Chapter 17

Alexa

My teeth chattered together and I felt my brain hit the back of my skull as the bus jangled along the road. I checked Henry in his carseat to see if he was ok. If he noticed the bus’s janky movement but he didn't let on. He continued watching cocomelon on his tab. He was safe. I wondered if he knew I just took him away from the life he has always known. He was not going to have the childhood I had. I doubted he was going to remember his early years he spent in a quiet sleepy town as a toddler. If he did it would be only in flashes and fleeting feelings. I tucked him more securely into the seat, as the bus went into yet another bump.

I looked out the window at the landscape I hadn't seen in four years. It was like the place wasn't touched by time in any way. The landmarks were still the same. The landscape is still taken by cornfields and dusty browns. The first time I went this direction to Vegas. I was excited and full of hope of what the city held for me. I was a young woman t