The road of broken barbed wire

Sophia looked out of the window of the cab heading toward the Vancouver International Airport and she smiled. She had a bag over her shoulder, black polyester with many small pockets riddling the outer layers and the inner layers, that promised many object hidden throughout. She kept this close because there were too many emergency supplies hidden within it. She had one suitcase in the back of the cab in the trunk with a lot more clothes, notebooks, tapes, digital cameras, and gear suited for terrible weather.

Sophia came prepared, because she knew of the absolutely terrible working conditions she may be forced to endure. There was little room for forgetting to pack extra tampoons these days, and she was someone that hated to run out of anything. She found herself in front of the Airport departures entrance and taking out her wallet from her pants pocket she paid the cab driver, and giving him a tip she left the cab taking her bag with her and her wallet back in her pants pocket. She thanked the driver and he got out of the car. She was already at the trunk taking her bag out of the back when he reached her. She flashed him a smile when he offered to help, she said "That's alright, I got it, thanks anyway." He saw her hoist out her suitcase with ease and it was clear she was used to doing this all the time. She handled it without the awkwardness most people do because they dread the travel over the air, and they tolerate it barely.

The cab driver, with a turban around his head, had taken enough people to the Airport and helped them with their bags to recognize a seasoned traveller from a family of four going for their vacation to Florida. "Where are you headed?" he asked her and she said, "Austria. Vienna for the first little while, then we will see where my journey takes me. I never truly know where I'm headed. Frightening isn't it?" Sophia said with a chuckle. He chuckled back and said, "Well good luck, miss. Heck of a thought though, you'll get lost if you don't know where your going to end up. But hey, it's your trip right?" He said as he went back into his taxi's driver side.

Sophia walked into the Departures gate saying to herself. "Yes, its my trip alright. And just where is Sophia going?" For now she was going to visit Andre and, despite her having no recollection of where she got the watch, and the possibility of no one else having any idea either. She was sure that this lead, however thin it was, was her best hope. And, besides, the watch had such a part to play in this as she carried it in her breast pocket of her button up blouse. It kept nagging at her, in her head, to keep going and find the truth. To Sophia, it was just like the empty void of the unknown that could never be satisfied. But there was a more pressing broader reason that kept her walking toward the departure gate. If she didn't do this, she would regret it for the rest of her life, for the most part she did not need anymore regret. There were too many boxes in her closet to remind her of regrets and lives thrown away for the hope of something safer, easier and, above all, that allowed her to feel a lot less.

Sophia could not go through life doing that, not anymore. Not after the image of that boy came to the surface once more. She saw his eyes in her mind's eye, imagined eye to imagined eye, she made a promise to see it through. And, if it became completely hopeless? She could go back to her job in Vancouver, to that office, and perhaps become good friends with Jin-Ye. It was always there, as a safety net, perhaps because deep down she prepared for every eventuality. Though, she did not want to fall back on it if the road became bumpy. She would fall back on it, if the road became intoleratingly life threatening. Having the jobs she took before, that was a tall order to fill.

Sophia realized, on the phone with Andre, that it was going to be a meeting to discuss the watch and it's origins. But, Sophia knew that he wanted it for his collection and he may be willing to pay extreme sums for it, at least at first. Perhaps show her the best night of her life? Sophia shook that from her mind. She was not a slut, there were standards, even to journalism. Sophia wouldn't let her watch go anyway. They were connected until the watch decided it was time to leave her. When that occured, she would let it go without so much as a tear, because it's journey no longer included her. It was a hint of simple truth, the watch had a mind of it's own and it's destiny never lay with any single person for an indefinite amount of time. She was happy that it choose her for this leg of it's journey, that she had a place in its drama.

It would be a long trip over the North Atlantic towards Europe.