All Chapters of A Second Bite At The Cherry: Chapter 1 - Chapter 6

ONE PENELOPE "When exactly are you going to give birth to a child, Penelope?" My chest tightened. I turned away from the stove to take a look at my husband, Duke. He pushed his breakfast plate away from him with disgust on his face. “Didn't you hear me?” He demanded after a soft tsk sound. I said nothing. Only watching him. He had that look on his face. The one where his eyes were somewhere far away instead of right there. One that had nothing to do with me. I took a deep breath. "Duke, I thought we have been through this already?" I asked quietly. He leaned back in his chair. "Have we?" He asked. I watched as he curled his brows. "Haven't we?" I inquired. "You tell me Penelope," he added. His arms folded across his chest. I swallowed in preparation for exactly what I knew would follow next. "Nothing has changed, Penelope. It's been two years—two years and still nothing." I set down the spatula. "I am trying, Duke," I started to say in a shaky voice. "You know

THREE PENELOPE It was almost eight o'clock by the clock on the dashboard when I finally lifted my head.I realized that I had been sitting in my car in that parking lot for several hours. My eyes were dry now because there was nothing left in them to shed. I started the car without knowing where I was going and I just drove out.I stopped at a small pharmacy on the edge of town to pick up the prescription I had been ignoring for about a week now. Any distraction would be welcome now for me before I drowned in sorrow.I was inside for maybe ten minutes. Somehow, I dragged around dreading going back home to see Duke sitting there.When I came back out, the parking lot was darker than I had remembered.Two of the overhead lights had gone out while I had been picking my prescription.Also, for some reason, it was odd that there were no other cars near mine anymore.But I was too caught up in my own world to pay attention to my gut feeling.Too drained to make sense of everything tha

FIVE PENELOPE One moment I was plummeting straight into the horrid darkness below. The next moment I was being pulled up by an invisible force towards a bright light. I gasped as I came to life, sitting afore my makeup table in a pearly white robe. My heart was beating loudly with force as if it wanted to escape from my chest. I pressed my hand down on it to keep it steady and in place as my brain lagged. Quite a while passed as I stayed still trying to understand what happened to me. My breathing was ragged as I stared at my own horrified face in the mirror. No bullet wounds on my forehead where the gun had delivered it from before. Shock widened my eyes. My hand reached up to grasp at the spot more in disbelief than concern. How on earth was I here, back at my home from the warehouse, afore the mirror? What was this? Astral travels? What happened to the gun shot to my head? I had clearly felt it then. The bullet had shaken my entire body and my eyes had closed in fina