W&A Short Story Competition 2022 - Winning Story

Who Will Remember Meredith Parker? by Olivia Wakeford

As long as I can remember, Mam said I shouldn’t go near The Pond, because that’s where ‘poor little Meredith Parker’ drowned.

‘Hazel Amelia Powell,’ she’d say with sapphire eyes narrowed. ‘You go in there, you won’t come back. D’you hear me?’

‘Yes, Mam,’ I’d say.

The tragedy of Meredith Parker hung over our village heavy as the smoke from the colliery; there wasn’t anyone who didn’t heed the warning about The Pond.

Until me and Dylan made it ours for the summer.

Every day Mam would say it and I’d agree, then run out the front door, down the stairs, and into the carpark. Marc Lewis from 12B was always there, the windows of his battered Ford Escort filled with ciggie smoke, Nirvana’s Smells Like Teen Spirit thumping from his subwoofer.

I wondered if Mam watched me, up on the tenth floor, but I never looked back.

That day, the last of the holidays, was scorching. The smell of soot was mixed with the sweet air wafting from Ferrari’s cake factory and I floated on it, my belly full of excitement and nerves. I wanted to run but I’d done my hair especially, Mam’s Elnett making my curls perfectly crispy. I hurried through the village; down over the overgrown path beside the bus depot, up the hill. Even in a vest top and cut-off jeans, sweat gathered in the small of my back.

Dyl was waiting by the fence, a lazy smile on his face. He wore his faded jeans, a white t-shirt, and a check shirt knotted around his waist.

Behind him a sign said:

Danger! No Trespassing by Order of Mid Glamorgan County Council.

‘Hiya,’ he said, shading his eyes from the sun with his hand. The hairs on his arms had turned fair.

‘Hiya.’

Me and Dyl had known each other since we were babies because our mams were best friends. They’d always joked we’d get married one day and we’d always tell them to shut up.

I don’t know when I started seeing Dyl differently, but once I had, everything changed.

When he looked at me I wouldn’t be waiting for one of his terrible jokes, I’d be wondering if hethought my green eyes were pretty, or notice my new clothes. More than anything, I’d wonder whether he thought about me as much as I thought about him.

‘It’s boiling, come on.’ He nodded at the water.

It was called The Pond but it was more like a lake or a reservoir. It sat on a hill, surrounded by bigger hills and mountains, all multi-coloured with scorched bracken and evergreens. Beneath the calm water, tangles of reeds were knotted around rusted shopping trolleys. Faded crisp packets and battered cola cans clung to the rocks. Someone had even dumped a piano in there a few years ago. I imagined weeds skimming across the keys and fish dancing to the music. Not that fish would survive in there, but in my head they did.

Most people from school hung out around the back of the Co-op but The Pond was my favourite place. It was pretty gross, but it was away from the village, away from the gossip about the colliery closing down and our dads losing their jobs. It was the type of place where time stretched; we spent hours sitting in the long grass, chatting about our GCSE’s, the future.

‘You go first,’ Dyl said, yanking at a loose corner of the fences for me to scramble under.

On the other side, we brushed the dried, dusty earth from our hands and knees and headed to the water side-by-side, our hands centimetres from each other. I had to stop myself from reaching out to brush my fingers against his.

The sun seared down on us as we sat by the water's edge. We pulled off our trainers and dipped our toes in the coolness. Water rippled around our feet, blurring them into one. I glanced at him, at the line of dark hair in front of his ears, his thick eyelashes fluttering on his cheek when he blinked.

‘That’s better,’ he said. He was quieter that day, like there was something on his mind. I hoped it was the same thing on my mind.

‘Yeah.’ I wiggled my toes, making tiny waves. ‘Mam told me not to come up here again today. D’you think she knows?’

‘Probably, there’s nothing that goes on that your mam or mine doesn’t know about.’

‘Good point.’ A dragonfly hovered above the water, wings quivering and shimmering.

‘Do you ever think about the girl who drowned here? Meredith Parker.’

He snorted back laughter. ‘Christ’s sake, Haze.’

‘What? I think about her.’

I’d thought about her a lot during that summer. She was fourteen, like me. One minute she was a normal girl who lived on the High Street, the next she was remembered by what happened to her. No-one knew why she was there on her own. They didn’t find her for two weeks. But that wasn’t just who she was.

‘Oh yeah? What do you think?’

His huge brown eyes were on me and I had to look away, out to the water. Dylan’s gaze was too much.

‘I wonder if she liked school. What marks she got in English. Who her best friend was. Whether she had a boyfriend…’

He pulled a face. ‘She’s been dead for thirty years hasn’t she? What does it matter?’

I shrugged. ‘Dunno, I guess I hope there’s someone who remembers her. Her family moved to Merthyr after she died, Mam said. They could be dead now too for all we know. She didn’t have any brothers or sisters.’

‘So?’

‘Well, isn’t that how we keep people alive, by talking about them? Like your Mam with your Nan.’

‘That’s different. You didn’t know Meredith Parker or her family. You don’t know anything about her. You’re making me miserable talking about it.’

I stared at the green foam collecting on the water. ‘I just think it’s sad. She was someone before she was poor little Meredith Parker who drowned in The Pond. I wonder who, that’s all.’

