Back in the suite, my mom sat on the couch and talked with Elizabeth. My father stood at the glass wall and gazed out at the island. When I walked in my parents gave their attentions to me.
"Nikayla,-" Mom said.
"Mom, not now, please just give me a little time." I said. The phone rung, Elizabeth being closest answered it.
"Yes, that is fine, send him up." She then hung up the phone and turned to us. "The constable is here and he is on his way up." We all were silent until we heard a light tap on the room door. Elizabeth immediately went to the door and let the constable in who was followed by another member of the royal police.
"Good, evening constable, you said that you had word of our daughter?" Dad asked.
"I do have news of your daughter but I fear it is not the news you were expecting," He said. The constable took his hat off and held it in front of him.
"About two weeks ago a local that rents private boats to tourists said that two girls fitting the description of your daughter and her friend rented a boat from him, he said that they never brought the boat back and when he sent a worker out to look for them, only the boat was recovered."
"And the girls?" Mom asked.
The constable gave a slight shake of the head. I stared at him in disbelief and tried to find the right words to say to dispute the claim he had made.
"How do you know it was her? There are plenty of girls that probably rented a boat that day who may have even looked like them. Why has this man not come forward before now? With all the fliers up of Miah and Zyonna what rock was he under to not have seen them," I said.
"We have his log from the boats rented that day." He looked to his partner who was carrying a bag I hadn't noticed until now. His partner silently gave him the bag and stepped back. The constable proceeded to open the bag and pulled out a tattered old notebook that was stuffed with sheets of paper and opened it. He flipped through it until he found the page that he was looking for.
"Is this your daughter's signature?" He asked as he looked up from the log. My father looked from me to my mother and then down at the log book. It took him a moment to recognize that the signature was Miah's. Without looking at mom and I, dad nodded.
"Well now we can search the surrounding islands, she's probably hurt and scared. Let's not waste any more time here discussing this." I said. Dad stared down at the signature as if it was something that he had not considered. Mom huddled in close to my father and looked down at the signature too.
"Yes constable, that is my daughter's signature, what are you trying to say to us? That she has drowned? Well that is impossible Jamiah is an excellent swimmer, Nikayla is right, we should be checking all of the surrounding islands. She may have swam to an island that is deserted." Urgency and desperation colored mom's tone.
Dad slid his arm around her waist and pulled her to him so that he could try and give her what comfort he had left to give.
"On the day your daughter went missing there had been shark sightings and an attack. Your daughter not coming back was not the only reason the people at the boat rental company went looking for them. When they had gotten word about the shark attack they went out to round up all of the boats and when they located the boat your daughter and Ms. Allen had rented, they were not on it. We have reason to believe that your daughter and Ms. Allen might have perished in the water." The constable said. He gazed at my parents with sympathy in his eyes.
I heard mom suck in her breath and dad murmured something soothing into her ear. Elizabeth covered her mouth with a hand.
"Constable, what reason is it that you have to think my daughter is..." Dad couldn't bring himself to ask the question and I couldn't bring myself to think it. The constable reached into the same bag that he had pulled the boat rental log from and fished out what looked to be torn fabric in a zip lock bag. It only took me two seconds to recognize the fabric as being the sun dress Miah had taken from my closet two weeks before. It looked to be ripped to shreds and covered in a rust brown color I knew to be old blood.
"Do any of you recognize this? Pieces of the material were found floating nearby where the boat was spotted and more of it floated up on the shore a few days later. It was kept because the man who rented the boat to the girls recognized it as the dress that one of the girls had worn." My parents stared at the material like it was some kind of incurable disease that they had never encountered before.
Something inside of me began to spread. It was a warm feeling that thawed me from the frozen state that held me prisoner only moments before. With this new found freedom I cautiously approached the constable still unsure about the warmth that I was feeling on the inside of me.
"Yes, I recognize the material. It was a sundress that I lent to Miah for this trip." I replied shocked by the strength in my voice.
I took the zip lock bag from the constables out stretched hand. Mom gave a blood curdling scream while dad choked on his own sobs. Mayhem erupted in the penthouse suite. Elizabeth and dad tried to console my mother. The constable and the other officer looked on helplessly not quite knowing what to do. I looked down at the zip lock bag I still held in my hand.
