It was hard work getting up the hill. The air felt close, and when they climbed the stile out of the meadow and on to the moor there was a heat haze shimmering over the heather. Liam wanted to offer his hand to Becky as she climbed over the stile, but James had got there first. He wasn’t that bothered anyway. He waited. Beside the fence-line running towards the ridge, he saw a scarecrow that hadn’t been there before.
The others had seen it too, and stopped. It looked like it was holding a shotgun.
Liam wondered where Becky was from, and whether she’d seen anyone with a gun before. She had a look on her face as though she might not have done.
It wasn’t a scarecrow. It was Clive, the man who ran the allotments and did pest control. He raised the gun in their direction. It was obviously meant as a joke. Becky screamed, and ran towards the woods, and the others ran with her. Liam started to run but soon slowed to a walk. He knew where they were going.
*
It was cooler in the woods but the air felt dry. Sticks cracked beneath his feet as he walked. When he caught up with the others, they were looking for the gap in the fence. You couldn’t see the water in the quarry from where they were standing, but there was a brightness through the bushes that Liam knew was the sunlight reflecting back from the hard surface.
The others looked at him when he joined them. Becky asked if he’d stopped for some snacks, and the others laughed. Sophie said something about an earthquake.
There were these jokes, sometimes. It went round in turns and you were supposed to just laugh it off. But sometimes.
The girls went a short distance away to get changed. The boys couldn’t see them but they could still hear their voices. There were other sounds which might have been the rustle of their clothes.
The boys looked at each other. They’d grown up swimming together, down at the river, but something felt different. It wasn’t only the fact of being at the quarry. James told them not to be wimps and started stripping off. He already had his swimmers on under his jeans. Liam hadn’t thought of that.
When the girls came back they all squeezed through the gap in the fence and followed a narrow trail through the bushes to the edge of the quarry.
James threw a stone and they watched it fall. It took for ever, and they could barely hear the splash. When it landed a heron took off from the rocks at the side, hoisting itself into the air one flap at a time.
Do you think there are fish down there? Deepak asked. How would fish get in there, though?
There’s a gap in the fence, James said.
Becky asked if they dared her to jump.
They did.
She jumped.
Liam couldn’t believe it.
She jumped out and upward, and she seemed to be held in mid-air for a moment. The sun shone all over her, and everyone held their breath. Then she started to fall.
Her hair rose up above her. There was silence. She didn’t scream until just before she hit the water, and then her scream was drowned out by the splash. She hit the water hard.
It took her a while to come back to the surface. The ripples in the water faded, and the water was flat and still, and the air was quiet again, and she still didn’t come back up. Liam thought, later, that she’d probably stayed down there longer on purpose, just to mess with their heads. She seemed like someone who would find it funny to just hide out somewhere and watch people looking for her.
When she resurfaced, her screaming laughter echoing off the jagged walls of the quarry, everyone else jumped in.
Except for Liam. He wasn’t a great swimmer, and he didn’t want to hear any jokes about the size of the splash he would make.
They shouted at him to jump in, and he didn’t. They couldn’t force him.
After a while he turned away and started to make a fire. They’d probably be cold when they got out, despite the weather.
By the time they’d all climbed the steep path up from the water the fire was going well. It was crackling and there were sparks spinning up through the trees. Becky seemed impressed. She dropped her towel and started marching around the flames. Everyone joined in. They were stamping their feet. They were making whooping noises, and then they were all standing around Liam.
It happened quickly.
Becky put her hand on Liam’s shoulder and started smearing dirt on his face.
The quarry-god is angry with you, she said. She was smiling, as though it was a game. We’ll have to make a sacrifice, she said. The others smeared dirt all over him. Their hands felt cold on his skin.
It was kids’ stuff. Childish. But he went along with it.