Me. Her. Him - Chapter Sixteen

Background: Angela is shocked when William, an old friend from her past, who she hoped never to see again, comes back into her life, after he applies for a role at her work and successfully secures the job. William’s sudden reappearance puts Angela on edge. She’s terrified he’s discovered her secret, which she needs to protect her family from. William’s convinced Angela knows what happened to his former girlfriend, Caz, who hasn't been seen for twenty years, and that something terrible happened to her. The only person, who can help Angela, is her once best friend, Michelle, but Angela hasn’t seen Michelle for more than a decade. Faced with the threat of William’s return, they know they’ll need to work together to save their future, even if this does mean reopening old wounds, and revisiting a past they'd rather keep buried.

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I’m pretty sure I know where Hayley lives, or lived, I have no idea if she’s there now.

On her Facebook page, there’s an old profile picture of a house she’s standing in front of with her partner, when they first picked up the keys. From the position the photo was taken I can see some of the street, and plus Hayley had captioned the photo with ‘The new residents of Daykin’s Drive,’ with a heart emoji. Big mistake. If it had just been a picture of her standing in front of the front door, I wouldn’t have had a clue where they were.

She’s bought a house not far from where her parents live. I still remember their address from the times I used to go round there after school, I could probably sleep walk the route from my old school. A few years ago, I drove round there, parked my car at the top of the road and reminisced about my past. That was until a nosy neighbour knocked on my window and asked me if I was alright, which, when translated means, who the hell are you and what are you doing here?

Every nerve in my brain is screaming at me not to do this. But what if there’s something she can tell me?

I get out of my car. It only took fifteen minutes to drive here, after I finished with Rebecca. There’s a silver Vauxhall parked outside. Someone must be home.

I march up to the green front door. She might not be home. This is a waste of time. I knock once. This is a mistake, run back to the car and drive away now, but I remain frozen to the spot.

The door is wrenched open. My once best friend from school, stands there. She’s gaping at me.

‘What the fuck,’ she says, stumbling back, the door swinging forward a little.

‘Hi Hayley,’ I say. My hands are buried deep in my pockets, my cheeks sting. ‘Can I come in?’

I half expect Hayley to say no, shove me back out onto the street, and slam the door in my face, but I’m surprised when she nods and lets me into the house. Her face is still contorted in either rage, or terror, I’m not sure which. Of course, I wasn’t expecting her to be thrilled to see me. She doesn’t say anything. She’s barely changed since I last saw her, her soft brown curls drape onto her shoulders.

I glance up at the pictures of her family hanging from the purple wallpaper in her hallway. There’s a picture of the four of them standing in front of Cinderella’s Castle at Disney World, the sky a brilliant blue in the background. Her two sons are grasping onto magic wands. I’m reminded of when Rebecca pleaded with me to take her when she was eight. It was Michelle who surprised us with the tickets.

‘What . . .  what are you doing here?’ Hayley finally says.

I take my eyes off the family photos.

‘Did you receive my message?’

She looks at me. She’s backing against the other side of the wall. I rub my arms. She doesn’t want to talk to me.

‘I . . .’

I hold my hands up. ‘It’s okay, I wasn’t expecting a reply, it was a long shot, but I really needed to talk to you. I promise I’ll be here for five minutes and then I’ll be out of your hair. You’ll never see me again.’

Hayley doesn’t say anything. She saunters into the living room; I follow her. The radio is playing on the television, Smooth FM. At the other end of the room, just before the back window, there’s a dining table with a laptop set up, and stacks of papers in piles on the wooden surface. She must work from home.

Hayley sits in the armchair closest to the television, picks up the remote and switches it off. The house is deafened by silence. She’s staring at me still with those big, wild eyes, but they have softened a little.

‘It was a shock when you contacted me,’ she says. It sounds like it’s taken all the courage in the world for her to speak.

‘So you did get my message?’ I ask.

Hayley nods. I gingerly sit on the sofa opposite her.

‘I’m sorry; I didn’t want to reply to you. I didn’t want to . . .’  

‘It’s fine, I understand, I was a right bitch to you and Lauren.’

Hayley wipes her eyes and coughs. ‘Shit, I thought I’d moved on from what happened. I’ve just noticed, you’ve changed your hair, when did you do that?’

‘Oh, a while ago now, I fancied a change that’s all. You’ve not changed since the last time I saw you.’

‘Really, I’m definitely not as slim as I once was.’ My lips break into a smile, there’s the old Hayley I once knew. Hayley must’ve seen, because all of a sudden the features on her face harden. I sink back into the chair. I know I’ll have to do a lot to win her back round, if I ever want to be friends with her again, but right now, that’s not my agenda. ‘So, now that you’re here, why are you so concerned about William? Actually, how the bloody hell did you find out where I live?’

I shrug. ‘It wasn’t hard to be honest. There was a photo on your Facebook page, of you and your partner standing outside your house when you bought it, I recognised the street. We’re just round the corner from your mum and dad, aren’t we? But I had no idea if you were still here.’

‘Right,’ she says. She’ll be making a mental note to take down that photo later. ‘Mum’s actually in a care home now.’

‘Oh, I’m sorry.’

