WORD COUNT: 1,529

Balyn Cascon sat in her room, patiently, nervously, waiting for results from a pregnancy test to see either 1 line or 2, letting her in on what the future might hold.

Balyn is a 23 year old, unmarried woman. Her parents are kind, Christian parents, understanding and always supportive of everything she has decided to do with her life. But if Balyn is pregnant and unmarried they may not be so happy, and it most definitely will not put out the image that they want to maintain for their family. Once the test showed the results Balyn had no idea what to do; she was freaking out.... She was pregnant and having a baby without a husband, was not supported by her religion, and abortion was not either. It was as though there was no way out.

She did not want her child to feel unwanted, like a mistake, something that she never wanted, was not planned and to feel like his or her grandparents distance themselves because he or she

did something wrong.

After a few days of thought and not telling her parents, it was clear to Balyn what she had to do, the decision that was right for her. She was on her way to her parent’s house when the music on the radio stopped, it was time for the radio personalities to chat.

The topic that day seemed to be serious because none of them started with a joke, they went right into the news about the new abortion laws passed in every single state that did not already have them, including Nevada. She was shocked and had to think of a new plan. If she told her parents like she originally wanted to she would deal with their disappointment in her wanting an abortion and even getting pregnant in the first place.

In his third story apartment sat Naron, with a group of friends who are not really his friends getting high. Some eating pot brownies or smoking marijuana, others popping pills like there is no tomorrow. Naron is a 27 year old man living in Nevada, a few towns over from Balyn and he does not like his lifestyle. He no longer wants to take or sell drugs, he no longer wants to abuse them and ruin his body, but he cannot say the same for his friends.

That is okay to him though, that is a choice that they are making for themselves and no one else, he just is not satisfied with himself and what he is doing, so he sits on the couch of his house watching roommates drink and smoke like it is the one thing they do best.

The next day he was out grocery shopping and had to get snacks and pain meds for his roommates who had indescribable cravings and terrible hangovers. He picked up Advil, Doritos, pretzels and ginger ale, then was on his way home. There was an accident on the street right outside the parking lot so he sat in for what he imagined a life time. But the roads were awfully busy, and not just the normal traffic you see in surrounding towns. Caliente, Nevada is near the border towards Utah and nobody visits. So he wondered, what in the world is going on? Because something is definitely going on, and it does not look good.

He waited and waited just to squeeze his way onto the small  road, just to wait some more and run into more traffic on the highway and come home to a huge party, with music blasting so loud it could be heard a block over.

When he opened the front door there was at the least, 50 people in his front room, dining room and 10 in the kitchen.

He was upset but not surprised, and his anger only got worse when he noticed people were doing drugs. Everywhere he turned he could spot smalls groups of people getting high and smoking whatever was passed to them without any question.

He knew about the laws new laws passed the previous year, 2053, saying that if a cop were to spot anyone doing any type of drug they would immediately be arrested but he was a recovering addict, surrounded by his temptations, put under so much pressure of the unexpected party in his home that the only thing he thought could make things better was to take a hit to help relieve his stress....

Little did he know that the neighbors had called the police for the loud music and were now banging on his front door. He had to make a run for it, he made a big mistake and wanted help, he was not willing to go to jail for something so foolish. So he ran upstairs, packed all of his necessities, left out the back door and ran to the nearest bus station.

It was twelve a.m. and Naron is sitting at the bus stop, staring at a woman across from him also waiting for the next bus out. She seemed sad, confused and looked as if she was sitting there all night, maybe even since it was still light out.

The last bus out of Nevada had left around noon, and the next one out was early the next day, bus tickets were first come first serve and nobody who felt the need to run out of Nevada was going to go home and wait, while risking the fastest way out, early in the morning, on a bus that is taking them all exactly where they want to go, Connecticut. With all of the stops and switching of buses they would be there in about a week.