“The slightest of alterations can change a lifetime and a generation.” - Averick Tellings

  Chapter Nine:

  Today I woke up and felt happy. Thus I decided to read again. I looked under the bed once more, and lo, there I saw a new carving of letters and words:

  B R E A K - T H E - P L A T E S.

  ‘Break the ptes? What does that entail? Does it mean to tell me to break the ptes that I eat upon for every meal? According to The Book, to break is: separate or cause to separate into pieces as a result of a blow, shock, or strain. And yet why would I want to do such a thing? The act of separating the ptes into pieces will likely make them completely unusable in their purpose. Every object has a purpose within The Room. If I cause that purpose to disappear, will that not be bsphemy? After all, The Book says that bsphemy is: the act or offense of speaking sacrilegiously about God or sacred things; profane talk. The purpose of objects is sacred, since it is part of the whole of The Room. And talking is equivalent to breaking, as The Book says that talking is: engaging in speech. And speech is: the expression of or the ability to express thoughts and feelings by articute sounds. Breaking something will cause a sound, and is thus speech, and then is thus talking, and talking in a way that destroys the sacred purpose of an object is bsphemy! Thus, if I break the ptes then I will be committing bsphemy, and that act goes against all of what The Book teaches! I cannot do such a thing!’ I thought.

  ‘Yet, would doing such a thing truly be so terrible? I have never committed bsphemy before, and doing something new is considered a change. My whole new goal is to change and do something new, thus, I should commit bsphemy! Would that not make The Room better and more open? Yes, yes, I have changed my mind! I shall commit bsphemy today, here, and become a new person!’ I thought.

  I then proceeded to (with my bare hands) break all of the ptes within The Room, with there being twenty of them in total. After the act, my hands were bloodied, and so I dried and wiped them on my white sheets, staining them red. I worried not for that though, as whenever my sheets are stained (usually from food) they are clean and white again the next day. After that I ate breakfast without a pte, which then dirtied the table, and yet I was not worried for the table’s cleanliness, as whenever the table was dirty (usually from food) it always returned to its white and clean state the next day. Maybe living without ptes isn’t so bad after all. I then went to sleep.