Austen Lea

“Some of us are able to alchemize our hurt into kindness and trust. Others repeat the cycle, weilding their wounds as a weapon.”
― Cedar McCloud, The Thread That Binds

“You are here because you wish to sail the Starless Sea and breathe the haunted air.”
― Erin Morgenstern, The Starless Sea

“Thank you for seeing me when other people looked through me like I was a ghost”
― Erin Morgenstern, The Starless Sea

“But it does seem like I’m always the one who has to speak up and tell everyone how I’m different. I have to find a way to help them understand me, even though I don’t really understand them either. Having a gender? Why? Feeling like your body and who you are inside line up all the time? How? Identifying with other folks of your assigned gender as a kid, when I identified with things like extra-fluffy cumulus clouds and nebulas? What does that even feel like? I get nervous trying to explain myself sometimes. I get tired. I grow sharp edges where I didn’t think I had any. And I definitely get to the point where I just want to bury myself in baking and not deal with any of it.”
― A.R. Capetta, The Heartbreak Bakery