If Our Paths Never Cross

Prologue: You Again

Summer, 2001

Maya Yamada was not ashamed to admit that she wore her heart on her sleeve. She hadn't always been that way though; but after going through multiple heartbreaks in her twenty-eight years of living, it seemed like a pretty reasonable response. Something filled her with joy? She'd scream and rave about said thing.
If something made her unhappy, she'd cry her heart out until she fell asleep on her tear stained pillow.

Someone made her angry? She'd punch them if they pushed her hard enough.

So it made complete sense that when she saw Samuel Morgan for the first time in ten years, she balled her hand into a fist and punched him in the face, resulting in a broken nose and a string of curse words coming from both the younger man and woman. Of course, she had felt a little bit of remorse after, solely for the reason that poor Victor probably had no clue what could have instigated any of this.

About two months earlier, Maya had contacted her old family friend, Victor Sullivan, on business treasure hunting matters in hopes that he would be willing to help finish her late father's life work of finding the sought out treasure of Henry Avery. Although, he politely declined, he did offer his assistance by referring a man who possessed a copious amount of knowledge in the field and had been on a few expeditions himself. She was a bit surprised that Victor had agreed so quickly to help her, seeing that she had only seen him sporadically over the course of eight years, although he and her father, Reo, were quite close in their younger days. Although he did not share any details, such as a name or address of this said person, he had given her instructions to meet at noon time the following Wednesday and he would happily meet with her and bring along her possibly new partner.

She anxiously tapped her fingernails on the marble counter of the dimly lit bar that her and her old friend agreed upon meeting. As she waited, she made a mental note to reprimand Victor about his choice of venue. The place smelled of cigarette smoke, a specific smell that Maya could not stand. The place was so poorly lit that she had tripped twice already finding a spot to sit at. To top that all off, the only music that the speakers would seem to play were solely Starship songs. She turned to face the window that showed a view of the sidewalk out front, hoping to see some kind of Hawaiian shirt that would signify Victor's arrival. She began to wonder if he even wore those horribly designed shirts after all those years.

She looked at her watch, now tapping the heel of her boots on metal leg of the stool.

12:45

He was already forty-five minutes late and with no sight of him, Maya began to think that he wasn't going to show up. She tugged her red tank top up and brushed her freshly cut shoulder length hair to the side as she asked the bartender for a glass of scotch when she inhaled the scent of a Cuban cigar and felt a hand on her shoulder.

She jumped up and greeted Victor with an enormous bear hug, relieved that he kept his word. Victor Sullivan and her father worked together on a few " jobs", as they liked to describe it. Although his visits became more scarce as she got older, it was still always a pleasure to see him and hear about his latest voyage and journeys to far off lands. Plus, the presents weren't a bad addition either. He was much older now but the only thing that seemed to change over the years was that his hair faded from it's natural brown to grey.

"Long time, no see darlin'!" He says cheerfully as he takes a seat on the worn out stool next to her.

After ordering a glass of whiskey on the rocks,and explaining to Maya that her new colleague was running a bit late, they began catching up on their whereabouts in the last decade.Not much was of significance to Maya as she was completely devoted to finishing her father's work and had been for the past seven years. Perhaps a side gig here and there, but nothing worth bringing up. Sully, on the other hand, rambled on about his own adventures with a friend of his named Nate.
The name brought the woman back to her adolescence and her past friend that shared the same name. He and his older brother Sam, were her two best friends, until one day, they disappeared off the face of the earth. She became lost in her own recollection of her memories that Sully had asked if she was alright. She nodded, because that was the polite thing to do, and asked for him to continue, however, his words were going through one ear and out the other. It wasn't until the mention of her father that she perked up and gave the older man her full attention.