The young woman rushed through the park towards the wrong side of town as her baby screamed and her little boy trailed behind them, singing to himself and loudly banging his toy against the railings.

Sophie glanced up from the page she’d been trying to finish for half an hour and watched the family. ‘Do I know her?’ She asked, lifting her sunglasses and squinting, trying to place the woman’s face.

‘Who?’ Lauren sat up, adjusted the straps of her bikini top with one hand, while shielding her eyes with the other. ‘Fuck me.’ She sniggered. ‘That’s Kylie Clark.’

‘I don’t think I know her,’ Sophie insisted, sliding her sunglasses onto the top of her head and smoothing out the page of her book to stop it flapping in the summer breeze.

‘Kylie. Clark.’ Lauren announced slowly and loudly. ‘She had to leave school when we were in year nine because she was pregnant and had been trying to hide it. Don’t you remember one of the Charlottes told everybody that she’d been charging the boys a quid for a shag round the back of the bowling alley and had no idea who the father was.’

‘Oh yeah, I remember her now,’ Sophie mumbled, sitting cross-legged and picking a blade of grass, before wrapping it tightly around her index finger. She watched as the tip turned red. ‘I didn’t know she had a second one.’

‘Looks like number three might be on the way as well,’ Lauren observed, putting her white camisole back on over her bikini top. ‘Can you imagine having three kids? At seventeen? She must be so miserable.’ Lauren drained her bottle of water, casually wiping her lips with the back of her hand, and forgetting about Kylie Clark. ‘I’m starving. Do you want to go somewhere and eat?’

Sophie didn’t respond. She continued to watch as Kylie grabbed her little boy by the wrist and dragged him along behind her, still managing to steer the pram along the path. The family passed a group of lads playing football and they stopped their game as soon as they noticed her, turning around to jeer. Kylie pushed on, speeding up. The baby cried even louder.

‘I am hungry actually, where do you want to go?’ Sophie closed her book and slid it into her bag, distracting herself by moving the contents around and ignoring the slurs being flung in Kylie’s direction. She slipped her trainers on and stood up, relieved that Kylie and her children were almost out of sight and the group of lads were settling back into their match.

‘We could go to Adam’s barbecue,’ Lauren suggested, getting up and sliding her feet into her flip flops. She slung her large tote bag onto her right shoulder and wiped blades of grass away from the back of her thighs. ‘I think most of our year are going to be there and, of course, Jamie will be there too.’

‘So.’ Sophie lowered her sunglasses over her eyes and pulled the strap of her bag across her body. ‘I don’t know why you think I’d be bothered,’ she said, facing Lauren but using the darkness of her sunglasses to glance towards the south gate. Kylie and her children were gone.

‘I just thought you might be interested,’ Lauren managed to say around the beginnings of a laugh. She retrieved her phone from her back pocket and checked it for any messages.

‘Well, I’m not.’ Sophie trudged through the grass that had been allowed to grow longer in the shadows of the trees and tried to ignore Lauren, who attempted to stifle a giggle. ‘Shut up,’ Sophie called behind her.

Lauren burst out laughing, before clamping her lips together and chuckling. ‘I’m sorry,’ she started, clearing her throat. ‘But I don’t know who you’re trying to convince.’

Sophie sighed loudly. ‘I used to like Jamie, you know, like, a lot,’ she struggled with the words. ‘But that was…before. I’m not interested anymore. Okay?’

‘Before what exactly?’ Lauren challenged her. ‘One day you were obsessed with him, wouldn’t shut up about him, and now you can’t stand to hear his name. What happened?’

‘Nothing happened,’ Sophie lied. ‘He’s just not who I thought he was.’ She turned towards the north gate and wondered how she could avoid seeing him again. She touched her stomach and spread her fingers over the bump that had started showing a few weeks ago. He couldn’t find out.

She sat at the end of her bed distracted by the stain on the otherwise spotless carpet. She had tried ignoring it, but it was no use. Her mother had attempted to scrub the carpet clean a number of times and had brought home various stain removers from the supermarket, but nothing would shift it. If anything, the stain had spread with each of her mother’s attempts to remove it. Gradually turning from a spatter of the deepest red into a swirl of pink smears chasing after each other.

She wondered how much longer the carpet would remain before a pair of fitters arrived from the local flooring centre to replace it, probably with an identical roll that would continue to match the carpeting throughout the rest of the house. Maybe her mother would surprise her and order a darker colour this time, so the evidence of her father’s temper could be more easily disguised. Her mother might even break her rules and opt for vinyl wood flooring, so any future instances could simply be wiped away with a sheet of kitchen towel.

She stood up slowly, careful not to disturb any of the bruises that still decorated her skin and dressed quickly. She eased the cheap black tights from the local chemist up her legs, before stepping into the denim skirt and pulling on the jumper she had managed to find in the local charity shop. She had a lot of expensive clothes hanging in her wardrobe, but she couldn’t stand to wear them any longer. They belonged to her parents. Everything in her room was either bought by them or with their money and she wanted to be free of all of it.

The credit card and phone that her father paid for every month were huddled together on top of her bed, along with the note she had written. It didn’t contain any of her reasons for leaving, just a plea for her mother to find the courage to escape him as well. Without her in the house her father’s temper would have to be satisfied in some other way. She glanced around her bedroom and at the lie she had been living for so long, before pushing down on the door handle. She tensed as the usual click of the latch sounded so much louder in the early morning.

