Stray: Memoir of a Runaway by Tanya Marquardt

Author:Tanya Marquardt [Marquardt, Tanya]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi, azw3
ISBN: 9781503949164
Publisher: Little A
Published: 2018-08-31T23:00:00+00:00

Still

I was talking to a group of friends at one of Garret’s basement parties, back when I was still staying with Liz and Kristian, when Garrett motioned me over to where he sat with a long-limbed boy.

“Sit down,” Garret told me. “Tanya, this is Lars. Lars, this is Tanya.”

“Hi,” he said, not making eye contact.

“Hi,” I said, not making eye contact either.

We sat together for a couple of hours that first night, and I found out a lot about him. He was eighteen but didn’t go to high school and lived out past Sproat Lake. His parents homeschooled him after they had caught him getting drunk with some of his friends when he was in seventh grade.

“They’re really strict. My mom hardly lets people come over, and when they do she follows us around. She thinks they’re trying to get me to take drugs.”

“Wow, that’s crazy,” I said. “My mom barely knows I’m alive.”

I was trying to make a joke, and we both rolled our eyes. Lars’s life was the opposite of mine, but hearing him talk about his dysfunctional family made me feel closer to him.

“I sneak out. That’s how I met Garret. We’ve been jamming in his basement with my guitar.”

“You play guitar? What kind of music do you like?” I asked.

Lars pointed to his shirt, a Cure band T-shirt.

“Cool,” I said, “I like The Cure.”

“Yeah, I practice at night, but I can’t be too loud. Mom doesn’t like the music in the house.”

I looked down at his fingers and saw that they were long, like mine, but large and calloused at their tips.

“That’s impossible, isn’t it?” I asked.

“It has to be silent during the day.”

The image of him pressing down on guitar strings, strumming without making sound, was heartbreaking.

Lars’s shaggy hair fell into his face. He had a strong jawbone, and his skin was pale, with dark circles under his eyes. His legs and torso were long, and he was sitting cross-legged, his waist lean, and with hunched broad shoulders, like me.

“That sounds horrible,” I said, inching my way closer to him.

“She doesn’t know I’m at a party.” Lars took a sip of his beer. “Or that I still smoke pot and drink. The only life I have is after dark.”

I laughed. “That’s the only time to have a life. Nobody is thinking of you. Everyone’s asleep. Then you can be free.”

We smiled at each other through our straggly hair, a look of recognition.

“How many nights a week do you sneak out?” I asked.

“Three or four. I have to wait until my parents are asleep. My mom comes and checks in on me around midnight, to make sure I’m in bed. They sleep next to my room, and when I hear my mom snoring, I climb out my window, then push the car up the driveway and down the road until I’m sure they won’t hear me turn on the ignition.”

“How long do you have to push the car?” I asked.

“Ten minutes, maybe longer. It’s pretty dead out where I am.

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.