She falls heavily; even from where I’m wading in the water, I can hear the thud.
“Nearly there,” Nathan says reassuringly, but I barely register it.
The bridesmaid scrambles up, her face a mask of horror. As she stands, she accidentally kicks Ah Guan. He doesn’t move, merely lies there like a sack of potatoes. Her mouth drops open. Her shriek pierces through my entirety, stabbing through all of the chaos and panic of the crowd.
“He’s dead!”
They don’t hear her at first. Not most of the crowd, anyway. They’re all too focused on the spectacle that is Jacqueline. Phones have been whipped out, all of them aimed at the frothy white mass being tugged to the side of the pool by muscled lifeguards.
But then another bridesmaid comes to help the first one up.
“He’s dead!” the first one screams again.
“What?”
“That guy! He’s dead!”
The second bridesmaid looks at Ah Guan. Sticks out a hand, her face disbelieving. “Yo, dude.” She pokes him. And then she rears back, her face a mask of horror. She doesn’t shout, but when her mouth moves, I can see clearly what she says. “Shit. He’s dead.”
* * *
? ? ?
The hotel’s security team is doing their best to keep the peace, but it’s next to impossible to keep the peace when two thousand privileged guests have just discovered a dead body. There are screams, dramatic gasps, even more dramatic swoons, and a lot of demands to “speak to the person in charge.” The person in charge is Nathan, and he’s currently giving orders to have the altar cordoned off and the guests to be escorted back to their rooms while he calls the sheriff’s office.
Someone’s wrapped a towel around me, which I quickly soak through, drenched as I am in my clothes. The previously warm sea breeze has turned cold. The storm is coming, and the wind bites through my wet towel and clothes like a knife. I shiver. I should go inside, but I can’t bring myself to leave, not when the dead body of the man I killed is right in the middle of everything and there are thousands of people around me pointing and shouting.
Nathan’s striding everywhere, giving orders into his walkie-talkie. He’s also drenched, but he doesn’t seem to notice. He stations two guards to block anyone with morbid curiosity, which as it turns out is everyone here, from getting down the aisle. Even though the guests seem horrified, they also seem fascinated, hopelessly drawn to the dead body.
“Meddy!”
I very nearly cry when I turn to see Ma and my aunties rushing through the crowd. Even as I watch, Big Aunt elbows a tall man out of the way to make room for Ma and the other aunties. Love swells through my heart. My bossy, loud, overwhelming family is here. Everything is—well, it’s unlikely that anything would be okay, but at least I won’t be going through it alone.
Ma finally squeezes out of the crowd, and I rush to greet her with a hug. She’s never been a hugger, but I don’t care, not right now. I just want to smell her scent. For one fleeting, precious moment, I catch the smell of home—freshly laundered clothes and a hint of fish sauce—and I breathe it all in, taking strength from it.
“Meddy, you okay? How? What happen?” my aunties cluck around us. “Aduh, why is the body there?”
“I don’t know, I—” I am surrounded by people. “Let’s get out of here first.” Together, we cut a path through the crowd, my aunts elbowing chests and stomping on feet whenever they need to （and sometimes even when they don’t need to）， until we’re well away from the crowd and round the side of the main resort building. There’s no one here. I guess everyone who’s in the vicinity has followed the noise and energy of the crowd to satisfy their curiosity. Still, we all look around for a few moments to make sure we’re completely alone.
“Okay, so.” I take a deep breath. “I have no idea how Ah Guan ended up on the altar. Do any of you know what happened?”
Am I surprised when my family members look down guiltily for a moment’s breath before they all point at each other and say, “It’s her fault”？ I mean, I guess I am, but also not really.
“Okay.” Another deep breath. “Let’s see.” Big Aunt is glaring at Second Aunt, who’s pointing an accusatory finger at Big Aunt. Ma and Fourth Aunt are both pointing at each other. Right. So, nothing new, then. “Why do you think it’s each other’s fault?” I hold my hands up. “Wait, one person at a time. Big Aunt, you go first.”