A week later | Chicago

"The fuck you mean I can't stay here?" Von frowned, holding on to the belongings he'd just received after being released from prison a few minutes ago.

"Exactly what I said. You're relocating to Atlanta. You get into too much trouble down here. Judge said next time you get locked up it's an automatic life sentence." His parole officer, Luda, told him.

"I'm not going no fucking where. This my hood." Von rubbed his right ear, a frown on his face.

"You don't have a choice. Either go to Atlanta, or I can take you back to your old cell." Luda shrugged, signing paperwork as Von groaned in frustration.

"How the fuck am I even supposed to get to Atlanta? Nigga I got forty dollars and one bus ticket." Von frowned.

"Figure it out. And figure out a way to call me every second Tuesday of the month at 3:30pm. Starting next week. Not a minute late or you'll be on an ankle monitor." Luda said, and Von ran his hand down his face.

His leg shook in frustration as he looked down at the slightly ripped clothes that he was wearing at the time of his arrest two years ago.

"So you expect me to get from Chicago to fucking Atlanta and somehow find a phone and somewhere to stay before Tuesday? I don't have no fucking connections in Atlanta man I never been there in my life." Von mugged Luda, who looked up from the papers.

"Should've kept yo dumb ass out of trouble." Luda spoke, and Von's eyes darkened, tilting his head to the side.

"What?" Von furrowed his eyebrows, and Luda looked back down at the papers.

"Anyways, you're free to go. No drugs besides marijuana, no lean, percs, nothing besides weed. Find you something to do. Get a job, stay at motel 6 until you get on your feet." Luda slid a piece of paper over to him, and Von grabbed it, rolling his eyes.

"And Von, whatever you do, don't..." Von could slightly hear Luda before hearing a loud screech, making him wince.

Luda reached over, fixing Von's hearing aid in his right ear, and Von's face softened.

"Thank you." He mumbled, rubbing his ear, and Luda nodded.

"Don't get yourself into trouble Grandson. Be safe." Luda nodded his head to the door, and Von sighed, standing up and walking out of his office.

Von walked out of the building, looking down at the map Luda gave him and rolling his eyes, knowing he couldn't understand it.

Von stuffed the map in his pocket, standing at the bus stop. His hearing aid screeched again at the same time the bus pulled in front of him, and he winced.

As long as he'd had it, he was rarely able to fix it by himself. He frowned, snatching it out, no longer able to hear anything from his right ear as he stepped on the bus.

He scanned his ticket, before sitting right behind the driver, looking down at his hearing aid.

After the shoot out he'd had that ended in his best friends death over 8 years ago, Von had went partially deaf after a bullet flew too close to his ear.

He didn't get any help for it, which caused it to deteriorate more over time, eventually going completely deaf in his right ear.

He'd learned to operate without the hearing, still getting himself into more trouble even being half deaf.

He'd been arrested more than twice each year since his best friend, T Roy, had died. He couldn't seem to keep himself out of trouble.

He was last arrested on an armed robbery charge three years ago, after having a shootout that ended with 5 people dead.

Luckily, they weren't able to tie him to the murders, but he did get pointed out in a line up after robbing a white woman right after it.

"Scuse' me, whea' this bus goin'?" Von asked the driver once they made it out of Illinois.

"The last stop for the third driver is Birmingham, Alabama." The woman spoke, and he rose an eyebrow.

"Can you say that again?" He covered his right ear, turning his head.

"Birmingham Alabama." She spoke louder, and he nodded.

"How far is dat' from Atlanta?" He asked.

"Two hours. You can catch the sovereign freight train in Jacksonville to make the trip, it'a take you right to Atlanta." The woman told him, and he nodded, sitting back in his seat.

His leg shook as he rubbed his ear, wondering what his twin brother, Trayvon, was doing at the moment.

Him and Trayvon weren't the most normal pair of twins, only speaking over the phone sometimes.

Von hadn't heard from him since he'd been in prison, not that Von too much cared. He didn't need anybody, he had himself regardless.

After spending ten hours on the bus, Von was awoken feeling his body being touched.

He stirred in his sleep, before frowning, opening his eyes feeling a hand touch his dick. He looked up seeing a man with a sly smirk on his face.

"Fuck you on folks?" Von quickly stood up, swinging hard on the man that was touching him.

He kept throwing his fist, watching as blood began to pour from the man's face. Von grabbed his head, banging it against the pole until a gash formed, and the man's body went limp.

Von huffed, dropping him, shaking his fist as he looked around the empty bus.

He looked down, putting his fingers on the man's neck, before slowly pulling back, realizing he'd killed him.

Von looked around, sighing in relief not seeing any cameras, and he got off the bus, quickly running away from the scene with his hood on.

He kept running, and kept running, and kept running until he physically couldn't. He'd probably been running for hours, losing track of time.

He spotted a gas station, and he made his way there, holding his ear as he walked inside.

"Aye, where I'm at?" Von asked the man behind the counter.

"Jacksonville." He responded, and Von nodded, happy that he made it to where he was supposed to be without a map.

"Do you know where the train station is?" Von asked, grabbing a small basket, beginning to fill it up with snacks and drinks, a blanket, deodorant, bar soap, and toothpaste.

"If you take this road right here, straight down for about two miles. It's a small lil shack, that's the only stop I know for it." The man told him, his back turned as he stocked the shelves.

Von saw that he wasn't paying attention, and ran out of the door, down the street, laughing to himself hearing the man calling after him.

Deciding not to slow down, he kept running, thanking his younger self for doing cross country as a kid.

He found the train station, just as it was about to leave.

"Hold up." Von spoke up, and a man caught the door before it could close, and Von walked on.

"Preciate you." Von mumbled, sitting down in a seat and opening his Gatorade.

He sipped from the drink, the cool blue flavored Gatorade cooling his body down.

He put the top back on his drink, feeling a headache coming on from both overworking his body and not having his hearing aid in.

The loud silence that filled his right ear was very uncomfortable, which usually cause a migraine for him.

As long as he'd been deaf, it was still a very new feeling for him that he was still adapting to.

He pulled his hearing aid from his pocket, looking down at it. He had a BTE, or behind the ear, hearing aid. It had two buttons and a small spiral on it.

He put the earphone part in his ear canal, hooking the other piece behind his ear. He pressed a button, and it screeched in his ear, making him wince, quickly pressing the same button to silence it.

He pressed the other button, before spinning the small spiral, his eye twitching as the minimum hearing in his right ear slowly revived.

Even with the hearing aid, he still couldn't hear clearly, but he was able to hear sort of muffled sounds, usually able to make them out.

He hated the hearing aid. He'd rather not be able to hear, but the migraines that came with the silence made him change his mind every time.

Von leaned his head on the window, sighing before closing his eyes, clutching his belongings tight.

This was short, hoewell.