‘I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear,’

- Nelson Mandela

Chapter Twenty-Four

‘Beep! Beep! Beep!’ rang the alarm clock, and both Azelie and Kelly leaned towards the bedside unit in between their two beds to turn it off. Neither girls had slept a wink. Azelie couldn’t handle seeing the nightmare about Cole again; Kelly was terrified that there would be a repeat of the first night. It had been like this for two nights in a row and, as a result, they hadn’t slept well - if at all - for the past 42 hours.

Azelie sent a small smile over to Kelly as she saw her reaching over at the same time as her, Kelly returning the smile. Despite her exhaustion, Azelie couldn’t help but find Kelly’s morning appearance amusing. Her candy floss pink hair stood on end, making her look like some kind of pink haired Einstein, while her make-up would be all messy and half rubbed off because she would be too lazy to take it off before she went to bed.

“Good morning,” Kelly yawned, as she streached her arms in the air.

“God, I need coffee,” Azelie muttered in reply, finding it too hard to even think. This was the second day of their trip and basically all they had done was buy coffee from any available store to make sure they wouldn’t fall asleep during the day. They had been split up from Cole and Alex after a slight change in the way the two groups were split up but today they would be going to Alcatraz Island which was some kind of old famous prison just off the coast of San Francisco. Azelie didn’t know much about it, but from what she had heard it sounded like the best place for Kelly to be institutionalized. Azelie looked back to her best friend who was sat slumped over on her stomach, too tired to move. Azelie stifled a laugh as she took in Kelly’s morning appearance for the second time, still finding it hilarious.

“I look a mess again, don’t I?” Kelly questioned, reading Azelie’s mind.

“No, of course not!” Azelie lied, somehow keeping her face straight. “You look just as gorgeous as ever!” Kelly just looked at Azelie in disbelief as she began to shake her head slightly and slowly climbing out of the comfort of her warm bed.

“I’m going for a shower,” She said, walking across the room and picking out everything from her suitcase that she would need. Unlike Azelie, who had folded her clothes neatly and placed them in an orderly fashion in no more that three drawers, Kelly had decided to just keep her clothes in her suitcase and instead of keeping it tidy in drawers, had opted to turn her suitcase into some kind of clothes volcano with discarded jeans and tops lying all over the floor around it. Azelie had tried to tidy some of it up, but Kelly had literally jumped on Azelie as she was doing this, forcing her to promise to never turn her ‘organized mess’ into something that actually resembled any type of organisation system.

It was a couple of hours until they were finally ready to leave to leave with the group, and after practically drowning themselves in coffee, they finally met up with Alex, Cole, and the rest of the group and make their way through the busy streets of San Francisco.

After a twenty minute trek through the streets, the group made it to the pier from which the ferry left, and soon after, they were on the island. Azelie sat on the ferry, trying to avoid the looks she was getting from Cole. He knew something was up with her, he always knew when something was wrong with her. It was like he had a sixth sense directed totally at her, which wasn’t half annoying at times.

After a safety talk from one of the people who ran the island, the teachers who were leading Azelie’s group informed them that they had two hours and a half hours to do as they pleased, and that they would have to meet up at the pier of the island to catch the ferry back. Almost immediately, people started to form small groups with their friends, before scattering off to different parts of the island.

Kelly, Alex, Azelie and Cole stuck together in a group, opting to just follow Kelly around as she dragged them into the old prison building and onto the tour. Alex and Kelly walked in front, while Cole and Azelie lingered behind, Azelie counting in her head how long it took Cole to ask if she was alright.

“So... miss me yesterday?” Cole asked, a slight smirk on his lips as they walked along the steep path on the island, Azelie looking out at the views of San Francisco as they walked, climbing higher and higher. She turned to him, shocked that he hadn’t asked how she was - not that she was complaining.

“Miss you? God know, it was like heaven without you there giving me all your worried looks!” Azelie teased, her brown eyes looking into his eyes.

“Worried looks? I don’t worry about you!” Cole replied instantly, stuttering slightly, looking anywhere other than at Azelie.

“Sure you don’t! You’re worse than Ted with your worrying, it’s quite entertaining actually!” Azelie smiled, knowing that it was true. She has known the reason for Cole’s worrying nature, so she didn’t take it any further than a little harmless teasing. Cole just shook his head, making a sort of ‘peh’ noise as he turned his attention to the dark bags under Azelie’s eyes, indicating that her sleep pattern had been anything less than normal.

