Hollow Pike

by James Dawson

  ‘What?’ Danny asked.

  Gary leaned forward a fraction. ‘I said ID! I need to see some ID; Hacksaw’s an eighteen, mate.’

  The film was due to begin in three minutes and there was still a queue of customers waiting to get in. Lis heard the couple behind them sigh loudly in impatience.

  ‘We’re both eighteen. Sorry, I left my ID at home,’ said Danny, playing it cool.

  ‘I didn’t say she needed ID. I said you needed ID.’

  ‘Oh. Well, I’m eighteen, honest.’

  ‘Date of birth?’

  He mumbled his birth date to the assistant. Jesus, it’s a good thing his Science is good, because his Maths stinks, thought Lis, grimacing.

  ‘Nice one, mate. That makes you seventeen,’ said Gary.

  ‘No! It makes me . . .’ Danny did the calculation too late. ‘Oh, OK.’ His face turned red and he couldn’t meet Lis’s gaze, even as she took his hand in hers. She swore she could actually see his ego bruising.

  He leaned closer to the ticket agent. ‘Look, mate. You’ve just let half my year at school in. Don’t be shifty!’

  ‘Are you telling me how to do my job?’

  ‘Not at all!’

  ‘I hope not, you little turd.’ Lis flinched at that. ‘You’ve got three options: show me some ID, piss off, or I can do you two tickets for Castle of Imagination. What’s it to be?’

  Castle of Imagination was a new 3D animation about unicorns. No thanks.

  ‘I think we’ll piss off, actually,’ Lis said before Danny could respond. ‘There was no need to be so rude. I see your name is Gary. I might give your manager a ring tomorrow. Thanks.’ She smiled sweetly and dragged the shell-shocked Danny towards the exit.

  ‘Oh my God. That was so embarrassing,’ Danny groaned, unable to look Lis in the eye. ‘You must think I’m the biggest loser ever.’

  ‘No, I think that guy’s the biggest loser ever. You just need to work on your mental maths.’

  Danny managed a weak smile as they passed into the fresh air of the car park. ‘Yeah, what was his problem anyway?’

  ‘He’s probably a twenty-two-year-old virgin who still lives with his mum!’ Lis laughed. She let Danny’s hand go and turned to face him. ‘Don’t let him bother you, he’s just jealous.’ With every ounce of confidence she had, she rose up on tiptoe and gave Danny a gentle kiss, just brushing his lips. He’d looked like he needed it. A wide grin spread across his face: mission accomplished!

  ‘Well, if he was jealous, it’s only cos I’m with such a beautiful girl,’ Danny told her.

  Lis roared with laughter. ‘Oh, that’s really slick!’

  ‘Thanks.’ He returned the laugh, this time taking her hand. ‘Well, the film’s out, so how about dinner? If we cross the car park there’s an amazing steak house. It has the best food, like, in the world!’

  She frowned sympathetically. ‘Danny . . . I’m vegetarian!’

  He slapped a flat palm to his forehead. ‘Kill me now! Shall I just call a cab?’

  ‘No!’ Lis grinned. ‘You weren’t to know. I have a better idea . . .’

  ‘Is that Garlic Bread or Garlic Bread Extreme?’ asked the surly waitress, a student Lis recognised from Fulton High Sixth Form.

  ‘Oh, I think Extreme. Lis, can you handle Garlic Bread Extreme?’ Danny grinned.

  ‘Extreme is my middle name, baby!’

  ‘Extreme it is!’

  The waitress rolled her eyes and slouched away from the table. A children’s party consisting of at least ten nine-year-olds occupied the next booth, and the kids were repeatedly running past Lis and Danny in a bid to get to the ice-cream machine. Pizza Factory was such a classy place – Delilah had worked there last summer, apparently, but quit after less than a week because she couldn’t take the screaming kids.

  ‘I am so sorry about this.’ Danny leaned across the Formica table. ‘This is so not the evening I had in mind.’

  ‘It’s fine,’ Lis told him for the fiftieth time. ‘Actually, this is maybe better.’

  Danny laughed. ‘I seriously doubt that!’

  ‘I mean it. We can talk here. We couldn’t have done that at the cinema.’

  ‘True. So what do you wanna talk about?’ he asked, his sapphire eyes sparkling more than ever. Lis took that to be a sign he was enjoying himself, despite the dayglo restaurant.

