Chapter 8 #3
“Last night, Apricot and I went to a party on a different part of the island. It was low-key—and it wasn’t sanctioned by the festival, I should say that.
But like, we were in this pretty cool area with a waterfall and so everyone was just hanging out, but Ryan LeHane climbed up and …
I dunno, maybe slipped? There’s some weird stuff going on, and I think someone might have been up there with him,” she rushed over this admission, hearing how crazy it sounded to say it out loud.
“I just can’t understand why no one is talking about this, whether or not it was an accident.
And we’d like if the island would say something and let us know when they’re going to let people leave if they want to. ”
Cassidy tapped the DONE button on her screen and set to work creating a caption for the video.
She tagged the Island Xperience in hashtags and used their handle and also tagged Ryan’s handle in the description.
She thought about tagging Daisy but decided that optically that wouldn’t look great to everyone trying to understand the situation.
“All right. Let’s go find Daisy,” Cassidy said. She didn’t wait for Apricot to agree or disagree before standing and walking out of the restaurant.
“How?”
“You said it yourself; this is a small island. It might take all day, but what else are we going to do?”
“I already told you—”
Cassidy spun around. “Do whatever you want. I’m going to find our friend. Would you like if the tables were turned, and Daisy and I ditched you when the planes got here?”
Apricot didn’t say anything in response, but she did stand and walk alongside Cassidy.
“Where are we going?” she asked.
Cassidy didn’t know. She just started walking north along the sand, passing sun tanners and people filming thirst traps and a bored looking lifeguard under an umbrella.
“Her last video was on the beach, so maybe she’s still on the beach. If not, we can check out some of the events going on before the show tonight, like the belly dancing class or I think there were some rum tastings or something like that.”
“Ugh,” Apricot groaned. “This would be so much easier if we had a pair of those bikes, but I don’t see them anywhere. Do people think they can just take them all for themselves?”
The two women scanned the beach as they walked.
Cassidy couldn’t stop herself from trying to discern Daisy’s features in the swimmers and jet skiers, even though she knew that Daisy was more likely to be one of the many women trying to take a selfie of their ass or getting a video of their chunky vape clouds floating off into the horizon in one of the shady private cabanas.
But none of the people she saw resembled her voluptuous, doe-eyed frenemy.
“Oh, that place looks good. I don’t even remember seeing that yesterday,” Apricot said as they passed a Latin-Asian fusion restaurant called MASH with a sandwich board out front that read “ALL GLUTEN FREE! Special today: Kimchi Torta.”
Aromatic chili powder and ginger floated on the breeze alongside the sweet scent of maize, but the women walked on.
Cassidy needed to keep them focused. The longer they walked, the more antsy Apricot got, all of her fear from the night before completely dissipating now that they were in the sunlight.
Cassidy led them around the periphery of the island, not wanting to get lost in the labyrinth of tents and villas on the interior.
They only searched the petting zoo briefly because Apricot said the smell of goats made her hangover worse, and yet they lingered longer than Cassidy wanted to at the rum tasting that didn’t seem to bother Apricot’s constitution at all.
All afternoon they walked along the beach and peaked into every restaurant, bar, and instructor-led class along the sand, but Daisy was nowhere to be found.
“We’re never going to find her this way. She could have been going in the same circle as us all day and never crossed our path. For all we know, she’s back at the villa,” Apricot whined. She’d been doing a lot of whining all day, but at least now she had a point.
Cassidy sighed and pulled out her phone.
The festival had still yet to make any statement, and this late in the day it was unlikely that they were going to.
Exploring the island all day had made the dangers of the evening seem less real to her, and there seemed to be more security guards and lifeguards than she’d noticed before.
Maybe if they didn’t send planes, it wouldn’t be such a bad thing.
In the bright sunlight, the festival seemed completely safe.
“Why don’t you go get your massage and do whatever and I’ll go back to the villa and see if she’s there. Meet me there when you’re done and maybe we can go snorkeling or something.”
Apricot acted as if she’d finally been set free. Her face lit up as she nearly sprinted off down the beach.
“I’ll text you!” she called out.
Cassidy gave a distracted wave as she unlocked her phone screen. In looking for a notification on the Island Xperience app, she saw a push notification about a message from a mutual friend on TikTok. Edie had commented on Cassidy’s most recent video.
I believe you. I saw Ryan fall too but now everyone is saying he’s alive. What is going on?