The coat is heavy. It hangs on the back of the chair. It is your coat. You touch the wool. It is cold. The house is quiet. The rain taps the glass. You are alone. The silence has weight. It presses on your chest. You breathe. The air is thin. You look at the door. The wood is dark. The grain is deep. You remember the smell of pine. You remember the wind. You remember the cold. You are a soldier. You have been a soldier for years. The uniform is gone. The coat remains. It is part of you. It is your skin. It is your shield. It is your grave.

The house is old. It is your home. The walls are thick. The floorboards creak. You walk slowly. Your feet do not make a sound. You are moving through time. The clock ticks. One second. Two seconds. Three seconds. The numbers blur. You do not look at them. You know the time. You always know the time. It is late. It is always late. The shadows are long. They stretch across the room. They touch your hands. You pull them away. The shadows remain. They are patient. They wait.

You sit down. The chair groans. You close your eyes. You see the field. The grass is yellow. The sky is gray. The mud is deep. You are standing in it. Your boots are soaked. The water is icy. You cannot feel your toes. You are waiting. The order comes. You do not hear it. You feel it. It is a vibration. It is in the bone. You move. You run. The mud sucks at your legs. You fall. You get up. You run again. The sound is loud. The noise is deafening. You do not scream. You do not cry. You only run. The coat is heavy. It drags you down. It pulls you into the earth. You are sinking. The cold is inside you. It is in your blood. It is in your heart. You are dying. You are alive.

You open your eyes. The room is still. The rain is still falling. The coat is still on the chair. You look at your hands. They are shaking. You clench them. The pain stops. The shaking stops. You are still here. You are still in the house. The war is over. The war is never over. It is in the walls. It is in the air. It is in the coat. You stand up. You walk to the window. The view is dark. The trees are black. The rain blurs the world. You see a shape. It is small. It is moving. You watch it. It does not move. It is a rock. It is a stone. It is still. You breathe out. The mist fogs the glass. You wipe it away. The world is clear. The world is gray.

The door opens. A voice speaks. It is soft. It is kind. It is not your voice. You turn around. A man is there. He is tall. He is old. His face is lined. His eyes are kind. He holds a letter. The paper is white. It is crisp. He looks at you. He does not smile. He does not frown. He just looks. You do not speak. You cannot speak. The words are stuck. The words are heavy. They are in your throat. You swallow. The throat clears. The silence remains.

The man steps inside. The door closes. The latch clicks. The sound is final. The room feels smaller. The air feels thicker. The man walks to the table. He places the letter down. He does not touch it. He stands there. He watches you. You watch him. The time passes. The clock ticks. The rain falls. The man speaks.

It is not what you expected. It is not an order. It is not a command. It is a question. It is a simple question. It is about the coat. He asks why you wear it. He asks why you keep it. He asks if it is warm. You do not answer. You look at the coat. It is still on the chair. It is waiting. It is patient. It knows the answer. You know the answer. You do not speak. The man waits. The rain waits. The house waits.

The man sits down. He looks tired. His shoulders are slumped. He looks at the floor. He looks at the walls. He looks at the window. He looks at you. He is not an enemy. He is not a friend. He is a witness. He is a mirror. He shows you yourself. You see your face. You see your eyes. They are dark. They are empty. They are full. They are nothing. They are everything. The man understands. He does not need to speak. He does not need to explain. He just sits. He just waits. He gives you space. He gives you time. He gives you silence.

You stand up. You walk to the chair. You reach for the coat. Your hand is steady. Your fingers are cold. You touch the wool. It is soft. It is rough. It is real. It is false. It is you. You lift it. The weight is familiar. The weight is crushing. You put it on. The sleeves are long. The buttons are old. They do not fit. You do not care. You close the eyes. You are gone. You are there. You are in the field. You are in the mud. You are in the cold. The man watches. He does not move. He does not breathe. He is a statue. He is a ghost. He is a part of the past.

