Episode
FOUR
It’s cold in here and largely lonely. It is a basement. The floor is a heartless concrete and the walls are covered in wood paneling. There are no decorations to suggest any character. It is minimally furnished with a chair and a bed and a desk. I have nothing to work on. There is a kitchen with nothing to cook and no utensils to cut anything or anyone. There is a bathroom, which I use quickly and efficiently only when necessary. There is no relaxing. There is one door, which locks from the outside. It is at the top of the stairs. The stairs are a raw old wood, purely functional, well, for someone, but not me. They only serve as a reminder of hopelessness. I can climb them, but get nowhere. When I was a child, I once visited the haunted Winchester Mansion in California. It is rumored to be haunted by all of the souls killed by the Winchester rifle. The widow of William Winchester, inventor of said rifle, had the house built to confuse and trick these ghosts which were haunting her. There are stairs which lead to nowhere and doors opening to nothing. This is a trick. The world outside this room is disappearing and I am becoming a ghost.
