Hell's Kitchen: The Truth Behind the Papa Louie Universe

Chapter Eleven

formerly known as chapter ten part two

CW: discussions of death, drowning, and suicide

She had talked herself out of the panic, and sat near a hole in the sand that had filled with water during the high tide. She watched as water droplets dripped from her fingertips, making soothing ripples on the surface. The chance of the parrot causing trouble was low, right? Parrots could remember a lot– but not the contents of Akari and Nevada's entire conversation. She couldn't even remember any exact particular sentences. That worried her, slightly, but she felt like a lot of her words wouldn't have made sense out of context. That's what she told herself, anyway– and even if the bird was capable of remembering and recalling all that, who's to say it was even there the whole time? The bird had been loud, and even though Akari supposed the door and her and Akari's talking would have muffled it somewhat, would they really not have noticed it? Even then, if they couldn't hear the bird, could the bird hear them? How did parrots even work, really? She wasn't entirely sure about any of it, but it wasn't a spy machine. It was just a silly animal. She would be okay.

She was tired from the stress, and her head ached from dehydration, but the cold ocean water cleared her head a bit, and she walked back to the rental, the gentle breeze and warm sun aiding its peaceful quality. Winter was considered the off-season for Calypso, tourism-wise. It was understandable, given the primary attractions involving the ocean, which was chilly at best and icy at worst during the winter. People would much rather be booking trips to see family over the winter holidays than to an island that was only slightly warmer than it was on the mainland. Still, early December in New Pepperton was already coat-weather, but Calypso was very spring-y. Sure, maybe Akari wouldn't want to swim in the water for any extended period of time, but it was refreshing and heated slightly by the sun in the shallowest areas. Not the tropical vacation it might be in the summer, but certainly nice. She got to the rental, drank some water, and sat back outside in the sun. Olivia read a book, promising to recount what she'd seen at the abandoned Papa's Freezeria once she finished her chapter, but Akari told her she was in no rush. She felt sort of peaceful, denial or repression, maybe, but nevertheless peaceful. She could probably doze off, right now. She was certainly tired enough to. But something else tugged at her brain. It had been bugging her since Nevada mentioned Utah's body: maybe it was unfounded, maybe there were bigger fish to fry, but Akari found it strange that Nevada, nor anyone else she knew, had ever seen the body.

For one thing, it seemed natural that whatever rescue team found her to ask someone close to her to identify the body. Akari wasn't well versed in forensics, or whatever type of field took care of this kind of thing, but DNA testing, like Nevada had mentioned, seemed like it should have been a last resort. Plus, didn't that take time? And time was another issue, according to the timeline Nevada had told her– if that could be trusted, but she was sure she could find a more reliable confirmation– there wasn't a giant period of time between the last time anyone saw Utah, and when her body was found. Nevada had said she was told from the autopsy that Utah had likely only been dead for an hour. Certainly, her body would not be in any sort of unrecognizable state. Unless– and it was a horrible thought– something had gotten to it. But Nevada hadn't mentioned that, and it seemed very much like something that would come up. And furthermore, how had she been found so quickly? With Calypso's nominal population, there weren't many people to look for her, and sure, the fewer people, the easier to notice someone gone, but Utah was an adult, a young one, but still. It wasn't exactly eyebrow-raising for no one to have tabs on a twenty-year-old. How would anyone have noticed her missing in only a few hours, enough to get a search and rescue team out?