  ‘You,’ she replied honestly. This was the first time in what felt like decades that she hadn’t been preoccupied with dead girls and nightmares.

  ‘Me?’

  ‘Yeah. Everyone knows all about me – I’m the weird Welsh new girl. And that was before Laura’s stunt.’ She stopped herself as soon as Laura’s name crossed her lips. This wasn’t the time or place to get onto her. ‘But what about you?’

  ‘What about me? There’s really nothing to know.’ He raised his palms, a wide-eyed open book. Almost.

  ‘As if! No one’s that straightforward.’

  ‘Oh, really? What’s your secret?’

  Lis frowned involuntarily and for a second she wondered if he somehow knew. No, it was just paranoia again. ‘Don’t change the subject. We’re talking about you,’ she chided.

  ‘OK, but there really isn’t much to know . . . I have four sisters and I’m the only boy.’

  ‘Wow, your house must be hormonal fun!’ Lis laughed.

  ‘Tell me about it! And I’m the youngest, so I’m a constant target. But it’s cool. Helena and Abby have moved out now, so it’s not as mental as it used to be.’

  ‘You think your parents kept going ’til they had a boy?’

  ‘That’s exactly what they did!’ he laughed. ‘I’m the blessed boy-child! Must have been a big disappointment there . . .’

  Lis sensed the walls coming down a little. So far, Danny had been on full entertainment mode, like a TV presenter or something, now he suddenly seemed more real.

  ‘What makes you say that?’ she asked.

  ‘I don’t know. I’m just not sure I’m what my dad wanted in a son,’ he mumbled. ‘God, this is depressing. Let’s move on!’

  ‘No, I know what you mean. I’m not sure my mum gets me much either.’

  There was a moment of silence and suddenly they were the only pair in the whole world, the noisy restaurant slipping away.

  ‘I suppose that’s the trouble with kids . . .’ Danny murmured, ‘you never know what you’re going to get.’

  ‘Is that why you joined the rugby team?’ Lis asked in a low voice, hoping she wasn’t being too bold. ‘To please your dad?’

  ‘Totally! I only did it cos he promised he’d let me go to this massive Star Wars convention in London if I did.’

  ‘Hold on a sec, that is too much information!’ Lis laughed.

  Good-naturedly, he returned her humour, ‘I know, right? But, anyway, it turns out that I’m really good at rugby and really enjoy it. Random or what?’

  ‘That is fairly random, but it’s great that it suits you, and your dad.’

  ‘You’d think, wouldn’t you? Nah, he just found something else to give me grief about!’ Danny frowned. ‘Christ, I’m not really doing much to impress you tonight, am I?’

  ‘Danny, I moved two hundred miles to live with my sister! My family life is hardly picture perfect. Hell, I haven’t even seen my dad since I was eleven.’

  ‘Lucky you!’

  They both laughed, wallowing in the shared ground they had found. Just as Danny reached across the table to take her hand, the waitress smacked the Garlic Bread Extreme right on top of his arm.

  It would have been so much easier for both of them to take the bus back into Hollow Pike, but that would have meant spending less time together, so they walked. They dawdled all the way. Four hours together and they hadn’t run out of things to say. Lis was already imagining her wedding dress, a thought she intended to keep firmly to herself. That said, she couldn’t wait to ring Jack and tell him all about her night.

  ‘The thing is,’ Danny beamed, ‘I don’t even like horr
or films! I only said Hacksaw because I knew you wanted to see it!’

  ‘What’s wrong with horror films? They’re fun!’

  ‘I just think they’re . . . nasty! I mean, who wants to see people being chopped up and stuff?’ He casually grasped Lis’s hand as they meandered up the hill towards Sarah’s house.

  ‘I do. It’s a rush!’ Lis replied.

  ‘You like being scared?’ he asked with disbelief.

  ‘I’m getting used to it . . .’ Had that been too weird? She scolded herself mentally for letting her mouth run away with itself.

  ‘Well, you’re safe and sound with me,’ Danny said, pulling himself up tall.

  Lis glanced at him. He had such a kind face; she couldn’t take her eyes off it, studying the rise and fall of his bone structure.

  ‘This is my house,’ she said as they reached the drive. Her stomach was full of butterflies; it was time for goodbye, and as much as she hated the thought of it, who knew what might come by way of a parting gesture?

