Chapter 6: A Stranger’s Skin
Riva took a long, long walk with her phone, trying not only to get away from home but also to get away from anyone who might ever recognize her. She walked past convenience stores and empty houses. The few people she passed all seemed stunned by the heat, their T-shirts wet along the sides. Riva knew she smelled as sweaty as they looked. She scuffed her sneakers against the gravelly road as she walked, not picking up her feet enough. Everything seemed so wide and flat and open here, as if not even the possibility of privacy existed.
She got half-lost along the way, missing her hometown with the now-familiar pang at the bottom of her lungs. If she’d been back in Jersey, she would have known a million places to hide, favorite spots she’d been visiting with her
