Novel & Cerita In The Burning Heart

Just a few lines. *I was the flame you all feared. I was the ember no one claimed. But I chose to burn anyway. *And beneath that, scrawled in a child’s messy hand: “We’re still burning. For you.”

The storm raging outside the door boomed, but the hurricane in my own heart, love burning and smoldering with flame, seared all the more. The settling wrapped the back of silence. I was perched on the cot of the safe room, muscles tensed, heart beating like a series of drums to burst. Behind doors beyond, the tempest raged on, rain pattering on the windows to make a din of sound. And yet in the sound was a strand of hope—a promise, our love, our unbroken bond.

“It’s too big… you can’t… you’ll both be swallowed whole.” Maybe she was right. Maybe this was the end the forest had always promised me. But I refused to bow. Not with Kieran in my arms, not with the ember burning hotter than ever. I raised him higher against my chest, bracing us both against the tilting stone, and screamed into the roar, into the voice clawing at my skull. “Then we’ll burn the heart itself!” For a breath, everything froze. The roots hesitated mid-lash. The pulsing beneath the ridge faltered, staggered as if the Root-Heart hadn’t expected defiance, hadn’t believed fire would dare come for it.

At the company’s annual dinner party, the front desk receptionist, Laila Nachtman, lost a game and had to randomly select a man to kiss as her penalty. She blushed and cautiously looked at Leonard Griffin. “Mr. Griffin, could you maybe—” Before she could finish, Leonard briefly said, “Scram.” The entire room erupted in laughter and mockery at her being so ridiculously oblivious. Everyone in their circle knew that he doted on me, his wife. Over the years, he had never given a second glance to anyone except me. His phone password had always been my birthday, and he reported his itinerary to me every time he traveled for work. He even kept a video call with me running while showe

said Eva with tears in her eyes. I felt my heart break as she left. She was supposed to call her mom to pick her up and she didn't call her, she was just walking as if her heart had been cut out. It started to rain and the street to get out of my housing development was long. From the door I could see her farther and farther away and I felt less and less like walking.

"This can’t be true. What the hell would I do without her?" I grabbed the glass of whiskey I had poured earlier, my hands trembling as I took a long, steady drink. The burning sensation spread through my chest, but it didn’t numb the ache in my heart. I could barely think straight, my head spinning, the tears threatening to fall. But I fought them back, not wanting to lose control.

However, she felt furious about receiving my heart. 'If I knew it was her heart, I would've hidden it from Joseph no matter what. Now that he knows the heart came from that tramp, he'll definitely feel deep guilt for her. Damn it! Even in death, she can't die far away. She still has to make me feel disgusted!' she thought angrily. Yvette had an idea. Suddenly, she burst into tears. "How could you be so foolish, Wendy?! I would rather die than accept this heart if I had known you died for me!" she exclaimed.

“I am right here in front of your eyes. No one did anything to me.” My heart is still thrashing in my chest. I press my ear against his chest. Fear returns to me in full swing as I cannot hear his heartbeat! I grab his shoulders like a madman. They are cold - like the dead. I tear away from the hug. My face contorts with horror. “Lorcan…your heart. It's not beating.” I wheeze. “Your body’s cold.” The memories of my dreams flash right in front of my eyes. “No, no…This can’t be. You-”

For a heartbeat, no one moves. The words hang in the air like smoke—thick, suffocating, heavy with unspoken possibilities. Which mother? As if the answer could be anything but the one who raised me, the one who vanished from my life in twisted metal and staged flames. “Tick tock,” Dupont murmurs, his voice smooth, almost amused. “The police won’t wait forever. And neither will she.”

My heart skipped a beat, my tears moist right then. I dropped to a crouch and held him, pressing my ear against his chest again. I could hear his heartbeat, thumping powerfully through his thin shirt. It was such a familiar sensation. It was Stan's heartbeat. As I closed my eyes, my tears flowed ever so quietly. We stayed like that for a while, and as I wiped my tears, I held Nathan firmly in my arms once more. "Please live a good life with Stan's heart." - Nathan walked with me to the gates of the orphanage, but I never once turned to look at him again.