She gazed at the pond filled with lilies, where the reeds stood straight up as if they were sentinels at the four corners, and a castle was at it’s centre. Dragonflies danced across its surface and a few pink lilies poked from between the leaves. She was lucky. Lucy had picked a beautiful day at the end of summer to visit these beautiful grounds, people were still wearing t-shirts and the wind was cool.

She felt she could spend all her time here before going off to university again, which was 3 weeks away. Her summer job finished 3 days ago, and this was her calm before the storm. She enjoyed walking around a national trust garden, it was serene and calming, with birdsong a plenty and friendly families and dog walkers. Lucy was also looking forward to returning to university again, this time as a postgraduate in English, needless to say, she would be including the English country garden and lily ponds and her assignments.

She sat there mesmerized by the movement of dragonflies and wondered what it would be like to stay here, in this spot for all of eternity, when someone said “Hello” unexpectedly and made her jump.

“Hi,” she said back, with an embarrassed smile.

“Sorry to interrupt what looked like some serious contemplating.”

“That’s alright,” she said, “I was just enjoying the movement.”

“It is beautiful isn’t it.”

“It certainly is,” she said.

Then she noticed the navy volunteer polo the man was wearing.

“What’s it like to work here, I bet it’s lovely.”

“Most days, mostly in the summer, it’s not great when the rain is lashing down and it’s bloody freezing, but to work out in nature at its best it’s amazing,” “My name is Tom by the way,” he said as he smiled offering his hand to shake.

“Lucy,” she said shaking his manly big hands which felt a little cold and clammy.

“How long have you been volunteering here?” she asked.

“It’s been ages, probably only a couple of years, but it feels like longer,” he smiled “You like it here then.”

“It’s lovely and calming, I’m currently between work and university, I needed a breather.”

“Well, I don’t blame you, and you couldn’t have picked a better day for it.”

“That’s true,” she said, “I was just thinking what it must be like to stay here forever,”

“I would assume not bad, I mean you see people come and go, the turn of the seasons, and witness the growth of life,” he said and smiled at her, she blushed.

“I think you’ve been here too long,” she said, and they both grinned.

She stayed a few minutes longer and then said goodbye to Tom before meandering off in search of more beautiful vistas, and the gift shop.

Lucy came back a couple of times in the days left and always bumped into Tom by the pond. Then by the time she got to university, there was a creative writing assignment, she obviously drew on her knowledge of the beautiful lily pond, she was hoping this would score her some points as her story was not a crime drama or a serial killer exposé ( as they were ‘in fashion’ ), and started looking into her gardens and pond. She found lots of amazing details of the house in the grounds and the history of the gardens themselves. As she looked deeper the actual pond had a unique history of its own, apparently, there was a drowning there in 2000 and a boy volunteer lost his life. She checked the name, Thomas Eliott, there was a photo of him looking happy in a plant bed holding a trowel with the pond in the background. Seeing this Lucy shivered as she had just realised, she had been talking to a ghost for 3 weeks, having said that it was a good plot twist for her story, and thankfully her tutors saw it too, and gave her top marks.