This young woman gets up to the microphone. She speaks confidently but not in a rehearsed manner as she tells her story. She’s been in New York City only for a few months now, since sometime this summer. Unlike many people, she wasn’t intent on staying here. New York City wasn’t her dream destination. She had run away from home. Her plan was to flee the East Coast for the West. Californ-i-a. She packed her bags and hit the road. Along the way, she met a guy and became involved with a church in Manhattan. She decided to stay. She decided to share her story with others.
Afterwards, I approach her. I want to know more. Why had she left, throwing out her cell phone so no one could even get in touch with her? Has she reconciled with those she left behind? She answers my questions and asks about the book — Burning Furiously Beautiful — I had read from at the same microphone as her. She tells me that of the few possessions she packed with her when she left home, one of them was Jack Kerouac’s On the Road.
Stephanie Nikolopoulos 
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