Meaningful Artifacts [Edward/Jacob]

fourteen.

"What do you want?" he snarls, annoyed that he couldn't seem to get a moment to himself. 

He was either being bombarded by everyone spouting their opinions on how he should handle his feelings or he was randomly ambushed by everyone trying to force him to confront them. Seth hasn't even imprinted himself. So, for the life of him, Jacob couldn't see why the kid thought he knew better. 

Edward stares at Jacob for a long minute, almost as if it takes him a second to comprehend the question. 

"I'm sorry. Okay?" Edward sighs, eyes darting around as if he doesn't know what else to do.

Jacob doesn't even bother with acknowledging the apology. He, instead, begins rummaging around in his dresser for some pajama pants. He was tired, he just wanted to sleep.

"I-I just didn't believe what I saw," Edward confesses, "or what I think I saw..." 

He doesn't sound too sure of himself. Jacob grabs for his towel and starts heading for the bathroom. 

He gets it. He understands being confused. That doesn't justify lying directly to someone's face. 

"I thought I saw Victoria!" Edward finally spits out. 

That's enough to stop Jacob in his tracks. He slowly turns around in the doorway of the bathroom to look at Edward as if he has a second head. 

"What?" 

Victoria? The dead lady? She was a red head, sure. However, if Jacob's memory serves him right, Victoria was basically beheaded in a fight...by Edward. 

"See?!" Edward looks exasperated as he all but pulls his hair out. 

He looks down at the floorboards as if the answers to what he'd supposedly seen were somehow etched into the wood. He looks at him for so long, Jacob thinks maybe he'd actually find some proof there. 

"I swear..." 

It was Jacob's turn to look concerned as he leaned out of the doorway to get a good look at Edward. He takes a couple of hesitant steps forward, closing the gap between them, before lifting his hand to press it against Edward's forehead. Of course, the man feels ice cold, but it was more about the gesture than trying to find out whether he was actually ill. Jacob was seeing people who weren't there, sure, but they were not dead. 

"She's..."

"Dead. Yes, I know. Ikilledher." He quickly finishes, rolling his eyes. "I just...I know what I saw."

Uh huh...

"Maybe you should lay down," Jacob urges with a nod, slowly nudging Edward towards the bed, "just take a beat."

Edward flashes him an unimpressed look, but allows himself to be pushed back towards the mattress. His legs eventually hit the edge and he's forced to sit. Edward peers up at him from his perch as if he's begging Jacob to believe him. Jacob wants to believe him. This was the truth that he was yearning for, annoyed all day over. 

"Okay, just tell me what you saw exactly." 

"I went into the room after you were thrown back and a woman, who looked just like Victoria, came charging at me. We fought, I pinned her to the ground, then she just...vanished." Edward explains, looking as if he feels ridiculous.

"Vanished?" Jacob inquires.

Vampires don't just vanish. They move fairly quickly, too quick for humans to catch a lot of the time, but not too fast for another vampire to see. She couldn't have just went poof. 

"Yeah, like she just disappeared. I was looking at her one minute, the next minute she was gone." He explains.

"So, maybe she wasn't real. Like...maybe there was something else in that room." Jacob provides as explaination.