Authors Note: GUESS WHO GOT THIS CHAPTER OUT WAY SOONER THAN SHE THOUGHT WAS PHYSICALLY POSSIBLE?! I DID! Yes, this must be a new record. Only two days after the previous chapter was published, this one comes out. I deserve some kind of award for this. The reason I got it out so soon was because I had no homework due to the fact that the first quarter marking period just ended, so I haven't really had any homework. And I got bored. So I wrote, and actually continued to write until I was finished with this piece of awesome.

Okay, this chapter isn't how I wanted it to be, or how I planned, but regardless I really like where it's going and I just think it's one of the better things I've written. Although that could just be my opinion, in which case please share yours.

Alright, I'll shut up now so you can read in peace...

Falling Through: Chapter 8 - In The Picture

"Tell me, Jake," Nessie demanded, sitting up. "I know you're lying to me."

I looked at her through my eyelashes, keeping my mouth shut. I didn't want to tell her. I shouldn't have to. But maybe she had a right to know. I mean, she had been included in all of them. And not in a good way. Maybe she needed to know.

But I didn't want her to know.

I closed my eyes and pressed my fists against my temple.

Deep breath. Deep breath. In. Out.

"Jacob."

What time was it anyways? Did Billy leave? Did Charlie know I was still here with his granddaughter, unsupervised…on the bed? I can't really imagine he does. That would be pretty strange. And very unlike him.

"Jacob."

My breathing had finally returned to a normal pace. Well, as normal as it can be after having the nightmare of the century. I shut my eyes tightly again, trying to block the images that kept coming back to me. Renesmees cries for help. Her hair resting on the surface, her body trapped under.

And Lavrenti. He was doing this. He had to be. Why else would he be there?

Everything was so striking…so real. Like it was really happening. As though I was really there.

Happy ponies, that's what I thought about. However gay it sounds. Happy ponies prancing in a forest. If that's what it takes to clear my thoughts, then so be it. My mind would just have to turn into a freaking petting zoo to protect my sanity.

"Jacob. Stop ignoring me!"

Maybe that was it. Maybe I was insane. That would really explain a lot. What would Billy say if I ended up in a mental hospital? What would the pack think? I'm sure that would pretty much kill my alpha position. I can see it now. Leah will have a field day.

"Jacob!" Renesmee shook my shoulders, trying to get my attention.

I opened my eyes slowly, looking at the bulletin board next to the desk. It was filled with old crap that Bella had thought noteworthy enough to tack on the wall. There was a collection of A+ papers, decent report cards, a 3ed place ribbon from some history society competition thing, and lots of pictures. Pictures of Edward were everywhere. It was obvious he was the main attraction here. But there were a couple other pictures scattered around in between. One of Alice, a few of Angela and Jessica, a couple with her mother, and I even spotted one with that damn Mike Newton. And there, on top, in the center, was a picture with me in it. Probably the only one.

I stood up, and walked towards the picture, never looking away from it.

It was from a long time ago. A very long time ago. Before all this wolf shape shifting stuff happened. When Edward left. When Bella used me a substitute for what she was missing. Back when it was just two friends, hanging out in the garage, killing time simply because we had time to kill.

In the picture, I was leaning into my car, the Rabbit, working on the steering wheel. Bella was leaning against the hood, peering in at me. She was smiling, probably laughing at something I said. The picture was so natural, so unposed. Billy had taken it, I remember. He caught us off guard, flashed his camera, and gave the picture to me later. It was in my room, this I remember. I also remember it mysteriously disappearing soon after. I just now found it, in front of me, tacked up on Bella's' bulletin board.

I touched the smooth paper lightly, running my fingers over it, surprised to find it crisp and only a little bent, just as I had left it so many years ago.

"Jake," Nessie started. "What are you looking it?"

She came over and stood next to me, trying to see around my arm. "When is that from?" she asked.

"A really long time ago," I answered, still looking at the picture intently.

She turned away from the picture, and towards me. "Please tell me."

"Tell you what?" I asked, sitting back down on her bed. The curtains were open and I could see it was clearly dark out. We had been asleep for a while now. The confusing thing is why Charlie did and Billy let us stay in her room this long? Something was up.

"What your dream was about," Nessie said, pulling a hand through her hair.

"What makes you think this is about a dream?" I asked, trying hard to cover up my anxiousness. I was going to end up telling her, and she knew it. I didn't want to, but I would always give her anything she wanted. She knew that. She knows far too much for her own good. It will get her in big trouble some day. It would.

She didn't answer. She just narrowed her eyes at me, and I cracked.

"Well…" I tried to gather my thoughts into words, but I couldn't even think straight. I didn't know where to begin.

"You can start at any time, you know…" she started.

"I—I don't really know what to say…um…" I took a deep breath. This shouldn't be this hard. But it was. It always was. "Well, I've been having these dreams. Or nightmares. Whatever. I've been having them for a while now. And…"

And then there was a loud crash coming from somewhere downstairs that cut me off mid-sentence.

Authors Note Continued: I taste a cliffhanger. Sorry again. I really like those. They catch your attention and hopefully leave you really angry at me for just letting you hang there like that. But that's what I'm getting at, so you'll have no choice but to read more. That's the power of cliffhangers, and I love 'em to death.

I know this chapter was short. It was suppose to be. I have everything mapped out, I have from the beginning, but I keep ending things and beginning them off plan, and that's a good thing in my book. In my plan for this I was only going to have about 13 chapters, but it's pretty clear now that there is going to be more than that. Joy!

Chapter Playlist: "If I was your Vampire" by Marilyn Manson, "Drove Through Ghosts to Get Here," by one of my favorite bands; 65daysofstatic, "My Vampire Heart" by Tom McRae, "Meet Me On the Equinox," (on New Moon album) by another one of my favorite bands; Death Cab For Cutie.

Thanks everyone for reading! Please review, and add to subscriptions because all the cool kids are doing it!