The English sun was setting over the horizon, just hours after the class of ’82 graduated from the University of Liverpool, sweeping over Lily as she sat on the cool stone steps near the river. Looking out at the Mersy, she watched the murky water ripple in small waves as it travelled in from the ocean. The docks were busy with life, workers- what was left of them- walking back home from a day of work, trudging along slowly and numbly despite the rise in temperature in the recent weeks as late spring turned into summer.
Around her, the citizens of Liverpool were struggling through the consequences of the recession, riots were a daily occurrence on the streets and unemployment was at a soaring figure. A gloom settled over the city and everyone in it, including Lily, though for completely different reasons.
Lily wanted to leave.
Lily had to leave; she knew she had no future here.
She looked around at a group of young children who were idling around the water’s edge, most likely stopping off after school to piss about before they had to be home for tea. She almost felt sorry for them, having to grow up in such a crappy place, but then remembered that she grew up here too. Thankfully, Lily’s childhood home wasn’t in the main city, but a bit outside of it in a place called Skelmersdale. Originally, her parents and older sister, Petunia, lived in the centre, but due to overpopulation and generally shoddy conditions, they were moved to the New Town in around 1961. She was only a year old when this happened and doesn’t remember any of her old house. Her mother had always been incredibly grateful for this move, as she saw it was a ‘new start to our life’ and all of that inspirational crap people spew to get through the day.
Personally, Lily had no issue with living there either, but her sister always seemed to find a reason to complain about it, annoying everyone else around her. Now grown up, Petunia had managed to wriggle her way out of Skelmersdale and down to East London, Lily questions how that’s any better, but never says this to her sister and her short temper. Petunia had got a husband who has a job in some car firm in Central London which pays him a decent wage, Lily thinks that’s one of the only reasons why she married Vernon- to leave the North and go to a more ‘sophisticated area of Britain’. Petunia’s stereotypical views clouded her vision like fog on a chilly winters’ day.
The night was creeping in slowly and Lily had decided that it’s best to head back to her house, while she still had spots of daylight to follow her down the streets. Walking through the city at night was never the safest option, especially since she’s a young 22-year-old woman. They were rowdy with liquor and prostitutes and men who wanted said liquor and prostitutes, hardly stopping at anything to do just that.
Lucky for her, her student accommodation was only a ten-minute walk away from the Albert Docks, so there was no need to catch a tube.
Despite graduating with an Honours Degree in English only hours before, meaning that she and her friends were not technically permitted to use student housing but could go home to their families; they decided together that there was no point in wasting this month’s rent that ended in just under a week. After that, will they head off on their own.
She turned to key in the lock and opened the door, expecting to see her friends sitting in the lounge and watching some late-night drama like East Enders or Corrie, but as she settled, she realized that she came home to a strangely quiet living room.
“Mary?” She called out, hanging up her coat and taking her shoes off. “Marlene? Alice? Dorcas?”
Despite living with four very loud and very shouty girls, Lily got no reply when calling their names. She shook her head, already in a bitter mood and went to the kitchen to grab the alcohol that they stored in the top cupboard.
She took a glass out of the sink that was piled with dishes that need washing that will have to be done tomorrow and started to pour herself a glass of cheap Red Wine Sangria, too lazy to cut up the fruit, she had it without. Or ‘naked’, as Marlene liked to call it.
“Lily!” A voice then shouted, coming from outside the window in their pathetically small and slightly overgrown garden. Normally, Lily would take pride in nature, but their exam weeks were stressful, and the task slipped away, adding something else to her list of tasks to get finished. Looking out, she saw the four girls sitting down in the backyard on deckchairs, crowded around a small fire in a metal bin that glowed orange and red now that the sun had finally set.
“Lily Evans, where have you been?” Dorcas shrieked, they were obviously drinking, Dorcas got whiny when under the influence, something that seemed to both amuse and alarm Marlene.
“Out.” She replied as she opened the door and took the last deck chair of a set of five that they found in a Salvation Army at the start of their second year. Not wanting to chatter too much, her reply remained short and flat, much to the dismay of the girls.
“You’re moping.” Alice noted.
“Am not, ‘m just tired.” She took a sip of her drink and watched the flames dance around. “They didn’t show up.” She said after a couple moment of silence.
“Are you really surprised, love?” Mary questioned, taking her hand.
“They never show up and yet every time it surprises me.”
“Well then you give them hell when you get home.”
“Mary, I’m not going back home.” Lily had been thinking about this for weeks leading up to her graduation, it started off as a ‘what if?’ dream, too scared to actually commit to never going home again but also wishing a form hell upon her crappy relations for letting her down one too many times. She decided that if her family shows up on the day, she will be kind to them, give them the benefit of the doubt; and if they don’t, she’ll give them the silent treatment just to spite them.
Now, after looking out at the Mersy as the sun set on the horizon, Lily knew that home was no longer in Skelmersdale, or Liverpool, or with her mum and dad. It was wherever the world took her; God knows where?
“I did that when I was eighteen- before I came ‘ere,” Marlene chirped up, “but me parents ended up renting out me room for a bit of extra dosh.”
