Sophia Burke

The driver stomped his cigarette out on the concrete and got in the car. "Where to?"

"225 - Shady Lane." Arthur leaned back into his seat and closed his eyes, trying to get more rest before the flight.

While slowly moving towards the destination, the driver glanced at Arthur through the rear-view mirror. "Do you mind if I turn on the radio?"

"No, your fine." Arthur opened his eyes and stared out the window, watching houses come and go. 'Whatever, not like I would get much rest in a moving car.'

"Alright. Lets see what's happening in the world today." The driver grinned and turned on the radio, adjusting it to a well-known news station.

"The world morns today after 26 people died in an incident yesterday at the Blackwood Mall in Westwood, California. Where a person with a bomb attached to his body walked into the busiest part of the mall and set it off." The newscaster reported with a heavy tone.

The driver angrily slammed his hand on the steering wheel. "Can you believe this? How can someone be so crazy?"

"There's plenty of crazy people in this world, thankfully very little have enough courage to do something like that." Arthur shook his head with a sigh.

The driver finished expressing his anger on the steering wheel and turned off the radio with a sigh. "Yeah, thankfully."

Ten minutes later, the taxi parked outside a yellow two-story house with a red Honda in its driveway.

Arthur took his cellphone out of his pocket and messaged the contact "Wife", notifying her of his arrival.

A couple of minutes later, a young woman around Arthur's age cracked the door open and waved at the taxi, signaling Arthur to come inside.

The young woman has long wavy dark-brown hair, bright emerald green eyes, thin dark-brown eyebrows, small kissable red lips and three small freckles below her left eye. She wore thigh high black socks that hug her supple legs, thigh covering black skirt and a cream-colored sweater.

"I'm going to go get her luggage, just keep the meter running." Arthur got out of the taxi and went in the yellow two-story house.

When Arthur stepped inside, a soft voice came from the living room. "I know Mom, Ill be safe. Besides, don't I have Arthur to protect me?"

"I know Arthur will protect you, but he can't always be with you, he will have his own classes and friends." Followed by another soft voice, but this time it sounded a little more mature.

Arthur glanced at the five suitcases on the floor and went into the living room. Hearing someone coming, the voices stopped. Inside the living room stood three people, the young woman on the porch earlier and a middle-aged couple.

The middle-aged man gave off the look of a scholar wearing glasses with his thin body. But don't let that fool you because he is actually a tough semi-truck driver that's seen more of the United States than most people. The middle-aged woman looked like a slightly older version of the young woman, giving off a mature and relaxing vibe.

Arthur walked behind the young woman and hugged her into his arms and swore with a straight face. "I swear I will protect Sophia with my life."

"Arthur…" Sophia blushed with a fascinating smile, staring up at Arthur as love overflowed in her eyes.

Sophia's Father, Ryan Burke, shook his head and sought to explain. "It's not that we don't trust you, Arthur."

"Yeah. Its not like we don't trust you, Arthur. We just thought that it would be best to be safer than sorry and give Sophia a can of pepper spray." Sophia's Mother, Anna Burke, showed him a small can of pepper spray and explained their thoughts, not wanting to hurt Arthur's feelings.

Arthur and Sophia have been friends since Middle School, so you can say that their house is like a second home for Arthur. They even noticed signs that Arthur and Sophia's relationship changing and didn't stop it, you can see how much they like Arthur.

"I understand. You're right, its better to be safe than sorry." Arthur smiled apologetically and received the can of pepper spray and offered it to Sophia. "Keep it. Later Ill help you attach it to your key-ring."

"Hmm." Sophia held the small can of pepper spray with a cute noise showing her approval.

Sophia's Mother and Father glanced at each other and smiled.

"Okay, Ill go load you luggage in the taxi and wait outside for you." Arthur pecked a kiss on Sophia's head and left, giving them room to say goodbye as a family.

