His Heartbeat Came Six Years Too Late

After the accident, my hearing turned strange. Sharp.

Sharp enough that I could hear, in the smallest difference between two heartbeats, whether a couple was truly in love.

The day my best friend beat her cancer, her boyfriend wept and dropped to one knee to propose.

I heard it then—the subtle stutter in his heartbeat.

The day my sister-in-law's plane nearly went down, my brother broke down sobbing at the airport, half out of his mind with relief.

I heard that too—the faint shift in the rhythm of his heart.

I always believed Toby Barnes would be like them.