Chapter 8: Two Halves

Cherie's Journal  

They say the longing for our perfect mate is a need ingrained in our DNA. Plato, in his chats on love, wrote of a time when there was a third sex, which was the union of male and female in one body. Others have called this twin energy, or twin flames, two people in separate bodies that once shared the same soul.

Supposedly, we spend much of our time on earth trying to reunite with this soul in order to again become our full selves.

Chapter 7: Past Life Regression, Normandy

Normandy, 1183

Cherise Montegue enters the giant hall. Towards the center there is an immense hearth with a lit fire that is big enough for her to walk into. It's arched, made from stone, and like the manor house she calls home, it's very old and performs its function well, in this case to provide heat and the means for cooking meals for the manor's occupants.

Chapter 6: 11:11

Cherie's Journal. Jan. 16, 2009  12:00 am

Victor is in jail. He is waiting for an arraignment, at which time he may be released with a restraining order.  Perhaps that would be the best

Chapter 5: The Englishman

Cherie's Journal. Feb. 28, 2008

We spend countless days on his floorborn mattress, days which turn into weeks. I am shaken from the changes that were occurring in my existence, and had barely begun to process it by the time Victor

Chapter 4: 911

Cherie's Journal. Jan. 15, 2009  12:00 am

He has been arrested for beating me. I wait in the patrol car  as they lead him away in handcuffs from the front door of our love nest. His dark eyes are defeated underneath his bowed head and he looks miserable. My palpitating heart wrestles with my spirits as our once unquenchable dreams dissolve. The experience causes me to feel distant from Victor, and not an "open book" united in eternal love.  Instead,

Chapter 3: Past Life Regression, Etruscan

Etruria,  529 B.C.

     I think I have always loved him. His lofty figure is finely muscled, and his dark hair undulates in alarmingly captivating waves. I see other women looking at him with faint indulgence, but he doesn't return their glances and instead looks solely at me.

Chapter 2: Craigslist

Cherie's Journal. Jan. 14, 2009, cont.   

I think back on how things transpired, and realize, it isn't a question of whether it was right or wrong.  It just was.

Chapter 1: Abuse

One Year Prior

Cherie's Journal,  Jan. 14, 2009     

Seated in the seedy police headquarters of NYs Finest, the policewoman named Maria lifts the lower portion of my shirt order to inspect my bruised back, and I think, this must be how it feels to be part of the groups of humanity feel felt side-lined, or non-human. Side-lined enough in order to