"And here is the last one…" Arthur placed Sophia's fifth suitcase in the taxi's trunk, packing it to the brim.

Whoosh — A chilly wind blew past Arthur, causing him to shiver.

Thinking about putting on a jacket, Arthur glanced at the full trunk. Shaking his head, Arthur closed the trunk and got inside the heated taxi.

Ten minutes later, when Arthur was getting concerned, a crying Sophia came from the house and got inside the taxi.

"Arthur…" Sophia finished buckling herself and leaned against Arthur quietly.

Arthur told the driver their destination and hugged Sophia, trying to improve her mood. "Everything will be fine. We'll return home during the holidays."

"Hmm!" Sophia nodded into Arthur's shoulder with a cute noise, showing that she was feeling better.

Thinking about something funny, she laughed and asked Arthur with a smirk. "Did the people from West River University visit your house again today?"

Just the mention of West River University was enough to cause Arthur to feel mentally and physically drained. "Yeah… Thankfully I was working out and didn't know, but my Uncle had to deal with them." Arthur forced a smile and explained what happened.

Seeing Arthur so deflated, Sophia couldn't help but laugh. "It's your own fault that happened. If you didn't change electives all the time, the teachers wouldn't have learned of your unique ability."

"Luckily it was just West River University that heard about it, otherwise I might have been getting dissected by now." Arthur sighed at his luck.

"What unique ability?" The bald taxi driver couldn't help but ask.

"I have what I call a 'Perfect Memory', all it takes is for me to see or hear something once and I can remember it perfectly." Arthur didn't feel a need to hide it from someone that he would never see again and explained his ability.

"What?! Really?! That's awesome man, if I had that when I was young, maybe I would have finished getting my degree." The bald taxi driver joked.

Then it hit Arthur, don't they have cameras in the newer taxi's trying to prevent theft? Arthur quickly looked around and was relieved to find that this is one of the older taxi's with no cameras.

After a couple more minutes of joking between them, they finally arrived at the Airport. The taxi driver stopped at the curb leading to their exit and accounted for the cost. "Okay were here. The total will be $26"

After getting out of the car, Arthur took out his wallet and handed the driver $30. "Here, keep the rest as a tip."

"Alright, thank you!" The taxi driver smiled happily and hopped out of the car to help Arthur and Sophia get their luggage out of the trunk.

"Okay! Follow me!" After Arthur was done putting their luggage on a carrier, Sophia led the way with a smile.

Although slightly puzzled, Arthur still followed Sophia, but after a while he couldn't help but ask. "Have you been here before?"

"No, dumby, but my dad has, and he told me that we need to go through checking and security before we can board the plane." Sophia laughed and explained.

"Ooh. So please continue to lead the way, as I, your butler, push your carrier." Arthur jokingly bowed as a butler, not caring about the strange looks everywhere.

"Thank you, butler Arthur, after we return to the castle, you will be awarded generously with lots of gold." Sophia smiled and played along.

While joking and not paying attention, Arthur and Sophia quickly went through every line required of them. Taking only their carry-on bags, they went and sat in the waiting room.

After waiting for a little while, Arthur glanced at a slightly worn-out watch on his wrist and sighed. "Its 9:00 already, so it might have been delayed."

Sophia looked at the watch on Arthur's wrist and reached over, taking his hand in hers, and inspected the watch with a soft smile. "I can't believe your still using this watch, I gave it to you back when we were in middle school."

Arthur shook his head with a soft smile and used his free hand to reach over and touched the purple heart stud earrings on Sophia's ear. "What's wrong with my watch? Your still wearing the earrings I gave you back then."

Arthur and Sophia stared into each-other's eyes in silence, without speaking, while love filled their eyes.

"Flight #277 is now boarding! I repeat! Flight #277 is now boarding!" While Arthur and Sophia were lost in their own world, there was an announcement.

"#277! That's us!" Arthur and Sophia swiftly stood up and moved towards their boarding dock.