I’ve always remembered Hayley’s mum being bubbly and kind, always giving us treats whenever we popped round. I can’t imagine her languishing in a care home.

‘She’s in the best place . . .  dementia,’ Hayley says, her voice cracking. ‘But . . . let’s get back to the reason why you’re here and what all this business with William is about, shall we?’

‘Right, yes, okay. I just need to know, has he tried getting in contact with you at all?’

Hayley looks towards the window. Her eyes have turned misty. Is it because we’re talking about William, or is she still thinking about her mum?

‘Okay,’ she says. ‘I’ve no idea why he’s so keen to get in contact with you, but, yes, he did try contacting me. He reached out to me on Facebook, the same way you did, and I was stupid enough to reply to him. This was what, two months ago now, maybe. He wanted to meet me in person, but I . . . there’s no way I was going to do that. Before you ask, I did check and I can’t find him on Facebook anymore, so either he’s deleted his account, or he’s blocked me, I don’t know. I was going to reply to your message, I was all intent on doing it, but I . . . I haven’t been able to forgive you for how you dumped me and Lauren like that. It was as if all those years of friendship, meant nothing to you. Do you know your mum came to me in tears once? She told me how you’d broken their hearts as well. She thought I might be able to talk to you, and get you to see sense.’  

I nod, and rub my knees. My stomach contracts. I imagine my mum pouring her heart out to Hayley, thinking Hayley might have some sort of idea of what was going on with me.

‘So what did William say to you, when he made contact?’ I try to keep my focus on why I’m here; I can’t get distracted by thoughts about my family.

‘He was asking me all sorts of questions about you . . .  about Caz,’ she says, her eyes darting back and forth. ‘But I told him the last time I saw Caz was that day when she came to see us, the day after you and William saw each other, and when he stole from you.’  

 ‘But what did he specifically say about Caz? What does he want to know about her?’ I say, urging her to continue.

I rub the palms of my hands together. I stop when I realise Hayley’s watching me. She’ll be wondering what all this is about in her head.

‘Angela did something happen between you and Caz?’ she asks. ‘Is that why William’s so irate with you now?’

‘No,’ I say doing my best to keep my voice steady and in control. ‘We saw Caz a couple more times after you and Lauren left London, but that was it. I’ve not seen her for twenty years.’

The last part of my sentence is true.

‘What, she came back, even after she had a go at you, and accused you of lying to the police?’ Hayley says disbelief etched into her voice.

‘Yeah it was a bit strange,’ I mutter.

‘Are you still in touch with Michelle?’ Hayley asks, her voice turning bitter.

‘Um . . . no, not exactly.’

Hayley frowns. ‘What does that mean?’

‘We . . . we stopped seeing each other, ten years ago now, but we’re actually meeting tomorrow.’

Hayley nods, she’s trying so hard not to show any emotion. ‘I can’t imagine you two not seeing each other. You were, inseparable, when we were living in London. Michelle was always clinging onto you.’  

 ‘Yeah, just, you know, life got in the way of things,’ I say, rolling my shoulders back. ‘So, did William say anything else?’

‘Well, I’m not sure if he quite believed me when I said I no longer had anything to do with you guys, but eventually he seemed to accept that he wasn’t going to get anything more out of me. At one point I told him if he carried on pestering me like this I was going to report him to the police. And if he’s doing the same to you, Angela, that’s what you need to do.’

‘Yeah, yeah,’ I say, like that’s going to happen.

‘What does he want, Angela? He kept insisting that you know what happened to Caz, and wanted me to tell him where you lived. He was talking about Caz like, like she’s dead. It frightened me, Angela, it really did.’

 ‘I think he’s had some sort of nervous breakdown, but, yeah, you’re right, if it gets too out of control, I will call the police,’ I say. ‘Look, thank you for your time, but I think I better go.’

I stand up and Hayley does the same. At least I can tell Michelle that William believes something happened to Caz, there must be something to make him believe that. But I still have no idea what he knows.

‘Just . . . if you are seeing Michelle again, be careful, Angela,’ Hayley says.

‘What do you mean?’ I ask, anxiety creeping into my fingers.

She’s beginning to back away from me now.

‘Look, as much as I know you liked her,’ Hayley says, she’s speaking slowly, choosing her words carefully. ‘I never thought she was good for you.’

Not good for me. She saved me. If it wasn’t for her, I would be. I don’t even want to think about where I would be if it wasn’t for Michelle.

‘I don’t have to listen to this.’ I turn away from her. My head is hot. Hayley has no right to speak like this to me.

‘Angela.’ The desperation in her voice makes my eye twitch.  

I don’t look back. I storm out into the hallway and to the front door. How dare, after all this time, Hayley tell me to be careful around Michelle. She has no idea what we went through. If she thought she was no good for me, why did she never tell me that when we were friends?

Hayley’s still standing outside her front door. I unlock my car and slide in.

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Character List:

Angela Watkins - Protagonist 

Paul Watkins - Angela's husband

Rebecca Watkins - Angela's daughter 

Michelle Blake - Angela's former best friend 

Kirsty - Receptionist (Angela's friend) 

Olivia - Angela's boss

William Harris - Angela's former friend 

Caroline (Caz) - Angela's friend 

Hayley - Angela's former friend

Lauren - Angela's former friend