  Danny turned to her and took both of her hands in his. ‘God, your hands are like ice cubes!’

  ‘Sorry.’ She smiled as sweetly as she could, tilting her face towards his.

  ‘Lis, I’ve had such a cool night, even though everything went wrong! I promise as soon as Hacksaw comes out on DVD . . .’

  ‘Forget about it! I had a really good time too.’ She moved her body a daring inch closer.

  ‘I think you’re awesome,’ he muttered. ‘If you want to go out again next week or something . . ?’

  ‘Yeah, I’d like that a lot.’ This was becoming hard work. She traced her toe around his foot, careful to make contact.

  ‘Cool! Well I’ll see you at school, obviously, so we can sort something out then.’

  ‘Danny?’

  ‘Yeah?’

  ‘This is where you’re meant to give me a goodnight kiss.’

  ‘Oh, OK, I wondered when I was meant to do that bit!’ He smiled, a wide, fantastic smile and then finally leaned forwards, his lips coming to meets hers.

  Lis felt his warm, moist, beautiful mouth press against her own. She closed her eyes and it was as though all the feeling in her body had moved to her lips, sensing every intimate detail of the kiss. He moved his hands to her waist. Electricity ran up and down her spine at the tenderness of his touch. Even through her coat she could feel glorious heat coming from his hands, and couldn’t help imagining how they would feel on her skin.

  He drew her nearer, closing the distance between them as she slid her arms around his neck. The kiss intensified. She wanted it to go on and on and on.

  ‘Oi!’ came a loud Welsh voice. ‘Don’t you need a license for that sort of behaviour?’

  Danny pulled back at once and Lis looked up to see Sarah standing on the front balcony, waving at them with a mischievous smile on her face. Luckily, Danny saw the funny side and laughed loudly, daring a shy wave back at her sister.

  Sarah winked theatrically at Lis before heading back inside the house.

  ‘Danny, I am so sorry about her.’ Lis felt her cheeks turning pink. ‘That’s my sister.’ And she is so dead, Lis added privately.

  ‘It’s OK. She seems nice. Plus, I was getting a little carried away . . .’

  Lis felt her heart thump against her ribs, threatening to bounce clear out of her chest. He’d felt it too!

  ‘So was I,’ she murmured. ‘I should probably head in – and kill her . . .’

  Danny leaned in once more and gave her a much less risky kiss, his mouth pressing briefly against hers.

  ‘Goodnight, Lis. I’m gonna be thinking about you all day tomorrow.’

  ‘Yeah, right!’

  He kissed her one last time, grinned like a lunatic and then turned and walked away, leaving her smiling and happy on the drive.

  ‘Sarah Harvey, where are you?’ Lis yelled, racing into the house and slamming the door behind her. ‘That was so embarrassing! I could have died!’

  Sarah feigned nonchalance, pretending to leaf through a magazine on the sofa in the lounge. ‘So that was Danny?’

  Lis paused in front of her, hands on hips, trying to muster anger but finding it lacking; the night had been too incredible to waste time being cross. Sarah looked up from the magazine, with a grin that Lis couldn’t resist.

  ‘Oh, Sarah, I had the best night!’

  ‘I know, I saw!’

  Lis threw herself onto the couch next to her sister. ‘I meant before that bit! We went for a meal and just talked and talked about his family and his life and . . . just . . . everything! It was awesome. We’re going out again next week.’

  ‘Just one piece of advice, Lis, love. Garlic on a first date? Rookie mistake!’

  ‘Do I stink?’

  ‘You reek, hon! I hope he had some—’ Sarah stopped abruptly.

  ‘What?’

  Sarah sat forwards, grabbing the TV remote from the arm of the sofa. Lis twisted to see the late evening news on the wide-screen. Filling the rectangle was Laura.

  A middle-aged anchorman spoke to the left of her stunning image: the same school photo that had been so proudly displayed at her memorial.

  ‘The parents of murdered schoolgirl, Laura Rigg, today made an emotional appeal for witnesses to come forward. Gita Nersessian reports from North Yorkshire.’

  The image faded to one of those standard police set-ups you see on the news every day. A panel of tired-looking people sat in front of a screen displaying a regional police force logo. There were sporadic flashes and clicks from cameras, and journalists pointed microphones. At the centre of the panel sat Kitty’s father with Laura’s parents.

