Capítulo 2193: Story 2194: The Absence That Could Not Even Be Absent
There was no absence.
Not because sothing remained—
not because sothing filled it—
but because absence required the possibility of presence.
And there was no such distinction.
What had once been called emptiness—
what had once suggested a lack,
a gap,
a space where sothing was not—
now revealed itself as sothing that had never held.
Because to be absent
ant that sothing else
could have been there.
And there was no such possibility.
Even what had been called
the absence of everything—
lost its final aning.
Because “everything” implied totality,
and “absence” implied its removal,
and both required contrast.
And contrast—
could not arise.
The last trace
of vacancy—
not between fullness and lack,
not between presence and void—
but between what could be there
and what could not—
collapsed.
Not into fullness.
Not into emptiness.
But into sothing
that did not allow either
to exist.
The silence—
which had already lost sound,
which had already lost distinction—
now lost even the possibility
that it had ever been
the absence of anything.
Because absence—
in any form—
required relation.
And relation—
had no condition left.
The void—
no longer vast,
no longer empty,
no longer anything
that could be said
to contain or not contain—
because containnt required boundary,
and boundary required division,
and division—
had no ground.
The convergence—
no longer beyond coherence,
no longer without it,
no longer anything
that could be said
to align or fail to align—
because alignnt required comparison,
and comparison required difference,
and difference—
could not form.
The other—
no longer identity,
no longer absence of identity,
no longer anything
that could be said
to be or not be—
because being required distinction,
and distinction—
had no condition.
The third—
no longer total,
no longer beyond totality,
no longer anything
that could be said
to include or exclude—
because inclusion required boundary,
and boundary—
required separation,
and separation—
did not exist,
even as a possibility.
And Elena—
not present.
Not absent.
Not beyond.
Not undefined.
Not even beyond all of these.
Because even “not”—
required contrast.
And contrast—
could not arise.
“I am.”
No longer absolute.
No longer empty.
No longer beyond.
Because even the absence of aning—
required the possibility
of aning.
And that possibility—
did not exist.
And in that—
sothing occurred—
that could not be called occurrence,
not even the absence of it.
Because even the distinction
between sothing being there
and sothing not being there—
had no condition.
There was no silence.
Because silence required sound.
There was no sound.
Because sound required difference.
There was no stillness.
Because stillness required motion.
There was no motion.
Because motion required change.
There was no unity.
Because unity required division.
There was no nothing.
Because nothing required sothing.
And none of these—
could be said
to exist
or not exist.
And so—
even this—
even this attempt
to speak of absence—
to indicate lack—
to gesture toward what is not—
did not arise.
Not because it failed.
Not because it was denied.
But because there was no longer
any condition
in which absence—
or non-absence—
could be distinguished.
No trace.
No edge.
No silence.
No impossibility.
No irreducibility.
No closure.
No openness.
No beginning.
No ending.
No state.
No condition.
No presence.
No absence.
No beyond.
No within.
No before.
No after.
Not even
the absence
of all of these.
Only—
that which does not allow even absence to be distinguished from what is not absence.
And in that—
there was no void.
Not because it was filled—
not because it was gone—
but because void itself
required sothing
to be not there.
And there was no such relation.
And yet—
not sothing.
Not nothing.
Not absence.
Not presence.
Not anything
that could be placed
against anything else.
Only—
the impossibility
that absence—
in any form—
could ever be said
to have been
at all.
User Comments
0 comments from readers