Salvation | King Von

prelude

Nivea Joy Holmes

her name is pronounced niv-ee-ah

It was 6pm and I was frantically packing up me and my son's belongings. It had taken months for me to prepare for this moment, and I'd planned everything as perfectly as I possibly could. I was only taking what we needed, willing to buy anything else later once I was far away from here.

I got Kieran strapped into his car seat and hurriedly pulled out of the driveway. My heart was racing from the adrenaline the further and further I got away from the house. I started to space out until one of the road signs caught my eye.

'You are now leaving Tennessee.'

This was so surreal to me. Nobody ever plans for their life to take a turn for the worse, but I couldn't stop wondering how I'd found myself in this position. Here I am, 19 years old, and I just left my home without saying anything to anybody, not my best friend, my sister, or even my mom.

I sighed as I let everything sink in, looking back at Kieran seeing he was asleep. I felt horrible about it, but there was no other way I could keep us safe.

Memphis was all I had ever known, but I hoped Chicago would be kind to us.

The drive was about 8 hours and I only stopped once before we got to a motel at about 3am. The front desk lady had looked at me crazy when I handed her the cash, but I didn't have the energy to care. I was exhausted as I laid next to Kieran, admiring his features.

My sweet baby was only two years old; I'd had him young, but I've always done everything in my power to make sure he lived an abundant life, and I wasn't going to stop now.

I felt my eyes start to drift closed and I easily allowed sleep to take over.