I spent the next long stretch of time, quietly staring at my delusion, while she stared, also silent at me. I had not given myself enough credit for how creative my brain could be under stress. During the most stressful, and painfully devastating moment of my life, my brain had brought to life a supernatural creature that happened to latch on to my body? This creature providing me enough distraction to possibly help me calmly regroup and get control of my life and surroundings. It seemed unfathomably coincidental, and therefore, totally improbable and I was clearly going insane.

She looked real. She was not strangely beautiful like the Cullens, but was pleasant to look at. She had a strong jaw and cheekbones, she was very round-faced. Had I bumped into her on the street, I would have thought she had come from Jacob's reservation. There were imperfections though. Her lips were ever so slightly too wide for her face, and one of her eyebrows held a small scar. Her face appeared lined in some places, as if she were old, but also quite youthful. She seemed motherly, while also childish. Her apparel, rather unoriginal on my brain's front, was exactly mine, even down to the muddy shoes, and slightly scuffed jeans. It was like looking into a pane of glass, a clear reflection, though hazy and see through, and warped in the sense that it was not my face staring out of my own clothes. She was the same height as me, but her build was different, more muscular I suspected. The increase in rain interrupted my thoughts.

"It's getting wetter." She pointed out, obviously.

"It's raining." I responded. She narrowed her eyes at me.

"I was just trying to make conversation."

"I shouldn't talk to delusions. Or hallucinations, or whatever you count as." I said. She frowned, seeming concerned.

"So you don't believe I'm real?"

"Put yourself in my shoes. I'm lost, I'm stressed..."

"Stressed enough to go through a complete mental breakdown?" She asked, crossing her arms.

"Yeah." I nodded. I definitely was.

"Fine. You don't believe me, but you might as well enjoy the company while I'm here." She shrugged. "Who else is there to talk to?"

The lady had a point. She seemed to sense my acquiescence, as she continued talking.

"So where are we? What town are we close to?" She asked.

"Forks." Upon retrieving a blank stare, I explained our location in relation to Tacoma, Port Angeles, and La Push.

"La Push? Quileute territory?" She asked, smiling. "Haven't been there in a while. It also explains why I stumbled onto you. I was over at Clallam Bay. It's north of here. About a half hour drive. I haven't hopped into a host that close in a long time."

"What do you mean?"

"My last host, when I found her body, was in Seattle. Previously I had been in good old Canada, just south of Vancouver. The spirit realm has strange distances, and what felt like a few minutes was actually hours of travel. This jump felt short, but I had assumed it was just perception again. In reality, I literally didn't go far to find you."

"So you aren't in the spirit realm now?" I asked. "You look very spirit-y." I said, dumbly.

"I'm, I guess..." She paused, looking for the right words. "A ghost dog, on a leash that's embedded into your body. You and I can switch places..." She took a breath, closed her eyes, and I had the dizzying and disruptive sensation of movement. Suddenly I was sitting, facing my body, and could hear a lot more of the forest around me.

"But then you're equally as tethered to me. I'm guessing that with practice I could hone my skills and go further, but for now..." My body paused again, and I was dizzily dropped into myself.

"Can you stop doing that?" I asked. "It hurts. And it isn't making me feel less crazy." My temples were swimming.

"Sorry." She said, looking anything but. "I promise not to kick you out of your own body. At least for now. I might need it later."

Something told me she wasn't kidding.

...

A few hours went by, with me being silent again, thinking. It certainly felt real. Did hallucinations usually take this kind of tone? Did they usually argue with their bearer? It was dark, and yet I could still see her, as if she came with her own illumination.

"Alright, hang on a moment." She said, and suddenly she climbed the tree. It made no noise, and no leaves were mussed on her way up. She dropped back down moments later. "there is light coming from that direction." She pointed to my left. "Do you mind if I leave you here, and run that way for a while? See if I can find town? If so, I'll be back and take us both there. I'd rather you stayed in one spot until someone finds us."

"I've got nothing else to do." I said. She smiled, and ran off. It may have been my imagination, but as soon as she had left my sight, I began to get cold.

I sat, now completely in the dark. As I continued to get rained on, I got colder, and pushed myself into a ball, against the tree beside me. Alice would probably find me, if I were going to die, right? She'd spent all that time saving my life, it seemed silly to let it freeze to death in a forest. I closed my eyes while I waited, cold, and tired, straining to hear anything I could, except the static pops of the rain around me. I didn't realize I had fallen asleep, until a warm breath of stinky air slammed me in the face. My eyes flickered open. Something insanely large, and furry was in my face. It snorted at me, and I blinked back, unmoving, aside from the shivers that involuntarily racked my form. I was freezing. I closed my eyes again.

I could finally answer a question I'd never asked myself... was it better to freeze, or to be eaten to death? Eaten would be less cold. As suddenly as my eyes closed, the warmth was gone, and I began to wonder if I'd imagined it. If I opened my eyes again, would the spirit lady be there? Would the wolf thing be there? Where was Alice?

Suddenly a searing hot hand touched my face. I jerked awake. I found myself looking into a dark shadow, with darker eyes.

"Bella? It's me, Sam Uley." He said in a loud booming voice. "Can you hear me?"

I nodded. I tried to open my mouth to speak, but my jaw was stuck.

"Can you stand?" he asked. I tensed my legs, but couldn't quite get them to work. He pulled up, and I managed to get into a shaky standing position.

"Would you mind if I carried you back? I know where we are, and can see quite well in the dark."

Normal me would have tensed immediately. Frozen me couldn't seem to answer him yet.

"Are you strong enough for a piggyback ride?"

I nodded, and he helped me climb onto his back. It wasn't until I tried to grab for a shirt to hold that I realised he wasn't wearing one. I dug my nails into my own sleeve instead, wrapping my fingers into the fabric as best I could. He had a tight grip on my thighs before he started to walk. He was so warm to be pressed against that I stopped shivering along the journey. I began idly wondering where the spirit lady was, and how she'd find me if now that I had left the tree.

"I won't be able to hear your response." I murmured. "But thank you, and I'm sorry."

I closed my eyes again for a little, and focused on being jostled around. I should be panicking. If I had been normal, I would have been panicking. But maybe my body was too far gone, my brain too far stretched for the day, to worry about being in control of my own momentum. Maybe my brain had finally had enough, for real. Soon, a blurring confusing amount of noise was around me. I jarred open my eyes, and found my eyes stung by a flashlight. I couldn't really hear what they were saying, and didn't really register anything until a gruff, and familiar sound and smell intruded.

"Dad?" I opened my eyes. He looked absolutely ill in the bright lights of what seemed to be a car, and a house. My house.

"Bella!" he yelled at me.

"I'm okay." I said. "Nothing to worry about. I just got lost." I didn't hear what he said in response. All I knew was that it suddenly got a lot brighter, as Sam moved us indoors, and he unhitched my arms from his neck. My fingers were painful to unwrap from the effort of holding on, and they physically required prying. Sam undid my grasp as if I were a baby. He carefully, with the help of Charlie, moved me to the couch, where a blanket was wrapped around me instantly. Billy Black was there, as was Doctor Snow. Where was Carlisle?

I answered basic questions, when they were directed at me. Charlie did his best to sign things to me. All secrecy was clearly out of the window.

"I went for a walk in the woods. I think I tripped up at some point, and got turned around. Then I panicked I guess. Especially when I couldn't find my phone. I thought I was heading back, but I wasn't sure, so I stopped. I wanted to wait until I could see light from the towns to head towards."

It seemed weak, but that was all I had. Alice would have come up with something better.

Where was Alice?