Heart Beats

Written by Mark Koning

I am going to tell you of an unknown little story; about two kids who grew up together, side by side, to become one of the worlds most romantic, yet subtle, duo's ever to have grazed our earth. Some might say they even over shadow the romance of Romeo and Juliet and Captain Smith and Pocahontas. For this love was a pure form of beauty, decency, admiration, attraction, lust, and fondness of the heart.

Vincent and Isabelle, they had known each other for a lifetime, since childhood. But more then that, they were soul mates. They knew of one another's thoughts, feelings and emotions; sometimes even before the other acted out. It has been said that they knew each other, and were connected to one another, through many lifetimes. But whatever the story, whatever the scenario, this present setting was based on pure, true, undeniable, love.

A love so passionate that it could start a fire! Only to be put out by the sheer joy of ecstasy. It can not be said enough of how these two lovers shared and felt each others bliss, happiness, pain and sorrow. The two were inseparable, always by one another's side.

Eventually through time, their love led them down the path to one of the most holy unions, marriage. And on from there, to a child. A beautiful baby girl in which they named, Selena.

Vincent and Isabelle were overjoyed; Selena was not only beautiful, but as healthily as one could hope. At least they thought so much at first. But an unforeseen and unprecedented problem arose. The problem was not a harmful one, or so the doctors told Vincent and Isabelle, but more of a strange one. An out of this world one! Selena, it seemed, had four hearts.

This may have seemed totally ridiculous, no one could believe it as they spoke, but never the less, it was true. Over the next while the doctors paid close attention to Selena; anticipating complications. But seeing as how nothing for the worse seemed to happen, she was given to Vincent and Isabelle to take home.

Selena's childhood growing up was perfectly fine; she seemed and acted like most children. With the exception of her heart condition and all of the doctors in and out of her life, poking and prodding and observing, the girl carried on as normal as she could. At first, the condition of her hearts was kept from her, but through time, as she became old enough to understand, (if one could come to an understanding) she was told. It was a very difficult thing for her to grasp, and she at first lashed out! She became recluse. But Selena eventually came to terms with her uncanny reality, she had no choice.

Her life remained, for the better part anyway, still fairly normal. After long discussions with her parents, they all concluded that they would do their best to do that. Selena, with her cheerful persona, made many friends, and she was very smart in school. However, she was a very emotional little girl who suffered from her heart being overly sensitive and therefore easily breakable. And it became more of a burden as she grew older.

Friends became distant, afraid of the emotions they did not understand. Boys were especially a problem; they couldn't make her feel anything special. After all, it was four hearts that needed to be filled. And when the secret condition became rumor, people started to treat Selena as a freak!

But she wasn't a freak; she was a girl just like any other, only with a slight difference. This of course led to many arguments with her parents. I mean, this condition wasn't the girls fault. Selena though loved her parents, with all of her hearts, and the arguments quickly dwindled.

Some people said that Selena's condition was because of her parents loving one another so much; but that was only what they said.

The only one man to remain true to Selena through the years, besides Vincent of course was a doctor who attended to her medical needs. The slightly older man, of around fifteen years, one day proposed to the girl after getting the blessings of Vincent and Isabelle. Knowing though that this very sweet and charming man was proposing mainly out of sympathy towards her condition in life and loneliness, Selena politely turned him down. She yearned for love, but this wasn't the way. Vincent and Isabelle, and even the doctor, understood.

Only a few days later did something miraculous happen!

One of Selena's nearest and dearest of friends, Diana, invited her on a double date out to dinner. Diana was a very understanding person, and always stood by Selena's side, never ridiculing, never teasing, and never being mean. Diana was going out with her own boyfriend and a close acquaintance and insisted on Selena making it a foursome. She knew things were hard for the girl in the department of men, but she convinced Selena to give it one more try.

The date, Charles, turned out to be a really lovely gentleman to Selena. He was nice, very charming, romantic, and good looking. However, no matter what he said or did made not much of a difference. Selena, at the age of eighteen, was hopeless in mind to ever find true happiness with a mate. No matter how thoughtful he was toward her, it did nothing to make the girl feel anything different in anyway. She saw Charles for what he was, a nice man who could only be a friend. Even though he seemed interested in the girl, and tried his best to make that clear, she thwarted any attempts at a relationship.

Through the course of the evening, Selena began to feel a strange sensation. She wasn't exactly feeling sick, it was unexplainable, not good, and soon she began to cry. The evening had been going fairly well up to this point, and the girl was embarrassed for the scene; she got up and ran out of the room. Diana was about to follow when Charles engaged and instead followed Selena into the front hall himself. Selena came to a stop in the lobby, and sensing Charles behind her turned to face him. With tears swelled up in her eyes, she begged for him to leave, but he would not.

She began to feel a burning sensation inside of her, tingling all over and starting to tremble. It was something Selena had never felt, and she was scared. Charles sensed her unease and wanted to reach out and comfort the unbelievably beautiful Angel in front of him, but she kept him away and slowly backed herself into a corner. As the feeling became more intense, so did the flow of tears. For the first time ever, she could feel all four hearts inside of her, pounding, and she could swear upon hearing them. She was kneeling on the floor, hunched over, clutching her chest.

Charles finally got close enough to reach and touch her shoulder, and when she didn't flinch away, he moved in closer. She felt his warm touch; she enjoyed it, maybe too much, because it intensified all other feelings inside of her at that moment. But she gave in; she did not instinctively pull away.

Calmness overcame her when she looked up into his eyes. Her trembling subdued as she dried her tears. He smiled as he knelt to her, taking hold of her in his arms.

All was silent then, except for one sound, a sound that filled Selena with joy. A most wondrous sound. The sound of eight hearts beating.

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