I had an overwhelming feeling to open the bag and feel the fabric with my bare hands. It was more than a feeling, it was a compulsion. I gazed around the room to see if anyone paid me any attention. When satisfied that they weren't I opened the bag and reached in and held the fabric in my hand. Without warning I saw a vision of Miah standing naked on a yacht while she watched as someone rip the very fabric I held in my hands to pieces. I felt fear coming off of her in waves. Her emotions made me dizzy with dread.
Jamiah's eyes revealed, fear, betrayal, anger, and acceptance, all within a span of seconds. Then just as the vision came it was gone and I was back in the penthouse.
"She's not dead." I whispered to a room that still had taken no notice of me.
"She's not dead, do you hear me? She is not dead, she is still alive! Jamiah is still alive! Are you not listening to me?!! She is alive!!!!" I screamed forcing them to acknowledge me.
"I thought you said that-" Elizabeth started.
"Yes, I did lend her this sundress, but she is not dead. Someone has taken her and they want us to think that she's dead," I said.
"How do you know this Kayla?" Dad asked wanting to believe what I said but not being able to take his eyes from the fabric I still held in my hands. I took the bag and held it behind my back away from his gaze and looked into his eyes. I tried to get him to focus on my words, not the so called proof of my sister's demise.
"I have a feeling. No it's more than that. I can't explain it but Miah is not dead. She's in trouble and I'm afraid for her."
"Can this be true?" Mom voice cracked with anguish and hope. The constable was torn between wanting to be able to support what I was saying and having a duty to report the cold hard facts of the outcome that his investigation had led him to.
"I'm sorry. I don't see how that is possible." The constable replied shaking his head with regret and then glanced at me with pity. That brought fresh tears and sobs from my mother, while dad closed his eyes and dropped his head.
"Father, please give my family strength to deal with this." As dad prayed I could hear a distinctive quiver in his voice. Why did he not trust me? Why was he so willing to believe that Miah was dead? The constable gave his condolences and left us to our grief.
"We should start making plans to fly back to the states. We need to contact our pastor about making arrangements for Jamiah," Dad said in a tired voice. I stared at him in open shock, was he losing his damn mind! Make funeral arrangements, was he really going to give up on Miah, all because a ruined sundress and the constables jaded opinion?
"Are you crazy? We are not going to put Miah in the ground when she is not even dead yet!" I said turning on my father in anger. Mom sobbed so hard, her body shook. Elizabeth had a supportive arm around mom's shoulder, but her eyes also brimmed with tears that threatened to spill onto her face at any moment.
"Please calm down Kayla, look at what you are doing to your mother." Dad snapped at me like I was the one causing all of everyone's misery.
"What I'm doing? You're the one who's ready to bury her child," I said.
"So what do you propose? That we should continue to search for a ghost, if that is what you're thinking then you might as well have married Kyle Washington and lived that lie," Dad said. A physical blow could not have given me more pain then his words. I braced myself for the onslaught of emotions that came whenever Kyle, or my, would be marriage to him, was mentioned. The funny thing was though the only hurt I felt was not of Kyle's betrayal but the hurt of my father using it against me. I drew myself up to every bit of my five foot eight inches height and looked my father directly in his eyes.
"I'm proposing that you show the faith you taught me to have in times like these, that is what I'm proposing! Not to give up because you are afraid to trust in hope. It is almost like you think you deserve this. What really happened in Africa daddy? What else aren't you telling me?" I said. Dad took a deep breath and swallowed and mom whimpered.
"We fly back tomorrow on the first plane we can get out, I suggest you get packed." Dad said.
"I'm not going home without Miah." I replied in a calm voice that rivaled his. Lesson number one never let them see you sweat, right dad? I learned from the best.
"If you choose to remain, I can't force you to come, but please while you're making your decision, consider your mother. She has already lost one daughter, don't make her sacrifice another."
"I am considering mom that is why I'm staying," I said.
I turned and left my parents in the living room not being able to stand their grief any longer. I went to my bed room and lay across the bed. I allowed myself to feel relief and happiness that my sister was still alive and out there somewhere waiting on me to find her. I was going to find her, no doubt existed in my mind; I was more than prepared to go to the ends of the earth to bring her back. Hold on Miah. Please just hold on and stay alive long enough for me to come for you. I promise I will never stop searching for you, ever.
I sent up a silent prayer to God and stared out at the view from the balcony in my room. I wondered if Miah was out there holding on to the knowledge that whenever she got into a situation I was always there. I hope she was because no matter the circumstances this was no different