The Words

Chapter 1

Beep beep beep!

Penny groaned as she looked at the time. 5:15 am. She got out of bed slowly and padded across the hall. She started her morning routine, first taking a scalding hot shower, blow drying and curling her hair, brushing her teeth, and then putting on her makeup. By this time it was 6:15 and time to wake up her daughter for school.

"Charlotte," she whispered, brushing her daughter's hair back, "time to wake up."

"Go away," Charlotte groaned, shoving her little face into the pillow. She was 8 years old, and full of personality.

"Charlotte, you have to get up right now and get ready for school. You didn't take your shower last night, so you need to take it this morning," Penny said, hardening her voice slightly.

Her daughter grunted, and threw the covers off her body. "Fine."

Penny sighed and walked into the small kitchen of the apartment to prepare Charlotte's breakfast. She didn't relax until she heard the bathroom door slam and the water start running.

While Charlotte ate her pancakes, Penny looked around the apartment disdainfully. Penny, her husband, and her daughter had just moved in the past weekend (3 days ago) and were still pretty much living out of cardboard boxes. Penny was a nurse who worked day shift, and her husband was a warehouse worker who worked nights at the local furniture store's distribution center. Because of their schedules, it was hard to find time to unpack.

Her reverie was broken by the sound of the front door opening. She looked up and smiled at her husband. He merely grunted, nodding his head at his family. Her smile faltered, but only slightly. She knew her family dynamic wasn't the best for their daughter, but she couldn't leave Kurt. He had always been good to her, and she felt that Charlotte needed her father around. However, she was starting to see the effect it was having on Charlotte. Her once happy, go lucky little girl was developing an attitude, and preferred to spend her time by herself. Penny wanted desperately to fix what was happening to her family.

"I'm goin' to bed," Kurt grunted, before stumbling to the bedroom and shutting the door. Penny smiled encouragingly at Charlotte.

"Char, what do you say, after school today, you, your dad, and I go to the Cheesecake Factory and get dinner?" Penny asked as she took the finished plate of pancakes to the sink.

"That sounds fun!" Charlotte said, perking up slightly.

By then, it was 7:15 and time to leave to take Charlotte to school, and for Penny to head into the hospital. They walked out of the front door into the hallway. While Penny was locking the door, Charlotte continued to talk to her mother about her school work. As she was talking though, she was also walking backwards. She continued this direction, until she ran straight into the man walking out of apartment 4a.

"Excuse me!" the man sputtered out as his books and briefcase fell to the ground. "Please watch where you are going!"

"I'm so sorry, sir," Charlotte said, tears forming in the corner of her eyes. She hated being embarrassed, and she felt horrible.

"Oh my god, are you okay?" Penny asked, bending down to help the man pick up his things.

"I am fine," he responded stiffly. "You must be the new neighbors."

"Um, yeah. I'm Penny, and this is my daughter Charlotte," Penny said, sticking her hand out.

The man disregarded her hand. "I'm Sheldon. I live in this apartment with my roommate Leonard."

Penny was a little off-put by Sheldon refusing to shake her hand, however, she didn't say anything about it. "Well, it was a pleasure to meet you Sheldon," she said with a small smile. As she started walking down the stairs with Charlotte, Sheldon was right behind them.

"Neither of you are involved in any tap dancing groups, correct?" Sheldon asked out of the blue.

"No..." Penny answered.

"And you don't play any instruments?"

"Char plays the piano, but she has a keyboard with headphones," Penny responded, wondering where this line of questioning was headed.

"Oh, well that's wonderful! You are already leaps and bound ahead of the last neighbor. He had 2 dogs and played the trumpet."

Penny chuckled. "Nope, nothing too exciting. Just me, Char, and my husband Kurt."

Sheldon nodded. "Would you be interested in joining us for dinner tonight? It is the neighborly thing to do, I am told."

"Actually, I promised my daughter we would go out tonight, but maybe later this week?" Penny said.

"Plan for Wednesday," Sheldon said with a smile, as he held the door open for the two girls.

"Alright, well, have a good day..." Penny said, however when she saw him walking toward the bus stop, she felt too bad to let him continue. "Let me give you a ride. Where do you work?"

"Oh that would be wonderful! I work at CalTech. I'm a theoretical physicist at the university."

Penny trudged up the stairs at the end of her 8-hour shift. She worked in the ER, and that day it was slammed. She opened the door and called out to her husband. "Kurt?"

As she walked into the living room, she saw him passed out in front of the TV, beer spilled on the floor beside him.

"Kurt!" she said again, pushing on his shoulder.

"What?!" he yelled, shooting off the couch.

"How many beers have you had?" Penny asked icily, glaring at the man.

"None of your fuckin' business," he slurred at her, throwing the remote down. "Who was that fuckin' bastard you gave a ride to this morning?"

"That was our new neighbor, and he needed a ride to work," Penny replied, immediately regretting her act of kindness to the strange man.

"You know you're not supposed to be talkin' to any other men but me," Kurt said, taking a menacing step towards his wife.

"Oh, you're so full of shit!" Penny yelled, taking a step back. "You're nothing but a dead beat drunk, who only cares about himself!"

At this point, her back was against the bar that divided the living room from the kitchen.

"I may be, but I don't share what's mine," Kurt said simply, staring down at her.

"Well, I may not be yours for long," Penny said. As soon as she said it, though, she regretted it. She didn't even see him swing his fist, she only felt the resulting pain in her face, and tasted the blood on her tongue.

Kurt took a step back, as though he couldn't believe what he had done, but then began to laugh softly.

"You bastard," Penny whispered, before walking out of the apartment, slamming the door behind her.

She ran across the hall to 4a, not quite knowing why, except Sheldon seemed like a nice man. She pounded on the door desperately, silently praying to whoever was listening that someone would answer.

"Penny?" Sheldon's shocked voice was enough to make her break down. "What happened to you?"

"I...I got hit by a patient today," she said, hoping her voice wouldn't betray her.

"Don't lie," Sheldon said quietly. As oblivious as he was to social protocol, he was raised that it was never okay to raise a hand to a woman. And he knew that her husband had done this to her. It was too fresh.

"Please, can I just stay here for a little while? And I need to call my daughter and tell her to stay at her friend's house for the night.

Sheldon nodded, allowing the beautiful blonde woman to take refuge in his living room.

"Thank you," she said, before continuing to cry.