Depths of Paradise

by Vance Albright

  Chapter 19

  10:25 AM 4/13/2021 HST

  Mya Kendig sat in the front row of seats arranged at the Makena Church Cemetery listening to the pastor’s eulogy. Her eyes moved towards her parents, who were sitting next to her. They had not spoken to her since they arrived on Maui the previous night, and brushed her off at the start of the eulogy, which worried her. She saw the continuous glare her mother held in her direction. She just focused on the images of Jade in front of the empty casket and listened. Now was not the time to get into an argument. When the eulogy was over, Mya placed a pink plumeria on Jade’s casket.

  “I miss you so much. I’m so sorry I couldn’t do anything to save you.” Mya stood near the casket for a few minutes, looking at the picture displays. As she stared, relatives she was not close with and Jade’s friends gave their condolences to her. When she turned around, she saw most of the guests were starting to leave the graveyard. She saw her parents driving off in their rental car. “Great,” Mya said to herself. She knew what it meant; they blamed her for Jade’s death. The “favorite,” the one who had a successful career. Hopefully things improve at the reception, she thought.

  The reception was held at a local church several hours later. Mya stared at the gaudy decoration and fancy food. Classical music played in the background. Jade would have hated this, she thought. She knew who arranged it, as her mother had insisted on handling the reception herself. She saw her parents sitting at the head table, and she figured she should go over and say something. Maybe they were just upset she didn’t say anything to them at the funeral. Mya walked over and sat down.

  “Hi,” she said softly. “How was your flight?” she asked, wanting to start a conversation.

  “Hi, Mya,” her father said casually.

  “What do you want, Mya?” her Mom said bitterly.

  “I wanted to come over and see how you were doing. I know how hard Jade’s death must be affecting you.” Her mom didn’t respond, instead pulling out her phone and starting to use it.

  “Mya, maybe it’s better if you leave,” her father suggested.

  Almost in tears, Mya said, “Mom, what did I do? Why are you angry with me?”

  “You know exactly what you did,” her mother replied, not even looking at her.

  “No, I don’t,” Mya replied, starting to break down.

  Finally, her mother looked up at her and said in a voice filled with distaste, “You used your sister’s death as a publicity stunt to further your ridiculous cosplay occupation. Telling the news a sea monster was the cause of Jade’s death. You’re milking it for all it’s worth, aren’t you?” Mya was speechless; she couldn’t believe her mom could even imagine accusing her of something like that. She looked to her father for comfort, but he had the same cold look her mother did. Before she could say anything, her mom said, “I don’t know why you’re upset. Jade left you everything: the house, car, and a two hundred thousand dollar life insurance policy.”

  “I miss my sister; that’s why. I’d give up everything if it meant bringing Jade back!” Mya replied loudly but not loud enough to cause a scene. “And I didn’t say a saw a sea monster to further anything. I said it because it happened. At this point, I don’t care about money or my job.”

  Her mother cut her off. “We’ve known that for a while. Always having to live off someone. We had to lose the good daughter.”

  Mya put her head down, trying her best to hold back the tears.

  “If you feel that way, why don’t you just slap me in the face?” Mya said sarcastically. Mya felt a palm connect with her cheek. Mya gasped, not believing what just happened. Saying nothing, her mother and, shortly after, her father got up. Heartbroken, Mya ran out of the reception area. She found a lone beach out of sight of the reception area. She sat down and stared crying her eyes out. She didn’t know how much time had passed before she heard a voice.

  “Hey, are you okay?” She looked up to see a tall blonde girl standing near the bench.

  “No, my life is falling apart,” she said, sobbing.

  “That sucks, girl. Any way I can help?” Suddenly the girl recognized her. “Wait, you’re Jade’s sister Mya. I’m Riley Sandall.” Riley was a slim tanned beauty. She was 5’10” with long dirty blond hair.

  “How do you know me?” Mya asked, just wanting to be left alone in her misery.

