Claiming Innocence [#wattys2015]

Seventeen

I was running through to forest, as fast as I possibly could.

It was dark, and I could barely see where I was going, tripping over a few times but pulling myself back up and carrying on running, fear consuming me completely. I looked back a few times as I heard twigs snapping and yelling behind me.

I didn't want to stop; I had a gut feeling that I needed to keep going.

I came out of the clearing as I noticed I was heading closer and closer to an edge, an edge of a cliff. I peered over at the deep drop, seeing the edge of the ocean- something I've never experienced seeing before since my mother was still alive.

I heard clapping, quickly turning back around and seeing a line of people dressed in black with their arms crossed against their chest. All looking like they were happily entertained with my distress.

Two men stepped to the side, both unrecognizable, revealing Dakota in all her evil glory. Her face seemed slightly morphed, her eyes drooped down, noise point and shape, and she had a evil smirk on her slimmed face.

She looked like some kind of monster out of a horror movie.

I took tiny steps back, my feet suddenly feeling the very edge of the cliff. I looked as loose bits of rock tumbled down into the sea.

I looked back to Dakota to see her still giving me the cold stare that she was earlier, before pulling a gun from the coat pocket of her jacket- which I swear she didn't have on before.

"Jump" I heard a voice in my head.

It was incredibly familiar. I've definitely heard it before. I knew I could trust it, and for some reason I did.

Right as the trigger was pulled, I leapt off the cliff and began falling.

I felt as light as a feather, all my worries were gone as I starred at the small heads watching me as I fell from above them. As I was falling, I heard banging, like someone was smacking sticks together, or maybe it was someone stomping their feet. It was getting louder and louder as I fell.

BANG

I opened my eyes from the crazy dream that I had just experienced, to hear knocking on the door- that must have been what the noise was in my dream.

Oh.

I jumped out of bed and rushed over to the door, only to have a smile suddenly appear on my face as I saw Axel looking down at me with an excited expression.

"Hey" I smiled brightly.

"Hi, so, uh, I want to take you out- like on a date at lunch" he started; the nerves clear in his voice. "That's if you want to go with me. You can say no, I get it. Wait, no of course you don't want to go, I should have said anything" he rushed out before turning around and walking to the wall across from my door, banging his head against the wall.

"Stupid", bang, "idiot", bang, "fucking", bang, "pussy", bang.

I stood laughing at how cute he was right now; he looked like he was so excited to ask me on a date, then he got nervous and now look at him.

I suppressed my giggles and pressed my hand to his back, deciding I should put him out of his misery.

"Axel" I spoke quietly.

"God, nice going Axel" he mumbled, banging his head again, probably drowning in to much of his own self pity to hear me.

"AXEL" I yelled, finally gaining his attention, "I'd love to go out on a date with you".

"Wait really?" he said, a smile immediately coming back to his face. I watched as he bounced up and down excitedly yelling out a "FUCK YES"- probably loud enough for the whole house to say. He suddenly stopped and turned back to me.

"Oh shit, sorry," he clearing his throat "I mean, awesome, so I'll meet you here at 12, yeah?"

I smiled into my hand that was resting over my mouth, trying to stop myself from laughing, giving him a nod in approval.

He gave me a last smile before he jogged off down the corridor, swinging his hand in the air like he just won the lottery.

He's going to be the death of me.

----------

I glanced at the clock reading its time, 11:55. It was almost time for my date with Axel.

To say I was nervous was an understatement of the century.

Even though I've spent a lot of time with Axel, I still feel like butterflies are erupting in my tummy every time I'm around him- and I love the feeling.

It reminds me that I am still a teenage girl- I'm going to have crushes no matter what, and I should be able to experience real love- not something artificial like what we are expected to now.

I looked down at the white flowy dress I had on, flattening out the creases, and played with my hair nervously.

I opened my door ready to wait for Axel only to see him already standing their dressed in his typical black skinny jeans and instead of a V-neck shirt, he had a black button-down shirt on. I smiled at the effort he put in to look nice for our date. His hair was styled up nicely, and he held out a white rose from the gardens.

"For you my lady" he bowed playfully holding out the white rose for me.

"Why thank you, kind sir" I giggled before curtseying back to him, taking the rose from him and replacing it with my hand. He kissed the top of it before laughing and pulling me to his side.

"Ready for our date?" he asked happily.

I nodded my head and watched as he pulled a blindfold out of his back pocket. "Good now let me put this on you and we can get going- it's a surprise so don't ask" he smirked.

I sighed playfully as he slipped the blindfold over my eyes.

"Axel you know there is two flights of stairs I have to get down, right?" I laughed nervously.

"Yeah well this was cute and a good idea in my head" he laughed before I felt him shuffle around.

I reached my arm forward and felt his back, and his head.

What is he doing?

"Jump on my back" he answered before I could ask.

A laugh escaped both of our lips as I managed to do so without being about to see anything.

"You better no drop me Ax"

"What? I would never" he teased back.

I felt him maneuver his way down the stairs until I felt the fresh air of outdoors.

We made small talk on the way, mainly us arguing about where we are going. I gave up after a few minutes of pretending to be upset, he wasn't falling for it.

"We are here" he finally announced, setting me down on the ground.

He stood behind me, and removed the blindfold.

My eyes widened and I'm sure if i could see myself right now, my jaw would be on the floor.

-----

A/N

Hi everyone, please help my story get noticed by voting as much as you can. I love hearing feedback- both encouraging and constructive. I'm thinking to put a vote aim for each chapter to maybe get more recognised.

So Maybe I'll start with 5 votes before I post a new chapter :) xxx