from Clarke made her jittery, she couldn't fathom why. This wasn't a high school reunion or anything of that nature. She still couldn't help her excitement, she'd get to see Connor and hug him until his arms broke off and Jim it almost distracted her from the real reason she was going to america...almost. With slightly lower spirits she snuck one of her old yearbooks in her bag, it was a tight fit but she compromised on two bottles of hairspray for it. Her idea was to pack light, for the week she'd be there but that would hardly be enough time to see everyone, mourn and shop so she added an extra three weeks or four depending on how long each stage of the visit took and on how long she could share a room with Joe and not strangle him.

Right on cue Joe came puffing down the steps with a duffel bag that weighed more than him,"Give me a hand would you." He breathed, his face turning red.

Zoe took another end of the bag easing it down to the landing. "Don't you look chiper." She said sarcastically as they started down the next set of stairs.

"Why would I be happy to go to a funeral?"

"It's not a funeral."

"Whatever." Joe mumbled.

Zoe would rather focus on the happy parts first and deal with all the sad stuff later. Until then she decided to cut Joe some slack, he'd just killed his third goldfish within the week, death was heavy on his mind. "What if you meet a pretty girl?"

"I just started my apprenticeship, I don't have time for girls."

That was another thing to tack on the list, find Joe a girlfriend. They dropped the bag at the door right along with Zoe's. Joe wiped sweat off his forehead then marched back up the stairs. Zoe couldn't possibly understand why if that bag was so heavy did he need another? The door bell rang filling the room with a ding-dong type of sound. Through the wire mesh screen Zoe saw Bethan smiling wide. Zoe waved her in happy to see not everyone was gloomy.

"Zozeeboo!" She screamed enveloping her in a hug.

Bethan and Zoe up until last year had almost been complete strangers after that day in september they'd began to bond and so far they were only getting closer.

Joe groaned as he stumbled down the staircase with yet another two hundred pound bag. "Now there's two of you?" Zoe couldn't tell if the grumble was from the bag or for the fact that he'd be spending three hours in a car with her ×2.

"You guys need any help?" Bethan asked shouldering Zoe's carry on.

"Yes." Joe and Zoe said in unison.

"Luke!" Bethan called out to the car, she held up a finger when she noticed the expression on Zoe's face.

Luke came trotting up the walk in a stripped green shirt, he waved at Zoe then Joe rolling out one of Zoe's bright pink suitcases. As soon as he was out of earshot...

"Luke?!" Zoe asked her eyes widening.

"I know what you're thinking-" Bethan said placing cautionary hands on each of Zoe's shoulders.

"Oh you do?"

Joe, seeing he wasn't going to get any work out of them rolled out the rest of Zoe's suitcases and kicked out one of the duffel bags. "Girls." He mumbled.

"...he needed a ride to the airport that's all, I swear. I sat in the back seat and we didn't even talk about old stuff."

"So you guys are completely done?"