>>6111539>>6111734>>6111318>>6111487>>6113159Part of you thinks of stopping, or even letting the weight drag you down. You know you've considered it in the past. After all, the 'reason to live' that was given to you by others died with your mother. But right now, you can't give up. You have other places to be. Other things to do. You're not sure what yet, you're not even sure where, but there's got to be something. Even if there's no place for you wherever you end up, you can make your own.
Everyone needs to eat, so your limited skills carry almost anywhere, and shitty working conditions are just standard operating procedure. New Orleans might be a good stop, but... You didn't come this far just to find yourself tied up in another corporate net. You want to keep going. The West, as they say, is wild. No one has ever come to save you: You've never been anything more than a disposable asset. They're probably writing you off as you think.
The wheels turn, the lights bounce off the tunnel walls, and the radio plays mild static, denied a proper signal by the tunnel. The smoke of those cigarettes the driver bummed leave a thin scent in the air, even though he's got some of the windows cracked open to let air flow.
Soon, the tunnel exits out into the open air, rolling up along a side road and turning across a long ramp towards a long-since-decrepit highway. Cracks in the surface cause bouncing and shuddering before things stabilize again. The pitch-dark night is broken by the bright lights of the cityscape- somehow more beautiful at a distance. You can't see all of the crackheads from here, you muse to yourself. But there's more to it than that. A pillar of smoke, a very small torch... A match lit on top of your old home. The distant ruby red and billowing smoke form the final piece of the picture.
It all fades into the distance, until you can no longer see anything from the side window. You clutch your backpack. The rumble of the bus slowly lulls you to sleep.
Maybe not knowing what the future brings is the closest thing to freedom there is.
