London, 2003 [[Flashback]]

It was a typical December day...that is to say it was miserable. Cage always thought December was a horrible month. It was filled with hype of joy and merry making that all lead to December 31 martini he snapped back into reality in time to order a coffee, black. Even though he hated coffee atleast it was warm.

He sat in an overly stuffed arm chair in the corner of the establishment, sipping his toxic sludge. He was thinking of Tokyo and Hon Kong now. Asians always did things right. He thought of Spain next and the night life of Madrid which he had heard so much of. He dreamed of holding Katie under the Eiffel Tower. And then he thought of New York again, where Katie was at this very moment most likely curled up in the arms of some new guy. A wave of hot anger poured over him. He stood, leaving half a mug of coffee on the small table next to the suspiciously comfortable arm chair, and walked out of the coffee place back out into the cold.

He reached into his jacket and pulled out his IPod. He shoved the ear buds into place and hit play. The thrashing guitar and pounding drums rained into his ears accompanied by a voice spitting out heart striking lyrics. He stepped almost drunkenly off the sidewalk into the street just as a car turned the corner. Cage turned his head. Headlights poured onto his face as he stared like a deer at his impending doom. A thought of holding Katie in the window seat of the apartment they shared at one point flashed over his mind.

Later that night a man checked himself into a hospital in London, claiming he was hallucinating. he claimed to have nearly hit a man who just disappeared into thin air.

A few hours earlier in New York, a man crashed into an apartment in Manhattan where a couple was solidifying their engagement.

"What the hell just happened..." he whispered to himself just as the women turned her head. Her eyes fell upon the intruder and her face blurred from a look of utter passion to one of utter disgust.

"CHRIS!"