  “Jade talked about you all the time. Called you her sister from the fantasy land. Last time I saw her, all she talked about was how excited she was her sister was coming to visit for a week.” Hearing that made a brief smile form on Mya’s face. “Look, I know I’m a stranger to you, but if you need to vent, I have an open ear and a closed mouth,” Riley offered, seeing Mya was holding a lot inside. Mya snickered.

  “How did you get to know Jade?” Mya asked, trying to take her mind off what happened with her parents.

  “Me and the guy I was dating at the time decided to take some scuba lessons. Jade was our instructor. As fate would have it, we broke up shortly after the first lesson; then one day, Jade stopped by the gaming café I work at.” A surprised look formed on Mya’s face.

  “What? Jade went to a gaming café?” Mya asked, cutting Riley off. Mya didn’t know why but she already felt comfortable around Riley.

  “She liked the special types of coffee we have. She never played any games. I was waiting on her and she remembered me. We got to talking and eventually became friends.” A hurt look returned to Mya’s face. “Mya, if you want to be alone for a while, I can leave,” Riley offered.

  “No, it’s not you. I remember Jade telling me after the dive we were going to stop at a café. She said I would be in heaven there.”

  “Mya, sorry, I know this is none of my business, but you would probably feel a lot better if you were at the reception with your family,” Riley suggested.

  “That’s why I’m out here,” Mya huffed. “My parents blame me for Jade’s death; they hate me. Jade was always the favorite. I was just the second child.”

  “Mya, I highly doubt that. Why don’t you go talk to them?” Mya stood up with a look of hurt anger. Riley wondered if she had made a mistake by suggesting that.

  “I tried. I thought I would get some comfort from my parents, but all they did was accuse me of profiting from Jade’s death.” Mya turned her cheek, showing a small bruise starting to form. “Then my mother slapped me.”

  “Girl, you can’t be serious,” Riley replied with a look of pity. Mya shook her head yes. Riley gave Mya a hug, which to her surprise made her feel better. Mya looked up at the clock.

  “I’d better get going.”

  “You might want to see this,” Riley said, walking towards the reception area.

  “Riley, what are you doing?” Mya asked. Riley’s look of conflict told her she was up to something. Mya followed Riley back to the reception.

  Riley picked up a glass of wine and said, “Stay back. I don’t want this to blow back on you.” Mya watched, concerned, as Riley walked over to her parents who were standing near the refreshments, and started a conversation. Mya tried to listen in but couldn’t tell what they were saying. Suddenly she saw Riley throw the wine in her mother’s face. Her father tried to grab Riley, but she gracefully moved out of the way, sending him crashing into trays of food. Riley said something else, before picking up two cupcakes. Mya placed a hand over her mouth. Her eyes were wide as Riley made her way through the crowd of shocked people. She handed Mya a cupcake.

  “I can’t believe you did that,” Mya said, shocked. She supposed she should have been angry, but after what happened, she felt her parents deserved it.

  “No one hurts my friends and gets away with it. What to get out of here?”

  “We’d better,” Mya replied.

  After they exited the building, Mya said, “I’m going to head.” She paused. “To Jade’s house. I need to clear my head.”

  “Okay, girl. I’m going to head home as well.”

  “It was nice meeting you, and thank you for s
ticking up for me. I mean it.”

  “No trouble.” Riley pulled out her phone. “Let’s exchange numbers. What’s your cell?” Mya gave Riley hers and Riley sent a text that said here’s mine. “When you feel up to it, let’s go to dinner or something.”

  “Sounds good,” Mya replied, getting into her car.

  When Mya got home, she changed into jeans and a purple tank top, then went right to her gaming laptop and spent hours playing her favorite game, Legendary Quests and Creatures, killing every sea monster she could find. The gaming world was only a temporary escape from her pain.

  It was now late afternoon. Mya sat at her kitchen island with a hand to her cheek, staring into space and thinking about what her mother had said.