“Azelie,” He said, as he stopped walking, looking up at her. She stopped too, knowing what was coming next. “What’s wrong? And don’t give me the usual ‘I’m fine’ bullshit because you should know just as well as I do that it doesn’t work,” He babbled on, his forest green eyes looking into her deep brown ones. She instantly cut eyes contact, and instead looked down at the concrete path they had been walking along and began to shuffle her feet slightly on the spot. Letting out a deep breath, she realised that only the truth would be a suitable answer for Cole, perhaps it was time to tell him. Kelly knew, and she was definitely closer with Cole more than she was with Kelly, even though she was one of her best friends.

“It’s a little complicated... but basically, I suffer from night terrors,” Azelie began, trying to figure out how to word it correctly, “It’s just nightmares, but worse. If you imagine the most horrible nightmare you’ve ever had; well, it’s like that but ten times worse,” She added, finally looking up at him. “You would think that I’ve would have gotten used to them after having them for the past few years-”

“You’ve been suffering from night terrors for years?” Cole questioned in disbelief. He had heard about night terrors, and how awful they could be. He couldn’t imagine somebody suffering from it for years, the thought was just too awful! Your brain being your own personal hell every time you try to shut you eyes, it would be like torture. Azelie just nodded in reply, not knowing what to say.

Then suddenly, his arms wrapped around her, capturing her up in a hug. He held her tiny frame between his arms, pulling her closer to his body. A sweet smell of strawberries filled the air of Cole was breathing as he closed his eyes slightly, resting his head on top of her soft, chocolate brown hair. Slowly, she wrapped her arms around him too, eventually accepting the hug from him.

Cole’s thoughts fell into a frenzy as he held her, a million things rushing through his head, despite this, Cole only knew that one thing was sure; he never wanted to let her go.

“Hey! Come on you two!” Alex’s voice cried from afar, causing both Cole and Azelie to jump apart from each other. They looked up at one another for a second, Cole smiling slightly, trying to control his happiness. Azelie returned the small smile, thankful for the hug.

“Seriously guys! What are you doing?” Kelly’s voice shouted, Cole and Azelie knowing that they should catch up with them quickly before Kelly jumped to conclusions and assume that he was proposing or something. Knowing her crazy mind, she would be thinking that. They caught up with them in no time, running over to where they were. Cole actually struggled to keep up with the pace that Azelie was running at, even though he was on the football team.

Things between Cole and Azelie quickly changed, the mood switching from serious to friends in just a matter of seconds. It was always funny how things worked like that between them, they could be having one of the most seriously discussions one minute, and the next they would be fooling around, acting as if it never happened. It meant that Azelie could be more open with what she said to Cole, and that definitely wasn’t a bad thing.

They walked into the prison place, taking an audio tour guide but not bothering to put the earphones over their heads as they just strolled around the prison, just messing around occasionally and talking.

They walked into a hall, with three floors of cells to the left. There were large windows the right, looking out to the skyline of San Francisco. Kelly and Alex practically ran through the hall, Kelly seeing nothing of interest in the room and so instead of waiting, just ran off, dragging Alex with her - not that he was complaining of course! The room fell into a silence as only Cole and Azelie were left, and soon the noises of buses and cars from everybody in San Francisco began to fill the air.

Azelie looked over at Cole, a smile forming on her face as she did. For Azelie, the prison was strangely peaceful, almost like a church. It wasn’t too busy, but you weren’t completely alone. However, Cole didn’t find the prison peaceful in the slightest. He practically jumped out of his skin at the slightest noise, finding it hard to relax in a place where so many of murders had occured. The thing about Alcatraz Island was that it wasn’t just a normal prison; it was on it’s own island for it’s own good! It housed the most dangerous criminals back when it was active, the bloody canteen could have been made into a gas chamber at a moments notice for Christ’s sake!

Cole and Azelie soon left to go catch up with Alex and Kelly who had run off somewhere.

“How much you betting he’s locked her in a cell and left her there or something?” Azelie joked as they walked along the corridors, still trying to take in as much details as they could about the prison and it’s cells.

“Please, it’s more likely that he’s locked both her and himself in the cell!” Cole laughed in reply as they turned a corner.

“Yeah probably,” she agreed, floating off into another world as they entered a room. This room was different. Instead of having the standard cells on the bottom row, they had cells with a wall, and only two small square mesh windows, one of which was on the small door. Cole practically ran past the cells, not wanting to stop for a second. Azelie just rolled her eyes at him as she began to follow him down the corridor.

Suddenly, a flash of pink in one of the cells, caught her eye and she stopped in the corridor, slowly turning her head and walked closer into the cell.

