Marcus Kliewer > Quotes

“Even when the event was completely out of her control, even when the other party was blatantly overstepping her bounds, she always found a way to blame herself. Always felt this nagging sense of guilt for everything, as if her very existence was a violation of some stone-etched decree.”
― Marcus Kliewer, We Used to Live Here

“When things felt right, it only meant there was so much more that could go wrong.”
― Marcus Kliewer, We Used to Live Here

“Yet, like all totally not haunted houses in the middle of nowhere, it was listed at a killer deal.”
― Marcus Kliewer, We Used to Live Here

“Imagine if several times a day, all at once, every single thing around you became impossible to ignore.”
― Marcus Kliewer, We Used to Live Here

“Her core memories began to change. People she’d known all her life became strangers, and strangers became… familiar.”
― Marcus Kliewer, We Used to Live Here

“Every memory she ever had, good or bad, it didn't matter - it all drowned in the suffocating present.”
― Marcus Kliewer, We Used to Live Here

“Those people in your house… that’s not what they look like,” he said, talking more to the trees than to her.”
― Marcus Kliewer, We Used to Live Here

“Yet, like all childhood monsters, it was only replaced by the mundane, and arguably worse, terrors of adulthood: credit card debt, car accidents, funerals. Things that sometimes made Eve think back to imaginary ghouls with rosy nostalgia.”
― Marcus Kliewer, We Used to Live Here

“The child cast out of the village will burn it down to feel its warmth.”
― Marcus Kliewer, The Caretaker

“the simplest explanation was usually correct.”
― Marcus Kliewer, We Used to Live Here

“Don’t understand something? Witchcraft.”
― Marcus Kliewer, We Used to Live Here

“please, kindly, shut the fuck up,”
― Marcus Kliewer, We Used to Live Here

“Of course, a well-adjusted individual would’ve simply told him no. But self-destructive people-pleasing was another of Eve’s plentiful idiosyncrasies. She had a crippling fear of disappointing anyone, even complete strangers—even people she disliked.”
― Marcus Kliewer, We Used to Live Here

“It doesn’t matter how deep your pain is, how much you wish you could’ve said one last thing to somebody before they disappeared forever… None of that matters. The world keeps on moving. The errands and the debt and the dishes, it all keeps on piling up.”
― Marcus Kliewer, The Caretaker

“And I’m not proud of it, but there’s a part of me—deep down, festering in a dark and squalid room—that wants everyone else to feel just as miserable as I do. At least it wouldn’t be so goddamn lonely.”
― Marcus Kliewer, The Caretaker

“Wait,” she called out, almost reflexively. The father stopped in his tracks and looked back over his shoulder. Eve cleared her throat. “Fifteen minutes?” He nodded. “Tops.”
― Marcus Kliewer, We Used to Live Here

“In times of stress, take mental notes of your environment, your senses. Stay focused on the present moment.”
― Marcus Kliewer, We Used to Live Here

“Charlie often joked that there were “less than zero photos” of her in existence. And, believe it or not, it was almost true. Aside from driver’s licenses and the blurry backgrounds of parties and family get-togethers, Eve had somehow managed to avoid most cameras since her early twenties.”
― Marcus Kliewer, We Used to Live Here

“Fuck the sun. Give me rain, give me clouds, give me a dreary day inside with nothing to do but curl up on the couch, play video games, and rewatch Over the Garden Wall.”
― Marcus Kliewer, The Caretaker

“It made me think about this thing I learned on Discovery Channel: "phantom limb syndrome." It's where people who've lost a limb continue to feel its sensations - the bone, the skin, even the pain. But then they look down, only to be reminded there's nothing there, and the sensations vanish. I figure losing a person might be similar. The brain gets so used to someone being around, it tells you they're still here, even when they're gone and never coming back. Phantom person syndrome.”
― Marcus Kliewer, The Caretaker

“Thomas meandered closer, taking one last look around. “Must be nice, huh?” Eve looked up. “Hm?” He stopped at the threshold between the kitchen and living room. “Moving into a new place, fixing it up, settling in.”
― Marcus Kliewer, We Used to Live Here

“Something was wrong. Different.”
― Marcus Kliewer, We Used to Live Here

“head,”
― Marcus Kliewer, We Used to Live Here

“Of the two parents, it was clear Paige was the stricter—a role she seemed to both embrace and resent. And judging by her silver cross necklace, she was more devout too. But there were contradictions in Paige’s actions, her body language. She had a timid, almost docile demeanor that would slip away when she had to break up a fight between the kids or make a sly comment toward her husband. Eve sensed a great deal of suppressed anger simmering beneath Paige’s surface. A tick-tick-ticking time bomb.”
― Marcus Kliewer, We Used to Live Here

“She turned to face Charlie and— She isn’t her, a voice in Eve’s head whispered. This wasn’t the voice of Mo; this was the voice of something different, something far worse. Something all-knowing and ancient. A mouthless, eyeless presence leeching off the chemical fear that poured out of her amygdala. This isn’t your Charlie. The notion was so sudden, so improbable, Eve almost laughed, but…”
― Marcus Kliewer, We Used to Live Here

“I used to think everyone else felt as miserable as I did—that it was normal to wake up each morning and think: Shit, again?”
― Marcus Kliewer, The Caretaker

“The wall and the door were covered, floor to ceiling, with maps and blueprints. An insane collage of conspiracy, all coated in dust. Eve narrowed her eyes and drifted closer. Most of the maps were of Kettle Creek and Yale, but some were different states, cities, countries. Yet they all seemed to be connected, forming one big convoluted chart, unified”
― Marcus Kliewer, We Used to Live Here

“Heather nodded. “It’s a long shot, but… that wouldn’t happen to be Thomas Faust, would it?”
― Marcus Kliewer, We Used to Live Here

“Charlie had this uncanny ability to doze off in seconds. Didn’t matter the time or the circumstance. Earthshaking construction next door? No sweat. Plane full of crying babies? Who cared. Girlfriend freaking out about a shadow person on the basement stairs? Good fucking night.”
― Marcus Kliewer, We Used to Live Here

“Capgras syndrome, aka Capgras delusion, is a rare neuropsychiatric disorder in which a person believes that a close family member, friend, or even themself has been replaced by an imposter, double, or replica. It is named after the French psychiatrist Joseph Capgras, who first brought the condition to light in 1923.”
― Marcus Kliewer, We Used to Live Here