Trespassing (Daryl Dixon x OC)

Prologue ~ Seven, Twelve, Eighteen, Twenty Three

"I want to know you, amaryllis, bloom."

I turned seven three days ago. My family had a party in our small home in Atlanta, Georgia. My dad and I were playing outside. Our backyard, well, our whole house was surrounded by the forest. It was nice, I liked it.

My dad had accidentally kicked the ball we were playing with too far. "I got it!" I yelled as I ran after it. After some brief exploration, I found it by a tree trunk. As I bent over to pick it up, I noticed a pair of feet in some beat up boots. I looked up at the boy in front of me. He was a bit taller than me, his eyes were a bluish-gray, and he had sandy blond hair. He seemed to be about my age, too. He stared back at me not saying anything. We had a staring contest for what felt like a long time, but we were both doing pretty bad because we kept blinking.

"Hi."

"Hi."

"My name's Belle. Belle Matthers. What's yours?"

"Daryl Dixon."

"I just turned seven years old."

"I saw the party," he nodded.

"You're strange," I admitted. "Will you be my friend?"

He nodded again, "Sure."

"Did you find it, honey?" Dad yelled from the backyard. "Yeah, I'm coming back," I shouted. I turned to Daryl, "I'll see you around." "See you around," he said as he waved. I went back to my house. 

***

"You sure you wanna learn how to shoot a crossbow?" Daryl asked me. I rolled my eyes. 

"How many times have I said yes?"

Ever since Daryl told me he knew how to use a crossbow, I immediately started bugging him to teach me. And besides, how cool would it be to know how to use one at twelve years old?

Daryl and I met it the woods nearly every day. Sometimes he'd come over my house, although Dad's still a little iffy on him because he's heard about the trouble his older brother Merle gets into. We made a small trek into the woods beyond my backyard walking side by side. We had reached a small clearing when Daryl set down his bow.

"Here should be good. You can shoot at some trees until you get the hang of it. Maybe some other day I'll take you hunting," he said. 

"Alright, Dixon, teach me how to shoot." 

He picked up his crossbow, handing it to me. It was a bit heavy but easy enough to hold.

"Okay, first things first, keep your eyes on your target." I nodded as I lifted the bow, aiming it at one of the trees. I'll admit, I was a bit nervous. "Relax, keep your shoulders down," he corrected placing his hands on my shoulders as he stood behind me. My heart picked up its pace at the contact, why am I so nervous?

"Okay, anything else, Dixon?" I asked. Daryl leaned down a bit so his head was next to mine and placed his hands over my own. 

"Just keep your hand steady," he whispered.

My brain went dead. Was Daryl seriously almost holding my hands? What is going on right now? Do I....oh man I think I- 

"You nervous, B?" Daryl's voice interrupted my thoughts. 

"Little bit," I admitted.