Closer Heartbeat Novels & Stories

I whisper, my voice thick with tears. “I know.” His words are soft, tinged regret and pain. Heavy silence stretches between us, but for the first time, I don’t mind it. I listen to the steady thrum of his heartbeat beneath my ear, letting it ground me, anchor me in the present. The music changes, James Arthur’s Last of the Whiskey filling the room. The slow, sultry beat wraps around us, and I find myself wishing I could sway to the melody, to lose myself in the haze of smoke.

“For nothing.” Distant footsteps interrupt our conversation. My heart starts hammering in my chest as I turn to look at the closed door. A pair of those approaching feet belong to my father. In just a matter of seconds, that door will open and I'll meet face to face with him again, after many months. I'm clenching and unclenching my fist by my side as I stare intensely at the door. My heart is beating in my throat and I hear the sound of my heartbeat resonating in my ears. The breath I'm blowing out through my nostrils is so hot, it will burn anything it touches.

She turns to me smiling. "Everything is okay Mr Hale. Apart from the bruises on her face, she is fine." I am too shocked to respond. I guess I haven't gotten used to the idea of being a father. Aella is equally quiet, she has refused to look at me since I came in. "Let me show you something." Aella and I look at the monitor of the machine immediately. I am too stunned to speak, too overwhelmed to breathe. I let go of Aella's hands, moving closer to the screen. It is my child's heartbeat, and it is perfect.

She then brought her face closer to his when she didn't hear the answer. Her eyes suddenly opened wide with her heart beating rapidly as he opened his eyes, slipping his hand behind her neck kissing her on the lips.

The healers cluster behind her, their whispers a nervous hum. "What is it?" My voice is rough from too little sleep, too much coffee, too many hours of watching and waiting. Morwen doesn't look at me. "The heartbeat. It's changed." My blood turns to ice. Changed how? Stronger? Weaker? I push closer, needing to see, needing to know. The display shows the familiar pattern, the slow, drugged rhythm that's been our uneasy reality for days. But as I watch, the line shifts. The peaks rise slightly. The valleys shorten. The heartbeat is strengthening. Not to normal, not to healthy, but moving in that direction.

It's awful, the stiff body, the mind and the mixed feelings of fear and relief. I want to tell that to Bash. I want to tell him that I am fine. But I can't hear my own voice for my heartbeat is drumming loudly in my ears. As though he sensed it, he closed my ears while he pulled me a little closer to him. I could sense his own rapid beat now, which was erratic just like mine, fast and hard.

Nearly five seconds, her eyes flew open to the sound of Anthony’s heartbeat. Her expression flipped quizzically as she listened to his heartbeat. A normal heart rate for someone who just ran a distance might be from 171 to 200 bpm, but his was far beyond 200. Fast, booming in her ears. All the same, he seemed relaxed — showing no sign of disturbance.

And it made me wonder… I braced myself and shut my eyes again, trying to shift. I remembered how it went, that feeling of pulling something from deep within you out. I focused on my heartbeat again, and after a moment, the echo of a second, even louder beat pounded in my chest. Eventually, it began to feel like two drums playing together. I let the slower, quieter beat of my heart blend into the background of my mind and focused on the louder one for a long moment, trying to invoke the sensations from the last time I shifted.

he yelled from behind me as I went up the stairs. I entered my room, closed the door shut immediately, and sighed heavily. My heart was beating so fast that I couldn't even recognise if I was still me. Why does my heartbeat keep increasing anytime I am in a tense or silent situation with Adrian? This is certainly not love. But then, what is it?

Like I’m hearing it from somewhere far away. All I see is her. Her face. The way her lips move. The slight crease between her brows. My heart starts to pound. Slow at first. Then faster. Then Louder. This isn’t normal. No… this can’t be. I clench my fist, trying to steady myself, but it only makes it worse. The sound of my heartbeat fills my ears. “Sir Rayner? Can you hear me?” I snap out of it instantly and nod, forcing myself back.