Texas,
United States of America.
1994
Jake hangs his backpack and heads towards the arrival
terminal, feeling a bit tired and hungry; the food on the plane was not to his
liking. He walks towards the man in uniform waving the passengers on to exit
the airport. He wheels his luggage behind him and thanks whoever controls the
universe that the flight was smooth and the process to collect their luggage
was not long and tedious as it sometimes can be. He keeps walking straight
ahead down the corridor that has an exit sign hanging in front of the door
ahead of him and then he notices her waiting outside the door.
He could not believe what he was seeing. It was Alexia only
it wasn’t; Jake quickens his pace to get to the door before the girl could get
away. As he arrives at the door, the girl who resembles Alexia starts to walk
towards the car park. He follows her all the way to her car and then gets close
enough to the point where she can hear him without having to scream.
“Alex?”
She turns around and asks “who is Alex and who are you?”
He quickly realizes that though the resemblance is there. She
was clearly not Alexia. He apologizes “am sorry, I thought you were someone I
know. I will be on my way now.”
“Where you headed? You can’t just walk up to me with an
accent that makes it pretty clear that you are not from around here. Do you
know where you are going dressed like that?” She points at his clothes as a
matter of fact.
He had on a t-shirt and jeans, without his jacket. He then
realized that he must have left it on the plane.
“No worries, I have something for you in the car. You can use
that.” She opens the car and hands it over to him and stares at him. “You look
lost mister and I don’t know you but I believe you are harmless. So I am going
to offer you a ride provided you tell me your name and what you are doing in
the States?”
“My name is Jake Ashburn and I am here to do my masters in
Finance at the University of Texas.” He says all this as he hands over his
documents to her as a further claim to back up his statement.
She takes the documents and looks them over until she is
satisfied. She hands them over to him and says “okay Jake, I knew you were
harmless. Welcome to Texas then and I will be your guide since I already attend
the school you just became a student of.” She opens the door for him “before I
forget, no sleeping in my car and no talking on the phone for longer than 2
minutes. I hate anyone not talking to me when they are riding with me,
understood. My name is Sophia it’s good to meet you Jake.”
“It’s good to meet you Sophia.” Jake shakes the hand that is
extended to him by Sophia with a smile.
Jake started his life in the States as planned and for the
next six months did nothing but study and hang out with Sophia and her friends
at clubs and parties. Life was good, everything was good until one day,
something happened. Something that changed everything and it all began with a
phone call.