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Back The Falling Save as PDF
Chapters (73)
  1. CONTENTS
  2. ALSO BY ANNA TODD
  3. DEDICATION
  4. PROLOGUE
  5. CHAPTER ONE
  6. CHAPTER TWO
  7. CHAPTER THREE
  8. CHAPTER FOUR
  9. CHAPTER FIVE
  10. CHAPTER SIX
  11. CHAPTER SEVEN
  12. CHAPTER EIGHT
  13. CHAPTER NINE
  14. CHAPTER TEN
  15. CHAPTER ELEVEN
  16. CHAPTER TWELVE
  17. CHAPTER THIRTEEN
  18. CHAPTER FOURTEEN
  19. CHAPTER FIFTEEN
  20. CHAPTER SIXTEEN
  21. CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
  22. CHAPTER EIGHTEEN
  23. CHAPTER NINETEEN
  24. CHAPTER TWENTY
  25. CHAPTER TWENTY-ONE
  26. CHAPTER TWENTY-TWO
  27. CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE
  28. CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
  29. CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
  30. CHAPTER TWENTY-SIX
  31. CHAPTER TWENTY-SEVEN
  32. CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT
  33. CHAPTER TWENTY-NINE
  34. CHAPTER THIRTY
  35. CHAPTER THIRTY-ONE
  36. CHAPTER THIRTY-TWO
  37. CHAPTER THIRTY-THREE
  38. CHAPTER THIRTY-FOUR
  39. CHAPTER THIRTY-FIVE
  40. CHAPTER THIRTY-SIX
  41. CHAPTER THIRTY-SEVEN
  42. CHAPTER THIRTY-EIGHT
  43. CHAPTER THIRTY-NINE
  44. CHAPTER FORTY
  45. CHAPTER FORTY-ONE
  46. CHAPTER FORTY-TWO
  47. CHAPTER FORTY-THREE
  48. CHAPTER FORTY-FOUR
  49. CHAPTER FORTY-FIVE
  50. CHAPTER FORTY-SIX
  51. CHAPTER FORTY-SEVEN
  52. CHAPTER FORTY-EIGHT
  53. CHAPTER FORTY-NINE
  54. CHAPTER FIFTY
  55. CHAPTER FIFTY-ONE
  56. CHAPTER FIFTY-TWO
  57. CHAPTER FIFTY-THREE
  58. CHAPTER FIFTY-FOUR
  59. CHAPTER FIFTY-FIVE
  60. CHAPTER FIFTY-SIX
  61. CHAPTER FIFTY-SEVEN
  62. CHAPTER FIFTY-EIGHT
  63. CHAPTER FIFTY-NINE
  64. CHAPTER SIXTY
  65. CHAPTER SIXTY-ONE
  66. CHAPTER SIXTY-TWO
  67. CHAPTER SIXTY-THREE
  68. CHAPTER SIXTY-FOUR
  69. A NOTE FROM THE AUTHOR
  70. ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
  71. ABOUT THE AUTHOR
  72. COPYRIGHT
  73. ABOUT THE PUBLISHER

I leaned in to Kael with a playful shoulder bump. He didn’t move away from me. And I froze with hopeful anticipation. On my sunny porch, in ripped jeans and with soft eyes, he paused for a moment and pressed his shoulder back into mine.

CHAPTER TWENTY-EIGHT

“I haven’t sat on my porch in so long. This is nice.”

It was just me and Kael, with the occasional passing car for company.

“I’d sit out here almost every day when I first moved in. I couldn’t believe it. My porch. My place.” I stopped and smiled. “It feels good, you know? The street in front of you, the house behind you.”

Talking to Kael was like writing in a diary, sort of.

“I’ve always loved sitting out front. Wherever I’ve lived. Did you notice that swing on my dad’s porch? We moved that swing with us when we were growing up. It came from base to base, from house to house—kind of like my dad’s recliner.”

I could feel Kael listening, encouraging me to go on.

“When we first moved to Texas, we didn’t have a big enough porch, so we kept it in the shed. It’s heavy wood . . . you can see where it’s splintered in a few places and where it’s worn down on the arms a little. It’s not like that plastic outdoor furniture you get now. What’s it called—rosin?”

“Resin,” he said, helping me out.

“That’s it—resin.” I was thinking about my mom now, how she would sit out front on the porch steps in the dark and stare up at the sky. “When we were in Texas my mom practically lived on our porch, all year round. I always wondered what she was looking at. What she was thinking about when she stared at the dark sky for hours.”

I thought about the nights when she didn’t have the swing and how she would just sit there, a little lost, but still focused on the sky.

“She always made up stories about the sky. The sun, the moon, the stars. She really lived in her own head, a lot like me, I guess.” I paused. “She was quite dramatic. She told me once that she believed God was made up of all the stars and that when one burned out, a little bit of the good in the world died with it.”