Romans & histoires Distant Heart Sounds

He needed to be close to her, to let her know that he was there for her. The ICU was quiet, except for the sound of beeping machines and the soft hum of the ventilator.

I wanted to run my tongue across his six pack but I shook my head coming back to reality. I noticed the sliver band wrapped around his ring finger, he's married. I gently placed my stethoscope on the diaphragm on the left of his chest, I listened carefully. A slow beat was sounded but it was hardly anything, I tried moving it to his back. It was a bit louder but still very hollow, he stared straight at the wall in front of us. "Damaged heart, I know." He whispered sarcastically.

The way he gripped Damian, dragging him forward with a force that made the room react, gasps breaking out, tension snapping tight around us all. But I didn’t hear them. I didn’t hear anything. Not the voices. Not the movement. Not even the sound that followed. Because the only thing I could hear was the hard thud of my heart against my ribs. It was so loud, every other thing in the room felt like nothing compared to how I felt. A sharp sound tore from somewhere in the room, but it felt distant, muffled, like it didn’t belong to me, like none of this did. My heart was beating too fast now, too loud, each pulse crashing against my ribs as if trying to break free.

So I’m not dead after all. Then footsteps. It echoed like it was coming from miles away and each distant sound of it as it hit the closed in put fear in my heart. My heart! I could finally feel it and it was beating hard against my chest. I was starting to feel. Even if every other part of me still feels numb. The footsteps twinned. Another person? Why do they sound so far? The footsteps sounded like they were being carried by the tides of waves and winds right into my ear.

The clock on the bedside table glowed 12:17 AM. The house was swallowed in silence, save for the distant hum of streetlights flickering outside. Then, the front door clicked, the softest sound, yet it sliced through the stillness and made my heart race. I sat up in bed, the cool sheets tangled around me.

] [WARNING: DISTANCE FROM TARGET ALLY EXCEEDED 25 METERS. [PROXIMITY SYNC FAULT INBOUND. PREPARE FOR INSTANCE TERMINATION.] A dull, thumping ache starts right behind my breastbone, a tight pressure that makes it hard to draw in a full breath. My heart rate spikes, the pulse hammering loudly in my ears. It feels real. It feels like an actual physical grip tightening around my lungs. I tilt my head back, staring directly at the cracked plaster ceiling, and let loose a string of profanities I haven’t used since I was stuck in morning traffic in my past life.

“What happened? They said my heart did something weird.” I sat on the edge of the bed and took his hand. It felt small and warm in mine. I squeezed it once, then kept holding on. “Your heart was working too hard because the muscle on one side is thicker than it should be.” I said, keeping my voice calm and simple. "It makes your heart work harder than it needs to. That's why you got dizzy. Why your legs stopped working at the end." He looked at his chest. "Like it's sick?"

I woke to thunder. Not the storm kind that rattles windows and splits skies, but the steady, relentless rumble of Theo's heart beneath my cheek. It crashed against my eardrums like waves breaking on rocks, each beat so distinct I could almost taste the copper and salt of his blood pushing through chambers and valves. His chest rose and fell beneath me, the rush of air through his lungs a windstorm in my ears. I'd never heard anything so beautifully invasive in my life.

And in the space between heartbeats, I thought I heard it: a voice, distant but sharp, threading through the magic. Keys can open both ways.