The board held still, and I watched it, not waiting for a move

In the dream I'm sitting at a table where the pieces are exactly as they were before I made that one mistake—except they aren't pieces, they're just shapes of light. A pawn is standing at the edge of the square like it's decided not to fall, and the clock isn't ticking, it's just sitting there, breathing. I'm not trying to win. I'm trying to see what it looks like when everything stops pretending to have a next step.