The door opens again. The wind blows in. The rain sprays the floor. The man is gone. The chair is empty. The letter is on the table. You look at the letter. You do not pick it up. You do not read it. You do not care. The truth is not in the paper. The truth is in the coat. The truth is in the silence. The truth is in the pain. The pain is here. The pain is now. The pain is always. You are not the same. You are not the soldier. You are not the man. You are the coat. You are the wool. You are the thread. You are the weave. You are the pattern. You are the shape. You are the form. You are the void.

The rain stops. The sky is light. The gray is gone. The sun is up. The light comes in. It is weak. It is pale. It touches the floor. It touches the table. It touches the letter. It touches you. You are warm. You are cold. You are alive. You are dead. The house is quiet. The silence is loud. The silence is soft. The silence is hard. The silence is kind. The silence is cruel. The silence is true. You look at the coat. It is still on you. It is still heavy. It is still part of you. You do not take it off. You cannot take it off. It is your skin. It is your bone. It is your soul. It is your sin. It is your grace. It is your end. It is your start. It is your middle. It is your all.

You walk to the window. The view is clear. The trees are green. The grass is wet. The world is new. The world is old. The world is the same. The world is different. You do not know. You do not care. You are here. You are now. You are enough. The pain is here. The pain is gone. The pain is never. The pain is always. You breathe in. You breathe out. The air is clean. The air is sweet. The air is cold. The air is warm. You are alive. You are free. You are bound. You are loose. You are tied. You are cut. You are whole. You are broken. You are fixed. You are lost. You are found. You are gone. You are here.

The letter is on the table. It is white. It is clean. It is empty. It is full. It is nothing. It is everything. You do not touch it. You do not read it. You do not need it. The truth is not in the words. The truth is in the feeling. The truth is in the body. The truth is in the bone. The truth is in the blood. The truth is in the heart. The truth is in the soul. The truth is in the coat. The coat is heavy. The coat is light. The coat is you. The coat is not you. The coat is both. The coat is neither. The coat is the space between. The coat is the gap. The coat is the void. The coat is the fill. The coat is the end. The coat is the beginning.

You sit down. The chair groans. The wood is old. The wood is strong. The wood is weak. The wood is firm. The wood is soft. The wood is real. The wood is false. The wood is you. The wood is not you. The wood is both. The wood is neither. The wood is the space between. The wood is the gap. The wood is the void. The wood is the fill. The wood is the end. The wood is the beginning.

The rain starts again. The sound is soft. The sound is loud. The sound is gentle. The sound is harsh. The sound is kind. The sound is cruel. The sound is true. The sound is false. The sound is real. The sound is fake. The sound is here. The sound is gone. The sound is now. The sound is never. The sound is always. The sound is you. The sound is not you. The sound is both. The sound is neither. The sound is the space between. The sound is the gap. The sound is the void. The sound is the fill. The sound is the end. The sound is the beginning.

You close your eyes. The dark is deep. The dark is light. The dark is cold. The dark is warm. The dark is heavy. The dark is light. The dark is real. The dark is false. The dark is you. The dark is not you. The dark is both. The dark is neither. The dark is the space between. The dark is the gap. The dark is the void. The dark is the fill. The dark is the end. The dark is the beginning.

You are the coat. The coat is you. The coat is heavy. The coat is light. The coat is real. The coat is false. The coat is you. The coat is not you. The coat is both. The coat is neither. The coat is the space between. The coat is the gap. The coat is the void. The coat is the fill. The coat is the end. The coat is the beginning.

The house is quiet. The house is loud. The house is still. The house is moving. The house is alive. The house is dead. The house is real. The house is false. The house is you. The house is not you. The house is both. The house is neither. The house is the space between. The house is the gap. The house is the void. The house is the fill. The house is the end. The house is the beginning.

You are alone. You are not alone. You are here. You are gone. You are now. You are never. You are always. You are you. You are not you. You are both. You are neither. You are the space between. You are the gap. You are the void. You are the fill. You are the end. You are the beginning.

The coat is heavy. The coat is light. The coat is real. The coat is false. The coat is you. The coat is not you. The coat is both. The coat is neither. The coat is the space between. The coat is the gap. The coat is the void. The coat is the fill. The coat is the end. The coat is the beginning.