The Girl Who Outgrew the World by Zoje Stage

Author:Zoje Stage [Stage, Zoje]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lethe Press
Published: 2022-04-22T00:00:00+00:00

L I L L Y

It was an enjoyable ride, past farms with flowing rivers of cornstalks and pastures trampled by cows. She and Daddy had never done any long-distance traveling and the new terrain made her excited for everything she’d get to see on her journey. They drove in a straight line for a long time, and then finally Stop turned onto a smaller road. Soon after, he slowed and turned again, this time onto a steep and bumpy path that she realized was a driveway. At the top of the hill she saw a purple castle—a frosted gingerbread mansion, complete with a turret.

“Is that where you live?” she asked, awestruck as the magnificent place came into view. It had a huge porch that wrapped around the house, a hundred windows, and a pointy roof—like a dunce cap—that sat atop the round turret.

“Yes—but don’t be too impressed. Long ago this was the home of some bigwig—he owned lots of the farms out this way. But just like the land got broken up into pieces, the house is apartments now.” He pulled the van around to the side, where there was another entrance. A mishmash of mailboxes clung to the wall beside the door.

Lilly waited for Stop to release the sliding door, but first he got out of the vehicle and glanced around, and then unlocked the house door and stuck his head in—looking up toward what she assumed were a set of stairs. What was he looking for? The place looked deserted. Stop came back and pressed the keychain button that freed her from the back of the van. Knapsack slung over her shoulder, she followed him inside.

A pair of lovely golden birds chirped from the porch rail, “Stop, stop, stop, stop…”

He ignored them, but Lilly grinned.

“Oh,” she said when he headed downstairs. She’d hoped—assumed—that he lived within the curved walls of the turret, because, as the most castle-like part, she liked it best. She bent over to keep from hitting her head as they descended into the basement, and for a second Lilly felt a twinge of unease. Was he taking her to the dungeon?

Stop stopped in front of a door, a key at the ready. The floor beneath them was concrete, damp in places, and Lilly saw a laundry room with a bank of washers farther down the corridor. A light blinked on and off above them and Lilly hugged herself, partly from the chill, and partly from the anxiety of her failed expectations.

“You live down here?” she asked stupidly as he unlocked the door.

“I know what you’re thinking, but it’s a big space, and we have a communal garden in the back. I’m trying to save money, so I can move to a bigger city and buy my own place.”

He flicked on a light as he went in.

Lilly hesitated before crossing the threshold. Stop locked the door behind her as she took in his strange abode.

He wasn’t kidding about how big it was. There was a long

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.