Authors: Lisa Schroeder
Tags: #Juvenile Fiction, #Social Issues, #Death & Dying, #Family, #Stepfamilies, #Action & Adventure, #Survival Stories, #General
Far From You
I Heart You, You Haunt Me
This book is a work of fiction. Any references to historical events, real people, or real locales are used fictitiously. Other names, characters, places, and incidents are the product of the author’s imagination, and any resemblance to actual events or locales or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
SIMON PULSE
An imprint of Simon & Schuster Children’s Publishing Division
1230 Avenue of the Americas, New York, NY 10020
Copyright © 2009 by Lisa Schroeder
All rights reserved, including the right of reproduction in whole or in part in any form.
SIMON PULSE and colophon are registered trademarks of
Simon & Schuster, Inc.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data:
Schroeder, Lisa.
Far from you / Lisa Schroeder.—1st Simon Pulse ed.
p. cm.
Summary: A novel-in-verse about sixteen-year-old Ali’s reluctant road trip with her stepmother and new baby sister, and the terror that ensues after they end up lost in the snow-covered woods.
ISBN-13: 978-1-4169-8988-2
ISBN-10: 1-4169-8988-9
[1. Novels in verse. 2. Stepfamilies—Fiction. 3. Survival—Fiction.] I. Title.
PZ7.5.S37Far 2009
[Fic]—dc22
2008025268
Visit us on the World Wide Web:
http://www.SimonSays.com
For my mom, with love
While other kids
went to Disneyland,
you took me
to Grandma’s house
and the library.
What a
lucky little girl
I was.
Thank you.
Lindsey Leavitt and Lisa Madigan, you complete me. Thank you for your wisdom and insight, and your willingness to read at the drop of an e-mail. Sara Crowe, agent extraordinaire, a million times, thank you for all that you do. Michael del Rosario and the fine folks at Simon Pulse, I appreciate your efforts and hard work more than I can say. Scott, Sam, and Grant, thanks for your unwavering enthusiasm. I’m pretty sure when God was handing out families, He saved the best one for me. Kate, Deena, Emily, and Tina, my Author2Author blog buddies, thanks for letting me join you. I’ve learned so much from you! Sally, you are, and always will be, my jukebox hero, and I just want to say thanks for being my loving, supportive friend. Dan, Dolores, and Margie, thanks for the laughs and making work fun. To my friends in the LJ hood, thanks for being there through it all. Jason Wade, you don’t know me and you’ll probably never read this, but I just had to tell you that I’m not sure I could have written this book without your music in my ears.
Finally, thank YOU, wonderful reader. Thank you from the bottom, top, and sides of my ever-grateful heart.
Far from You
We’re alone
with only
the cold
and dark
to keep us
company.
I know them
so well now,
they’re like
old friends.
Familiar.
Old friends
who have stayed
too long
and need to go.
I wish
the angel
would have stayed.
For a second,
I felt warmth.
I felt safe.
I felt love
as she whispered
my name,
“Alice,”
and floated
toward me
before she
disappeared.
Was I dreaming?
Hoping?
Hallucinating?
So hungry.
So tired.
Cold.
I look out the window,
and although it’s dark,
the moon
illuminates the scene
as if a faraway
floodlight
is hung
from the sky.
So much whiteness.
Everywhere.
Come back,
angel.
Let us fly
away
from
here.
Please.
Come back.
Memories
fall
like
snowflakes
upon
my dreams.
Me and Mom,
a piece of art,
a promise,
a hug.
Me and Dad,
a thousand tears,
a bouquet,
a loss.
Me and Blaze,
an autumn day,
a walk,
a kiss.
Me and Claire,
a flowing skirt,
a song,
a fight.
The snowflakes
toss and tumble,
each different
and yet
the same.
The snowflakes
of my life.