When the kettle started to boil, Cassidy was careful not to let it scream before taking it off the stove out of respect for her sleeping friend but turning toward the living room she shrieked and dropped the mug.
A shadow stood on the porch outside the door. Not the shadow of a child, though. This shadow bore a recognizable curvaceousness that Cassidy knew to be Daisy’s silhouette.
Boiling water and blue bits of ceramic exploded against the tile, scalding Cassidy’s feet. She looked down just for a moment to witness the destruction, but when she looked up again, the porch sat empty except for the glorious golden glow of the sun.
Apricot ripped the bedroom door open. Her makeup remained from the day before and smudged eyeliner and mascara turned her into a glitter-bombed raccoon. Fear and anger mixed on her face as she stared at Cassidy standing in the kitchen.
“What the fuck?” Apricot asked.
“I swear I just saw Daisy standing on the porch.”
Just as curtly, Apricot asked, “who’s Daisy?”
The two women stood staring at each other for a long moment. Eyeliner stuck to the base of Apricot’s eyelashes and the glitter on her cheeks wasn’t going to come off without a fight, but she looked present. Cassidy looked for a sign of humor or confusion, anything to explain Apricot’s response. Fear rooted her in place, preventing movement or even a deep breath.
“Our friend? Daisy? The one who flew here with us?” Cassidy said, speaking the words as she would to an animal she feared would bolt or attack.
“I have no idea who you’re talking about.”
Apricot’s eyes flicked, seemingly searching Cassidy’s face now. The same chill Cassidy felt earlier in bed ran down her spine again.
“Are you okay?” Apricot asked. Her eyebrows came together in concern, but the question was one of irritation.
“Yeah, it’s fine. I’ll just text her myself,” Cassidy said, trying to sound casual and calm. Apricot gave Cassidy a visual once-over that Cassidy resented but dropped the subject.
“Okay, well I’m gonna go change and we can go.”
Apricot retreated to her bedroom, and Cassidy focused on staying upright and breathing steadily.
“Oh, wait, is this like a mutual acquaintance that we met last night or something?” Apricot called from her room while Cassidy braced against the kitchen counter. “I got so fucked up at the show last night I barely remember it at all. I think I even made out with some rando just so I could text Rob about it and make him jealous. Don’t tell her I don’t remember her, though, that would be super embarrassing!”
Cassidy bolted to her room. She searched through a mess of blankets to find her phone and sent a harried group text to James, Edie, and Rose.
Apricot doesn’t remember Daisy this morning and thinks we went to the show last night but we didn’t. Can we please meet up? I’m really worried. Also, Ryan LeHane has disappeared from the internet entirely. What is happening?
EdieandRosesatside by side on borrowed yoga mats that crumpled into the sand, cupping their legs. On the loudspeakers, a white woman with dreadlocks droned on in a livestream to her following of two million on YouTube.
“The pineal gland is covered in crystals, which is why we can ‘sense’ when something has a good or a bad vibe. The universe is constantly putting out vibrational energy, and we can all attune ourselves …”
“My dad would have an aneurysm if he could hear this right now,” Edie said.
Rose laughed. “Americans aren’t lucky enough to have doctors like your father, so they have to come up with crap like this to cope.”
Dreadlocks’s rant continued, “… Nikola Tesla said that if you understand energy, all the secrets of the universe will be unlocked …”
Edie closed her eyes and tried to find the meditative peace she expected from yoga practice. Waves crashed against the shore just to her left, breaking and receding into the ocean like the breathing of a deep sleeper. A bird squawked as it flew past the group and to the north, its cries softening the further away it flew. The late morning sun shone down and warmed the skin of Edie’s exposed left hand, and although it had yet to reach its full merciless high noon temperature, she felt the difference on her shaded right hand.
“… all of our muscles are surrounded by structured water, H3O …”
Edie’s mind wandered. She thought of the new bathroom trailers in the tent area, which significantly improved the wait times this morning, as well as the water temperature and pressure.
She opened her eyes and turned to Rose. “How do you think they got all those new bathroom trailers here overnight?”
“They probably had them on a boat offshore or something and just didn’t get all of them onto the island in time.”
Edie nodded. “Did you notice all those weird sculptures on the way over here?”
“Yeah. They look like oversized kiddie craft projects. Someone packed a lot of butcher paper and glue for those.”