Dyl smirked. ‘You’re daft, you are.’

‘Is that why you like spending time with me?’ I grinned at him.

‘’Spose.’ He grinned back.

We laid back on the grass, staring at the clouds scudding past. Flies buzzed and a black bird cawed.

‘You alright, Dyl?’ I said rolling over to face him after about five minutes of him barely saying a word. I’d pointed out a funny-shaped cloud. We’d laughed at a bleating sheep in a nearby field. But otherwise, we’d hardly spoken. My stomach swirled with nerves again; I shouldn’t have mentioned Meredith Parker. Dyl always said I was too serious.

He sat up, stared out to the water, his forehead all wrinkled.

‘What is it?’ I said, sitting up too. My heart hammered.

He licked his lips. ‘To be honest, there’s something I wanted to tell you. Well, ask you really, I suppose.’ He dug at the earth between us with his fingernail.

I tried to stay calm even though my thoughts were fizzing like sherbet. Was he going to ask me out? Would we kiss?

‘Oh?’

‘Uh…’ His cheeks reddened.

‘What is it?’ I nudged him with my elbow. ‘You can tell me.’

He took a breath. ‘There’s someone I like…’

My heart thundered so hard I swear he would have heard it. ‘Right… Anyone I know?’

The lazy smile was back, making butterflies flap and swirl in my belly.

‘Well…’ He met my eye. I pulled my legs to my chest so I could hold onto something.

‘Yeah… actually.’

‘Oh, Dyl.’ I grabbed his hand, unable to stop myself. This whole summer I’d been dreaming of this, waiting for Dyl to make a move, deciding if he didn’t do it before the end of the holidays, I would.

‘What you doing?’ He yanked his hand away.

‘I…’

Did I get it wrong? He said he liked someone; looked right at me.

He pointed at me then him. ‘You didn’t… think I meant…’

‘No! No! Course not. Who is it?’ I said as my brain screamed, ‘IDIOT, IDIOT IDIOT.’

‘Katie,’ he said. The frown at my stupidity disappeared, replaced by a sheepish grin.

‘Katie Jones.’

‘Katie?’ I squeaked. ‘What? Why?’

‘What d’you mean why? I just do, and I wondered whether…you knew if she liked me?’

‘What?’ I said again. I probably so sounded stupid.

‘Katie. From your form? D’you know if she likes me?’

Time seemed to stop then. Like there was a before when me and Dyl were best friends, and then… afterwards.

A painful lump formed in my throat.

‘Dunno, Dyl,’ I said, jumping to my feet and wading into the water. I knew Mam would be furious if she found out, but I had to get away from him.

‘Haze?’

‘You coming in?’ I called trying to stop the quiver in my voice.

‘What you doing?’

‘What does it look like? It’s too bloody hot.’ I chanced a look at him. His eyebrows were knotted into a frown, his mouth thin with worry. Dyl did care about me but not in the way I thought.

‘It’s not safe.’

‘It’s fine!’ I said, turning away, desperate for him not to see the falling down my cheeks. I waded in deeper. Reeds dragged at my ankles, sludge collected around my toes, and cold relief spread through my body.

‘Haze,’ Dyl shouted again but I blocked him out, water up to my knees now. My ankle clipped a rock but I bit back a cry.

Stupid.

So stupid to think of Dyl and me being something other than we were.

And Katie bloody Jones!

Of all the girls, she was the worst. All she did was giggle at anything the boys said, suck on Push Pops, trying to look sexy, and make fun of me for having my hand up first in Mr Llewelyn’s English class.

And Dyl, my Dyl, fancied her.

My fingertips brushed reeds poking up from the depths. Pond scum gathered around my hips. I pushed through, away from Dyl, away from everything.

From nowhere, the ground disappeared from under me.

‘Hazel!’ he shouted, then his voice was gone in a whoosh of water.

It was up my nose, in my eyes.

I kicked out. Air caught in my throat. A slimy plastic bag clung to my cheek.

My chest was tight, panic in every part of my body. My arms and legs flailed, reeds tangled around me tighter and tighter like a snake. My knee hit something sharp and pain rippled up my leg.

The name Meredith Parker popped into my head along with Mam’s face, tight with warning.

Mam. I’m so sorry.

My lungs screamed.

A shape shifted in front of me, deep in the murk. Reeds knotted like hair. A wisp of whiteness. I mouthed her name. Meredith Parker. Was this what it was like for her? Was the sun on her back the second before? Was her face wet with tears? Did a boy break her heart too?

She didn’t reply.

Dyl dragged me out, Mam told me afterwards. Gave me mouth to mouth. Not exactly the kiss I’d had in mind. Everyone said I was lucky he was there, the village couldn’t have coped with another tragedy.

We never talked again, me and Dyl. He did go out with Katie Jones though. She liked the idea of a hero, for a few weeks anyway.

The older I got, the less real he became. He was sun-kissed skin. A check-shirt knotted at the waist. Thick, dark eyelashes. Warmth and ice.

A boy I liked once.

I wondered if to him, I was the girl who almost drowned. Or maybe I wasn’t anything at all.

But Meredith Parker. Poor little Meredith Parker.

I still thought about her. Wondered who she was before she was a tragedy. Who she could have been if she wasn’t.