  “If only we didn’t go diving,” she said softly. Deep down, she knew Jade’s death was not her fault, but she also knew Jade would still be alive if she had stayed in San Diego. She was so deep in thought, the ringing of the doorbell made her jump. “Who could that be?” she wondered, getting up to answer the door.

  “Surprise,” Riley said, holding up two plastic bags of food. She was wearing tight jean shorts and a sports jersey that said “Princess” on the back.

  “Uh, hi, Riley. How did you find out where I live?” Mya asked, confused.

  “I was friends with Jade, remember?” Mya pointed to the bags, still confused. “Anyway, I knew you were down, so I brought some Chinese.” Mya smiled, pleasantly surprised.

  “Riley, you didn’t have to do that.”

  “No trouble at all, girl. If you want to be alone, totally understandable. I’ll just give you half and be on my way.”

  “No, please come in. It will be nice to have some company.” Mya stepped aside and let Riley in.

  “Where do you want the food?” Riley asked.

  “Put it on the table in the living room. We can watch TV while we eat.” Riley laid the food on the table while Mya brought plates and glasses over. “What do you want to drink?” Mya asked.

  “Girl, don’t worry, I got that covered,” Riley said. She smiled as she pulled out a bottle of red wine. “I have tomorrow off, so let’s get wasted and forget about our troubles.”

  “I could use a night like that,” Mya agreed, sitting down. “By the way, how much do I owe you for the food?”

  “Dinner’s on me tonight. You can pay next time,” Riley answered. “Oh, speaking of work, if you’re interested, the gaming café is hiring. If you want, I can get you a job.”

  “I’ll seriously consider it,” Mya replied as Riley poured her a glass of wine. Mya took a long sip and lay back on the couch.

  “Mya, just putting it out there: anytime you want to cut our night short, just say so and I’m gone with no hard feelings.”

  “No, it’s fine. Having fun will keep my mind off everything,” Mya replied, then said sadly, “I’m hoping now that the funeral’s over, I can start the healing process. I just, I just won’t ever feel safe in the ocean or be able to fully heal until that thing that killed Jade is dead.”

  “The authorities will get it. Don’t worry,” Riley said confidently. She chose not to say “shark,” because she had heard the sea monster story and knew Mya believed it.

  “The authorities don’t know anything. I tried telling people what happened, and all I got was made fun of.” Mya clenched her fists and bit down on her lip. “That monster is going to get off scot-free.”

  Chapter 20

  07:18 PM 04/13/2021 HST

  For Suijin squad, the travel curse had struck again. The team was scheduled to be in Hawaii at nine a.m. However, due to travel delays in Tokyo, the flight was grounded until five a.m.

  Ashly and Samuel waited in the customs line at Honolulu International Airport on Oahu. Okada was in the international line. Liz and Max, due to their military status, were able to get through the line quickly, so they went ahead to the airstrip to prepare the X-7 for takeoff. Samuel stared at Ashly, who was entertaining herself by popping gum. He wanted more than anything to burst one of those bubbles in her face. He was absolutely furious. During the flight he was seated between two massively overweight people. When he walked up to first class to check for seats, despite the airline claiming every first class ticket was purchased, he counted seven empty ones. When he tried to sit in a first class seat, he was told he could not due to already paying for a seat in coach. He did not know how she did it, but he knew Ashly was somehow responsible for it. A feeling of nervousness came over Samuel as they approached the automated passport control machine. He just knew something bad was going to happen.

  “Why do you look so nervous?” Ashly asked.

  “I know what you did on the plane,” he replied. Ashly gave him a confused look.

  “What did I do? I was in first class the entire flight.” She was sure to say “first class” a little slowly to rub it in.

  Samuel raised his voice. “Somehow you intentionally sabotaged my plane ticket! That was the personal project you were working on in Japan.”

