(text-colour: #fff9c1)+(css: "font-size: 150%;")[//''(transition:"dissolve")[Ghost] (text-style:"fade-in-out")[Light]''//]
(live:4s)[Enter [[the old arts centre|Level 1]].](live:1s)[I could play the building for you:
in the dark,] (live:2s)[its four-dimensional] (live:2.5s)[foot](live:3s)[steps,]
(live:4s)[low buzz and rumble, its (text-style:"blur")[negative
space,]] (live:6s)[hum of sunlight, or hollow]
(live:7s)[salt-mine (hover-style:(text-style:"rumble")+(text-style:"smear"))[boom] of the (hover-style:(text-style:"upside-down"))[basement].]
(live: 9s)[Slow down. Should you risk the [[lift]]
or take the [[stairs]]?]
<script>
var audio = document.createElement('audio');
audio.src = 'http://www.timothytate.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Ghost-Light_Edward-St-sounds.mp3';
audio.loop = true;
audio.play();
</script>The lift's bronze Christmas Beetle case,
a ghostly veneer of breakdowns past.
It's (colour: #2f70ab)[(current-time:)]. Did you [[tell someone]] your whereabouts?
Can you [[hear voices]]?
Are you [[completely alone]]?Let's walk up, elevate down:
the upwards metallic scrape of palm
on railing.
[[Keep climbing.|Level 4]]
You press (colour: #2f70ab)+(text-style: "smear")[4]. The lift starts.
And then (text-style: "rumble")[shudders] to a stop.
Press the button for your floor again. And [[again|breakdown]].
(set: $elevator to 'tell')
(click-replace:'Press')[//Mash//]You press (colour: #2f70ab)+(text-style: "smear")[4]. The lift starts.
And then (text-style: "rumble")[shudders] to a stop.
You call out.
Anyone?
[[Help?!|breakdown]]
(set: $elevator to 'hear')
(click-replace:'Anyone?')+(transition:"flicker")[//Anyone?!//]Even with the lift's face-lift, you feel hesitant.
[[No one knows|breakdown]] you're here.
(set: $elevator to 'alone')(text-style:"fade-in-out")[Your heartrate rises.]
(if: $elevator is 'tell')[Something deep in the building's gears shakes loose. You're on the [[move|Level 4]].](else-if: $elevator is "hear")[A domino of (text-style:"blur")[resigned voices] (text-style:"blurrier")+(colour: #2f70ab)[echo half-heard] (text-style:"blur")[to the basement]; a shuffle, and then [[movement|Level 4]].](else-if:$elevator is "alone")[Your gut tells you to take the [[stairs]].]
(if: $elevator is 'tell')[The lift dings: you reach the top floor.](else-if: $elevator is "hear")[The lift dings its clear relief: you reach the top floor.](else-if:$elevator is "alone")[Your thighs burn.] (else:)[Your thighs burn.]
Enter the dance studio.
(click-replace:'Enter the dance studio.')[(hover-style:(text-style:"mirror")+(colour: #2f70ab))[[Up top the sprung floors
cling to twinning mirrors, [slinging ghost-
shoe shuffle].]]]
[[Follow]] the candy-wrapper crumple
of tarp slowly drip-fed.
[[Peer out]] through the heavy back door.
(live:4s)[Head down to [[level three|Level 3]].]
(live:9s)[Now you notice both the creaking floorboards
and rot in the drop-ceiling.]
You smell stress in the air.
(click-replace:'You smell stress in the air.')[(align: "==>")+(text-style:"blur")+(css: "font-size: 85%;")[//You hold taut
the arm of an acrobat constrained
in Clingfilm, recently hatched from a sac
of plastic. You [[leave|Level 4]] thumbprints
as another tumbler tightropes
the arm, flattening muscle.
Later, the acrobat rests their head
in the crook of the other's shoulder
to walk clean up the wall and over the ceiling, hinged
at the neck, their strength doubling them.
Sweat dries under your fingernails.//]]
The backstairs are a discarded cicada shell:
hollow, precarious, little hooks in brick.
(align: "==>")+(text-style:"blur")+(css: "font-size: 85%;")[(live:3s)[//A goods lift full
of ballots swings down
and snags the back
of an artist's car
parked squarely under
the (transition:"dissolve")[[[NO PARKING|Level 4]]] sign//]]And down (live:1s)[floor] (live:2s)[by floor,] (live:3s)[the hush of rooms
that miss their paint,] (live:4s)[their sweat,] (live:5s)[their keys
slink-clicking in locks.]
(live:7s)[There are solid walls,
(transition:"flicker")[ghost walls] and grave walls, skeleton rooms
with (hover-style:(text-style:"smear"))[[[three|door 1]]] (hover-style:(text-style:"smear"))[[[doors|door 2]]] (hover-style:(text-style:"smear"))[[[each|door 3]]], knitted with mirrors]
(live:9s)[and (colour: #2f70ab)+(text-style:"blur")[WARNING]s that double back on warnings.]
(live:11s)[Head down to [[level two|Level 2]].]Oh, a storage closet.