She gasped loudly as she looked inside, before almost practically jumping for joy.

“What? What is it?” Cole questioned, spotting Azelie who was now happy dancing outside one of the cells. She quickly ‘ssshed’ him as she motioning towards the cell.

He quietly crept towards Azelie before looking inside, only to find Alex and Kelly kissing in the cell, totally oblivious to Azelie and Cole.

“Now, I’d tell you both you get a room...” Cole spoke loudly, Alex breaking the kiss to turn around and face his best friend, “But I believe the phrase I should use is get your own room!” He added quickly, a huge smile growing on his lips. Azelie looked from Cole and over to the shocked couple that were now sitting on the bed that was in the cell, both of them looking a little gob smacked. Azelie smirked slightly at seeing Kelly’s facial expression, and quickly decided that it was time to leave the happy couple alone.

“Anyhoo, we should be moving on! We’ve got a prison to tour!’ Azelie announced as she forcefully pushed Cole out of the room. She suddenly remembered something and turned back into the room, “Also, don’t forget to wear protection - I don’t want to become Auntie Azelie just yet!” she added, as she was yanked out of the room by Cole who then proceeded to start running, Azelie doing the same - not letting go of his hand for a second.

“AZELIE! Get your ass back here now!” Kelly screamed, storming out of the cell. Alex trailed behind her, trying to cover up his laughter with coughs. “Don’t you laugh! It’s not funny!” She cried, stopping her foot like a two year old who was throwing a tantrum. Kelly turned to where Alex was standing in the doorway of the cell, a silly smile playing on his lips as he looked back at her.

“You’re cute when you’re angry,” He admitted, watching her as her anger melted away. He stepped forward, and wrapped his arms around her waist, pulling her body closer to his. Alex then leaned forward, and softly kissed Kelly on the lips, the same tingling feeling from their first kiss starting up once again. He didn’t understand how he had managed to hold back for so many years! Now that he had finally kissed her, he didn’t think he could never stop! Hell, he didn’t want to and as long as that was alright with her, he wouldn’t!

She pulled out of the kiss first, and resting her head on his shoulder. Suddenly, she began to giggle uncontrollably. Alex looked down her completely confused to why she was laughing. Her head lifted off his shoulder again, and she opened her mouth to reply, still in a fit of giggles.

“LOL - My best friend just kissed me!” she giggled, unable to stop. Thoughts began to swarm ub Alex mind, did she not like him back? He loved her, but he didn’t expect that back at all, and he didn’t know how to react to this.

“Is that all I am? Your best friend?” He questioned. Kelly’s giggling immediately stopped as she looked up at him, confusion and concern written clearly across his face. She didn’t know how to answer him without causing anymore confusion than she apparently already had, so instead she did the one thing that she though would make it better. She kissed him hard on the lips, trying to show that he wasn’t just a friend to her. He was more than that, he had been for a long time - hell, he had always been more than a friend. He kissed her back, not even questioning the kiss. When it ended, she looked up at him again.

“Alex Kitch, you are more than just a friend to me. I fucking love you and I have for a long time,” she admitted, the fear of telling him long gone. His face erupted with a happiness as she spoke.

“I love you too,” he replied, as he leaned in for another kiss.

Hello wonderful unicorns of wattpad (and all you other boring people!) I just wanted to thank you so much for all of the support of the last chapter! Obviously, you managed to keep it under 100 on Teen Fiction! I am seriously so freaking happy about that! Honestly, thank you guys so much! I got to 71, which is the lowest I've ever been :D

Anyhoo, there was suppose to be a second part of this chapter, but it's turned out too long so it might become it's own chapter, or become a longer for the next! We shall see ;D

I hope you enjoyed the bit with Kelly and Alex! (hopefully their kiss was a little unexpected even though you knew their feelings!) Why can't things just be that simple with Azelie and Cole *gasp* :P LOL I just realised that if Alex and Kelly get married, she would be called Kelly Kitch... KK hehe! (good thing she doesn't have a K middle name! :O )

The next upload will either be on Saturday or Sunday! It will be saturday if you wonderful people manage to keep it under 100 on teen fiction (which I'm sure you will have no bother in doing it!) and it will be Sunday if it stays over :) So yeah, don't forget to vote and comment cause they mean the world to me. Also don't forget about the trailer! (link to which is in the external link bit) You can nominate it more than once for the special watty awards so if you can do that, it would be awesome! (if you don't know how, just send me a message and I'd be more than happy to tell you how!)

Until next time folks!

Unicorn out! :D