The House on Sunset
By- Lindsay Fischer
Genre- Memoir/Women’s Fiction
Lindsay Fischer was once a high school English teacher with dreams stretching far outside the classroom. When her boyfriend of a year-and-a-half cheated on her, Lindsay found herself alone, looking online for a replacement. His name was Mike.
That’s where the nightmare started.
The House on Sunset is a memoir, a collection of reminiscences, scattering the ashes of two broken homes and putting them to rest. Each chapter offers a different glimpse inside the cycle of intimate partner violence, where honeymoon phases and traumas coexist.
Everyone could fall victim to abusers. This book bravely displays the reasons a quirky, twenty-something teacher would, and did.
Excerpt
From Our Meeting:
“Mike had the body of an athlete,
thick, broad shoulders and muscular legs. I wanted to be near him as I stared
through my rearview mirror at his dominating figure. He leaned against the
antique brick building behind my car, arms crossed casually, waiting for me on
the top step of the entryway. I hadn’t realized it the night before, but as I
looked at the empty train tracks last night, just after it left town, the
lights from his building shone down my street. Maybe I'd seen him without
realizing it, but it made no difference. There was no denying we were meeting
now.
Today, his button-down shirt was
masked under a hoodie. His black Oxfords and gray wool pants the only hint of
office attire I noticed as he stepped off the entryway stairs and onto the
sidewalk, waiting for me under the city’s lamp. For the first time since we
started talking, a face would coincide with a voice, (with written confessions
and shared heartbreaks).
One walk across the street divided
me and him from becoming us, whatever that meant.
I stepped out of the car and onto
Main Street. I’d passed this place hundreds of times since I moved in, but
hadn’t consumed every brick slab and window like I was while I waited for
traffic to break. When O’Fallon was first established, the four-story building
was its first hotel. Now it was surrounded by antique shops and a small bar
that served craft beers. Considered historic, the building was well maintained
by its owner and filled with new offices. Lucky for me, Mike found it and built
his business on the lobby level.
As I walked toward him, the light
shined down and accentuated his tan face. Bright flecks of blond hair dotted
his five-o’clock shadow. His thin, pink lips creased with experience and life,
broke once I stepped onto the curb.
“Hello, gorgeous,” he said,
unfolding his hands and stepping toward me.
“This is weird, isn’t it?” I asked,
looking toward him and then dropping my eyes, both nervous and smitten with
instant attraction.
He reached me on the second step,
and stopped with only inches between us. Just the night before, we were perfect
strangers. Now he stood in front of me, a person I had to meet. His ring finger
lifted my chin so our eyes would meet again. A boundary I anticipated keeping,
I didn’t think we’d touch that night, but his gaze caught me off guard. His
eyes were stunning, an icy, pale blue, promising answers. If I could only
search them a little longer, I swore I could find anything I wanted.”
About the Author
Lindsay Fischer graduated from Missouri State University with a Bachelor of Science in secondary education, English. An avid reader and learner, Lindsay took her passion for words into a classroom before starting a writing career. Life pulled her from the classroom, providing an opportunity to use her voice against domestic violence, blogging under the pseudonym, Sarafina Bianco, since 2009. You can find her words at survivorswillbeheard.com and speak directly to her when she hosts #domesticviolencechat on Twitter. Lindsay hopes to be an advocate for women, men and children who still live inside the nightmare of their abuse. She currently lives with her husband and three dogs, including Watson, in St. Louis, Missouri.
Links
Facebook: www.facebook.com/survivorswillbeheard
Twitter: @LinsFischer
Author Site: survivorswillbeheard.com
Instagram: @lindsaycapo
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