(click-replace:'Oh, a storage closet.')[(align: "==>")+(text-style:"blur")+(css: "font-size: 85%;")[//In the storage room, a pile of paper
crowns, electrical tape in reams, dead
puppets, dried-out melon rinds,
towers of clingfilm, a fossilised ochre
paint spill, cleaning supplies, wine.
(live:4s)[You leave the supplies [[untouched|Level 3]].]//]]
You find boxes of old faxes and letters.
This place has worked all its [[angles]].
''Check the records:''
* (cycling-link: 'Importers and indentors', 'Warehouse for china, glass and household goods', 'Biscuit manufacturers and milliners', '(text-style:"blurrier")[Department of Missing Objects (Key Devision)]');
* (cycling-link: 'Department of Supply and Shipping (War Services)', 'Department of Housing (War Services Home Devision)', 'Department of Customs (Narcotics Devision)', 'Australian Shipbuilding Board', '(text-style:"blur")[Bureau of Uncertain Funding]');
* (cycling-link: 'Commonwealth Police', 'Department of Immigration', 'Commonwealth Electoral Office', '(text-style:"blurrier")[Office of Uneven Power Dynamics (heritage-listed)]');
* (cycling-link: 'Community Arts Centre', 'Bowling alley', 'Dark room', 'Performance space', '(text-style:"blur")[Agency of Chronic Ennui]', '(text-style:"blurrier")[Department of Parties (Narcotics Devision)]','Home','Arts Incubator').
(live:5s)[Oof, that's [[enough paperwork|Level 3]].](color:black)+(align: "==>")[The interlocking (text-style:"fade-in-out")[hush]-(transition:"shudder")[snap] of doors –
can you hear the way each [[latch|Level 3]] is agonal?]
(align: "=><=")+(hover-style:(text-style:'smear'))[The gallery
is chalk
and [[light|studio]].]
(live:3s)[If you want to see the basement, you'll have to take (colour: #2f70ab)+(text-style: "blink")[[[the lift|down]]].]
The lift's cortisol (text-style:"rumble")[hmmmmmmmm…] indecisive
until you give it (link-reveal: "purpose.")[(live:1s)[
Is that...](live:2s)[singing, somewhere
in the darkness]
(live:2.5s)[(text-style:"blur")[in between things]?]
(live:3.5s)[(align: "==>")[(text-style:"blur")+(css: "font-size: 85%;")+(text-style:"shudder")[//How long can someone wait?//]]]]
Press (colour: #2f70ab)+(text-style:"blink")+(text-style:"smear")[[[B|Basement]]].
You're underneath this endling,
mining in the gaps.
(live:1s)[You climb the ladder to the trapdoor.]
(live:2s)[Silence. (text-style:"smear")+(colour: #2f70ab)[Schrödinger's Theatre].]
(live:5s)[You've heard song inflate
this basement; you've sung along, the room
full of body. (transition:"flicker")[(text-style:"smear")[Your breath tunes up
for a jump-scare]]](live:10s)+(transition:"dissolve")[.
(align: "==>")+(transition:"flicker")[//The elevator light hums blue, (colour: #2f70ab)+(text-style:"smear")[a little ghost].//]]
(live:13s)+(transition:"flicker")[(colour: #2f70ab)+(css: "font-size: 85%;")[[[//Ghost Light//|ghost]]]]What's this?
(live:2s)[<img src="https://zenobiafrost.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/screen-shot-2020-10-25-at-2.57.08-pm.png" width="640" height="427">]
Hm. Back to the [[blueprints|door 2]].(css: "font-size: 90%;")[(transition:"dissolve")[You stand in the studio's
palimpsest light
and listen.(align: "==>")[(live:8s)[Return to the [[gallery|Level 2]].]]]]
[<img src="https://zenobiafrost.files.wordpress.com/2020/10/metro_light-1.jpg?w=750">]
(text-colour: #fff9c1)+(css: "font-size: 150%;")[//''(transition:"dissolve")[Ghost] (text-style:"fade-in-out")[Light]''//]
(align:"==>")+(css: "font-size: 90%;")[(live:1s)[[[''Start over''|Level 1]].]
(align: "==>")+(live:3s)+(colour: #2f70ab)+(css: "font-size: 75%;")+(transition:"dissolve")[Cross the river,
and <a href="https://metroarts.com.au/whats-on/" target="_blank">(text-style:"shudder")+(colour: #2f70ab)[see something new]</a>.]
(live:5s)+(text-style: "shadow")[''About the author:''
Zenobia Frost is a poet
based in Brisbane.
Her latest books are
(text-style:"shadow")+(colour: #2f70ab)[<a href="https://zenobiafrost.com/publications/after-the-demolition/" target="_blank">[//After the Demolition//]</a>]
&
(text-style:"shadow")+(colour: #2f70ab)[<a href="https://metroarts.com.au/book/" target="_blank">[//Art Starts Here:
40 Years of Metro Arts//]</a>]]]
(click-replace:"author")[psychogeographer]
(live:6s)[(css: "font-size: 85%;")+(text-style:"blur")[//For Dad.//]]