(Disclaimer- i own nothing.)

dhfjdgj! i am so excited with this story. i can't seem to stop writing.
but anyway, here is chapter seventeen! I REALLY hope you like it!
leave me some good reviews, people!

Sanity

I'd managed to find the street where the house should have been. I hoped that I wouldn't have to search the entire road from top to bottom looking for the house, like I had with the other street…the wrong street…the one in Mason. It'd been an hour since Kyle had dropped me off on the main highway, and it felt like it'd been longer. Stupidly, perhaps, I'd taken my time coming here, reveling in the fact that I'd been able to find the Newton's store first. I'd circled it twice, making sure that no one was watching me, trailing my fingers along the walls of the outside. The name wasn't the same, so I wasn't sure that it'd even been the right store, really, but it seemed so familiar to me. I'd made the mistake of letting myself believe again. The hope was back in tact, taking over me.

I hoped it didn't destroy me in the end.

I knew my course well. I'd gone over it in my mind again and again, right from day one, from the day I'd broken free of the hospital. I would go to my home first, then Edward's street. I wouldn't get farther than the beginning of his road, if it existed, so that there wouldn't be any chance of him seeing me. I knew that this was my last chance not to hurt him, and I couldn't let him find me this time. I couldn't let any of them — the Cullens — know of my existence. Only Jacob. I would be here only for Jacob.

Then, of course, his house. I would go to Jacob's house.

I saved his place for last only because it was safer if I did it that way. If I went to the other places first — the less important places like my home or Edward's street — yes, it would be horrible to find nothing there. But finding those things not to exist…it wouldn't be even half as bad as finding nothing where Jacob should have been. If I found out first that he didn't exist, nothing else would matter to me. I'd be broken, crazy. There'd be no hope left. It'd be like every little breath that I'd taken in my entire life had been for nothing other than the inevitable breaking of my heart. But if I was to find, first, instead, that my home and Edward's road didn't exist, at least then I could pretend that only those two things didn't exist, and that Jacob still did. Even if I knew that he didn't, I could pretend. But I wouldn't look for him. I wouldn't do that to myself. I'd just stay locked up in that hell hole of a hospital room, forever in denial of the fact that he didn't exist. Because life was not worth living if Jacob was not alive and breathing. It just wasn't. That was why I couldn't go there first.

I edged toward the slight curve of the road, my heart rocketing quicker and quicker, my breath sputtering out jaggedly at the thought of never finding them. Crossing my fingers, I tried to think positively. I had to focus on the good signs — all of the incredibly coincidental and perhaps partially fabricated signs — that I'd come across. My hope had been fueled just recently by one of those signs of possible sanity. I'd passed a house not so long ago that I recognized. It was a tan house, not too big, not too small, but larger than mine. The grass was green and dotted with flowers around the edges of the walk. The door was a pretty burgundy, the handle shiny gold. It was a pretty home.

It was the home of my old neighbor. It hadn't changed a bit.

My heart pounded in my chest, anticipation clutching me like the hands of a determined attacker. I felt a tingling chill skidding over my skin as the color leaked from it, leaving me bone-white. I could barely control my impatience as I charged onward, tripping slightly as I rounded the curve. I flew down the street, sucking in a deep breath, preparing myself for whatever may come. Then I froze.

There it was.

I couldn't believe it. I couldn't control my breathing. The image in front of my eyes was too wondrous, too rewarding. My core swelled with such a fierce, powerful wave of happiness, of relief, that I nearly fell to my knees in the middle of the street again. Sweet tears rolled down my face, tasting of victory, of near completion. I'd found it. My home. Bella's home. It was here.

I took off in a sprint, aiming for the front door. I could hardly see where I was going beneath all of the water blanketing my eyes, but I somehow managed not to trip. I didn't know if I owned the house or if someone else owned the house, but this was it. This was the house. And I didn't care if I was trespassing. It was mine either way.

I flung myself at the door, my fingers turning the knob a little too aggressively in enthusiasm. The handle spun easily beneath my touch, surprising me by being unlocked, and the door swung open. There was the hallway. Exactly the same as it had been in my dreams, only it wasn't filled with my old photographs. The walls were blank, white, beautiful. I slid my fingertips along the ivory, a small smile on my mouth as I continued into the living room. This room, too, was empty. The brown rug had a red stain, one that I remembered. It'd occurred the day I'd tripped over the rug and thrown my fruit punch all over the floor. So that was it. I wasn't crazy. I was completely, utterly sane.

I was Bella.

My smile widened and I dashed into the kitchen, feeling like I could break down and cry hysterically at any moment for all of the joy that I felt. All I cared to see now was my room, the deal breaker. One look at that room and I'd be out of here. I didn't even care to see if the road the Cullens lived on existed or not. I just wanted to get to Jacob now. I needed to see him, to touch him, kiss him. I needed to see if he knew me, if he loved me. Would he imprint on me this time? Would he tell me that my dream had in fact been real? Would he know who I was? I had no answers to these questions yet. And I couldn't wait long to get them. I couldn't wait to get to Jake.

As I looked toward the stairs, heading for my blue room, I stopped dead in my tracks, my eyes bugging out of my head. I couldn't believe the image invading my vision. The man was standing before me, his foot paused mid-air, frozen there on the last step. His eyes were large as he took in the sight of me, his mouth slightly ajar. His white skin glistened slightly in the rare sunlight spilling through the window beside me, his eyes shimmering gold.

My heart was not beating.

Neither was his.

"Oh my God." I whispered.

(author's note: can somebody say VAMPIRE?!)