House of Mystery, Volume 1 Quotes

“It’s the Longing that ultimately undoes you. When it finds you, it gnaws at your bones and tugs at your chest. It fills you up inside like rot and makes you dream dreams and it drowns you. The Longing keeps you in bed, clutching at your sheets while the world goes on outside. It smells like old leaves and cigarette smoke, mixed with the scent of far-off places you will hear of, but never see. It’s the gloss on a lover’s lips the moment you realize you will never kiss those lips again. It is the bittersweet, unrequited love of creation and it will break your heart again and again and again. If you know the Longing the way I do, then these words are redundant. We understand each other perfectly, you and I.”
― Matthew Sturges, House of Mystery, Volume 1: Room and Boredom

“It is especially so when, on some basic, primal level, you realize that the new world in front of you is somehow the place you were meant to be all along. For a little while, all you can do is gape in wonder. And then, if you are very brave, or very foolish, you take your first step. And at some point you realize---maybe then, maybe later---that the person who stepped through the doorway isn't the same person who emerged on the other side.”
― Matthew Sturges, House of Mystery, Volume 1: Room and Boredom