  Sarah reached across the sofa and took Lis’s hand. ‘Do you want me to turn it off?’ she asked gently.

  ‘No,’ Lis replied, taking the remote and turning up the volume.

  ‘It has been over a week since the body of Hollow Pike teenager, Laura Rigg, was found at a local beauty spot, but police are yet to make an arrest. Today the parents of the deceased, Ian and Jennifer Rigg, made this heartfelt plea . . .’

  There was a close up of a distraught woman in her early forties. She was Laura, only twenty-five years older: same hair, face, eyes. It was chilling.

  ‘We have lost the most precious thing in our world,’ she said, her voice shaking.

  Next to her was a solid, handsome man, a George Clooney type. Definitely the same man Lis had seen on the street fighting with Laura. He wrapped an arm around his wife protectively.

  Jennifer Rigg continued, ‘We need to know what happened to our daughter. We won’t rest until we know. Someone out there must know something, must be protecting someone. It’s gone on long enough . . . Please come forward and contact the police. Please!’

  Lis pressed the red button and the screen went black. Her buzz had been sucked into the television.

  Without saying a word, she stood and took herself up to bed. Sarah looked on, speechless.

  Once in her bedroom, Lis peeled off her coat and threw it over the chaise longue. She curled into a ball on her bed. Guilt. That familiar guilt was back again.

  Tonight she’d experienced something so rare with Danny: a perfect first kiss. There would be no more first kisses for Laura Rigg. She’d had her last kiss weeks ago and had never even realised. She’d thought she had a long life, bursting with kisses, ahead of her. Not any more.

  Lis understood the whole ‘death is a part of life’ philosophy, but it meant nothing right now. She didn’t know why she should feel so bad about life when Laura was dead, but she did. The nightly news had sent her a timely reminder, just as she was on the verge of being happy. From the depths of her handbag she heard a tiny twinkle. Sighing and leaning over the edge of the bed, she dragged the bag to her and dug out her phone.

  One new message. From Danny: I meant it – I can’t stop thinking about you! Sweet dreams xxx

  He’d meant every word. She’d be safe and sound with him. Although she knew it was a little selfish, Lis couldn’t help fee
ling a certain lightness inside. Her heartbeat quickened, and, closing her eyes, she smiled and replayed the kiss in her head.

  Offerings

  The best way to tell if a boy is a virgin is to engage him in a conversation about sex, as Lis discovered the Monday after the half-term break.

  ‘I think it went pretty well . . .’ she told Jack.

  ‘Did you have sex with him?’

  ‘Jack!’ screamed Lis, as they walked towards their lockers. ‘Do you mind?’

  ‘OMG you did! What was it like?’

  ‘Jack!’

  ‘Well, is that a yes or a no?’ he demanded, grinning salaciously.

  ‘It’s a no, you pervert!’

  The hallway seemed especially downbeat that morning. First day back after the holidays, and it looked as if most of the pupils were already counting the weeks, days and hours until Christmas. The week off had gone far too quickly for Lis’s liking; her body had reacted angrily when her alarm had gone off at 7 a.m. The only saving grace was that she would get to see Danny again.

  Laura’s funeral had come and gone during the holiday. It had barely made a blip on the news; some other, newer atrocity was more exciting for the TV channels. People were quietly forgetting about Laura Rigg.

  ‘I was only asking!’ Jack protested. ‘Have you arranged a second date yet?’

  Lis scrunched her face slightly. ‘No. He’s been texting all the time, but he hasn’t actually asked me out again. I’m starting to worry.’

  ‘Why would he be texting if he wasn’t interested? Chillax.’

  ‘I will as long as you never use the word “chillax” again!’

  Jack smiled, stopping at his locker, onto which someone had kindly scratched the word ‘faggot’. He pulled out a sealed envelope.

  ‘What’s that?’ Lis asked.

  ‘My weekly excuse for not doing PE. Mum’s stopped fighting it. This week I have a bad back. Next week, who knows?’

  ‘You’ll have to do it at some point,’ Lis laughed. How come she was the only one of her group who actually participated in PE?

  ‘When Mr Coleman stops referring to me as “Dolly Denton”, I’ll start doing PE!’ Jack told her.