east corridor · door vii · engraved brass
a rectangle of brass screwed flat to the door, an italic 7 engraved into it by a hand steady enough that one would not have guessed at the small tremble in the rest of the figure. it is the only seven in this corridor; the building counts a long way before repeating itself.
it was polished weekly by someone whose first name began with the same letter as the room's last occupant. now it is polished by no one and remains, by virtue of brass's slow temperament, almost as bright. the number alone has done the work.
field-note · breathe on it. you may sign your initials in the brief fog and watch them go.
it lives above the keyhole; it greets the door; its number is a number like any other.