This afternoon, Ben and I worked in person and continued reading Chapter XXI, finishing all but 7 pages. We read about a main character's spiral downward. and we finished all but 7 pages. We noted that the whole chapter was written by Johnny and that it is the first time we see him as an author of the Navidson Record rather than a commentator. We additionally noted that his ramblings are no longer in the footnotes and that it appears he is at the peak of his insanity as he recalls his first childhood trauma involving his mother, invoking graphic images of being burned by scalding hot oil from an accidental spill from a frying pan. Ben and I agreed that Danielewski uses metaphors expertly in a way that makes the reader viscerally feel the trauma, and we noted that this is an overlapping theme in the book. Ben wondered how the book will end but we seem to feel it is coming full circle mirroring the character's personalities with the incongruent and malevolent dimensions and characteristics of the house.