The Quiet Removal

[Movement I | The Process Opens] I was instructed to wait without a reason, the door remained open and still I stayed. A form was passed from hand to hand, no one signed it, no one refused. The room was watching before I entered, I adjusted my voice to the walls. They said nothing was required of me, only that I remain available. I stood where the rule had been yesterday, the floor remembered my weight. Nothing happened, and that was the order. We complied by standing still. Nothing happened, and it continued. [Movement II | Polite Erasure] A number replaced my name politely, it fit better in their sentences. They asked if I understood the process, the process asked if I understood myself. Time behaved like an office hour, open, then closed, then open again. I held what could be carried legally, the rest was misplaced. One eye was sleeping, the other was measuring my height. Nothing happened, and that was the order. No sound, no error, no appeal. Nothing happened, and it continued. I tried to remember the first instruction, but it had already been revised. The eyes did not threaten, they simply did not look away. We learned to lower our outlines, to speak in conditional verbs. We learned the difference between leaving and being removed quietly. [Movement III | Mutual Ballast] The child asked where we were going, we said forward, because forward remained. I wrapped the answer carefully, so it would not attract attention. Below us, something thin held on, it had been holding on for years. We did not step away from it, we carried it by continuing. Nothing happened, and that was the order. If we endured, it was permitted. Nothing happened, and it continued. I am still waiting, which appears to be correct. [Words, Production, and Direction by Noizgenie.] [Cover Art Direction by Noizgenie. © 2026 Noizgenie.]