The Stories We Don't Tell by Melissa Thayer

The Stories We Don’t Tell by Melissa Thayer
Published by: Booktrope Publishing
Publication date: May 15th 2014

“Growing up had stolen the truth of us.”
A life worth living is a life worth sharing. Growing up in a small town in Montana not worth a name, that kind of life is not one Nick can manage, let alone comprehend. When fate gives him an existence he can barely recognize, he searches for meaning in the future he wishes existed, and attempts to escape a past that cannot be told, save for in the pages of a faded memory.
Melissa Thayer’s lyrical and poignant debut novel, part confession and part wistful longing, is an incisive look at love and loss, and what remains of a soul that is dashed against the rocky shorelines of hope.
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Excerpt
The restlessness stirred. The road sign near the vista point read SAN FRANCISCO 160. He could keep driving. Three and a half hours, he could go to the Bay and stay with his friend Josh who lived near Hayward. The changes in temperature and scenery were alluring.
He took out his cell phone and returned it to his pocket. No reception. Josh was probably gone on business as usual anyway, or maybe he'd moved. Nick hadn't talked to him in a year. He took his camera from his car. Photographs filled the film. He liked film. It was tangible and reminded him of his mother's dark room, with its red lights and chemical smells. He clicked and captured this brief freedom he was encountering. He didn't want to believe he'd given up on his dreams. He had grown up and seen the other side of dreams. The side where the dream is a mirage, a tease and a graveyard.
The death of things was unavoidable. But Emma was still there. He had distanced himself to control losing her, but he couldn't control the persistence. She would love this view, he thought. The waves crashing against the rocks below in hypnotic rhythm. He felt his blood pressure slowing. He realized he was feeling. The numbness had become familiar, this was a surprise. Maybe he would write again. He hadn't picked up a pen and paper in over two years. He had attempted the screenplay once, giving up after thirty pages. The rut he hit is where he existed. What he would do later became tomorrow, and tomorrow was pared down by the types of things that are not truly busy. His time ate itself alive. He got back in the car and began the long drive back south. He wound around the curves, sometimes wondering what it would feel like to keep going straight off the cliff.

Sin City native Melissa Thayer writes fiction that touches upon the timeless truths of the human condition in poignant and thought-provoking ways. She enjoys writing about people and connecting readers with her characters.

She currently lives in Washington with her husband, daughter, and three cats.
THE STORIES WE DON’T TELL is her debut novel.
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