She studied the closed door leading to her parents’ bedroom as she made her way downstairs, taking each step slowly, careful to avoid the creaking floorboards. At the bottom, she waited for the sound of muffled voices or footsteps above her, but the house remained completely still. She didn’t hesitate, rushing through the living room and kitchen towards the back of the house. She only stopped to slip her trainers on, before unlocking the door and stepping outside.

It had been raining all night and the dampness was clinging to the morning. She didn’t care. She followed the garden path towards the gate, stepping over the broken tiles, and unlatched it.

She had simply had enough.

There was no showdown at teatime over eating their vegetables or refusal to clean their teeth and go to bed on time. She had tucked them in, kissed them goodnight and turned the lights off before going downstairs.

It was in the kitchen where it had dawned on her. The pile of dirty dishes waiting patiently to be placed in the dishwasher; the clothes in the dryer begging to be removed and ironed before folded and put away; the floor that desperately needed mopping and the family table that felt sticky, with very obvious congealed blobs of ketchup, strawberry jam and toffee sauce.

The car wasn’t much better either. Each seat was covered with mysterious stains, the glove compartment was stuffed full of used wet wipes and the floor littered with empty drink cartons and lost sweets gathering fluff. As she drove along the deserted country lane, edged by dense dark hedgerows, she noticed a plastic doll in her rear view mirror, lying face down on the back seat, abandoned by her youngest daughter during the school run, but appearing more like it had passed out drunk after a bottle, or two, of red wine that it had consumed by itself. She put her foot down and sped further away from her house and every single one of her responsibilities, hoping to escape them all.

It was selfish, of course it was. She had wanted to be a mother for as long as she could remember, having spent most of her childhood caring for her younger siblings, she knew she was destined to be a great mother. What she hadn’t really given much thought to was having children. She hadn’t realised how much she would dislike them sometimes and how it would feel as though they had invaded her life, ruining her body, destroying her marriage and wrecking everything she owned.

She was ashamed of her house and her car. She hated the school run and the other mothers, who all appeared to be coping perfectly, while she always turned up with wet hair in a messy ponytail and clothes that always had unexplained stains or holes in them.

She couldn’t stand going to work either, and the judgemental looks when she turned up later than everyone else but left earlier. Her co-workers didn’t even bother hiding their resentment any longer, talking about her when they knew she could hear them, commenting on the quality of her work or how distracted she seemed these days.

She pushed the car a bit harder, going faster, whipping around the tight corners and feeling the old tyres slipping against the tarmac. Could she really do it? Could she continue to drive away and abandon her children? Would they be better off without her?

She stared at the road ahead and let go of the steering wheel for a moment, holding her hands up in the air and surrendering to the feeling of freedom. The car veered to the left and guilt welled in the pit of her stomach. She grabbed the steering wheel again and pushed down on the brake pedal. The car jerked to a stop and threw her forward. She sighed loudly, allowing the tension to flow out of her body, before mounting the muddy bank as she turned the car around and headed back home.

It was so small that he almost didn’t notice it at first. An orb of amber light suspended below the surface of the dark forest pool. He stood at the edge of the water, leaned forward, and watched as the light remained perfectly still. Cold water lapped over his trainers and seeped through the upper mesh, soaking his socks and through to his skin, sending a chill across his body. He shivered, but felt compelled to remain exactly where he was as though the light was reaching out of the water and holding him in place.

A single bubble burst on the surface, making a wet popping noise. It was followed by the sudden frantic flapping of wings as a large, dark-feathered bird left it’s hiding place amongst the leaves and launched itself into the night sky. Another bubble appeared, quickly followed by another and another, until the entire surface of the pool was alive, like water left to boil. A roaring noise overwhelmed the silent night and he covered his ears. The light ascended to the surface, twisting and turning around itself, spreading across the full width of the pool, bathing the shore and the surrounding trees in a fiery glow. The noise grew even louder and transformed into a thunderous rushing sound. The ground shook beneath him. He fell to his knees and gripped handfuls of soil and dead leaves, before closing his eyes and waiting for the world to rip apart.

He came to, lying on his side, curled up in the foetal position. There was grit in his mouth and cool water gently lapping against his face. It was dark again and the sound of roaring water had been replaced by a girl quietly humming a tune that he didn’t recognise. He sat up and watched her, unable to trust what he was seeing. She was in the pool, turned away from him, repeatedly gathering water in her cupped hands and rinsing her long copper hair. Her skin was as pale as porcelain and from what he could tell, she was completely naked beneath the water.

Dirt scratched at the back of his throat and he coughed, startling the girl in the water who spun around and searched the shoreline. Alarmed by his presence, she scrambled to the other side of the pool and stared at him, unblinking. He stood up, still coughing, before raising his right hand and silently telling her that she had nothing to be afraid of. She continued to stare at him, eyes wide, and her hands covering her vulnerability.

‘I…I’m sorry,’ he coughed out, grasping at his throat. ‘I didn’t mean to scare you.’

‘You shouldn’t be here,’ she warned, barely whispering.

‘I’m sorry,’ he repeated. ‘I was on my way home and got lost.’

‘You didn’t,’ she said, more forcefully this time. ‘You should go.’

He stepped closer to the edge and she tried to move further away. ‘What do you mean, I didn’t get lost?’

‘Just leave,’ she yelled, as six spheres of light suddenly appeared. The girl glided towards the centre of the water as bubbles broke on the surface, forming a ring around her. The ground started to rumble. ‘Run,’ she screamed, pointing towards the density of trees behind him.

‘I can’t,’ he responded. The pull he felt before was now coming from her, as though they were tied together for eternity. He couldn’t explain it.

She closed her eyes and tears ran down her cheeks.

‘I can’t leave you,’ he explained.

‘I know you can’t,’ she admitted.