  “I have no idea what you’re talking about,” Ashly said innocently. She placed her passport in the machine. After getting through, she turned to Samuel and said, “I’ll meet you in the baggage collection area.” Samuel nervously placed his passport into the machine. He was just waiting for the machine to reject it, or worse, alarms to start going off. To his surprise, the machine accepted it. He sighed with relief and entered the airport’s main terminal.

  s s s

  Liz backed a hydrant fuel dispenser truck up to the X-7. The airport staff had already delivered the team’s luggage on a cart that was sitting next to the helicopter. Max attached a large black hose to the airport’s underground fuel pipe. Since they frequently were using Honolulu International Airport as a refueling station, Okada had purchased a rental hangar and fuel truck for the X-7.

  “Ready down here,” Max said. Liz attached a smaller hose to the X-7 and started pumping the fuel.

  “Max, since we’re going to be here for a while, why don’t you call your darling Mya and set up a meeting time.”

  “Samuel or I will when we get back to Niihau,” Max replied. “Want me to park the fuel truck when we’re done?” Max asked, wanting to get Liz’s mind off the current subject.

  “Don’t try to change the subject,” Liz caught on. “Okada wants this done sooner rather than later, so get over your crush fear and call her!”

  “Fine,” Max reluctantly agreed. He walked away from the fuel truck and pulled out his phone. During the flight from Japan, Ashly had tracked down Mya’s number and sent it to him.

  “Put the call on speaker,” Liz said.

  “Why!” Max asked. Liz started to speak in a sarcastic love tone.

  “Well, when someone is talking to a crush for the first time, they tend to get nervous. I wouldn’t want you to miss something important when you’re not thinking straight.”

  “Sometimes I just want to tape your mouth shut,” Max replied. He was already uneasy about the situation. As much as he tried to hide it, he did have a slight crush on Mya, and reading the information about her Ashly had tracked down had made the feeling stronger.

  “You can try,” Liz replied. With lightning-fast speed, she hit the speaker and call button on his phone.

  “Liz!” Max yelled, walking farther from the X-7 to get away from the noise.

  s s s

  Mya and Riley were watching TV, laughing hysterically. The glasses of wine they had drunk made the movie even funnier. Mya was still sober and could tell Riley was having a little too much to drink.

  “Maybe you should slow down a bit,” Mya suggested as she watched Riley down another glass of wine.

  “Do me a favor and call Uber when this is over,” Riley replied.

  “Just crash on the couch,” Mya offered. She heard her cell phone ringing and picked it up.

  Wonder who this is? she thought, not recognizing the number. She set the wine glass down. “Hello,” she said, expecting it to be a salesman.

  “H
i, is this Mya Kendig?”

  “Yes, who’s calling?”

  “Hi, my name’s Max Varian, I’m a biologist with the Niihau wildlife center.” The feeling of enjoyment Mya had left her and was replaced with a feeling of bitter cold. She knew what this was about.

  “What do you want?” Mya asked in a low cold voice.

  “She’s mad. Say something nice,” Liz said.

  Max thought quickly. “First off, I wanted to say sorry for your loss.”

  “Thanks, can you get to the point?” Mya replied. Max pulled away from Liz. She was not helping the situation, and neither was her advice.

  “I heard that you may have had an encounter with an unknown species. I was wondering if you would be willing to share your experience so I can get a better understanding of what you saw and help you identify it.” Max knew that sounded stupid, but it’s all he could come with in the heat of the moment.

  “No, I’m not willing to share anything!” Mya yelled. “I made that mistake at the hospital and with the local police! You already know you’re looking for a shark! I’m just the crazy girl that saw a sea monster remember! So, don’t call me again!” Mya screamed and hung up.

  “Girl, remind me to never say the S-M word in front of you,” Riley said, surprised by Mya’s sudden mood change.

  “Sorry for the outburst,” Mya apologized.

  “You didn’t do anything to me,” she replied, offering Mya some more wine, which she gladly accepted.

  s s s

  “Way to go,” Max said to Liz.

  “Me? What did I do?” she asked.

  “You force me into this before I could think of what to say.” Liz knew he was right, but how was

  she supposed to know Mya would response like that?

  “Why is the X-7 left unattended while refueling?” Okada asked.