Lily took a large swig of her drink and laughed, maybe leaving for good wasn’t such a scary idea, she’s always wanted freedom, proper freedom; and it would give her just that. Where would she go? She obviously had to go somewhere, roaming around didn’t interest her at all.
Maybe Paris? She’s always wanted to see the city, apparently it smells just like the Mersy- a tang of rubbish and human shit.
“Where would you go?” Alice asks her, as if she’d read Lily’s thoughts.
“I’m not sure yet. Life is short, the world is wide.” She replied, turning into her happier self now that she’s with her friends. “I want to make some memories.”
“In other words, you’re leaving us.” Says Dorcas.
“No, no, of course not. I’m just trekking a new path that you can join along the way.” She reassures her friends, because no matter how much she may not like her family, she’ll always love her girls. She could never imagine a world with Mary, without Marlene, or Alice and Dorcas; it was simply a world without any meaning. Without any fun.
“Well then, get word out about our band and I’ll agree to let you be sent off into the wild as the Lone Lily.” Marlene joked, prodding her in the knee. Their band, The Dynamos, was something of a joke that started in first year, around Christmas time when Karaoke was a popular pastime for everyone and their mother at the university campus.
“And make sure to pick up a few guys on the way, God knows I’ll enjoy them.” Mary winks at her and Marlene and Dorcas roll their eyes at the comment.
“No promises.” She mutters.
As the fire crackled on, growing smaller as the night turned darker and dawn creeped closer, the girls finished off their drinks in time for a round two. The alcohol warmed their bodies and mushed their minds. In the morning, Lily found herself on her bed, not entirely sure how she got there but certain that she didn’t have too much to drink, unlike Alice, who threw up in the bathroom at around six in the morning.
Unlike the other girls, Alice was a year older, she completed a year in industry working for one of the museums in Liverpool with her boyfriend, Frank Longbottom. This meant that she did a four-year course instead of three and having known the four girls when they were in first year and Alice in second, they agreed to join up in their final year and rent out the student house. At graduation, her certificate stated that she had an Honours in Archaeology BA- “Shouldn’t that say BC, Alice?” Mary was as chuffed as ever making that pun.
Later on in the afternoon, Mary and Lily were sitting on their brown fake leather sofa, withered with age- something else that was found at a Salvation Army- and skimming through places around the world to visit. Mary was in love with the idea of visiting Hollywood, but Lily wasn’t keen in any of that crap, or America as a whole really. Another idea that Mary loved was visiting Paris, just Lily thought of, so they began to slowly form a plan on how to get there- plane was the easiest way. Through working at a small bookshop in the city centre and Dorcas’ family being relatively rich and kind enough to support a lot of their rent prices, Lily had saved up a good amount of cash in the last three years.
“Hey, look at this.” Mary perked up, shoving a travel book of Europe in Lily’s face. The page was opened on a section of holiday spots in Greece, which suited Lily well as she skimmed the page.
“I wouldn’t want to go to mainland Greece, it’ll have to be an island.” She replied, turning the page to another famous Greek landmark.
“Bloody hell, you’re a right picky bugger.” Mary laughed, getting another book of the floor, titled ‘Hidden Hideouts of Greece’. How convenient, Lily thought. “Take this, then.”
After reading through the book for about ten minutes, placing sticky notes on pages that had either useful information or islands that she decided were worthy enough to be in the running, she found one called Kalokairi. The description of the little island alone sparked adventure in Lily’s heart that she hadn’t felt since ABBA won Eurovision in 1974, when she was only fourteen years old.
Situated at the far end of Greece, it told her that if you were to sail on past Kalokairi, you would fall off the edge of the world. This made Lily wonder if she could skip the island all together, and instead fall of the world and see where it takes her. But Mary disagreed, instead telling her that it sounds like the most perfect place and that she’s incredibly jealous of not going with her, especially since another fun fact about the Greek Island was that the waters surrounding it were supposed to be blessed by the Goddess Aphrodite.
“You could come with me if you wanted to.” Lily told her, turning to face her friend.
“No, no, this is your moment, Lils.” She shook her head a smiled, facing Lily as well. “I can visit anyway, but right now, Brighton is calling my name. Along with Marlene and Dorcas’ names, too.”
“So that’s what you’re gonna do?”
“Yeah, we’re going to visit at least, see what it’s like. Just scope the place out really, especially in the summertime when we can lie on the beach and waste away.”
“Now I’m jealous.” Lily laughed, happy that her friends were having their own adventures too.
“I’ll have an ice cream on you.” Mary joked.
She was going to miss her friends an awful lot, Lily knew that it was a consequence of packing her bags and leaving. However, she was confident that they wouldn’t lose touch, despite the distance, they weren’t going to say goodbye that easily. She would take her friends everywhere she goes, keeping them safely tucked away in her heart and memories just to reassure herself that she wasn’t alone on the road.
“You’re going to be great.” Mary told her, taking both of her hands and squeezing them tight.
“We’re going to be great.” Lily corrected her, “The Dynamos are going to be great.”
“Cheesy git.” Mary laughed, but agreed with Lily, nonetheless.