Second Heartbeat Novels & Stories

So | stalked out of the kitchen before he could say anything else. There was a staircase leading up so | climbed up to the second floor. It was less crowded, yes, but the ground vibrated from the music and drunk girls and guys spilled out of the bathrooms halfway falling down. | spotted a room down the hall and knocked to see if anyone was in there, though | doubted they could hear me through the loud music currently making my ears bleed. Twisting the knob, | opened the door and shut it quickly behind me and locking it. But when | turned around in the dim lighting, | was shocked to see two people in the bed.

All the men immediately closed their eyes and the girls ran to her. “What? What? Twins!!!” all shouted excitedly. “Looks like it. I will try again after two more weeks. It will be clear then. There it is,” Sameeksha smiled. “There what is?” asked Renata and Michelangelo together. “The heartbeat!” said Sameeksha and pin-drop silence followed. The men opened their eyes and stared at the monitor. The girls too were focused on the monitor. Two faint heartbeats beating one after the other were the only sounds all could hear.

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.

he says, pointing again. “How do you know that?” I ask, remembering that he showed Victor as well. He just shrugs and smiles at me. I move the stethoscope to where he indicated and… My eyes go wide and snap to Victor’s as…I hear it. At first it sounds like one heartbeat, moving very quick, but then…the rhythm changes, like listening to two drums at once – sometimes the beats mixing, sometimes distinct. “Oh…oh my god…” I murmur, starting to cry again.

The doctor said as he continued typing, the scanner moving around and the shadows moving around too. "What?" I head lifting clear of the pillow and my stomach tensing to raise my torso without using my arms. The doctor gently pushed me back onto my back. "It's sporadic for this to happen, did you had intercourse the day before I had intersection you." He questions me. I nodded my head, guilty. "Well, that's explained."He chuckles and clicked twice with the mouse, and the heartbeat came upon the speaker. "...this." It was heartbeats. There were two heartbeats.

Seventy-two beats a minute, which I know because Laurel told me, because I've started counting and because of this small device I’ve around my wrist that monitors how well my pulse is. Counting the beats the way I used to count the clicks of the mechanical heart has now become a habit, except these beats are warm and alive and sometimes they speed up or slow down for reasons I can't explain or when I see something nice or beautiful, like the heart has opinions I haven't learned to translate yet. At midnight, I hear heavy and deliberate footsteps, paced like someone counting. Back and forth down the hallway outside my door. It’s not rushed or aimless. It’s measured, like a human metronome in

“Last time you hit 140 you spotted. Dr. Hewitt said—” “Dr. Hewitt said it’s normal,” I said. Sat up. “She said twins make your heart work harder. She said walking to the bathroom isn’t a medical emergency.” He didn’t answer. He was looking at the monitor in the nursery. Alex. 98 BPM. Sleeping. Then at mine. 112 BPM. Awake. Annoyed. Then at his phone. His own. 167 BPM. “You’re going to give yourself a heart attack,” I said.

I don't think I'd ever get the opportunity to have him this close to me if he ever found out what I was up to. "You look pretty, Skylar," For the first time in weeks, he said my name, and it hit a spot it shouldn't have. I felt my heartbeat pick up an unusually fast pace as we stared into each other's eyes. Why was my heart beating this way? These were dangerous heartbeats. I shouldn't be loving Alfredo Miller again, but here I was, totally smitten by him. I forced myself to believe that I didn't love him because I was mad at him, but the truth was I never stopped loving him. All those years, it was there somewhere hidden in my heart, waiting for the right time to sprout again.

I could hear my own heart. “Okay,” I whispered. The girl beside me glanced over. I pretended to write something. Completely normal. People could hear their own heartbeat. Sometimes. Probably. I was not going to panic. Then another rhythm appeared. Slower than mine. Thump. Thump. Thump. And another. Faster. Thump-thump. Thump-thump.

“We’ll be listening to the babies’ heartbeats today.” Solo nodded, reclining as the trainee prepared the Doppler. The steady thump of the first heartbeat filled the room, bringing a smile to Solo’s face. “That’s Baby A,” the trainee announced before shifting the device. The second heartbeat soon followed, strong and rhythmic. “And that’s Baby B.” But then the trainee froze. Her brow furrowed as she repositioned the Doppler. A faint, almost imperceptible third rhythm joined the other two. She leaned closer, adjusting the settings.